Charles Southern and Connor Pridgen Video

0:00bir cannot express the loneliness that we feel if we can’t believe what you tell us you’re in a world of hurt all right a world of hurt just completely

0:08

8 secondsblew her face up like jaw was hanging low than it’s supposed to be it looked like it dislocated that blw like all the

0:16

16 secondscheek and skin off of that it was just messy shoot people and stuff like that open up people as if I was about that if

0:23

23 secondsI would do it on the evening of February 10th 2010 a bicyclist seemingly out for

0:31

31 secondshis usual ride through Southside Park in Jacksonville Florida stumbled upon the body of a young woman named Makia Cony

0:39

39 secondslying Motionless In the Woods her face disfigured by a gunshot wound earlier that day Makia left the university

0:46

46 secondsChristian School with two classmates believing their after- school plans included buying cigars smoking them in the woods and having fun not knowing

0:55

55 secondsthat they had other plans when police officers arrived at the area the bicyclist had described they found fresh tire tracks matching those of a truck

1:03

1 minute, 3 secondsalong with multiple shoe prints and a half Burt cigar on the ground the following day officers visited the school and retrieved CCTV footage

1:12

1 minute, 12 secondsshowing one of maia’s classmates leading her off campus however later in the footage both classmates were seen

1:19

1 minute, 19 secondswalking down a hallway on campus laughing and goofing around out back in the truck if I tell

1:26

1 minute, 26 secondsanybody you going to shoot me next how I shoot you if I didn’t have a gun this is 17-year-old Charles Southern

1:35

1 minute, 35 secondsalong with 16-year-old Connor pridon the two classmates who took police officers through a series of interrogations to uncover the truth about the death of

1:44

1 minute, 44 secondsMakia coni judging from subsequent interviews with a number of students it was evident that the two friends must know something or at least one of them

1:52

1 minute, 52 secondshad an idea of what happened and as a result Charles Southern was called in for questioning whatever happened that day that detectives needed to know why

2:01

2 minutes, 1 secondhis truck was at the scene of the crime but what unfolded next in this neverbe seen footage would turn this mystery into one of the most unsettling cases

2:09

2 minutes, 9 secondsthey had ever seen saw Mia and that you and Conor we in your truck I’m mck I said

2:19

2 minutes, 19 secondsyou in Conor oh yes sir is that true yeah okay did mck ever get in truck with y’all no sir um you ever go off campus

2:27

2 minutes, 27 secondsto eat um not after school dur in school no sir we’re not

2:35

2 minutes, 35 secondsallowed well I was in school too I wasn’t allowed but I did it well no I never went off campus at all no at all

2:42

2 minutes, 42 secondsum how about after school after school yeah I mean there’s a couple times I he had Taco Bell or something when was the last time you had Taco

2:51

2 minutes, 51 secondsBell uh 3 weeks ago three weeks ago yeah okay have you cut your hair or changed anything about your parents slightly no sir okay um

3:00

3 minutesnow did you happen to go to Taco Bell yesterday no sir okay did you give mcka a right anywhere yesterday no sir did she asked for a right no sir um like I

3:09

3 minutes, 9 secondssaid I only seen her that that minute after school okay so she hasn’t been in your truck in 3 weeks no sir

3:18

3 minutes, 18 secondsokay um now yesterday about what time was it you saw Conor um while was in the TRU no in the

3:28

3 minutes, 28 secondsin the afternoon after school out when did you see uh probably around 3:30 around 3:30 and where was that at the parking lot and was he by himself yes

3:37

3 minutes, 37 secondssir did did you see M around no no um that was after I walked p and say that’s

3:45

3 minutes, 45 secondsafter you walk past her inste hey okay but she you didn’t see the two of them when oh no sir okay

3:52

3 minutes, 52 secondsum so you saw Conor in the parking lot it was around 3:30 mhm all right and then what happened um he threw bag or

4:03

4 minutes, 3 secondsno we went over to J mhm and I had to pick up my bag over there in the weight

4:10

4 minutes, 10 secondsroom and he had to work out so I just hung out with him for a little bit then got bored so I left and went to Mr

4:17

4 minutes, 17 secondsthreadcraft and shortly after I think he came in M during the interrogation Charles tried to explain how he had spent his afternoon after school from

4:26

4 minutes, 26 secondsthe waiting room to a teacher’s class but as the det detectives attempted to make sense of what he was saying they began to notice contingencies in his

4:35

4 minutes, 35 secondsstory about a half hour about 4 okay then you said you got to AC the trade crash room at

4:42

4 minutes, 42 seconds4:30 so from 4:00 to 4:30 what’ you do I was in the wait

4:48

4 minutes, 48 secondsroom I’m not trying to trick you you said you got the wait room about 3:30 right okay from 3:30 to 4: you were in

4:57

4 minutes, 57 secondsthe waight room you said you’re there for about a half hour right MH all right at 4:00 you left the waight room and you went to thread class and you got there

5:06

5 minutes, 6 secondsabout 4:30 right okay so from 4: to 4:30 was she just traveling from there to there

5:14

5 minutes, 14 secondswell I drove around to softball field but it didn’t take on half hour so that’s I’m just asking you yeah

5:21

5 minutes, 21 secondsI mean so you drove around the softball field yeah then com back did you see anybody you were outside you were hanging out with talking to I was watching the girls practice or the girls

