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at netsuite.com/podcast 25. Tonight

1:02

on Dateline. I

1:04

was a victim of lies

1:06

and manipulation for far too

1:09

long. It was hard.

1:11

It was really hard. I'm

1:14

not a victim. I'm a

1:16

survivor. As

1:19

we go in the front door, John

1:21

is lying on a sofa, gun shot

1:23

wound to the forehead. He

1:26

was a firefighter. He had everything in the

1:28

world going for him. They

1:30

took my pride and joy from me. My

1:33

son gets murdered for what? The

1:36

person that called was Jennifer McKay. She had

1:38

been dating with John. Turns

1:40

out that she had a previous relationship. I

1:43

thought he was divorced, or he was not

1:45

a previous. Infidelity married

1:47

people. This could be a classic

1:49

ingredient in a homicide. Correct. I

1:52

just said, like, stay away from my husband.

1:54

My life has already been flipped upside down.

1:57

You got an absolute prime piece of evidence.

2:00

Surveillance footage from next

2:02

door. This camera captured

2:04

the intruder, the killer. It

2:08

was just unfathomable. Jealousy

2:10

and lies. Adultery and

2:12

obsession. Who shot the

2:14

firefighter? I'm Lester Holt.

2:16

This is Dateline. Here's

2:27

Dennis Murphy with the

2:29

killer on camera 4. Amazing

2:45

grace. The

2:49

bagpiper's mournful lament for fallen

2:51

firefighters. It's

2:54

the way a brotherhood says farewell to one of

2:56

its own. But

3:04

this firefighter didn't fall amid the smoke

3:06

and ashes. His

3:10

death was deliberate. He

3:12

had everything in the world going for him. I

3:16

just lost it. My

3:18

only child. And

3:23

I lost him. A

3:30

Baltimore firefighter gone too soon. And

3:33

the haunting question, who would kill

3:35

a man so dedicated to saving lives?

3:46

Thursday, November 30, 2017. Early

3:49

afternoon. Have a check to well-being when you're

3:52

ready. 1808 East Pratt. 1808

3:54

East Pratt first floor. A

3:56

routine request to the Baltimore police for a

3:59

wellness check. John

4:01

Hickley, 31 years of age, has

4:03

not been heard of since Monday night. His car has

4:05

not moved either. A police

4:07

officer wearing a bodycam arrived to find

4:10

one Jennifer McKay on the scene. Her

4:13

boyfriend hadn't shown up for a date the day

4:16

before, and she hadn't heard from him since. She

4:18

was distressed. This wasn't like him. And

4:21

you obviously posted to be like, hey, are

4:23

you around? Yeah, I had a Facebook message

4:25

in my phone. First

4:28

responders arrived. The landlord said

4:30

that he'd open the door. So

4:33

we'll just see what we see. They

4:36

would discover a terrible scene. Veteran

4:43

Detective Val Vaughan and her partner Detective Ryan

4:45

O'Connor got there on the double. Let's do

4:47

this. Don't go on and take a look.

4:51

I'll follow you. The

4:54

boyfriend, John Hickley, had moved to Upper

4:56

Fell's Point recently, the area regarded as

4:58

safe and quiet. John's

5:02

apartment was on the first floor. What

5:05

I remember most was it was dark. No

5:09

lights were on in there. As

5:11

we go in the front door, there's

5:14

a living room area right there, and

5:16

right there is where John is lying

5:20

on his sofa. And

5:22

he is deceased. John

5:26

Hickley, 31 years old, a

5:28

volunteer firefighter, photographer, and Jennifer

5:30

McKay's new guy. Dead

5:34

on the couch. Obvious

5:36

injury to him? Yes. He has

5:38

a gunshot wound to

5:41

the forehead. And

5:43

it looks like John has on t-shirts,

5:46

shorts, and he's lying on his back.

5:51

There's no other trauma that I could

5:53

see on John's body. Could it be

5:55

a suicide detective before you'd really

5:57

examine the scene? I

5:59

did. I didn't believe it was a suicide. I told you no.

6:02

The positioning of John's hand. They

6:04

were folded. You're not going to roll the body and find a weapon?

6:07

Yeah, I didn't think so. And

6:10

no, there was no weapon. No

6:12

weapon, but it appeared someone may have rifled through

6:14

his bedroom in the back of the apartment. When

6:17

I go back there, it looks like

6:19

the bed's repositioned. A

6:22

couple dresser drawers that are drawn open.

6:26

Maybe a botch robbery? It's

6:29

possible. On

6:33

closer inspection, detectives realized John had

6:35

some pricey equipment that hadn't been

6:37

touched. John was

6:39

into photography. All of his

6:41

photography equipment was still there. Good

6:43

stuff? Expensive. Yeah,

6:45

his computer, cell phone. So

6:48

a puzzling scene in

6:50

a case that quickly became a little extra

6:53

for Detective Long. I'm

6:56

invested in all of my cases. This

6:59

one extra

7:01

because he had no idea.

7:05

The one thing that came to my mind was,

7:08

my God, this kid was sleeping. And

7:15

a kid, a young guy. I called him a

7:18

kid because at the time he

7:20

was the same age as my son. So

7:22

yeah, I called him. He was a kid. And

7:25

now Val Vaughn, Baltimore detective and

7:27

a mother herself, had to

7:29

track down another mother and give

7:31

her the unbearable news. I

7:35

remember her just putting her hands up to

7:37

her face like, oh my God,

7:40

oh my God. I don't understand.

7:44

When she told me that he was murdered, I couldn't

7:48

believe it. Kim Hickey, John's

7:50

mom. I said, I just talked to

7:52

him not too long ago. And

7:55

she said, well, he was found

7:57

and shot. And

7:59

I just lost. Everything I mean.

8:01

They took my pride and joy

8:03

for me. I

8:08

got a phone call or

8:10

figures new. Jobs

8:12

Hickey is Kim's brother and a

8:14

volunteer firefighter himself. His nephew

8:17

Young John was name for him. Mother

8:19

and uncle went to John's apartments

8:22

still and shots in Greece and

8:24

utterly baffled. Firefighter.

8:26

You accept danger with every shift. Oh

8:28

and then to be shot to death

8:31

and your own home? Exactly it. It

8:33

just it didn't make sense. Or death

8:35

so sudden and brutal no one could

8:37

make sense of. had. Some

8:40

nice healthy for him as to. Who

8:42

would be? Pointing

8:44

that out would take genes look

8:47

his family down on dark path

8:49

revealing loans will secrets, A

8:59

stunning. Piece of evidence that's gonna be

9:02

huge lightbulb moment local we have era

9:04

of was that was one of those

9:06

moments where he say was. And

9:09

a wife confronted with a devastating

9:12

accusations. Against

9:30

Family First responders arrived at

9:32

John Higgins Baltimore apartment for

9:34

a wellness check. They met

9:36

Jennifer Mckay, John's new girlfriend.

9:38

She was worth six as

9:40

safe as. See.

9:44

John had been on a date earlier in the

9:46

week. Susan. Are

9:49

on Cctv then John when

9:51

silence. She waited while

9:53

responders went into the apartments were going

9:55

to have all. And

9:59

she's at the dentist. to lose while they're

10:01

on the spot. In order to resolve

10:04

this situation, hopefully we're going to need your

10:06

help. We're going to need to stick around,

10:08

okay? Hours later, Jennifer

10:10

sat down with detectives in this interview

10:12

room. How does it go down? I

10:15

think Jen was in shock to be here. At

10:17

that state of the investigation, Detective, what specific

10:19

questions did you have for her? Basically,

10:22

a sequence of events, a timeline. Okay, and

10:24

then a normal. The

10:26

timeline began some six weeks before,

10:28

when Jennifer McKay and John Hickey

10:30

met online, and then in person.

10:34

We're going to watch a hockey game. Are

10:36

y'all hitting the door fast today? We've kind of seen

10:38

each other almost every day since then. Who is she

10:40

turning out to be? Turns out

10:42

that she was trying to start a

10:44

new life with John. She appeared to be

10:47

happy, just a regular

10:50

boyfriend-girlfriend situation. Isn't

10:53

that no time that you all wear it together.

10:55

The relationship was pretty good. Tuesday

10:58

night, he left a cute little note in my purse for

11:00

me to find the next day, which was hard

11:04

to take because at the same time, he's not

11:06

knowing where he was and reading it. Was

11:09

there an understanding that you all were exclusive?

11:11

Yes. There is nobody

11:13

else, and he is what I wanted. John

11:17

seemed to feel the same way. Vaughn

11:19

and O'Connor learned that he spent Thanksgiving with

11:21

Jennifer and gushed about her to his mom,

11:23

Kim Hickey. You met her, what did you think

11:25

of her? I thought she was pretty nice.

11:28

We got along great. Do you think this was a serious

11:30

woman in his life? He said,

11:32

Mom, she loves everything I'm doing.

11:35

She's into the hockey and all this stuff

11:37

that I do and everything. And

11:39

I thought, okay, well, you know, it's

11:42

too soon, but I'll

11:44

just keep an eye and hope everything

11:46

works the right way for you. His

11:50

firefighter buddies heard about her too, and

11:52

they gave him a little good-natured grief about

11:54

love in blue. Hold on,

11:56

I meant... Ryan McDermott, John's mentor.

11:59

Scott... Amy, a volunteer who rode with

12:01

John and Uncle John

12:03

Hickey. He

12:07

was smitten, huh? No, he

12:09

was alone. He wasn't smitten. We talked about

12:12

that too when he posted, he changed his

12:14

status to in a relationship on Facebook. And

12:17

then Jen made the difference. Hey, he told everybody else before

12:19

he told me. But you

12:21

could just see he had butterflies. You just could see

12:23

it. He was a love. Things

12:27

were coming together for John in his professional

12:29

life too. He came from

12:31

generations of firefighters, began volunteering when he

12:33

was 21. His

12:35

home station was here, the Woodlawn

12:37

Volunteer Fire Company, Station 33. Did

12:41

he have it? What's he gonna make it? Well, you

12:43

don't know that till he hits that fire. But

12:46

when you hit that door, that's when

12:48

you know if you have a firefighter for you or not.

12:50

How did he do? He went through the door. He

12:53

went through the door and I'll say 90%

12:55

of firefighters probably can't make it through that door.

12:59

The detectives learned John was about to

13:01

become a full-time firefighter for the Baltimore

13:03

City Fire Department due to enter the

13:05

fire academy a few days after he

13:07

was killed. He

13:12

was so excited. He called me.

