The Killer Truth (2020): Season 1, Episode 3 - Terror in the Taxi - full transcript

We have a lot of murders in
Houston, but not necessarily a

lot of murders of cab drivers.
This man had been shot to

death. It was a very disturbing
scene.

There was smoldering smoke,
the distinct smell of burning

human flesh.
Two cab drivers murdered

within 48 hours of each other.
Both individuals had come

here trying to live the
American dream. You need to be

careful. You don't know who
you've got in your cab.

His last words on this earth
is, "please. I have children."

Don't do this."
I think the ultimate motive

was money, was thrill.
Five unique perspectives.



Five points of view. One murder.

I'm a homicide veteran.
I've been a reporter here in

the Houston area.
I was one of the

investigators assigned.
My name is Chaz blackshear.

I was the lead prosecutor.
My name is Brian Harris. I'm

a 21‐year retired homicide
veteran for the Houston police

department. On October 14, 2010,
when I arrived at work at the

homicide headquarters downtown
Houston, I ran into two

detectives. I knew they'd been
working nonstop on a taxicab

killing, a yellow cab murder
where the driver of that cab

had been murdered and his body
was dumped on the north side of

the city of Houston. I quipped,
"glad it's you, not us."

Little did I know that within
the hour, my partner and I

would be assigned the murder of
the second cab driver within 48



hours. Right away, my partner
and I are talking while we're

driving out to the West Side of
Houston that, could this be

connected? We didn't know at
the time, but, you know, our

spidey senses certainly were
tangling. We had a Houston

officer, and he was simply
making rounds, driving through

the various different parking
lots in his beat and saw a

yellow cab. Quickly, he figured,
that's certainly out of place.

Why would a yellow cab be in
the middle of a parking lot at

3:00 in the morning? As he got
closer and he could see, the

cab was smoldering, there was
smoke coming from the cab.

There was also that distinct
smell, the distinct smell of

burning human flesh. By the
time I get there with my

partner, there's dozens and
dozens of people along the

perimeter of the crime scene.
We don't know who are witnesses,

who are just casual onlookers.
In a chaotic scene, you've got

to start breaking that scene
down into larger parts, smaller

parts. No matter how crazy it
looks, you can make a lot of

sense out of that. The dead
themselves, in a way, speak to

us. Not literally, but the
position of their body, the way

their body is inside or laid
out or presented in any

different homicide scene can
tell us a lot. This case was no

different. It looked as though
there was a struggle. The

person was trying to escape. It
looked as though they almost

did escape out that door and
they were shot and dragged back

into that vehicle. And then to
add insult to injury, the car

is set on fire. But we weren't
dealing with exact rocket

scientists here because they
didn't understand that fire

needs oxygen to breathe. So
when they set this car on fire,

other than the initial
explosion or burst of flame,

the fire quickly dies because
there's no oxygen to feed on.

They were sloppy. They left
evidence behind. They left the

shell casing. One on the
outside of the car. One on the

inside of the car. This is all
great stuff that we can work

with. So, how did he die? Was
it the fire or was it the

gunshot? And there's an easy
way to tell. See, when an

autopsy is done, if there's
soot on the inside of the lungs,

if they're soot on those lungs,
that means they were alive when

the fire was started. I'm just
very thankful, as gruesome as

this scene was, was that it was
clear after the autopsy that he

died of the gunshots, not of
the fire, because there was not

any soot in the lungs. Now
we're able to attach a name.

This is somebody that had a
family. This is somebody who

had people who loved him,
somebody that he was trying to

provide for working a second
job, bringing in extra income

so he can just make it. Blaise
was no different than myself.

We all have three things in
common ‐‐ we all want to be

loved, we all want to be
respected, and we all want the

ability to provide for the ones
that love and respect us. They

wanted that American dream, and
that's exactly who he was. He

was trying to provide for his
family. On this particular

scene, the cab is in the
parking lot. Looking up at the

office complex, it is clear
that there are video cameras.