5:29

5 minutes, 29 secondsgame did you did you see mck at that point no sir did you he next here walking around the school this kept the detectives on high alert as there was no

5:38

5 minutes, 38 secondsreason for him to lie in the first place but as the interrogation continued he soon revealed something none of them

5:44

5 minutes, 44 secondsexpected heard anything about what may have happened to M yes sir what uh she

5:52

5 minutes, 52 secondshits the ride or walked with someone to Taco Bell mhm and other than that

5:58

5 minutes, 58 secondsnothing that’s the one thing I heard no and I heard uh

6:06

6 minutes, 6 secondsConor uh walked her to Taco down who did Conor Conor yeah okay but

6:13

6 minutes, 13 secondsif he was with you in the white room right how would he be able to do that without you knowing I don’t know did they say that happened before he saw you

6:22

6 minutes, 22 secondsin the white room or after um that didn’t say I mean thata huh did he act nervous about anything upset no was he

6:31

6 minutes, 31 secondsjust normal normal it wasn’t sweating excited about anything um didn’t appear nervous to you

6:37

6 minutes, 37 secondsfor some reason sir um now when you left the

6:45

6 minutes, 45 secondsschool it was what time you think uh 4 4:35 4:40 so that then you got in your

6:55

6 minutes, 55 secondstruck and you drove you said out University tonight 95 995 South I went

7:01

7 minutes, 1 secondthe other way the other on ramp so yeah you’re going to go South toward mandr

7:09

7 minutes, 9 secondsyeah um you went down toward 295 you got 295 to ol Augustine or did you go all the way 95

7:16

7 minutes, 16 secondsto all the way 95 all the way down M okay to the new overpass the fancy overpass yeah on by Baptist south okay

7:26

7 minutes, 26 secondsand went straight home yes sir okay you never drove up University at all no sir

7:33

7 minutes, 33 secondsyou never drove around my Wilson High School okay there’s a couple times I

7:40

7 minutes, 40 secondswent to uh Old Kings Old Kings Road yesterday were you talking about yesterday no I’m I’m just talking okay

7:49

7 minutes, 49 secondsso there’s there’s no reason from what we’re talking about no reason anyone would have seen you with mcka or mcka in

7:57

7 minutes, 57 secondsyour truck yesterday no okay and there’s no reason anyone would have seen your

8:04

8 minutes, 4 secondstruck any further west on University Boulevard then the turn off at 95 right okay

8:13

8 minutes, 13 secondswouldn’t have seen you down by Powers Avenue wouldn’t have seen you down by Wilson High School and would not have seen your truck out in the mudit

8:21

8 minutes, 21 secondsyesterday okay and despite Charles having a distinctive bright red truck with big tires he claimed he had been to

8:30

8 minutes, 30 secondsthe area a few times but not the previous day as the interrogation continued the officers shifted their focus to Connor hoping to gather more

8:39

8 minutes, 39 secondsinformation about him since the two were often seen together look at

8:46

8 minutes, 46 secondsConor and his relationship with Mia how well do you think they knew each

8:54

8 minutes, 54 secondsother just like any old friends I guess um did she ever buy weed from him

9:01

9 minutes, 1 secondsure aware of nothing I’m aware of okay does he ever sell to other kids to school and I will answer that for you

9:08

9 minutes, 8 secondsyes sir okay um and that’s what I want to talking about before just honesty um now somebody had told us that she was

9:18

9 minutes, 18 secondslooking to buy a blunt what she had bought from him I wouldn’t know if he if she did but that’s the person to get it

9:27

9 minutes, 27 secondsfrom okay um did she mention anything to you when

9:35

9 minutes, 35 secondswhen she saw you that she had got any got a a blonde or picked up some weed was looking to get some or was looking for Connor to get

9:42

9 minutes, 42 secondssome okay and did Connor mention anything to you that he had sold to her when he got in your truck yes sir would you tell me the truth if he had yes sir

9:52

9 minutes, 52 secondsafter several evasive responses the detectives began to suspect that Charles knew more than he was letting on lacking

9:59

9 minutes, 59 secondshard evidence against him they attempted to patronize the 17-year-old to get him to tell the truth but Charles stood his

10:06

10 minutes, 6 secondsground you was you know if did she had been in your truck of course we we will find that out um and

10:15

10 minutes, 15 secondsif something happened if there was an accident you know people a lot of times [ __ ] goes bad quick you know and things

10:25

10 minutes, 25 secondshappen that we didn’t intend to happen and then we panic and we lock up you know you know what do I say what do I do because I don’t want to get in trouble

10:33

10 minutes, 33 secondsyou know and and believe it or not the the truth always is the best route one way or the other and that’s why we

10:40

10 minutes, 40 secondsalways bring people in here you brought in you came into the equation today because of the fact you had a relationship with her because you have a truck um you’ve been back there in that

10:49

10 minutes, 49 secondsarea before so you know the area um she’s obviously been in your truck before and it’s important that we talk

10:56

10 minutes, 56 secondsto you from the start I understand so we can try to clarify some these things okay is there anything that you need to tell

11:04

11 minutes, 4 secondsme it throughout the questioning Charles remained unexpectedly calm insisting that he knew nothing about maia’s death

11:13

11 minutes, 13 secondsa level of composure that seemed unbelievable given that he had no real relationship with her however one thing