13:14

He said, mom, he says, I told you,

13:16

everything is falling into place. He says, I

13:18

got my house. I just got accepted to

13:21

say fire department. Everything

13:23

is coming together. And I

13:25

found the person I love. Now

13:28

John's new love, Jennifer McKay, was

13:30

sitting in a police interview room

13:32

and she was about to shed some light on

13:34

his mysterious death. In the

13:37

weeks before John was killed, she said

13:39

strange things started happening. We

13:42

happened getting harassing phone calls. Now what

13:44

did they say? Well,

13:46

they said the first round was to

13:49

John about me. So

13:52

they was calling John? They were calling

13:54

and texting John first, saying, like, this girl's

13:56

bad news. You need to look out for

13:58

her. She'll ruin your life. I

14:01

know I was doing as the numbers are still. Good!

14:05

A week before John was killed,

14:07

his dogs border collie named Chance

14:10

suddenly died. Was

14:13

the dog was is in a or that was his

14:15

world? System beautiful dogs also

14:17

human a day he was in tears

14:19

and yeah when a dog or to

14:21

feel he came on the sound of

14:23

of then. Is it all

14:25

Started getting sick All a sudden the dogs in

14:28

perfect health and was in a we assume he

14:30

was pointed. It

14:33

was never any proof of that. But

14:36

then something happened that was potentially deadly.

14:38

The breaks in jeans car were tampered

14:40

with. It was cut

14:42

which would eliminate surprise completely Was the flu

14:44

and ran out. Your.

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15:50

five. John

16:01

Hickey's family was reeling over his murder.

16:04

As far as they knew, he didn't have an enemy

16:06

in the world. I didn't know anybody

16:08

that was really angry with him. That's

16:11

why I couldn't figure out how come, you

16:13

know, my son gets murdered. For

16:15

what? He was just that person

16:17

that would... he was always

16:19

giving. Always giving. You know? And it

16:22

was him. No matter what it was.

16:26

But it seems someone had targeted the young firefighter

16:28

in the weeks before he died. John

16:30

was getting harassing calls. The dog

16:32

he adored died suddenly. And

16:35

then the most chilling thing of all. At the

16:37

end of a weekend at his girlfriend's home at

16:39

Hour North of Baltimore. And

16:41

when John went to

16:43

leave Monday morning, there

16:46

was something weird going on with his

16:48

vehicle. Like his brakes weren't

16:50

working correctly. Since John

16:53

knows cars, he immediately,

16:55

when he started his car, put the foot on the

16:57

brake. And knew there was no pressure

16:59

and knew there was a problem. John

17:02

Hickey knew his way around a car. He

17:04

made his living as a mechanic. John

17:06

was mechanically inclined. And his buddy

17:09

Scott Amy owns an auto body shop. When

17:11

John showed Scott what had happened, Scott

17:14

was sure someone had deliberately tampered with

17:16

the rubber brake line. No

17:18

doubt in my mind that this

17:21

was a cut brake line. Whether it was a pair of scissors

17:23

or a knife. It was cut

17:25

which would eliminate your brakes completely once the fluid

17:27

ran out. Which meant if he

17:29

tried to drive the vehicle it would end up in wreck, huh? Correct. What

17:32

does that tell you? Something's going on with this guy. It

17:35

appears that someone is out for Mr.

17:37

Hickey. Did you think there was a

17:39

straight line to him being a victim dead on his

17:41

couch of a gunshot? It seemed like a series of

17:43

events were starting to add up to what ultimately ended

17:46

up being his death. But

17:49

how to find whoever was behind those events? Were

17:51

they even connected to John's murder? They couldn't rule

17:53

that out. In

17:55

the police interview room the detectives probed Jennifer

17:57

McKay, looking for leads. I

18:01

appreciate you coming along the way

18:03

with us. We're still early in

18:05

the investigation. Just

18:07

trying to figure out who will want to hurt John. There's

18:10

too much weird stuff going on and I

18:12

don't know what's

18:15

going on. I don't know how

18:17

it's connected. It

18:19

would be up to Vaughn and O'Connor to

18:21

connect the dots. They were wondering exactly how

18:24

John's new girlfriend fit into the picture. You

18:27

don't suspect her or you can't go that far at this point? At

18:29

that point, I don't suspect. I don't.

18:32

We had nothing that tied

18:34

her to the death of John Hickey. But

18:36

keep in mind also that when

18:38

we're speaking with her at that

18:41

moment, remember the

18:43

case is unwinding. We're gathering

18:45

information as we're going along. The

18:48

detectives continue to gather information from the crime

18:50

scene as well, focusing on how the killer

18:52

may have entered John's apartment. There

18:55

is a rear door open. First

18:57

responders found the front door locked and bolted,

19:00

so it looked as though the killer got in

19:02

from the back of the apartment, accessed by this

19:04

narrow passage. Detective, you really

19:06

got to scope these buildings out to figure out what's

19:09

back here and how you find where you're going. Yes,

19:11

you do. Definitely do. And have to watch your

19:14

steps. The

19:16

passage leads here. So

19:19

where are we now? We're behind John's house.

19:21

This is his apartment. When

19:24

detectives surveilled the back alley, they saw

19:26

this. And lo and

19:28

behold, there's a camera looking

19:31

dead at us, picture perfect. The

19:33

camera was mounted on the neighbor's house pointed

19:35

at John's back door. Is

19:38

that where you'd want to place the camera? From what

19:40

you're looking for? Absolutely. I

19:42

couldn't ask for anything better than that right there.

19:44

For this case, it was perfect. That was it.

19:46

Picture perfect. Picture perfect. A TV

19:49

director himself would have put it in that same place.

19:51

Right there. But accessing the

19:53

camera wasn't going to be simple. This

19:56

is a citizen's camera. It's his property. It's

19:58

not a city. So

20:00

we have to make efforts to contact

20:02

the owner of the camera and get

20:04

permission to get the camera itself so

20:06

we can pull in the footage and

20:09

review it. The

20:11

million dollar question, what's it

20:13

even running on the night of the murder? Sometimes

20:18

we get lucky. And

20:21

this was one of those times. The camera

20:23

was running that night. With fingers

20:25

crossed, the detective sent it off to the

20:27

crime lab to download the footage. And

20:30

they turned their attention back to the

20:33

scene and another promising lead, something lying

20:35

in plain sight, a document

20:37

belonging to a stranger. So

20:39

in the front room, we've got a man shot through

20:41

the forehead. Correct. And in the back room,

20:43

we've got a passport. Correct. Who is

20:45

this person? Is this your killer who

20:48

may have inadvertently left this ID behind? It's

21:04

a suspicious house. It appears to be a gunshot

21:06

wound to the head. Baltimore police

21:08

were investigating the death of a volunteer

21:11

firefighter, John Hickey, discovered dead on his

21:13

couch. No signs of a struggle. John's

21:19

station house buddies were still trying to wrap their

21:21

brains around it. I mean, all of you know

21:23

you may not come back from a given shift.

21:26

If something goes wrong. But that's

21:28

not what this thing was. No. And

21:31

we could accept it if it didn't. Yeah, it would

21:33

be a different story if he died in a fire.

21:35

We'd still be terrible. Terrible thing to do, but. Guy

21:37

sleeping on his couch gets a bullet between the eyes.

21:39

He's taking it much more innocent. Sleeping.

21:42

I mean, it's just devastating. It

21:45

was horrible. It was a

21:47

scene that haunted even a seasoned detective like

21:49

Ryan O'Connor. Something I always remember

21:51

is his slippers were perfectly lined

21:53

up right in front of the couch where

21:55

he was laying. It

21:58

was literally like he took his slippers off. And

22:01

then it was going to lay down and watch TV. He

22:05

had everything in the world going for him. Everything.

22:08

He was nice looking. He was young. He

22:11

was energetic. He had the

22:13

world at his fingertip. The

22:15

detectives were working several intriguing leads, but

22:18

so far they hadn't caught any big

22:20

breaks. We didn't have a witness. The

22:23

witness is the most key thing that

22:25

you could possibly have in an investigation.

22:28

It was basically, unfortunately,

22:31

a dead person inside of a house and

22:33

no witness to tell us the story behind it.

22:36

You wish the neighbors heard something they didn't? Yes. Do

22:39

you wish the crime scene techs had come up with something they didn't? Fingerprint,

22:43

DNA, something that says we're in the

22:45

right bone park. Cancel your vacation, huh?

22:48

It's going to be a long one. They

22:50

knew one thing. The scene in John's

22:53

bedroom looked fake, as if someone wanted it

22:55

to look like a robbery. But

22:57

nothing was taken. It

22:59

looks like it was tossed, but it

23:02

looks staged. Someone wants me, the detective,

23:04

to think that this was a murder.

23:06

It looks staged. John's

23:08

photography equipment wasn't even touched, and

23:11

it was high-end gear. John

23:14

was a passionate photographer, earning money from his

23:16

pictures, posting videos of himself

23:18

on YouTube, prowling around

23:20

camera in hand. One

23:23

time, he finacled his way into this old

23:25

building down by Baltimore's docks. Somehow

23:28

he sweet talks the guard to get through the gate.

23:32

And he's in this abandoned building, and

23:35

he gets his picture of this amazing life. It

23:39

has to be 100 years old or something. It

23:44

was a hobby that sometimes took him into dark

23:46

corners of the city. He

23:48

loved the city. He would

23:50

go all over the place in the city. Yeah,

23:54

all hours in the night. He'd go into places where

23:57

you and I not necessarily would want to be. But

24:00

he had no fear. Did

24:03

a nighttime encounter in one of those abandoned

24:05

buildings come back to haunt him? Or

24:08

was it someone closer to home? The

24:11

detectives had discovered something at the crime

24:13

scene. A clue, perhaps, almost staring them

24:15

in the face. A passport

24:17

belonging to a man no one seemed to

24:19

know. A guy named Brandon. So

24:23

in the front room we've got a man shot through the forehead. Correct.

24:26

And in the back room we've got a passport. Are

24:28

these things related? That's what you're wondering, I guess,

24:31

as a detective. Correct. Who is this person? Is

24:33

this your killer who may have inadvertently

24:35

left this ID behind? So the frenzy of

24:38

fleeing the place somehow lost his passport. Yeah.

24:41

So that was definitely part of the investigation that

24:43

we had to track down and run out that

24:45

lead. And that's what

24:47

they did. Track down Brandon and interviewed

24:49

him. You

24:52

have a passport, Bill.

24:54

Do you know what happened to your passport?