So one of the first things that
we do is look at these videos.

Partner and I, we walk in and
we go to the security office.

We don't know what we're
getting ready to see. And as

that videotape starts, we see
the yellow cab pull up and we

see clearly a black female with
this wild afro, crazy kind of

hair. And she gets out and she
starts to run to the front of

the cab area. She keeps going,
has a lookout. Is anyone around?

And there's one particular
moment, she stops and is caught

in mid‐stride, staring directly
into the camera. It was the

perfect shot. We just knew then
we had to freeze that frame and

that would be the picture that
we would use. But the video

keeps going. She comes back to
the cab and then there's a

flash. There's a flash inside
the cab. You see that same

black female. She runs across
the parking lot, and then a

lanky, thin male, baggy t‐shirt,
pants on, runs past the camera,

as well. Where are they running?
You had absolute fear and

terror running through the
transportation industry. One

incident, two incidences. It
will be a third. Will there be

a fourth? We needed to get this
stopped. Throw in the fact that

now there's a male there, is
this their version of trying to

be Bonnie and Clyde?
Hi, I'm Sara Davenport, and

hi, I'm Sara Davenport, and
I've been a reporter here in

the Houston area for over a
decade. When the news broke

that there had been a murder,
it wasn't that uncommon. It's a

big city, 6 million people. But
what was uncommon was a small

twist. Two cabdrivers murdered
within 48 hours of each other.

October 12th, early morning in
2010, a utility worker was out,

and he spotted something
strange in a drainage ditch.

When he went to look, it was a
very gruesome discovery. It was

a body. You can imagine how
terrifying that is. I mean,

normally, early morning hours,
it's pretty quiet. And here

this body is covered in dirt,
shot up, possibly stabbed. You

could tell it was a very
disturbing scene by the way

when the utility worker called
9‐1‐1, he was terrified. When

the police first arrived on the
scene, they're trying to

identify who this is. And they
didn't find anything on his

body. I mean, it looked like
he'd been robbed. There's was

nothing in his pockets. But
when they started searching

just a little bit away, they
were able to find his passport

and also his cellphone. That
was a pretty significant break

for two reasons. One is it
looks like the body was dumped.

The murder probably didn't
happen there since the

cellphone and passport were in
a different area, but it was a

huge break because now they
knew who this body was, through

the passport and now they had
his cellphone and could figure

out more about him. They were
able to identify the victim as

32‐year‐old Mohammad El sayed.
Mohammad had been in the

Houston area for a few years.
He was a family man, had

several children. He was a cab
driver, and he had been working

to pick up some extra shifts to
make some more money to help

out at home. He was working
really hard to make ends meet

for his family. They were new
immigrants to the Houston area,

to the United States. And so
being a cab driver was a good,

honest job for him to do. Being
a cab driver might be somewhat

of an easy job from the outside,
but it's a risky job. You never

know who you're picking up,
what the next fare is going to

be. When police went to the cab
company, they ran the number

from where the last call had
come in from Mohammad El

sayed's cab. It had come in
from a gas station, a chevron,

around 2:00 in the morning.
Thank you for calling yellow

cab. This is Cheryl. How may I
help you?

Yes, I need a cab over here
on 1900 dairy ashford at the

chevron. A cab just drove by.
1900 south dairy ashford?

Yeah.
And that's the chevron

service station, sir?
Yeah. The chevron service

station. One just passed by. I
don't know if he works for

y'all.
Okay, we'll get someone out

there for you, sir.
Alright, thank you so much.

When police got to the
chevron station, they thought

maybe this could be their first
lead, but it really wasn't

because the security cameras,
they weren't working that night

and the phone had been totally
wiped clean of fingerprints.