11:20

11 minutes, 20 secondswas certain the tire tracks They found were from Charles’s truck but why he denied it remained a puzzle to the detectives realizing they wouldn’t get

11:28

11 minutes, 28 secondsany more from Charles the detectives turned their attention to Connor who had been captured on the school surveillance video with Makia just hours before her

11:37

11 minutes, 37 secondsdeath however when Connor was brought in for questioning the detectives had no idea of the kind of person they were

11:44

11 minutes, 44 secondsabout to encounter the two as first period uhhuh And I think Spanish to which is fifth period okay did y’all sit

11:52

11 minutes, 52 secondsclose to each other no opposite sides of the room okay you ever talk to each other not during class or out of school outside of class know the only time I’ve

12:01

12 minutes, 1 secondtalked to her is like passing in the hallway or something like that but we’re not really close we don’t talk much okay

12:09

12 minutes, 9 secondsum on the day that this happened Wednesday yes sir the 10th um that

12:17

12 minutes, 17 secondsafternoon after class got out what time do you you finish your last class 3:10 at 3:10 all right at

12:25

12 minutes, 25 seconds3:10 um when was the next time that you actually saw mcka um I thought it was 3:45 but uh somebody

12:34

12 minutes, 34 secondselse told me that it was like 317 was last time okay does that sound right is anywhere

12:42

12 minutes, 42 secondsfrom then until 4:00 when I got into the waight room okay um your BS and stuff

12:49

12 minutes, 49 secondspacking up my gym bag okay so when you came out she’s in the classroom where she’s

12:58

12 minutes, 58 secondsin C room where dark craft the guy I went to right she was right next door okay did you walk over and talk to her

13:07

13 minutes, 7 secondsup before this point no I was the only time I talked to her is when she says something first okay you know her sister

13:14

13 minutes, 14 secondsBBH okay now BB told us that you step next door and spoke to her and then she came

13:23

13 minutes, 23 secondsout no the only time I ever go in that classroom is to hang out with Justin Bell okay but you’re absolutely positive that

13:32

13 minutes, 32 secondsyou did not stick your head in and and say anything to her I don’t talk to her unless she talks to me we’re not close

13:38

13 minutes, 38 secondsat all okay um I’ve heard you say that before that you’re not close to her at

13:46

13 minutes, 46 secondsall mhm all right but I’m I’m trying to understand why her sister absolutely said that you stuck

13:54

13 minutes, 54 secondsyour head in the door and spoke to her and then she came out and followed you out the door were yall talking about anything for

14:02

14 minutes, 2 secondssome reason Connor claimed that his connection with Mia did not go beyond simple greetings and was not as close as

14:09

14 minutes, 9 secondsthe detectives had been led to believe despite several students saying otherwise including Mia’s sister beatric

14:16

14 minutes, 16 secondsConnor remained adamant I can’t understand why people would say that you’re actually friends and I and I’ve got you on film walking

14:24

14 minutes, 24 secondsaround I’ve got her sister who as you might imagine is is beside herself yes she’s completely tore up and and she

14:33

14 minutes, 33 secondsblames herself for her sister’s death mhm um that’s a lot to carry for a kid that young and she’s told me and I have

14:41

14 minutes, 41 secondsno reason to go back and and insinuate that she’s wrong or she’s lying to me is that she’s told me that

14:49

14 minutes, 49 secondsyou stuck your head in the door said something to Mia Mia went out the door I need to be I need to understand why

14:58

14 minutes, 58 secondsthat that question mark is there I don’t have a clue let me just tell you what one one kid said okay all right it says

15:05

15 minutes, 5 secondsConor mcka joke jokes around class all the time talks all the time in class jokes around I mean I had more than one

15:14

15 minutes, 14 secondskid that’s just one I just pulled up right quick I had many many kids come in and tell us that Connor and mcka are

15:21

15 minutes, 21 secondsbetter friends and and and one I had one actually one kid that said that they could not believe how you are denying

15:29

15 minutes, 29 secondsthat you friends with her because it’s just crazy because they say you and her joke around the class all

15:36

15 minutes, 36 secondsthe time and you talk to her but you’re making it sound like you never talk to her that you don’t know her that you you only time that you say something to her

15:45

15 minutes, 45 secondsshe speaks to you and then and these kids are saying that that’s that’s crazy in your that’s what doesn’t make sense you know we’ve been in this game for a long time you know I’m not 20 years old

15:54

15 minutes, 54 secondsI’ve been around for a while my partner’s been around for a while and and people get nervous because of what we do I understand that but but we don’t

16:02

16 minutes, 2 secondsbring anybody here actually say because I sit on the opposite side of the room and have no opportunity to even whisper or talk to all right and I I was in

16:12

16 minutes, 12 secondsschool I’ve got friends in school that I jok and kid around with I don’t necessarily have to do it in class you know there’s a lot of there’s time in

16:19

16 minutes, 19 secondsbetween classes in the halls and the breaks on lunch and stuff she stays after school every day so you stay after school every day you’re going to have

16:27

16 minutes, 27 secondsinteraction with people that’s not a big school it’s a small number of students and for everyone to come at us and say that he’s he’s better we don’t

16:36

16 minutes, 36 secondsunderstand why he’s saying that cuz he’s friends with her and we don’t understand that I’m not like push off towards her