24:57

Brandon told them he couldn't remember because

24:59

he'd been in a coma following a

25:01

nasty motorcycle accident the year before. Literally,

25:05

I broke every single bone of my body. All

25:08

my ribs, my legs, my pelvis

25:10

shattered, my arms, my

25:13

neck. Okay. Brain injury.

25:16

So I literally died on the scene three

25:18

times. He had a traumatic

25:20

brain injury and he said there

25:22

were a lot of things he didn't recall. He

25:25

did not know who John Hickey was and

25:28

he believed that he lost his passport at

25:30

some point. Not sure where,

25:32

how, or when. How

25:35

Brandon's passport got into the apartment

25:37

remained a mystery. When

25:40

detectives asked Jennifer McKay about it, she said

25:42

she'd never heard of him. Do

25:45

you know anyone named Brandon? No.

25:49

I mean, I know people named her Andon. My family's supposed to

25:51

be with John, right? I'm

25:54

not. But

25:56

there was someone else Jennifer mentioned to detectives

25:58

that caught their attention. She

26:01

said she called a man right before she

26:03

asked for that wellness check on John. You

26:05

talked to him today? I did talk

26:07

to him. What time? I've

26:09

been talking to him since all this has been going

26:12

on. It was weird. It was

26:15

odd at best. I didn't understand

26:17

it. Freeze

26:33

it! Home! One

26:37

week after John Hickey's murder, friends

26:39

and family gathered to bid him a

26:42

final goodbye. It

26:45

was a huge procession for his funeral. Flying

26:48

flies, we had bagpipes, we had

26:51

seal blue. Firefighters

26:56

go before us and create what we have

26:58

today. They better

27:00

us by what they've done in the past. John

27:03

better us by what he did. May

27:05

he rest now forever in God's

27:08

peace. Amen. Hey!

27:12

John, you never got him out of the fire academy. Yeah.

27:17

It's tough. Yeah,

27:22

he was the one to carry it on. He

27:24

was. I didn't

27:27

have a son to carry it on with. And

27:30

he was kind of like a son to me. I

27:38

miss him. Detectives

27:41

believed whoever killed John Hickey might

27:43

somehow be connected to his new

27:45

girlfriend, Jennifer McKay. After

27:47

all, Jennifer was the subject of those harassing

27:50

phone calls John had received, and

27:52

John's breaks were tampered with while he was staying

27:54

at her house. So

27:57

detectives took a closer look at something Jennifer said

27:59

during the murder. her interview, something about

28:01

a call she made moments before asking police

28:03

to check on John. The

28:09

call was to a Daniel Green. She

28:12

told detectives she called him for advice on

28:14

how to request that wellness check. So

28:16

who was Daniel Green? How

28:29

did she describe her relationship with this guy

28:31

Daniel Green? She basically said they

28:34

were friends. Detectives

28:36

dug into Jennifer McKay and Daniel Green's

28:38

relationship and went back in time, years

28:41

before the murder. Daniel was

28:43

a firefighter, part of the brotherhood just like

28:45

John. But

28:48

Daniel served for a company in the suburbs

28:50

about an hour outside Baltimore. You

28:53

do a little background check on him. You coming up

28:55

with anything? What do the computers tell you? He

28:57

has no criminal arrest record. He

29:00

seems to be by all accounts a

29:03

loyal son, the great

29:05

father. And

29:07

detectives learned Daniel was married to

29:09

another Jennifer. She goes

29:11

by Jen. The two met in a bar back

29:13

in 2006. And

29:15

how was this guy? You just met him?

29:17

He was, you know, nice, charismatic, funny. We had

29:20

similar interests. We were both raised in the church,

29:22

you know, so that just kind of drew me

29:24

to him. A

29:26

stay-at-home mom and freelance travel agent

29:28

liked that Daniel was a well-respected

29:31

firefighter. He was very proud to

29:33

be a firefighter. He seemed to love it. Good day,

29:35

you saved somebody's life. Yeah, for sure. Most

29:38

important of all, Daniel doted on Jen's

29:40

daughter Kayla from a previous marriage. Did

29:42

she like him? She did. She

29:44

liked him a lot. They were very close. So close

29:47

that when Jen and Daniel decided to tie the

29:49

knot, he made sure Kayla took

29:51

center stage at their wedding. After

29:53

we did our vows, he read something to Kayla and

29:55

gave her a ring and was like promising to take

29:57

care of her and be there for her. So

30:00

it was like a whole thing. Words that you were happy

30:02

to hear. Yeah, very much so. Daniel

30:04

and Jen went on to have a child

30:06

of their own, baby Madeline Grace. He

30:09

was a very dedicated and devoted dad, very

30:11

present for both kids. So you thought

30:13

you made a good choice as a good guy? I did, I really did. But

30:17

things began to change in 2009 when

30:19

Daniel suffered a serious injury on the job.

30:22

While fighting a fire, he inhaled

30:25

hazardous gases that damaged his lungs.

30:28

And then he started with like a really

30:30

bad cough, difficulty breathing. Anytime

30:32

he got a cold or anything like that,

30:34

it was full-blown respiratory issues. In

30:37

June of 2013, Daniel

30:39

was medically retired from the job. How

30:43

did he deal with that? I mean, he's hanging up

30:45

this career that he's so invested in. Terribly. You

30:47

could see that he just didn't really know how

30:50

to deal with the loss of this career. He

30:52

was not the same person after that. The

30:55

job loss took a toll on their marriage as well.

30:58

The tides were turning with us and there's tension in our

31:00

marriage and what are you gonna do? How are we gonna

31:02

pay our bills? Jen said

31:04

Daniel slowly grew more distant. I

31:07

noticed that he wasn't really

31:09

accepting advances for me anymore. And as a

31:11

woman, you kind of were like, there

31:14

aren't many men that are gonna turn it down. That's

31:17

just how men are. So I kind

31:19

of put two and two together that, you know,

31:21

he has to be getting this from somewhere else.

31:25

Then four months after Daniel

31:27

retired, Jen discovered gut-wrenching proof

31:29

Daniel was having an affair. How'd

31:32

you know that he was messing around? It was

31:34

all over our phone bill. Thousands of text messages

31:36

to his mistress. Did you know who she was?

31:39

I did. I called the number and

31:41

she picked up and I knew her voice. Turns

31:44

out the two women ran in the same

31:46

social circles and she knew you.

31:48

She knew who I was. She knew who his wife was.

31:50

She knew who his kids were. She, yeah, she knew who

31:53

his family was for sure. Who is this person?

31:55

Who is the other woman? Jen McKay

31:57

is her name. Daniel's

32:00

longtime friend, the same woman who

32:03

would later start dating John Hickey,

32:05

and who'd call police asking them to check on

32:07

him. During

32:09

their investigation, detectives learned about the affair

32:12

too, from Jennifer McCay

32:14

herself. How long were

32:16

you guys together? You and Daniel?

32:19

Like, officially two years. There's

32:23

about another two or three years where it

32:26

was, I'll be honest, it was a straight

32:29

affair. Did you know Detective that he was a married guy? Yeah.

32:33

But what did all of this have to do with

32:35

John Hickey's murder? Detectives were

32:37

determined to find out. After all,

32:40

affairs of the heart can be messy, and

32:43

Cupid's arrow can be deadly. I

32:45

mean, the common denominator is Miss

32:47

McCay. She seems to be

32:50

the linchpin for whatever

32:52

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more at netsuite.com/podcast25. Firefighters

34:09

subscribe to the adage where there's

34:11

smoke, there's fire. Homicide

34:14

detectives have one too. Where

34:17

there's murder, there's often infidelity. I'm

34:20

thinking this could be a classic ingredient

34:23

in homicide. Correct. Infidelity,

34:25

married people. Domestic related. Do you do that

34:27

same kind of math? Detectives

34:30

Vaughn and O'Connor learned that four years

34:32

before Jennifer McKay started dating John Hickey,

34:35

she began having an affair with the

34:37

very married Daniel Green. Jen

34:39

how hurtful was this infidelity?

34:42

Oh it was... Put some words to

34:44

it. It was horrible. It was just,

34:46

you know, you wonder where did

34:48

I go wrong. I finally confronted him

34:50

and you know said, hey

34:53

what's going on here? And he's like, we're just

34:55

friends. I'm like, I have a lot of

34:57

friends and we don't text message thousands, like 1500

34:59

a month text messages between

35:01

them. You know I was like, look we

35:03

can go to counseling, we can talk about

35:05

what's going on. And he was

35:07

like, no, no, no, there's nothing wrong. I'm going to stop

35:10

talking to her. I've stopped talking to

35:12

her. It's all over, it's done. And it's not on

35:14

my phone anymore, you know, on our phone bill. So

35:16

I'm like, okay. Helping

35:19

matters, Daniel by now had landed

35:21

a great new job teaching military

35:23

personnel how to use firefighting equipment.

35:26

And that required travel to different army bases. It seemed

35:28

to be a good fit for his home site. Totally.

35:32

But the smoldering embers of an illicit affair

35:34

can be hard to extinguish. Jen

35:37

began to sense Daniel drifting away again.

35:40

His work trips were getting longer and

35:42

longer while family vacations were getting shorter

35:44

and shorter. I specifically remember

35:46

when we took Madeleine, we surprised her with a trip

35:48

to Disney World. And at

35:51

the end of the trip, he said, I

35:53

have to leave. He's like, I need you

35:55

to drive me to the airport in Tampa. And we were

35:57

in Orlando. And I'm like, why do you need to

35:59

fly to Tampa? He was running out on you. Yeah, just

36:01

like leaving a sign dry and I flew

36:04

back home with my daughter alone. People

36:06

probably wonder at this point why you didn't give his marching orders. Hello,

36:09

1-800-DIVORCE, you're done. I

36:11

grew up in a Christian

36:14

home where you fight for your

36:16

marriage. You figure out, hey, what's going on here?

36:19

Then came November 2016, one

36:22

year before John Hickey's murder, the

36:24

weekend after Thanksgiving. Daniel

36:27

told Jenn he was taking their daughter, Maddie,

36:29

to a buddy's house to watch football. They

36:31

came home at like, you know, seven or eight o'clock that evening and

36:34

in line with like when

36:36

a football game would end. While

36:38

putting Maddie to bed, Jenn asked her if she'd

36:40

had fun watching the game. That's

36:43

when Maddie unwittingly dropped a

36:45

bombshell. And she said, we didn't go there. And

36:48

I said, what do you mean? And she said, oh,

36:50

we went to Daddy's friend's Jenn's house for Thanksgiving with

36:52

her family. With her family? With

36:55

her family. And your

36:57

daughter together? Yeah. And I

36:59

was like, I'm sorry, what did you just say?