The suspects were really lucky
on this one because the police

were hot on their tail until
they weren't. Suddenly, it went

cold. There were no
fingerprints. There's no

security cameras. The police
didn't have any sign of the cab

near where Mohammad El sayed's
body was found, so they went

back to the chevron and started
looking in that vicinity. And

it was paydirt. The cab was
found about three or four

blocks away from where the call
was originally made, right

behind a strip mall. It had
been wiped clean. There were no

fingerprints, but they did find
some small traces of blood. And

then they did find two .380
caliber bullet shells. Where

those bullet casings were found
suggests that the driver,

Mohammad El sayed, had been
sitting in his cab when he was

shot. Police had the cab and
they had the victim, but they

really didn't have any leads.
The call was made about 35 to

40 minutes away from where the
body was found. So what does

that mean for these suspects?
If they're willing to drive

that far to dump the body,
where are they now? They could

be in Dallas. They could be out
of the state of Texas. People

started wondering, is there a
serial killer on the loose?

What's going to happen the next
day after that? The tension in

the city with these reports
coming out, it was very real.

Mohammad and Blaise were both
Muslim cab drivers. Did that

have anything to do with these
murderers?

My name is Roger chappell,
and I was an investigator with

the Houston police department
assigned to work this case. Cab

drivers are hardworking people.
It is not your

gangster‐on‐gangster or your
dope dealer‐on‐dope dealer kind

of stuff. These are innocent
people doing hard work.

Something like this, where we
have at least two cab drivers

that were killed in such a
short period of time, so at

that point, the urgency really
did kick in. This was

definitely going to happen
again. To me, it's not a matter

of if, it's when. I made a
phone call to yellow cab and

was able to obtain the
recording for the second case.

The deceased had picked up a
fare somewhere on the West Side

of town, and it was a female
that had made that phone call.

A name that I heard, as I
remember, was shauntay, because

it was a little difficult to
understand on that recording.

Yellow cab. Can I help you?
Hello, um, can I have a cab

to, um, 1905, um, dairy ashford?
It's gonna be by a cricket

store.
Kroger store?

Cricket.
Alright, can I get a name?

Um, shauntay.
My immediate thought was

that's a fake name. I don't
know if it's just a version of

her name or if she just made it
up, but that's one of the

things, too, that we
disseminate to the other

investigators. In most murder
cases that I have investigated,

this is the first one where we
actually had the murderer

captured on video. It truly
does open up the book for us.

As these folks were leaving and
running away, what direction

where they headed? So that's
where we're going to start our

canvas. We decided to go ahead
and concentrate on the

apartment complexes as first.
When the officers were out

there, this manager is like,
"you know what? I could be"

wrong, but this is a
coincidence, to me, that I just

can't seem to get over. I had
this tenant who was behind in

her rent. She was due to be
evicted. Then all of a sudden,

"she comes in this morning and
pays off everything." The

public already knew that we had
two cab drivers. The media had

already reported that. For this
manager, based on what glimpse

he got from the surveillance
video photograph, was able to

draw those parallels very
quickly. They gave her name as

crystal Jones, and the physical
description seemed to match.

What we want to do is to get
her before she gets inside her

apartment. And there's a reason
for that. It creates too much

hazard for the officers and for
other citizens. Crystal shows

up, and once everything
everything got explained to her

about how we wound up there,
she agreed, "yeah. You know"

what? Let me run down, explain
all this to you. I don't have a

"problem doing that." Just that
cooperation right from the

beginning sent a very clear
message to us. So when she

comes into homicide, sergeant
Harris talked to her. He felt

very quickly that she wasn't
involved in this. Brian was

like, "her voice is just too
raspy. It just doesn't quite"

"match up." When Brian asked her
about, you know, how she came

into all of this money and was
able to pay off all of her debt

all of a sudden, she said, "oh,
well, I sold my car." And he

said, "what do you mean?" And
she was able to produce the

documentation, the bill of sale
and everything. We can tell

when someone's lying to us most
of the time, very quickly. We

can also tell when they're
being very truthful. Brian just

felt right away, this isn't our
girl, period. Once crystal

Jones is eliminated as a
suspect, it's very late at

night. Everybody's worn out.
There's really not much more we

can do at the moment. All of
our physical evidence is tied

up at the crime labs. We come
back in the next morning, and

we get a phone call from our
firearms lab. Typically, from a

firearms report, we may get
between eight to fifteen

firearms that these shell
casings could have come from.