16:42

16 minutes, 42 secondsbut I’m not like I don’t know where she lives don’t know anything about her I know her name’s Mia and like that’s

16:50

16 minutes, 50 secondsabout it um the detective suspected that Connor knew more than he was letting on and the only way to get it out of him

16:59

16 minutes, 59 secondswas to steer the conversation in a different direction and so they carefully began to probe into other topics hinting at the kind of

17:07

17 minutes, 7 secondsinteractions he might have had with Mia waiting to see if he would slip up or reveal something unexpected a lot of

17:14

17 minutes, 14 secondspeople in this this school that we’ve talked to said if you want weed see Conor that’s cuz of my reputation last

17:21

17 minutes, 21 secondsyear well what how did you get the reputation last year just doing stupid stuff going to parties or lots of drugs

17:29

17 minutes, 29 secondsI’m not about dope I’m about honesty I know okay last year were you selling no I wasn’t selling on campus at all I’m

17:37

17 minutes, 37 secondsnot I don’t work for the school I understand did Mia ever come to you in the past or recently saying that she

17:45

17 minutes, 45 secondswanted to buy some no but nobody comes to me anymore about it like the last person that ever did was last year and

17:55

17 minutes, 55 secondsthat was like right before I got kicked out turned out to be mhm set up type thing oh you got set up well sort of but

18:02

18 minutes, 2 secondsnot really all right now we’ve had people tell us that uh mcka had money that day and she wanted to buy a

18:09

18 minutes, 9 secondsblunt and that’s why everyone says well if you want to buy a blunt talk to Connor if he doesn’t have or if he doesn’t sell he can tell you where you

18:17

18 minutes, 17 secondscan get it and Conor if you do that might help us if you know

18:26

18 minutes, 26 secondsanyone someone can turn to over there I know some people that sell but I don’t none of them I would hand out numbers to

18:34

18 minutes, 34 secondsbecause I don’t really did she come to you and ask you no there’s more than one person she talked to that day about it

18:41

18 minutes, 41 secondsshe didn’t talk to me about it since Connor still claimed to be innocent the detective needed to find

18:48

18 minutes, 48 secondsout if he had introduced mcka to someone else perhaps another drug dealer who might have been responsible for her

18:55

18 minutes, 55 secondsdeath did you see her again uh no the last time I saw her was right when we walked out of there and I broke left to

19:02

19 minutes, 2 secondsgo to the flag pole okay and then what happened after you went outside I went to the flag Bowl

19:10

19 minutes, 10 secondsgrabbed my bag walked to the gym got changed into my gym clothes not to the gym the weightlifting room you walk to

19:18

19 minutes, 18 secondsthe weightlifting room yeah I thought she rode there I rode from the J uh there to j r

19:28

19 minutes, 28 secondsfrom the flag pole to J like from right here so you now just now you said you walked to where to the

19:37

19 minutes, 37 secondsyou got your flag you got your book bag didn’t what you do walked over to the parking lot it’s like right around the flag pole from like my books are like

19:44

19 minutes, 44 secondsright on the corner of the principal’s office mhm and I got the books walked over here hopped in Charles truck this

19:52

19 minutes, 52 secondsis Charles Souther yeah and it’s that red truck yeah red Dodge okay pulled that one in here got dropped off right

20:00

20 minutesat the athletic D Building went in there I was with Coach Cox just messing around and lifting weights okay um just as

20:09

20 minutes, 9 secondsexpected it didn’t take long before the detectives picked up the inconsistencies in his story but what they didn’t realize was How Deeply Twisted things

20:18

20 minutes, 18 secondswere about to get this is gym cloes a big old thing of protein powder mhm

20:26

20 minutes, 26 secondsuh iPods stuff like that you see a gun in there no you ever seen a gun in his truck not in his

20:34

20 minutes, 34 secondstruck where have you seen a gun uh uh there’s a coach this used to be a

20:41

20 minutes, 41 secondscoach there Beach uh right before he went hunting on Saturday when we were up there but he owns a ranch and the school

20:49

20 minutes, 49 secondstakes football trips out there mhm I’m talking about I’m talking about Char I’ve never seen a gun in Charles TR you’ve never seen him with a gun no

20:57

20 minutes, 57 secondsever I don’t know him to own a gun or his family to own a gun really I’ve never met his family but

21:06

21 minutes, 6 secondsand you never know him to have a gun in his vehicle no he’s not 21 he can’t legally no I’m not

21:15

21 minutes, 15 secondsConor I wasn’t born yesterday and neither with Detective Nixon I know anybody can get their hands on a gun today yeah but he’s not the type of kid

21:23

21 minutes, 23 secondsthat would know where to get it nor anything like that really m um would it

21:30

21 minutes, 30 secondsshock you if uh we told you that other kids had seen him with a gun yeah really

21:39

21 minutes, 39 secondsmhm and these are some of the same kids that that of course came and told us that you were in the truck with him that

21:48

21 minutes, 48 secondsday then they saw the gun in there when I was in the car I didn’t say that I say that you have been in with i i in the

21:56

21 minutes, 56 secondsvehicle with you and with him and you say you’ve never seen a gun in there not anywhere in his truck during

22:03

22 minutes, 3 secondsthe investigation the detectives learned from other students that Charles had been seen holding a revolver the day before the shooting however Connor