37:02

Is this a big moment from the timeline? Huge, huge

37:04

moment for me. Jenn

37:06

had hit her breaking point. After

37:08

putting Maddie to bed, she stormed downstairs

37:10

to find Daniel. I

37:12

just said to him, hey, you know, were you

37:14

at Jenn's house tonight? And he was

37:16

like, no, you're crazy. Why would you say that? And

37:18

I said, well, Maddie just told me you were there

37:20

for Thanksgiving with her family. And he's like, why would

37:22

you listen to a little kid? She's lying. That's

37:25

when Jenn grabbed her car keys and drove

37:27

off to confront Jennifer McKay. If

37:30

her husband wouldn't tell her the truth, maybe

37:32

her husband's girlfriend would. He

37:35

was calling me nonstop, calling me, texting

37:38

me, telling me to come back. You

37:40

know, I better not go to her house. I better stay

37:42

away from her. I knocked on

37:44

her door. She answered the door. And I said, you

37:46

know, was my daughter here today? And

37:49

she said, yeah, it was Dan

37:51

Sweetgarden. And I said,

37:53

I'm sorry. But what? And

37:56

she said it was his custody weekend. It

37:59

took Jenn a moment. to absorb the word, custody

38:02

as in child custody after a

38:04

divorce. And I said, um, I

38:06

think we need to talk. We're

38:08

still married. And her, her

38:10

face just kind of went blank. Like,

38:14

um, what? And

38:16

she just said, come inside. So sister,

38:19

we got to talk. Yeah. It

38:21

didn't take long for the two gens to reach

38:23

the same conclusion. Dan had been

38:26

lying to both of them. She tells

38:28

me I thought that you guys were divorced

38:30

and I thought you had joint custody. Daniel,

38:32

she said, even had proof. He

38:34

had shown her fake divorce papers and she

38:37

pulled them out. Fake divorce papers.

38:39

Yeah. During Jennifer

38:41

McKay's police interview, she told detectives

38:43

about Daniel's deception. I

38:46

thought he was divorced. He was not

38:48

divorced. I thought he

38:50

then separated, so we were trying to work things out. He's

38:53

leading her to believe he left his wife for

38:55

her. They're going to build up their own happily

38:57

ever after. The two

38:59

gens spoke for 15 head spinning

39:01

minutes. Then Jen Green

39:04

left Jennifer McKay with these parting words.

39:07

It just kind of went, stay

39:09

away from my husband and my family. And

39:11

I walked out of her house and

39:13

came home. As

39:16

Jen pulled into her driveway, she expected

39:18

to find her husband primed with apologies

39:20

waiting for her at the door. She

39:23

was wrong. He didn't even talk to me.

39:26

He just left. Daniel, she

39:28

said, headed straight to Jennifer McKay.

39:31

He wasn't even interested in making it

39:33

okay with me. He was more

39:36

concerned with going to her and

39:38

making it right with her. Extra hurt him? Yeah.

39:41

I mean, in that moment, my whole world

39:43

collapsed. I didn't think that he was

39:45

that enamored with her that

39:48

he was willing to put everything on the

39:50

line that we had to be

39:52

with this woman. Now

39:54

detectives Vaughn and O'Connor were wondering,

39:57

was Daniel so obsessed with Jennifer

39:59

McKay? that he killed her new

40:01

boyfriend. Before they could follow

40:03

that lead, the detectives got a break. The

40:06

footage from that security camera came back from the

40:08

lab. That's gonna be a huge light

40:10

bulb moment. Look what we have here, huh? It was.

40:13

It was one of those moments where

40:15

you say, wow. A

40:18

big break indeed. And

40:20

one that would put Jen Green in

40:22

the hot seat. There's no secret here

40:25

that my husband has f***ed up when it

40:27

comes to being a good husband. How

40:32

Carbon an

40:44

indefinite mean

40:49

letter is

41:30

frustrated by his apparent refusal to commit

41:32

to her she called it quits in

41:34

august two thousand seventeen three

41:36

months before john's murder she

41:39

was tired of being second-fiddle she was tired

41:41

of being the other woman

41:43

so after a while she

41:45

said she could live like that so she

41:47

moved on moved

41:49

on to john hickey but

41:51

detectives learned that despite the new relationship

41:54

jennifer mccay and dan green continued to

41:56

call and text each other here's

41:59

what gets me she starts talking to Green

42:03

about the new guy in her life, her new boyfriend.

42:05

She was. It was perplexing

42:07

to hear because I could not

42:09

understand why you're still

42:11

compensating with this guy if you're done with

42:13

him and especially telling him about the new

42:15

man in your life. Did you

42:18

actually talk to him about the relationship with

42:20

John? Only that I was dating him and

42:22

seeing him. Any

42:25

reason in particular why? So hopefully

42:27

he would have closure and accept that I'm

42:29

moving on with my life. I

42:32

made it clear because I wanted him to leave me

42:34

alone, which he hasn't done. So

42:37

he has not left you alone? No.

42:40

But McKay made one thing clear. Whether Dan let

42:42

go of her or not, he'd never resort

42:45

to violence, let alone murder. I

42:47

don't see him doing anything stupid

42:50

in this sense. Because

42:52

he has kids, a kid and

42:54

a stepdaughter, I don't see him

42:56

jeopardizing that relationship. I don't think

42:58

he would go to that extreme. As

43:02

detectives unraveled all of the complicated

43:04

relationships, they got word from their

43:06

crime lab. It

43:09

turns out there were several surveillance

43:11

cameras rolling the night John died

43:13

and technicians had downloaded the footage.

43:17

It was this camera, camera number four, that provided

43:19

the breakthrough detectives had been hoping for. A

43:23

man emerging from the shadows pacing

43:26

back and forth behind John's apartment.

43:29

Facing between the T

43:31

and the alleyway right there,

43:33

up here checking windows, basically getting

43:36

up the courage to actually break in. You know, am

43:38

I really going to do this? That's what you see

43:40

in the thought balloon in his head, huh? Yes. He

43:44

seems to be trying out one window after another. He

43:47

does. He goes in between. He goes in between

43:49

this window. He's trying that

43:51

one. He tries this window

43:54

right here. And ultimately

43:56

he's successful that he's able to

43:58

hoist this window up. And

44:01

get his body... And that's where he just gets himself up

44:03

and pulls himself in. He goes completely inside the window. Yes,

44:05

and he disappears. And he's about to kill a guy and

44:07

you can't stop him. Yeah. Yeah.

44:10

So, once the

44:13

intruder makes his way inside of this

44:15

window, there's some time that

44:18

passes and you see this... someone

44:21

leave out of this door who

44:24

we believe is an intruder... Do you see the figure? Yes.

44:27

And he comes out of this door and what you

44:29

can also make out is that

44:31

in his hand, it appears to be a handgun.

44:36

How important was that as evidence for you? It

44:39

was crucial. It was literally the biggest piece of

44:41

the puzzle. At

44:43

one point, the man's face comes into full

44:45

view. Here's my close up. Yes.

44:48

This is my face. Did you think how can a

44:50

perpetrator be so stupid? No, I

44:53

just thought how could we get so lucky. The

44:56

alley is dark, the figure hidden by

44:58

an oversized jacket, the hat pulled down

45:00

low. But Detective Vaughn had

45:02

seen Dan's driver's license photo and the minute

45:04

she saw the video, she felt

45:06

sure. The first thing I

45:08

say is, oh my God, that looks like him.

45:12

Oh my God, that looks like Daniel Green. It

45:15

was shocking. Shocking that there's

45:17

a guy on this video that

45:20

looks just like the boyfriend of

45:22

our victim's girlfriend. But

45:25

in order to make their case, they

45:27

needed an identification from someone who really

45:29

knew Dan, and few knew

45:31

Dan better than Jennifer McKay. I

45:33

think you were worried that we were squirreling out the cameras

45:35

from the driver's license. They brought

45:38

her to the station again and

45:40

showed her the surveillance video and some

45:42

closer photos of the intruder. Does

45:45

it look like anybody? It looks like Dan. Well,

45:48

why does it look like Dan? The

45:51

beard. Anything else? The build.

45:53

Okay. Yeah. But,

45:55

I mean, it's hard to tell face-wise if it's... him

46:00

that it looks like his stature. Fair

46:02

to say the person in your chair is

46:04

having the worst days of her life. She

46:06

is. That's what I see too when I'm

46:08

sitting across from her and I'm asking her

46:11

to sit there and tell me if

46:13

this is the Daniel Green. If this is

46:16

a man that you once loved. Because

46:19

we're saying that we believe

46:21

that he killed your new boyfriend,

46:23

John Hickey. It

46:35

looks like this. I know. Do you

46:37

from these pictures? Yes, I would say

46:39

this looks like him. Okay. No

46:41

way, it's tough to say one way or the

46:43

other, we just need to know. No,

46:46

it looks like him. How

46:48

close do you get to a positive ID of

46:50

those photos as being Daniel Green? And

46:53

when she says this is Dan, we

46:55

have a positive ID. Your past maybe

46:57

should have. Yeah, we're well beyond the

46:59

weather could have should have. We are

47:01

positive, this is Dan. It

47:04

was a game changer. Investigators

47:07

believe they now had enough to arrest

47:09

Dan Green for the murder of

47:11

John Hickey. Turns

47:13

out Dan Green would have a

47:15

lot to say about that. I think you

47:17

don't have much to work with and you're

47:19

throwing things at the ball at this point.

47:26

Your business was humming, but now you're

47:28

falling behind. Your teams are buried in

47:30

manual work, tasks are taking forever to

47:32

complete and getting one source of truth

47:35

is like pulling teeth. If

47:37

this is you, then you should know these three numbers,

47:39

37,000. 37,000. That's

47:41

the number of businesses that have

47:43

upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite

47:46

is the number one cloud financial

47:48

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47:50

HR, and more. 25. NetSuite turns

47:52

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47:55

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47:57

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47:59

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48:02

One. Because your business is one

48:04

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48:06

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48:09

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48:11

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48:15

With NetSuite, it's everything you need

48:17

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48:20

Get your business back to the

48:22

greatness where it belongs. Learn more

48:24

at netsuite.com/podcast 25. So

48:35

Jen McKay has advanced your case. You showed her

48:37

pictures and she said, that's him. That's my

48:39

ex boyfriend. That is Daniel Green. What's next on

48:41

your to do list? Arrest

48:44

Daniel Green. Dan was

48:46

arrested on December 5th, 2017. A week after

48:52

John was murdered. 35 year

48:54

old Daniel Green, a married father of

48:56

two with no criminal record, faces 11

48:58

counts against him, including first degree

49:01

murder. John's

49:03

firefighter friends found it hard to believe

49:05

that John had been unwittingly entangled in

49:07

a love triangle. Even

49:09

more shocking. His alleged murderer was

49:11

one of their own. This isn't

49:13

a street criminal coming in to grab stuff.