But Kim downs came downstairs,
and for the first time since

I've known her, she's ecstatic.
There is, I don't know, four or

five of us standing around. She
says, "you're looking for a"

cobra 380. She even shows us a
picture of it. She says, "I'm"

not saying it's this number of
firearms. This is the gun

you're looking for. That was a
game‐changer. Our crime analyst

starts doing the research on
stolen firearms. Well, there

were two reports that were
located, and one of them

mentions two suspects by name.
Turns out, this gentleman had

allowed these two folks to stay
with him, and they stole a

pistol from him. He names them
as Chaz blackshear and Danielle

Hudson. Immediately, we started
doing the research on those two

folks, and we noticed that he
has an arrest, a prior arrest.

So every arrested that occurs
in Houston, the arrestee is

assigned an hpd number. And lo
and behold, if we don't find

pictures of them. They resemble
what we see in the video,

especially with Danielle. Phil
calls somebody in our

fingerprint lab, and the
information he was trying to

tell the fingerprint person is,
"hey, I've got an hpd number I

need you to compare this to."
He didn't even mention the

name. He said, "don't tell me
it's Chaz blackshear." Phil,

literally, I think he came
close to dropping the phone.

All of that took place
literally in a matter of ten

minutes, fifteen minutes. Just
boom, boom, boom, boom. The

gentleman that listed his
pistol, he was friends with

Chaz. He had his cellphone
number and he listed it on the

police report. Now we have
enough evidence against Chaz to

be able to get a warrant for
his arrest. Once the marshals

were able to get the court
order and activate the phone

search, it literally took us
right back to the same

apartment complex that we had
been to before.

My name is Chaz blackshear.
I'm from Dallas, Texas. As a

child, I went through a lot of
emotional roller coasters. My

mother being in jail. That's my
first memory. I used to get

letters, drawings from her. I
know my real father, but I only

stayed with him for a short
amount of time. It was in

Arizona. I left him up there
because, you know, he used to

put his hands on me, busted my
nose and all that. Not too long,

got to live with my mom, got
out of jail. Within probably a

couple of months, maybe, she
had met this dude named John.