22:11

22 minutes, 11 secondsconfidently denies these allegations but with all eyes now on him the detectives began to close in sensing he wasn’t

22:18

22 minutes, 18 secondsbeing completely honest the last 48 hours mhm we’re we’re getting we’re a little bit tired because we’ve

22:25

22 minutes, 25 secondsbeen going at this for 48 hours we have a lot of detectives that work here and a lot of detectives that and police officers and citizens and civilians have

22:34

22 minutes, 34 secondsbeen on the phone constantly now outside this school this busy busy road University Boulevard how many of

22:43

22 minutes, 43 secondsthose businesses do you think have video systems I don’t have a clue probably most of them

22:51

22 minutes, 51 secondsyeah and because of cameras today you know this is a highly technological world people have cameras because

22:59

22 minutes, 59 secondsone to ward off thieves MH or to help the police you know they’re solving

23:05

23 minutes, 5 secondscrimes now you’ve watched the news and you know that all these police officers and detectives have been canvasing and

23:13

23 minutes, 13 secondssurrounding this area a lot of film has come in this is just a little thing from the school it’s being analyzed even as

23:21

23 minutes, 21 secondswe speak they’re looking at films right now now the truck that you climbed

23:27

23 minutes, 27 secondsinto is very distinctive it’s very easy to see on film mhm okay now I told you

23:35

23 minutes, 35 secondsthat most of the questions we’re going to ask you we already have the answers too we’re just saying if you’re going to be honest because when it comes down to it

23:42

23 minutes, 42 secondsConnor if we can’t believe what you tell us you’re in a world of hurt all right a world of hurt I’m not

23:51

23 minutes, 51 secondslooking to hurt you you haven’t done anything to me you may have been in a bad position and some somebody did something

23:59

23 minutes, 59 secondsin front of you that you saw and the only thing you can think of is now is just deny it oh for God’s sake

24:06

24 minutes, 6 secondsjust tonight hopefully he’ll believe me okay all those people and all those

24:15

24 minutes, 15 secondsbusinesses have a time stamp and cameras on that road and you know how easy it is once you put it all together to watch a

24:24

24 minutes, 24 secondsbig red truck come out that parking lot go down the street pretty

24:33

24 minutes, 33 secondseasy after stating the facts to him it slowly dawned on Connor How deep the consequences would be for him if he continued withholding information from

24:42

24 minutes, 42 secondsthem however it wasn’t long before Connor soon revealed something chilling I witness something what did

24:50

24 minutes, 50 secondsyou witness Charles accidentally I thought was he said it was accidentally shoot

24:56

24 minutes, 56 secondsMia and it’s man you it I know it has I know it

25:04

25 minutes, 4 secondshas do you think it was an accident I think it was an accident cuz he’s never handled a gun before that I know of but

25:12

25 minutes, 12 secondsI mean it’s easy to say that it was an accident and it couldn’t Conor are you sure that it was Charles

25:22

25 minutes, 22 secondsthat did it not you I’m positive I if it was an accident and you were holding that gun you’ve got to tell me char saying that but I wasn’t holding the gun

25:30

25 minutes, 30 secondstell me what happened um we got in the truck all three of us he was already in the truck waiting in that parking lot I got in

25:39

25 minutes, 39 secondsthere we’re originally going to Old King’s food mart like old King’s quick Mar I think it’s called for what I was going to go pack pick up a can of dip

25:48

25 minutes, 48 secondsand her and Charles wanted a black and mile okay for what reason they just smok black and M okay all right but and we’re

25:56

25 minutes, 56 secondsjust chilling he said was going to go drive around we ended up at Baker Skinner Park which is where like a baseball field is i’ never been there

26:04

26 minutes, 4 secondsbefore but baseball fields there and then like he went down this dirt road and like took a

26:12

26 minutes, 12 secondsleft and it went like almost in a ravine area like a ditch have you ever been back there no not in my life okay that

26:20

26 minutes, 20 secondswas the only time I’d ever been back there was one who drove us back there okay what do you think yall were going to do back there just I thought he was

26:28

26 minutes, 28 secondsand her were going to smoke that black and Miles that they got they got out of the truck outside of the truck mhm um

26:36

26 minutes, 36 secondsthey’re smoking that were you driving no I don’t drive I don’t have a license I’m not the licensed police all right I I

26:43

26 minutes, 43 secondsgot but I wasn’t I never other than the like um now where were you sitting in the truck the right passenger seat and

26:51

26 minutes, 51 secondswhere’s mcka in the middle okay now which side did she get out on uh probably on Charles side

26:58

26 minutes, 58 secondsbut you remember no not really okay did you know what was going to happen what did you know what was going to happen I

27:06

27 minutes, 6 secondsthought they were just going to smoke the blacks I didn’t know okay that something that bad was going to happen finally Connor had started to talk but

27:14

27 minutes, 14 secondssomething felt off if Mia’s death was truly an accident it’s hard to Fathom why Connor didn’t call the police to report the incident Connor had yet again

27:22

27 minutes, 22 secondslied to the police or at the very least he was leaving something important out and as the detectives would soon discover his story took a dark and

27:30

27 minutes, 30 secondsunexpected turn had you seen it before um I’d seen it in the truck the day before mhm what kind of gun was it uh