49:16

It's a fellow firefighter. It's

49:19

one of the brothers. Yeah, that's the first thoughts.

49:21

No, a firefighter couldn't do such an act. That's

49:23

what I thought. Right. I mean, some of us

49:25

could be screw ups, right? I mean,

49:28

but to kill

49:30

somebody, let alone another firefighter in

49:32

your family or brotherhood. How? John's

49:37

girlfriend, Jennifer McKay had attended John's

49:39

funeral, but she kept her

49:42

distance consumed by guilt that her former

49:44

boyfriend might have been responsible for John's

49:46

murder. But when Kim saw her

49:48

in the back, she graciously invited her to sit

49:50

with the family. She did not

49:52

feel that she wanted to come near me

49:54

because she thought I was angry with

49:56

her for all

49:58

this happening to my son. Were you?

50:00

And I was not angry

50:03

with her at all. I said, I'm

50:05

not angry with you because you did not put

50:07

the gun in the guy's hand. You did not

50:09

tell him to go shoot my son. Police

50:13

came to the same conclusion. Jennifer McKay

50:15

had nothing to do with John's murder.

50:18

But they believed they had plenty of evidence to

50:20

put away her former boyfriend for the crime. First,

50:23

that back alley video they said showed

50:26

Dan Green climbing into John's apartment. But

50:29

also Dan was arrested while driving a

50:31

black pickup truck. And

50:33

detectives believe it was the same truck they

50:35

spotted on surveillance video near John's apartment on

50:38

the night of the murder. So

50:40

we found a camera next block

50:43

up that shows a black

50:45

pickup truck driving, parking

50:48

and the suspect getting out and going

50:50

down towards John's house. And

50:52

then same black pickup truck, suspect goes

50:55

to, drives off. And

50:57

the time it matched

50:59

up between showing up

51:02

in the alley to the

51:04

person darting out the back door. We couldn't

51:06

tell who was driving the vehicle based on the

51:09

footage and we couldn't get a tag number. But

51:11

it appears to be the same truck that he was

51:14

arrested in. There

51:16

was other compelling circumstantial evidence. On

51:19

the night of the murder, Dan shut off his

51:21

phone at 8.25pm then

51:23

turned it back on the next morning at 9.20am.

51:27

For a man who lived on his phone, that

51:30

was strange to say the least. Is

51:32

it out of character for him to not have his phone

51:34

with him? It would be probably out

51:36

of character, yes. Even

51:38

stranger, the last place Dan's cell

51:41

phone pinged hours before the murder

51:43

was a vacant house nowhere near his home

51:45

or work. What was he doing

51:47

there? The detectives got their answer

51:50

when the homeowner went to Chuck on his property. And

51:53

when he gets there he discovers that

51:55

someone is then living in

51:57

his property without

51:59

his permission. They

52:02

set up house, they had food in the fridge, they

52:05

had clothes in the dressers,

52:07

they had dishes. They

52:10

even had a cat and mail

52:12

addressed to Daniel Green. There were

52:14

pictures and letters from Jen McKay

52:16

there. There was also a Prince

52:18

George's County firefighters uniform hanging up

52:20

in the bedroom closet. Detectives

52:23

believe Dan Green squatted in the house off

52:25

and on after Jennifer McKay broke up with

52:27

him. They said it was all part of

52:30

his ruse to convince her he'd left his wife

52:32

for good and to

52:34

rekindle their relationship. What does it tell

52:36

you about him? What did you make of that? He's living a double

52:38

life. It's going

52:40

to extreme measures to live

52:43

his life. Dan was willing

52:45

to break the law to keep his girlfriend. What

52:48

was he willing to do if he was about to lose

52:50

her to John Hickey? For detectives

52:53

the answer seemed obvious. Murder.

52:55

I just want to understand why

52:59

you killed John Hickey. I did kill

53:01

John Hickey so that's a moot point.

53:04

During his police interview Dan freely

53:06

admitted that he had an affair

53:08

with Jennifer McKay. What about you

53:10

and Jen's relationship? It

53:15

was very good and very passionate.

53:19

I could move

53:21

on and commit to her. I asked

53:23

him did you know about the boyfriend?

53:25

How did you feel about the boyfriend?

53:27

He said I wish her well. I

53:29

wanted her to move on. Do you

53:32

believe that if Jen

53:34

came back, would you take

53:36

her back? That this

53:38

point in your life could probably not

53:40

help. He also told me

53:42

he says I really wasn't in love with

53:44

her. Do you still love her? No

53:50

I really don't. You can't just stop

53:52

loving her. It's like saying I stop

53:54

breathing over the weekend. That doesn't

53:56

even make sense. There are different types of loves.

53:58

This is not a long time. I will drop

54:00

my world and come running to you. But

54:02

there will be feelings, and there is a

54:04

feeling for her that will be there. And

54:07

it's always be there. But

54:09

it's not that, what do you need? Whatever,

54:12

you want me to ditch my life, ditch

54:14

my family? And I'm not, no, that's

54:16

gone. That detective, on thought, was

54:19

a lie. Jennifer McKay had shown

54:21

her post-breakup emails and text messages

54:23

in which Dan seemed obsessed with

54:25

her. Police theorized it

54:28

was unrequited love. And

54:30

it drove Dan Green to shoot Sean Hickey while he

54:32

slept. You thought nobody saw

54:34

you. It wasn't

54:36

there. So they couldn't have seen me. So

54:39

you thought nobody saw you when it's that bad? Everybody

54:43

saw you then. In case you had to

54:45

say hello to 2017, that's what everybody else

54:47

did. Okay. Everybody

54:51

else did. And just so you know,

54:54

you're on this. But

54:56

Dan Green kept insisting that wasn't

54:58

him climbing into John's apartment. And

55:01

he claimed he could prove it. It sounds

55:03

like you made your mind up, but... No, the

55:05

facts have made their minds up, sir. The facts

55:07

have called evidence. Well, you have

55:09

pieces of evidence. You don't have the full evidence,

55:11

it appears. I think you don't have

55:14

much to work with, and you're throwing things

55:16

up the wall. A different point. I

55:18

don't care what you got. Yeah, you

55:20

got the wrong guy. I

55:22

have an alibi. It wasn't me. Dan's

55:27

alibi. It was so

55:29

surprising and unexpected. Police

55:31

didn't see it coming. And

55:33

when Dan's wife, Jennifer Green, walked through the doors

55:35

of the police station, detectives

55:37

realized they had a

55:40

problem. When your husband

55:42

cheats on you, he opens up his mind and you

55:44

know when he comes to bed at night, know when

55:46

he does. Detectives

56:00

told Dan Green that his obsession

56:02

with Jennifer McKay gave

56:04

him every reason to kill John Hickey.

56:07

Someone else is making her smile. Someone

56:09

else is making her

56:11

day, and it's not used. In

56:13

your theory, why is Daniel Green's life

56:16

better improved by killing John Hickey? If

56:19

he couldn't have Jen, then no one could. At

56:23

the police station, Dan insisted that he

56:25

didn't have any lingering feelings for his

56:27

former lover. And in fact,

56:29

about a week before John's death, he had

56:31

a revelation. Watching my wife,

56:33

Jen, will throw in never giving up.

56:36

And it might not be perfect, but

56:39

it's rare to find someone that is

56:41

that devoted. And

56:44

that is probably something

56:47

I need to take an old count a lot more. So

56:51

he started making an effort, showing up, trying

56:53

to be the husband Jen wanted him to

56:55

be. The night John

56:57

was killed, Dan told investigators, he was

56:59

in bed with his wife Jen. On

57:02

Tuesday. Why

57:04

didn't you make bed? Over. At

57:07

any point did you leave out? Yes, sir. Given

57:10

the state of Dan's marriage, it was a

57:12

curious alibi to say the least. But

57:15

it made total sense to Dan's parents, Beth

57:18

and Randy Green, who were squarely on

57:20

their son's side. It takes

57:22

a while for it to sink in. And even then,

57:24

you don't get it. Beth

57:27

and Randy were horrified at his

57:29

arrest. They're Daniel behind bars and

57:31

accused of murder. It

57:33

was incomprehensible. If you

57:35

were in a fire, he'd be the very first

57:38

guy in the house trying to get you out

57:40

of the house. But

57:42

that's the kind of person he is. When

57:45

a man gets shot in the head like that, that shows

57:47

a lot of hate. That's a lot of anger build up. Execution

57:50

style. Why would

57:53

you go into somebody's house and do that? Our

57:55

son would never do that. Beth

57:57

and Randy were determined to prove their son's side.

58:00

innocence, so they began methodically

58:02

picking apart the case against him, starting

58:04

with that video from the alley. There's

58:07

a guy walking and we

58:10

said, Daniel doesn't walk like

58:12

that. The guy looks bigger,

58:14

he looks wider, the

58:16

clothing's different. We knew it

58:19

wasn't Daniel, but we wanted to be able to prove that

58:21

would be on the shadow of a doubt. Toward

58:23

the end of the video, they thought

58:25

they'd found what they were looking for,

58:27

a moment where for a split second,

58:29

the intruder turned his face to the

58:31

surveillance camera. Why is this not a picture

58:33

of your son? There's

58:36

a break right

58:38

at the nose right up here, right

58:41

at the bridge of the nose. There's another

58:43

break right there, so this man's, I just

58:45

know it's broken at least two

58:48

times, in my opinion. Most likely, something's

58:50

going on with the nose. There's

58:52

a bald spot on the chin right

58:55

there. Daniel has a full

58:57

beard. There's also a bald

58:59

spot on the mustache right there. There

59:02

is some bruising on the side of the

59:04

face that's right through there. It's

59:07

not him. Randy Green

59:09

had a forensic lab enhance the photo

59:11

and then sent it to police and

59:13

the state attorney's office, hoping they would

59:15

reconsider their case against Daniel. They

59:17

never did. They never did. So why

59:19

didn't they? Because

59:21

they do not pursue evidence that might clear

59:24

somebody. It's a situation where they zeroed in

59:26

on one person, they said this is who

59:28

it's going to be, now let's

59:30

come up with a story that fits that narrative. Tom

59:33

Moroni Jr. is a defense lawyer who

59:35

worked on Dan's case and took a close

59:37

look at the evidence against him. Tom,

59:40

I think I hear you saying that this is a

59:42

rush to judgment. That's exactly what it is, Dennis. It's

59:44

a rush to judgment. And there are no forensics which

59:46

juries love to button it up and

59:48

make the decision for them. Forensics can

59:50

rule someone out. Forensics

59:52

can indicate a high likelihood that

59:54

it's the person they're accusing. But

59:57

they didn't do any of that here. That's

1:00:00

right, said Dan's trial lawyer Warren Brown,

1:00:02

who charged the investigation was a mess

1:00:04

from the get-go. He pointed

1:00:06

to a palm print on a window sill

1:00:08

in the back alley that he says police

1:00:10

never analyzed. They didn't check to

1:00:13

see the size of it, whether it

1:00:15

was his size. What

1:00:17

about the man whose passport police found

1:00:19

inside John's apartment? Yes, detectives

1:00:21

tracked him down and interviewed him, but

1:00:24

Brown said they didn't scrutinize him

1:00:26

enough. He told them he had

1:00:28

been in an accident he didn't have much of a

1:00:30

memory about back then and he's not sure how his

1:00:33

passport ended up in this deceased

1:00:35

home. And they said, okay, all

1:00:38

right, have a good day. We just had

1:00:40

to check you off. But that was it.