He was different, man. He
actually showed up, made me do

my homework, made me, you know
what I'm saying, do things that

counted in life, and he was
that father that I wanted. He

had a motorcycle. You know what
I'm saying? He loved to ride

the bikes. And I'd hop on the
bike with him. He rode off, and

he never came back. I remember
the police came, the police

came knocking at our door
probably around 10:00, 11:00 at

night. So I watched her open
the door, see what's going on,

till they put their hands on my
mama. And I just heard her

busting out crying. And he had
had a wreck on the bike, and

the wreck killed him. He flew
off the highway or something. I

don't know. In a way, I feel
like everything was snatched

from me, the little family that
I had. After he died, my mama

went back on the drugs. I seen
my mother o. D. One night. She

was foaming at the mouth,
couldn't stop shaking, and I

was scared. I ended up moving
in with some cousins. So I

ended up staying there with my
adoptive father and my adoptive

mother. They wouldn't let me do
certain things that I was used

to being allowed to do, and
that was one of the reasons

that I really rebelled a lot as
a child because I couldn't get

my way. Lot of times, I was
craving, like ‐‐ man, I was

caught up in suicide at an
early age. Music was my passion,

my goal, and my dream back then,
you know. That put all my

emotions, everything I been
through in life, I put it in my

music. And that's ‐‐ that's one
of the things that I know that

I'm blessed at and I'm gifted
at and a thing I can breathe in,

you know? I could ‐‐ I could do
it for the rest of my life as a

career and be happy doing it.
Not just doing it for the

popularity or the money. Nobody
supported me through what I

wanted. It was always what
somebody else wanted, what they

think is right, what they
believed in. They told me, "go

to college, go to the military,
get you a job. You got to do

"something." and none of it
involved music. So basically, I

ended up joining the military
just so I can get out the house,

so I can get away, just get
away. If things wasn't gonna

get better, I was gonna force
them to get better. Danielle,

she was one of the first people
who believed in me. She really

showed me something that I
never really seen out of a

woman. She wanted the same
thing I wanted. She was raised

by her granny and everything,
too, so we kind of had similar

backgrounds. We just kind of
built that trust, you know,

'cause we both been through
something. And then after a

while, you know what I'm saying,
she started staying there with

me, and I guess that's when
everything kicked off. She just

so happened to have a child,
and I knew that his father

wasn't really in his life. I
could see her son really looked

up to me, always wanted to be
around me. That made me hold on

to her tighter, you know, 'cause
that's how I felt, that he

needed a father. You know, I
didn't want them to feel the

same way that I felt back when
I lost John. And I was willing

to do anything to make sure
that don't happen. I really had

tried to stop hustling and, you
know, and actually go out and

get a real job'cause I don't
want nothing to take me away

from my family. And it was hard
to get a job. You know, I

couldn't get one, I couldn't
find one'cause I was

dishonorably discharged from
the military. We end up getting

kicked out of the apartment,
and they had put the eviction

notice on the door. The next
day, we had to go. I had to

take care of them. I figured it
was my responsibility. I felt

if I didn't do nothing, I
wasn't a man. The first thing

that came to mind was quick
money, and I was desperate for

it. I'm pretty sure anybody,
for their family, would do

anything they have to to make
sure their family was okay. I'm

not gonna lie. I probably
wasn't mature enough to see I

could have found a better way.
I had never forgot. I was

laying on the floor. She was
sitting up. And I was asleep. I

was sleeping so hard, I didn't
even hear them kick the door

in. I didn't even hear it. I
don't know if it was from the

stress or being depressed. I
don't know what it was. I was

actually in a dead sleep. She
shook me and woke me up. I said,

"what's up? "She said, "man,
the police are here." And they

took me in. But I could have
took that. But with her, when

they took her in ‐‐ you know,
aj was still there. Man, it's

stuff I didn't want him to see,
man.

My name is Caroline dozier.
I'm a prosecutor at the Harris

county district attorney's
office, and I was the lead

prosecutor in the Chaz
blackshear and Danielle Hudson

capital murder cases. My very
first involvement with this

case was when sergeant Harris
and detective waters came to my

office and talked to me about
picking up this case. A cab

driver had been murdered, and
they wanted my help. There were

two very good leads that led us
to Chaz blackshear specifically

and then ultimately Danielle
Hudson, as well. One of which

was the link between the two
cases, the shell casings. They

were found to be fired from a
very unique type of gun. In

addition to that, they took
fingerprints off of the cab,

and they were able to match one
of the prints to Chaz

blackshear. We knew that Chaz
blackshear had a phone and we

were in contact with the phone
company about his service. It

was a prepaid phone, and it was
running low on minutes. And so

in a ruse, they told the phone
company to call him and let him

know that they were giving him
additional minutes so that we

could keep tabs on where he
might be. Chaz blackshear and

Danielle Hudson were staying at
a family member's home. I

believe it was a cousin's home.
And so we wrote warrants for

Chaz blackshear. We didn't
believe that we had enough at

that time to write one for
Danielle Hudson. They found

Chaz and Danielle both at the
home. I believe they were

sleeping on an air mattress.
There was something about the

shape of danielle's hair or her
head that was familiar. When

they saw her, she looked
basically like the person who

was in the video of the two
suspects running away from the

taxicab. The other thing that
the officers found familiar

about Danielle was the sound of
her voice. They had listened to

the recordings of the phone
calls being made to the cab

companies. And when they talked
to her, they noticed that her

voice sounded very similar to,
if not the same, as the person

who'd made those phone calls.
They arrested Chaz on the

warrant. And then they asked
Danielle Hudson if she wouldn't

mind coming down to the police
station and giving a statement,

and she agreed to do so. The
detectives decided they first

wanted to speak with Chaz
blackshear and see what he

would admit to regarding the
crimes. He said that he had

taken cabs. He might have even
been in the cabs of the

murdered drivers, but that he
was not involved in any way,

shape, or form in those murders.