27:40

27 minutes, 40 secondsone it’s like a six shot revolver I don’t really know the model or anything you ever tell you what kind of Magnum it was if it was a 38 a

27:48

27 minutes, 48 seconds357 a 44 a 45 I think it was a 44 magnum a 44 magnum did he see where he got it

27:55

27 minutes, 55 secondsno was it his uncle’s not that I know his uncle wouldn’t let him leave with a gun okay how many times had you seen him

28:03

28 minutes, 3 secondswith a gun before that just that one time the day before and I saw him I saw when he was talking to Caleb Hill and

28:10

28 minutes, 10 secondsshowed Caleb Hill that gun okay so so you knew that Caleb had seen it too yeah I saw it the same time I walked up when

28:18

28 minutes, 18 secondsCaleb was yeah Caleb never touched it but did you ever touch it I don’t think so not unless it was like when he was

28:25

28 minutes, 25 secondsshowing to me Tuesday okay did you see see her get shot yeah I saw her was right in front of me okay

28:33

28 minutes, 33 secondsum those clothes did they get blood on him I would guess so she was shot looked

28:39

28 minutes, 39 secondslike one how close all right I’m like 7t away not far at all my ear was ringing I

28:47

28 minutes, 47 secondslooked over there and she’s got blood pouring out of her head and he said the gun went off she got little blood pouring out of her head yeah it was like

28:56

28 minutes, 56 secondsshot like right here in the Temple I think uhhuh and he shot one time uh it sounded like twice but it could have

29:05

29 minutes, 5 secondsbeen once I don’t know did you look at her after it happened yeah it was all messed up what was messed up like her face she had a buet hole here and like

29:14

29 minutes, 14 secondsit just looked like it completely knocked her jaw this really mhm um was she breathing at that time or could you tell no there’s no

29:23

29 minutes, 23 secondsway for someone who claimed to be close friends with Charles it was hard to believe the shocking event had happened suddenly without Connor having any

29:31

29 minutes, 31 secondsknowledge of it but even though he had started to tell what seemed to be the truth his story constantly began to change you can’t you can’t do this half

29:39

29 minutes, 39 secondscoocked do you understand that I mean you got to do this 100% And you got to tell the truth about everything okay no matter what happened I

29:48

29 minutes, 48 secondsmean you’ve already said you’ve already said two two rounds okay it sounded like two rounds but I didn’t see one round listen to me one round don’t sound like

29:56

29 minutes, 56 secondstwo okay the first time if if it’s an accident one round is not two okay he’s not going to he’s not going to fire off

30:04

30 minutes, 4 secondstwo rounds from a revolver okay it’s not a semi-automatic he fired one round and you saw her go down okay right did he

30:11

30 minutes, 11 secondsdid he did he did he shoot her again while he was watching and tell the truth I think he shot her no don’t listen to me don’t think we don’t think we don’t

30:19

30 minutes, 19 secondsthink okay he shot her the second time why did he shoot her the second time I think that like so she couldn’t uh like tell on him was she still alive when she

30:27

30 minutes, 27 secondswent down I don’t know I didn’t check vitals but it looked like she was dead V the first shot like cuz she went to the

30:35

30 minutes, 35 secondsground where was was he standing over her when he shot the second time uh like 2 or 3 feet away okay and he shot where

30:42

30 minutes, 42 secondsdid he shoot her at uh the first time I think was I’m not asking the first time I’m asking you didn’t see the first time you said your back was no but I saw the blood pouring out okay well listen to me

30:51

30 minutes, 51 secondswhen you saw the second shot where did he shoot her right around like cheek jaw and which is why I saw the jaw like

31:00

31 minutesgetting KN so after so how long how long has she been on the ground before he fired that second shot almost immediately he just walked over and just

31:07

31 minutes, 7 secondsshot her again yeah the only reason I could think of and he said still he said it was an accident on the first shot no we’re not talking about the first shot

31:15

31 minutes, 15 secondsI’m talking about the second one did you ask him why he fired the second shot and it was the only reason I could guess that was I didn’t ask him if he asking

31:23

31 minutes, 23 secondsdid you did you ask him why he fired the second shot no but the only reason I could think of was to like if she was alive and like she did get to the

31:31

31 minutes, 31 secondsparamedic she was fine did she tell on him yeah something like that where he wanted to cover his Trail or whatever mhm you know what he did with the gun

31:39

31 minutes, 39 secondsthroughout this time Connor maintained that he had nothing to do with what happened to Mia but the detective still couldn’t understand why Connor was

31:47

31 minutes, 47 secondspresent at the scene unless he had a part to play I understand that nobody is a better witness to what happened that

31:55

31 minutes, 55 secondsday than you are you sure you didn’t pull the I’m positive I didn’t pull a trigger I have no gun he’s not going to shoot her in the head and then hand me a

32:02

32 minutes, 2 secondsgun to shoot her in the head well if you want you to be a part of it so she won’t tell why would I step well we’re trying

32:11

32 minutes, 11 secondsto understand why he shot her why did he kill her I’m guess I don’t really know and I can’t honestly did you ask him one no he never asked him anything he said

32:20

32 minutes, 20 secondsit was an accident and I was like whatever just just get back to the school as quick as you can he said all