1:00:42

I mean, they took his word for it. Then

1:00:45

there's the issue of the black pickup truck

1:00:47

police believe Dan drove to John's apartment on

1:00:49

the night of the murder. Dan

1:00:52

didn't own a black pickup truck, but he

1:00:54

sometimes borrowed one from his neighbor. Back

1:00:58

in 2017, I had a black

1:01:00

Ford Ranger and I always parked

1:01:02

at the same place I parked my truck

1:01:04

now, the red ramp down

1:01:06

at the garage there. Roebau said

1:01:09

that police never questioned him about the truck.

1:01:11

And if they had, he would have told him

1:01:13

there was no way Dan took the truck the

1:01:15

night John died. And this is where we, this

1:01:19

is where I hang our keys for

1:01:21

our vehicles. If Dan would have came

1:01:23

in that night, we have a Jack

1:01:25

Russell Terrier here in the

1:01:27

house and he's our watchdog and he

1:01:29

barks. He goes crazy whenever anybody

1:01:31

comes in the house and we didn't hear a

1:01:34

peep out of him that night. So I'm sure

1:01:36

Daniel didn't come in to get the keys. And

1:01:39

as to Dan's alleged motive for shooting John.

1:01:41

The boyfriend is jealous and

1:01:43

kills, you know, his girlfriend's

1:01:46

new boat. But Brown said that

1:01:48

during her affair with Dan, Jennifer McKay

1:01:50

had several relationships with other men that

1:01:52

Dan knew about. So why

1:01:55

is this now becoming motive to

1:01:58

kill this guy? All they got to do is out wait him. I

1:02:00

gotta go kill him. Murder, said Brown,

1:02:02

was the last thing on Daniel Green's mind

1:02:05

as he headed to bed that November night,

1:02:07

the night he said he spent with his wife, Jen. Well,

1:02:11

I think that I was

1:02:13

at home with my wife who will account that

1:02:15

I was home with her. Would

1:02:17

she? After four years of enduring her

1:02:20

husband's cheating, betrayal and lies, what would

1:02:22

Jen Green have to say? If

1:02:24

you could, just start from the beginning and

1:02:26

tell me what you remember about that night

1:02:28

in particular. I got home at 11 o'clock.

1:02:30

I came in and I was

1:02:32

downstairs on the couch watching

1:02:35

TV and I went

1:02:39

upstairs, checked on the kids, both

1:02:41

kids were asleep and got

1:02:43

ready for bed and maybe

1:02:46

like midnight Dan

1:02:48

came upstairs and got in bed.

1:02:52

There it was, clear and

1:02:54

unequivocal Dan's alibi. That

1:02:56

night in particular, why is that so vivid

1:02:58

to you that night? How do

1:03:00

you remember that? When

1:03:03

your husband cheats on you as long

1:03:05

as mine does, you know when he comes to bed at

1:03:07

night, know when he doesn't. And

1:03:09

I know he came upstairs and got in bed

1:03:11

with me that night. And like those things might

1:03:13

seem a zaited to you guys,

1:03:15

but not moments or mattering to

1:03:18

me in a big way. She knew that

1:03:21

we knew about Jen McKay and me and

1:03:24

myself personally mentioned it multiple times just to

1:03:26

remind her that she was possibly covering for

1:03:28

somebody that was treating her family like that.

1:03:31

I mean what do you want me to know? I

1:03:33

mean they probably have been like, there's no

1:03:35

secrets to it. My husband was like, when

1:03:38

it comes to being a good husband, like

1:03:40

you're not really throwing anything at me that

1:03:42

I know her anymore. So

1:03:44

she stood by her man? Yes

1:03:46

she did. I think my husband screwed

1:03:49

up, but I think my

1:03:51

husband loves his wife and kids and didn't

1:03:53

really know how to fix the mess he

1:03:55

made. The detectives held back their most

1:03:57

important piece of evidence until the end of the day.

1:04:00

of the interview. That's when, without

1:04:02

warning, Detective O'Connor laid them in front

1:04:04

of Jen, the

1:04:07

photos of the intruder from the surveillance

1:04:09

video. If you

1:04:12

just get a moment, just take

1:04:14

a look. She glances down at

1:04:16

him and

1:04:22

looks back up at us. No sighs,

1:04:24

no swallows, nothing. And she left. Thank

1:04:26

you very much. Jen

1:04:29

Green, who had every reason to hate

1:04:31

Dan, still vouched for him. And that

1:04:33

detective's knew wasn't good for their case.

1:04:36

You thought you had this all rolled up in a

1:04:38

gift box? Well, I never think that, but I thought

1:04:41

we had a good case. I call

1:04:43

it a bump in the road. But

1:04:45

this bump in the road was about to turn

1:04:47

into a sinkhole, because Attorney

1:04:49

Warren Brown's next move would deal

1:04:51

a potential death blow to the

1:04:54

investigation and possibly set Dan free.

1:04:56

There wasn't your case. It

1:04:59

went out the door quick. Your

1:05:04

business was humming, but now you're falling

1:05:06

behind. Your teams are buried in manual

1:05:09

work. Tasks are taking forever

1:05:11

to complete, and getting one source of truth

1:05:13

is like pulling teeth. If this is you,

1:05:15

then you should know these three numbers, 37,000.

1:05:18

That's the number of

1:05:20

businesses that have upgraded to NetSuite

1:05:23

by Oracle. NetSuite is the number

1:05:25

one cloud financial system, streamlining accounting,

1:05:27

financial management, inventory, HR, and more.

1:05:31

25. NetSuite turns 25 this year.

1:05:33

That's 25 years of helping businesses

1:05:35

do more with less, close their books

1:05:37

in days, not weeks, and drive down

1:05:39

costs. One, because your business

1:05:42

is one of a kind. Get

1:05:44

a customized solution for all your

1:05:46

key performance indicators in one efficient

1:05:48

system with one source of truth.

1:05:51

Manage risk, get reliable forecasts, and

1:05:53

improve margins. With NetSuite, it's everything

1:05:55

you need to grow, all in

1:05:57

one place. Get your business back

1:05:59

to the greatness. where it belongs.

1:06:01

Learn more at netsweet.com/podcast 25. Summer

1:06:15

2018. The trial of Daniel

1:06:17

Green was set to go. It

1:06:19

was shaping up as the story of

1:06:22

two gens. The wife providing an empathetic

1:06:24

alibi. 10-15

1:06:31

minutes after that. And

1:06:33

the ex-girlfriend identifying the accused in

1:06:35

that chilling video. Without

1:06:41

direct evidence, Jennifer McKay's ID was

1:06:43

make or break for the prosecution.

1:06:46

No jury was ever going to hear about DNA or bloody

1:06:48

footprint or anything like that. It was about the video of

1:06:50

Daniel Green. The defendant's

1:06:52

parents thought Jennifer McKay's ID of

1:06:54

their son from the security camera

1:06:56

footage was a travesty. No way

1:06:58

was that there Daniel. And

1:07:01

during her interview with police, McKay seemed to

1:07:03

have her own doubts. Daniel

1:07:26

Green's defense attorney Warren Brown. It

1:07:29

was a torturous process

1:07:31

to get her to finally say, yeah, that's

1:07:33

him. You didn't have to be a lawyer

1:07:35

to see it. The Q&A of Jennifer McKay,

1:07:38

which is the this

1:07:40

positive ID and it's

1:07:43

just laughable. And

1:07:55

it's hard to look at someone knowing

1:07:57

what Yeah.

1:08:01

You need to... We

1:08:04

need to know if that's him or not. To me,

1:08:06

from these pictures, yes. I would say this looks like

1:08:08

him. Defense attorney Tom

1:08:10

Moroni Jr. She's worn

1:08:12

down. That's essentially what it was.

1:08:15

They just beat her down long enough

1:08:17

until she decided to identify Daniel Green.

1:08:20

So there was bias. They put the thumb on the scale?

1:08:22

Bingo. It was so bad that

1:08:24

it caused us to give

1:08:26

it a shot at

1:08:28

having it thrown out. The

1:08:32

defense filed a motion to keep McKay's

1:08:34

identification of Daniel Green out of the

1:08:36

trial, arguing a jury should

1:08:38

never hear an ID that was coerced.

1:08:41

The identification of Jen McKay is the big

1:08:43

rap against your case, that

1:08:45

you guys were putting your thumb

1:08:47

on the scale. You were influencing her decision. I wouldn't

1:08:49

change a thing that we did. I know we did

1:08:52

not put our thumb on the scale. I know we

1:08:54

didn't do that. But

1:08:56

in a stunning ruling, the judge

1:08:58

decided police did use improper, suggestive

1:09:00

methods to get Jennifer McKay's identification,

1:09:03

and it should not be heard at the trial.