Chaz. Chaz, listen to me, my
friend. I know where you went

because I've got it on
videotape with three different

angles. I know where Danielle
went. I know where she walked

to. I know when she walked
back. I know when you got out

of the cab. I know when you
walked around the cab. I know

when you walked up to the
driver of the cab. And I know

what you did when you got to
the driver because I've got it

on videotape.
I never, well, that's not

true. That couldn't have been
us. That's not true.

Detective waters was trying
to get Chaz to confess to his

involvement in these crimes,
but was unsuccessful initially.

And the one ace in the hole
that we had was Danielle

Hudson. We still had an
opportunity to talk to her and

try and find out the crime from
her and then maybe use what she

told us to get Chaz to tell us
the truth. Brian Harris showed

her the footage from the crime
scene and pointed out the

similarities between her and
the female on the surveillance

footage. And she admitted at
that point that that was in

fact her. That was a huge break
in the case for us. We already

had some evidence that tied
them to this particular case,

but now that we know that she's
admitting to being the person

on that video, now we know that
those two are probably our best

suspects. Danielle seemed to
think that because she wasn't

the actual shooter, that
somehow she would play no part

in this particular crime, and
she was pretty quick in ratting

out Chaz.
He cocked the gun, and

that's when the cab driver
opened the door. I tried to

take off the seatbelt to run,
and that's when he just started

shooting him. He just told me,
he said that we'll call the cab

and that he was just gonna Jack
the man. I didn't know that he

was going to kill the man. I
did not know that.

Okay.
Danielle Hudson claimed that

she was driving the cab and
that she heard Chaz having a

conversation with Mr. El sayed.
At that point, she just thought

they were gonna Rob him.
Mohammad was saying, "please"

don't kill me. I have kids."
And Chaz said, "well, how old

are your kids? "And once he
told them how old they were",

Chaz was basically like, "well,
that's old enough," and shot

him. The children were like
maybe 6 years old. That was old

enough in his mind. And when
the gun went off, she claimed

she was surprised, although she
then helped pull the body out

of the car and kick him down
into the culvert. From

danielle's perspective, I think
she wanted the police to

believe that they were only
gonna use the gun to scare

people and get money. She did
not want the police believing

that she knew that the murders
would happen beforehand. As she

said in the interview, this was
the beginning of his life of

crime and that maybe he enjoyed
it a little bit. Danielle

claims that Chaz told her,
"don't worry about it. If we

ever get caught, " and that's a
big if in his mind, "if we ever

get caught, I'll take full
responsibility and you won't

"have any blame in this
whatsoever."

Two cab drivers murdered
within 48 hours of each other.

The tension in the city with
these reports coming out, it

was very real. And now we
finally have two suspects that

have been arrested. And the
city of Houston, you could

almost sense a sigh of relief.
Chaz blackshear and Danielle

Hudson were now looking at two
counts of first‐degree murder.

During the interview with
Danielle, my partner's in the

other room with Chaz, and
they've been talking for a long

time, and he was a pretty cool
character. He wasn't giving an

inch.
Detective waters told Chaz,

you know, "danielle's talking
to us. She's telling us what"

happened. She's telling us that
you were involved and that you

"are the shooter in both of
those cases." And Chaz wouldn't

bite. He didn't believe that
she was telling them. He said,

"that's not the truth."
Sergeant Harris had Danielle

write a note, like, "you
promised me you'd take"

responsibility."
he looks at that note, and

it doesn't break him. He looks
at it, and he says, "she didn't"

write this. There's no spelling
mistakes. She's not that

"smart." still not breaking. We
bring in the photographs, and

on one of the photographs,
Danielle has circled Chaz and

she writes in her own
handwriting, "my ex‐boyfriend."