32:28

32 minutes, 28 secondsright just don’t say anything about it nothing’s ever going to come of it nothing’s ever going to get brought up did you think it was going to go away I just I wanted to get away from him he

32:37

32 minutes, 37 secondsdrove off after I got out you think this was going to go away um I knew it was probably going to surface eventually but not like that has it bothered you yeah

32:45

32 minutes, 45 secondsit’s bothered me daily I’ve got four hours of sleep since I happened did you tell your mom no she doesn’t know that

32:52

32 minutes, 52 secondsshe doesn’t know anything about your dad no nobody have you talked to anybody when was the last time you talked to

32:59

32 minutes, 59 secondshim uh Charles M I seen him today at school and did you talk to him uh just like waved pass him did he talk to him

33:09

33 minutes, 9 secondsabout what happened no nothing about what happened I haven’t talked to him since did he talk to you about what to say to us

33:15

33 minutes, 15 secondsno since it happened this time Connor tries to explain how Makia was undoubtedly executed insisting that only

33:24

33 minutes, 24 secondsCharles had pulled the trigger but somehow throughout his account he remained cold and monotone acting indifferent and unresponsive the

33:32

33 minutes, 32 secondsdetectives noticed this and soon returned with a dummy gun determined to force Connor to reveal the details he seemed to be trying so hard to hide when

33:40

33 minutes, 40 secondsthe first shot goes off is he beside her or in front of her he’s like directly beside her directly beside her mhm okay

33:47

33 minutes, 47 secondshe was like standing like if you if I’m a ke and I’m standing here he was like

33:54

33 minutes, 54 secondsnot like this far away he wasn’t far at all and he’s did you see the gun was it still raised when you look back and he had shot no it was dropped down by his

34:01

34 minutes, 1 secondside was he right or left-handed uh I think he’s right-handed so the gun was down that side M all right and she falls

34:09

34 minutes, 9 secondsshe was like immediately Falls it wasn’t like a slowmo like she boom down mhm okay did she land on her back or her

34:16

34 minutes, 16 secondsside uh I want to say her side but toward him or away from him um towards him I think towards you or

34:23

34 minutes, 23 secondstowards him towards him okay and then what did he do and he pulled the gun up like that and shot her again all right

34:31

34 minutes, 31 secondsand he shoot her from now she’s on the ground mhm and he shot her from like almost the same spot as he was when he shot or did he reach down and he put it

34:39

34 minutes, 39 secondsin her mouth no he didn’t put it in her mouth he shot her from away you’re sure M you’re absolutely positive I’m positive he was like 3 to 4 feet away

34:47

34 minutes, 47 secondsfrom her when he shot her but he was standing straight up two hands shot her like that it wasn’t put in her mouth and then shot okay you’re absolutely

34:55

34 minutes, 55 secondspositive he was about 3 ft away from her m all right now when did you see and you saw that shot go off I saw the second shot okay what was the impact to her it

35:03

35 minutes, 3 secondslike hit her right here and it looked like it just completely blew her face up like jaw was hanging low or than it’s supposed to be it looked like it

35:12

35 minutes, 12 secondsdislocated that blew like all the cheek and skin off of that it was just messy despite several attempts to get Connor

35:20

35 minutes, 20 secondsto confess the 16-year-old stood his ground that he was nothing more than a victim hoping to ease the detective’s suspicions but what he didn’t know was

35:28

35 minutes, 28 secondsthat the detectives would soon receive a call that would eventually turn this case around hello hi M yes sir it’s t

35:36

35 minutes, 36 secondshours hi I’m glad you called back just been busy I’m sorry it took so long Charles uh knows more than he told you

35:43

35 minutes, 43 secondsyesterday what’s going on uh he says he knows the kid that did it and that he was there when it happened he said he was there when it happened yes

35:51

35 minutes, 51 secondssir who did he say that he right here would you like to talk with him

35:59

35 minutes, 59 secondssure what do you think he’s going to say probably my name I was the only person there with

36:12

36 minutes, 12 secondshim yes sir yes sir

36:29

36 minutes, 29 secondsCharles back just been busy I’m sorry it takes so long Charles uh knows more than he told you yesterday what’s going on uh

36:37

36 minutes, 37 secondshe says he knows the kid that did it and that he was there when it happened he said he was there when it happened yes sir who did he say did he’s right here

36:46

36 minutes, 46 secondswould you like to talk with him

36:53

36 minutes, 53 seconds[Applause]

36:54

36 minutes, 54 secondssure yes Sir Charles yes sir what’s going

37:03

37 minutes, 3 secondson Charles what’s happened um a friend that was with me

37:10

37 minutes, 10 secondsConor Pon uhhuh he shot M he shot Mia Conor

37:19

37 minutes, 19 secondsdid Charles and you were there and when Connor was confronted

37:28

37 minutes, 28 secondswith this things started to get a little more interesting start these things just only get deeper yeah is there a way we

37:34

37 minutes, 34 secondscan do a polygraph test or something like that M cuz I’m willing to do that cuz this is [ __ ] I’ve witnessed him

37:41

37 minutes, 41 secondsshoot her I’m done with this [ __ ] it’s been too emotional for me I haven’t had any sleep no food all day I’m not

37:49

37 minutes, 49 seconds[ __ ] with this anymore you see what I’m saying yeah it’s just [ __ ] and he’s supposed to be a good good friend of mine and then he’s going to say and