1:09:06

That gutted the case against Daniel Green in the

1:09:08

blink of an eye. Boy,

1:09:10

there's a bad day for you, huh? It was. It

1:09:13

was a tough day. There weren't your case? It

1:09:15

went out the door quick. If this doesn't

1:09:17

get before a jury, look, you don't have a case, do

1:09:19

you? That's it. And I was like,

1:09:21

that's what worried me the most, because he was

1:09:24

gonna get out, and he was gonna disappear on

1:09:26

him. Prosecutors

1:09:28

appealed, and Daniel Green was held in

1:09:30

jail while the issue worked its way

1:09:32

up to the Maryland Supreme Court. And

1:09:36

there was another big ruling about potential evidence.

1:09:39

Remember how investigators learned the brake line on

1:09:42

John Hickey's car had been cut? They

1:09:44

later got cell phone records linking Daniel

1:09:46

Green to that. That

1:09:49

cell phone told us

1:09:51

that during the time that

1:09:53

those brakes were tampered with, that

1:09:55

Daniel Green was in the area of Jen McKay's

1:09:58

home with John Hickey's vehicle. vehicle

1:10:00

was parked at the time. But

1:10:02

the trial judge said that wasn't relevant to

1:10:04

the murder and throughout the cell phone records,

1:10:07

another blow to the state's case. All

1:10:11

the wrangling over evidence delayed the trial date,

1:10:13

and when COVID hit, the wheels of justice

1:10:15

ground to a halt. The

1:10:17

delays went from months to years.

1:10:23

They were tough times for the Hickey's and

1:10:26

for the detective who formed a special bond

1:10:28

with them. Let me

1:10:30

tell you something. I've

1:10:33

been in this

1:10:35

Hickey's situation. I've

1:10:38

had that knock on my door. Detective,

1:10:40

what was the knock on your door? I

1:10:44

can't recall. I can't

1:10:49

tell. The knock on Val's door changed

1:10:51

her life forever. It came from

1:10:53

a police officer after her own grandfather

1:10:55

was killed, an innocent, random

1:10:57

victim of gun violence. I

1:11:00

remember the compassion and the care

1:11:02

that those members gave me and

1:11:05

my family. When they were investigating,

1:11:07

my grandfather's death. So

1:11:12

when I'm fighting, I'm not just fighting for John.

1:11:14

I'm fighting for his mom. I'm fighting for

1:11:16

his uncle. He bears his namesake.

1:11:19

Like, those are the people I'm fighting for.

1:11:22

Everyone that loved him. Was that helpful for you

1:11:24

to see her steal her spine in all of

1:11:26

this? For her, I would have been lost.

1:11:31

I wouldn't have known what else to do. In

1:11:35

September 2021, four long years after

1:11:37

John Hickey's murder, Val Long got

1:11:40

a call. There was news. Big

1:11:43

news. It was just like

1:11:45

Christmas that day. It

1:11:47

was literally like everything lined up like,

1:11:51

oh my God, this is the break we needed.

1:11:53

This is just what we needed. Thank

1:11:57

you. When

1:12:09

Jennifer McKay's identification of Daniel Green on

1:12:11

the security camera footage was thrown out

1:12:13

by a judge, the whole

1:12:15

case seemed to hang in the balance, until...

1:12:18

Jim Green says, I need

1:12:21

to talk to you all. The

1:12:24

other Jim, Daniel Green's wife and

1:12:26

alibi, wanted a meeting with prosecutors

1:12:28

and detectives. What was this all about?

1:12:31

She comes forward and we meet, prosecutor

1:12:35

myself and other detectives meet with

1:12:37

Jim Green, and she

1:12:39

says, a lot

1:12:42

has changed. The

1:12:44

changes for Jen had been seismic. Her

1:12:47

husband's infidelity had been devastating, and when he

1:12:49

was charged with murder, it was more than

1:12:51

she could bear. I

1:12:54

don't live in a world where people say, someone's

1:12:57

being arrested for first-degree murder. It

1:12:59

was unfathomable. Unfathomable

1:13:03

and also impossible, because she claimed Daniel was

1:13:06

in bed with her on the night of

1:13:08

the murder. But

1:13:11

according to Jen, that critical alibi came

1:13:13

only after she was pressured by Daniel

1:13:15

and his family, especially her

1:13:17

father-in-law Randy, who told her. You

1:13:20

know, Daniel said you guys were in bed together

1:13:22

and he was home that night and you know,

1:13:24

you're his alibi, and it's just

1:13:27

constant from his

1:13:29

family, just unrelenting. Jen's

1:13:32

first statement to police was unequivocal. He's

1:13:34

like midnight. Dan

1:13:37

came upstairs, got in bed. But

1:13:39

when detectives showed her three photos from the

1:13:41

security camera, she froze. The

1:13:44

minute I saw him in this like very

1:13:46

distinct way that Daniel stood, I just knew

1:13:48

it was him. I just

1:13:51

stopped. Everything

1:13:54

inside of me, just my heart

1:13:56

stopped. Everything just stopped. In

1:14:00

that moment, Jen did not identify her husband.

1:14:03

And detectives say her face revealed nothing. She

1:14:05

was stoic. Jen's thoughts were anything

1:14:08

but. It was just very

1:14:10

scary and very surreal, and I honestly, I

1:14:12

don't know how I kept

1:14:15

it together. I actually had a friend drive

1:14:17

me downtown, and once

1:14:19

we got away from this building, closer

1:14:21

to the parking garage, I just collapsed

1:14:24

in her arms. It

1:14:27

was an overwhelming moment, but Jen

1:14:29

was still prepared to take an oath and be

1:14:31

her husband's alibi. I

1:14:34

wanted to wholly believe that he wasn't

1:14:36

capable of doing something like this, that my

1:14:38

children weren't going to have this cloud over them for

1:14:40

the rest of their life, that their stepfather and their

1:14:42

father murdered someone. But

1:14:45

when the trial was postponed, she had a

1:14:47

lot of time to think, and as

1:14:49

the months passed, she started to waver. And

1:14:51

I'm just in this world of

1:14:54

back and forth of, you

1:14:56

know, was he in bed? Is

1:14:58

that really him? Over

1:15:00

the next few years, Jen dedicated herself to

1:15:03

changing her life. She

1:15:05

started working full-time as a travel agent and

1:15:08

was able to support her family on her own. She

1:15:11

says she became a new woman, confident

1:15:13

and independent. I

1:15:15

removed myself from having a relationship with Dan. I

1:15:17

removed myself from having a relationship with his family. I

1:15:19

was no longer getting calls from jail,

1:15:21

from him reminding me that he was in bed.

1:15:23

I was no longer getting the pressure from his

1:15:25

family. After

1:15:28

a lot of soul-searching, Jen reached a

1:15:30

tipping point and says she was

1:15:32

finally able to accept the truth about her husband on

1:15:34

the night of the murder. I

1:15:36

realized he was not home

1:15:38

in bed. It

1:15:41

was a startling reversal, triggered

1:15:43

by a crisis of conscience. And

1:15:46

I needed my kids to see that, you

1:15:48

know, doing the right

1:15:50

thing is never wrong, and now I have

1:15:52

to do the right thing. And some

1:15:55

relationships are Rafa where

1:15:58

the as a

1:16:00

powerful alibi for her husband, she

1:16:02

was on her way now to tell them something

1:16:04

very different. I wasn't at all nervous

1:16:07

or anxious. I was actually relieved to finally

1:16:09

be able to talk to somebody and

1:16:12

say, hey, here's the truth of the matter.

1:16:14

Here's what's really going on.

1:16:17

They met in a restaurant tucked away in a

1:16:19

quiet booth. She says there

1:16:21

was a lot going on, and I

1:16:23

want to apologize to you, but

1:16:26

I can't be his alibi witness. I can't be

1:16:28

his alibi when she said he was not with

1:16:30

me. And there

1:16:32

went Daniel Green's alibi. Jen's

1:16:35

original story had been the bedrock of her

1:16:37

husband's defense. Her new version

1:16:39

turned her into a star witness for

1:16:41

the prosecution. And the jury's going to

1:16:44

decide what to make of you. Exactly. She

1:16:46

told it one way this time that he

1:16:48

was the alibi, and now she's saying, this

1:16:50

guy's guilty, guilty, guilty. I did say that

1:16:52

he was in bed, but I was coached.

1:16:55

I was reminded repeatedly that he

1:16:57

was in bed. A

1:17:00

jury would have to decide, but Jen's

1:17:02

reversal looked like a tremendous blow to

1:17:04

the defense and to Daniel

1:17:06

Green's parents. This is a huge

1:17:08

bombshell. Yes. Was

1:17:10

it a betrayal or is that too strong a word?

1:17:13

No, it's a betrayal. I think what she did is

1:17:15

very calculated. Calculated,

1:17:17

and according to the Greens, all about

1:17:19

the fact that Jen was now asking

1:17:22

for a divorce and Daniel refused to

1:17:24

agree to her terms. She

1:17:26

demanded everything. It

1:17:29

was totally unreasonable. I want to be

1:17:31

taken care of the rest of my

1:17:33

life, and Daniel, you're going to do

1:17:35

this for me. And

1:17:37

if you don't do that, you're going to spend

1:17:39

the rest of your life in prison anyway, because

1:17:42

I'm going to make that happen for you. Vindictive.

1:17:46

Yes. Yes. I

1:17:48

don't need him or his money to survive,

1:17:50

but he should be responsible for

1:17:53

his child and to think that I'm

1:17:55

some kind of vindictive ex,

1:17:57

you know, that's ridiculous.

1:18:00

like, come on. Especially galling

1:18:02

for the Greens was the idea that they

1:18:04

pressured Jen to be Daniel's alibi. You

1:18:07

deny that. It never happened.

1:18:09

It never happened. The

1:18:11

Greens insist Jen's original version, given

1:18:13

that the family's first meeting with

1:18:15

defense attorneys, was the truth and

1:18:18

she could not have been more clear. Jen

1:18:21

blurts out, Randy, he

1:18:23

was with me. I was,

1:18:25

I remember that day perfectly.

1:18:29

A betrayal to the Greens felt like a

1:18:31

gift to the Hickey's. I thought,

1:18:33

oh lord, thank you lord for helping me

1:18:35

and I looked up and I said, Johnny,

1:18:38

thank you for putting a bug or whatever

1:18:40

in anybody's ears to get this

1:18:42

going. There was

1:18:44

another huge development in the case and

1:18:46

it was good news for the Hickey's and the

1:18:48

prosecution. The Maryland Supreme Court

1:18:51

decided a jury could hear Jennifer

1:18:53

McKay's identification of Daniel Green.