He's surprised. And then
finally, as a result of seeing

more and more of these
photographs that she has signed

off on, he then agrees to tell
the full story to my partner.

Chaz blackshear said he
would tell the police

everything, but not until he
had a chance to talk to

Danielle. "I want to see her."
If you let me see her, I'll

tell you whatever you want to
know. "We said," well, we don't

‐‐ we're not gonna put her in
the room first. Tell us first,

"and then we'll see what we can
do." And he does. He describes

in detail what he did. The
actual, quote, confession

itself is probably less than
five to seven minutes. What

happens next is pretty
incredible.

The detectives were true to
their word. After Chaz

confessed and told them what
had happened in the crimes,

they allowed Danielle to be in
the same room with Chaz. You

could see what their
relationship was like, and

there was no fear on danielle's
face. As a matter of fact,

instead of sitting in a chair
across the table from him, she

went right up to him and sat in
his lap.

Her arms are curled around
his head, like almost massaging

his ears and scratching his
head and saying, "well, you"

told me that you would do this
and that you would take

"responsibility because I have
my son."

When they let her come talk
to me, I told her then, you

know what I'm saying, "I got
you. Put it on me. But you got"

to do the same. It's the only
way you can get out of it."

He then asked her, "are you
going to jail?" And she

doesn't know at that point,
because in our interview, I

said, "I don't know if you're
going to be charged." Basically,

depends on what she says.
Do you hate me?

No. That's why, that's why I
confessed to it. If I hated you,

I wouldn't have did it.
Criminals normally aren't

very smart, and so the fact
that the two of them were

together and they spoke so
openly talking about the case,

who was gonna take the blame,
they must been shocked when

they realize that the police
were listening to every word.

Once we had the confessions
from Chaz and Danielle, we then

filed formal charges of capital
murder against them for both of

the cab drivers.
Just because she didn't

shoot the victims, just because
she wasn't the one actually

pulling the trigger doesn't
mean that she was gonna get off

completely scot‐free.
In the end, both Chaz

blackshear and Danielle Hudson
plead guilty.

She was allowed to plead
guilty to a lesser included

offense. The state chose to
seek the death penalty against

Chaz blackshear because we
thought the cases were

cold‐blooded enough, and we
thought a jury would return a

verdict of death.
Danielle Hudson gets

sentenced to 40 years, 40 years
in Texas, department of

corrections ‐‐ tdc. Chaz
blackshear, he also pleads

guilty.
My lawyer at the time didn't

understand. At the time, they
were trying to get me the death

penalty, you know? And I wasn't
trying to fight it. And I

really didn't care about it.
Long as they got off, then I

was good no matter what, you
know, what I'm saying? Whether

it's death, whether it's life,
whether it's freedom. I put

them before myself and that's
what a family man does.

Chaz, he takes a life
sentence without the

possibility of parole. He will
die behind bars in tdc.

I would say that Chaz
blackshear and Danielle Hudson

were both just cold‐blooded
killers. They really don't care

about anybody who isn't part of
their immediate family or their

inner circle. The cab drivers
that they killed were nothing

and nobody to them.
Danielle had a child. And so

potentially the motive behind
this was maybe they were trying

to provide for the child. And
then it just kind of spiraled

out of control.
Would they have gone on to

kill again? I'm convinced of
it. How many more dead bodies

would there have been? Who
knows? I was very grateful to

see that they were stopped
before we could find that

answer out. In either case,
society lost two people who

were family men, who loved
their children, who needed to

be treated with dignity in life,
and certainly were not treated

with dignity in death by these
two crooks.