1:18:56

Prosecutor Rita Wistoff-Eto. If

1:18:59

we had lost, we might have not

1:19:01

had a case anymore. A case might

1:19:04

have had to be dismissed at that point in time. The

1:19:09

state's case looked strong, but the defense

1:19:11

was primed to attack. Jen

1:19:13

Green's high-stakes reversal would become high drama

1:19:15

in the courtroom. Warren Brown

1:19:17

would see to that. Her motive

1:19:20

now was to hurt her

1:19:22

husband and really not provide the truth

1:19:24

and so we felt pretty good that

1:19:26

their case was riddled with reasonable doubt.

1:19:29

After years of drama and delays,

1:19:31

it was time to put that confidence to the

1:19:33

test at the trial of Daniel

1:19:35

Green. June

1:19:51

2023, six years after John Hickey's murder,

1:19:53

the trial of Daniel Green got underway

1:19:55

at the Mitchell courthouse in downtown Baltimore.

1:19:57

Let's talk to you next time. about

1:20:00

the trial, huh? John, are you

1:20:02

there? I'm there. I was

1:20:04

there the whole time. I was not going to

1:20:06

miss it. It was a circumstantial

1:20:09

case, but prosecutor Rita Wistoff Ito thought it

1:20:11

was a strong one. There were just so

1:20:13

many things in this case. Video footage was

1:20:15

very good. It's clear, it's close.

1:20:17

You know, the black pickup truck, testimony

1:20:19

of Jen McKay and Jen Green were

1:20:21

very key. The

1:20:26

prosecution also had a treasure trove of new

1:20:28

evidence Jen Green had discovered in a hidden

1:20:31

file on her laptop, which the

1:20:33

prosecutor believed her husband was using. Searches

1:20:35

on how to make untraceable calls, which

1:20:37

seemed to connect the defendant to those

1:20:40

harassing calls to Jennifer McKay. And

1:20:42

according to the prosecutor, there were lots

1:20:44

of searches that showed Daniel Green's obsession

1:20:47

with a man he was accused of

1:20:49

murdering. You just see this

1:20:51

progression and his searches of trying

1:20:53

to figure out who Don Hickey was, where

1:20:55

was he, you know, his actual

1:20:57

address based on those searches. He knew

1:20:59

where John Hickey lives. Of

1:21:02

course, the jurors got to see that critical

1:21:04

security camera video, and they

1:21:06

heard the two women who knew Daniel

1:21:08

Green intimately identify him. And

1:21:10

not just from his face, something else gave

1:21:12

him away. I

1:21:14

saw my husband

1:21:17

just stand in there

1:21:19

with his arms in his pockets like he did looking

1:21:21

up. And I just, I knew it was him. When

1:21:24

prosecutor Wistoff Edo looked at footage of Daniel

1:21:26

Green pacing in a police interview room with

1:21:28

his hands in his pockets, it was a

1:21:30

revelation. That footage of him walking around in

1:21:33

that interview room compared to the video footage

1:21:35

of him pacing around in the back of

1:21:37

that house. That's Daniel

1:21:39

Green. There's just no, there's

1:21:42

no doubt. And

1:21:44

when Wistoff Edo showed the jury that interview

1:21:46

room footage, Warren Brown realized he

1:21:48

had a problem. I was

1:21:50

ready to knock over the pitcher of

1:21:53

water just to distract the jury. It

1:21:55

was certainly the strongest evidence to bolster

1:21:57

Jennifer McKay and Jennifer Greens. Assertion

1:22:00

that that's him on that video outside

1:22:02

this man's house When

1:22:05

defense attorney Brown got his turn he

1:22:07

told the jury that in a rush

1:22:10

to judgment detectives neglected obvious leads Like

1:22:12

that mysterious passport and the palm print

1:22:14

on the windowsill They wanted

1:22:16

to close this man and move on to another one. And

1:22:19

so there wasn't much due

1:22:21

diligence It wasn't checking all

1:22:24

possibilities We weren't gonna get fingerprints

1:22:26

or DNA for that matter because

1:22:28

the video Showed who

1:22:30

we believe is Daniel Green wearing gloves at

1:22:32

the time. Did you talk to passport guy?

1:22:34

Did you get his story because some

1:22:37

people on the defense side say he wasn't

1:22:39

really looked at as closely as you would have He

1:22:42

did not look in any way shape form

1:22:45

like Daniel Green or the person in the video Everything

1:22:47

led to Daniel. There was no way else to look

1:22:49

for The

1:22:52

defense believed its best opportunity was to

1:22:54

discredit Jen Green Brown

1:22:56

subjected her to a withering cross-examination Hoping

1:22:59

to show the jury she was testifying against

1:23:01

her husband out of revenge Jen

1:23:04

rebuffed Brown's questions, but then

1:23:07

something extraordinary happened when

1:23:09

she she on the witness stand she lost

1:23:11

her composure It

1:23:14

was an explosive moment Jen on the

1:23:16

witness stand eyes fixed on her husband

1:23:19

Dan just had this smirk and this

1:23:21

glare and it was one that I

1:23:23

was very familiar with it was the

1:23:26

disapproving shut your

1:23:29

mouth know your place and I just

1:23:31

I Just

1:23:34

said you can stop looking at me

1:23:36

like that. You told him I looked

1:23:38

right at him and the

1:23:40

the judge cleared the courtroom and You

1:23:44

know I got really emotional because I thought

1:23:46

oh no I let the jury see me

1:23:48

angry at him and That

1:23:50

was what the defense was trying to paint I

1:23:53

loved it because we wanted to say to the jury

1:23:55

you see how much she hates him you can see

1:23:57

it in court She's got a motive to come in

1:23:59

here and lie And we were like, good,

1:24:01

man. We're doing pretty well with this thing.

1:24:04

We're doing pretty well. Daniel

1:24:07

Green's parents thought the defense could have done

1:24:09

better. They wanted the jury

1:24:11

to see a side-by-side comparison of the

1:24:14

enhanced security camera still and Daniel's mugshot.

1:24:17

Proof positive, they say, that Daniel's not

1:24:19

the killer. The guy

1:24:21

in that surveillance video is

1:24:23

not Daniel Green. Which is your

1:24:25

opinion of this image, right? Yes,

1:24:29

but the jury... Why is

1:24:31

that any different than Jen McKay's opinion or

1:24:33

my opinion? Look

1:24:35

at that picture. Look at that picture. Look

1:24:38

at that nose. Look at that nose. A

1:24:41

lot of people say, this couple cannot

1:24:43

believe that their son did this thing.

1:24:46

And they're living in this bubble and that's

1:24:48

what they need at this point, just to

1:24:50

get through. That is not a bubble.

1:24:52

That's a very vivid picture. What's

1:24:54

the motivation for Daniel doing this

1:24:57

to this man? If I thought

1:24:59

my son did it, I'd be

1:25:01

the first one to say, Daniel plead guilty. Ask

1:25:04

for mercy. But

1:25:06

the jurors would be the finders of

1:25:08

fact. And after deliberating for just three

1:25:10

hours, they reached a verdict. Daniel

1:25:15

Green, guilty of first-degree murder,

1:25:17

also guilty of home invasion

1:25:19

and firearms charges. I

1:25:21

was like, thank you, God. We got the

1:25:23

justice. And that was

1:25:26

it. We got him. We're

1:25:28

done. Sentence

1:25:31

him, put him away. Daniel

1:25:34

Green was given a life sentence. His

1:25:36

family is planning to appeal. Val

1:25:40

Vaughn is retired now, but the verdict

1:25:42

meant justice was served on her 56th

1:25:44

and final case. I

1:25:46

cried. I literally

1:25:49

sobbed. This

1:25:52

is my last trial. This

1:25:55

is my last trial as

1:25:57

the primary detective. The

1:26:00

two gens at the heart of the story

1:26:02

have been rebuilding their lives. Jennifer

1:26:04

McKay got married and had two children.

1:26:07

Jane Green says she can hold her

1:26:10

head high because ultimately she did tell

1:26:12

the truth. She also feels

1:26:14

proud of the way she confronted Daniel in

1:26:16

court. Even though I

1:26:18

had that moment where I thought I screwed up,

1:26:20

I just felt like you don't have any power over

1:26:22

me anymore. You have not earned that and you don't

1:26:24

get to have that. Did

1:26:27

it feel good to let loose with a thought? It did. It

1:26:29

felt really good. In

1:26:32

a story with many victims, Jen does not

1:26:34

want to be counted among them. I

1:26:36

hate the word victim. I'm not

1:26:38

a victim. I'm a survivor.

1:26:41

She is a survivor. And

1:26:44

we all are survivors. We will survive this.

1:26:58

I love you, baby. Survivors

1:27:02

still dealing with a terrible loss, but

1:27:05

grateful for reminders of the young man they

1:27:07

loved. John, I can't help but

1:27:09

notice down by your feet you got a firefighter's helmet. What

1:27:12

is it? Tell me its story. This

1:27:17

is who my nephew was. He

1:27:20

was a person of character. He

1:27:23

was a firefighter. He would

1:27:25

give anything, do anything for anybody. That

1:27:28

was his gear. This is his helmet. Yes. I

1:27:31

keep it on the table as a

1:27:33

reminder of who my son was for

1:27:35

me. That's

1:27:45

all for this edition of Dateline.

1:27:47

And check out our Talking Dateline

1:27:49

podcast. Dennis Murphy and Josh Mankiewicz

1:27:52

will go behind the scenes of

1:27:54

tonight's episode. Available Wednesday

1:27:56

in the Dateline feed wherever you

1:27:58

get your podcasts. We'll see

1:28:00

you again next Friday at 9, 8 central. I'm

1:28:04

Lester Holt for all of us at

1:28:06

NBC News. Good night.

1:28:13

Your business was humming, but now you're

1:28:15

falling behind. Your teams are buried in

1:28:18

manual work. Tasks are taking

1:28:20

forever to complete and getting one source of

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truth is like pulling teeth. If

1:28:25

this is you, then you should know these three

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numbers. That's

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the number of businesses that have

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upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle. NetSuite

1:28:33

is the number one cloud financial

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system, streamlining accounting, financial management, inventory,

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HR and more. NetSuite

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turns 25 this year. That's 25

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years of helping businesses do more with

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less, close their books in days, not

1:28:48

weeks and drive down costs. One.

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Because your business is one of

1:28:53

a kind. Get a customized solution

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for all your key performance indicators

1:28:57

in one efficient system with one

1:28:59

source of truth. Manage risk, get

1:29:02

reliable forecasts and improve margins. With

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NetSuite, it's everything you need to

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grow, all in one place. Get

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your business back to the greatness

1:29:10

where it belongs. Learn more at

1:29:12

netsuite.com/podcast25.