37:57

37 minutes, 57 secondsput it all on me like I did it I shot her I at this point it was evident that Connor would do just about anything to

38:06

38 minutes, 6 secondsavoid getting in trouble unfortunately for him there was nothing he could do now as the detectives were getting closer to uncovering what really

38:13

38 minutes, 13 secondshappened that day when the police brought Charles in for questioning they wasted no time confronting him about what he had said on the phone just start

38:22

38 minutes, 22 secondsfrom the time you got out of school yesterday and kind of want me through what happened um when we got out of school Conor said mck

38:31

38 minutes, 31 secondswanted to come with us to go smoke okay what time was that um just right after well during 6 period he told me mhm and

38:39

38 minutes, 39 secondsthen we left around like 3:30 to go over to the gym cuz I need to go pick my book bag up and we drove around I let him out

38:47

38 minutes, 47 secondson the other side of the gym so he can go get her I went over to the softball field just to see what’s going on over

38:54

38 minutes, 54 secondsthere softball practice got a couple friends over there and uh Conor walked out with her and they got in and uh we went to O Old

39:04

39 minutes, 4 secondsKings there’s a store over there m and uh is it on Old Kings yeah it’s on Old Kings as soon as you turn is it a

39:11

39 minutes, 11 secondsconvenience store or grocery store or what it’s kind of like a grocery store okay or like a convenience store all

39:18

39 minutes, 18 secondsright and uh so what happened when you got there I dropped him off and he bought the cigars me and

39:26

39 minutes, 26 secondsmcka uh around the corner she gave me oral M then we came back picked him up

39:32

39 minutes, 32 secondsand then uh our normal spot to smoke um they opened up like a little business pot M cuz there was an empty

39:41

39 minutes, 41 secondsbuilding but we didn’t want nobody to see us there cuz uh we were in UC uniform mhm

39:49

39 minutes, 49 secondsor he was and uh he offered to go to mudit down there in Powers that’s cool

39:57

39 minutes, 57 secondsso we went down there by the softball field or baseball field and there’s a little back road we took that all the way down and uh we stopped by a like a

40:07

40 minutes, 7 secondslittle power plant or whatever M and we got out and started smoking carrying on a conversation and uh she uh she turned

40:17

40 minutes, 17 secondsaround and look at the trains and uh Conor was right next to me and he pulled out a

40:23

40 minutes, 23 secondsgun and I reached for it and he he shot it not only did Charles explain how Connor had been responsible for Mia’s

40:32

40 minutes, 32 secondsdeath but he also claimed that Connor had threatened to kill him if anyone ever found out but just like Connor he somehow absolves himself of any

40:40

40 minutes, 40 secondsinvolvement uh the 44 magnum yeah it’s black has a brown handle mhm I think it

40:47

40 minutes, 47 secondsis okay you know what kind it is no sir it’s a revolver okay um brown with what kind of handle uh I think a brown or no

40:56

40 minutes, 56 secondsthe the gun itself was black the gun is black and the with a brown handle yes sir the wood

41:04

41 minutes, 4 secondsyes sir gun before yes sir uh a couple days ago he showed it to me where in my truck

41:12

41 minutes, 12 secondshe had in his backpack what school yes sir really

41:20

41 minutes, 20 secondsyeah they don’t take your backpacks or anything at school no sir no and uh he said on the phone that you

41:29

41 minutes, 29 secondssaid you know where he got it from yes sir where um Daniel cby that’s one of my friends uh his dad has a gun like that

41:38

41 minutes, 38 secondsand he said Conor said he took it from Daniel he say when he took it um it was there on like a ski trip Daniel and uh

41:47

41 minutes, 47 secondshis girlfriend or whatever family went on a ski trip and he went in and got it

41:57

41 minutes, 57 secondsI don’t know what do you think he’s going to tell me he didn’t shoot her that um the story I tried to tell you

42:05

42 minutes, 5 secondsyesterday it was true what was that uh hanging around the W room mhm went over to the W room 3:00 went over to threat

42:14

42 minutes, 14 secondscrash for 4 till 4: and I went home at 4:30 you yall rehearse that story H did

42:23

42 minutes, 23 secondsy’all rehearse that story yes sir he told me that uh I dropped him off at the way room

42:32

42 minutes, 32 secondsthen note that there’s no real emotion in Charles’s voice as he describes the murder of someone who was supposedly his

42:39

42 minutes, 39 secondsclose friend and during the police’s earlier investigations they had visited Charles in his home and found blood stains on his shoe but he remained

42:47

42 minutes, 47 secondsdisturbingly indifferent now more than ever the detectives didn’t believe him but they left the matter for the time being and switched to a different topic

42:56

42 minutes, 56 secondsonce again though the conversation didn’t go as they were likely expecting just tell us the truth what happened you know if you was outside and

43:04

43 minutes, 4 secondsyou were playing with a 44 M and you had it cocked and it went off and you shot her by accident well then just tell us you know but don’t try don’t try to pin

43:12

43 minutes, 12 secondsit on somebody that had nothing to do with it now you only making a bad situation yeah because we we’ve got people that’s already said you bragged

43:20

43 minutes, 20 secondsabout having a 44 you have showed it to people that you had it in your truck Connor wasn’t around

43:28

43 minutes, 28 secondsI mean come on everything points at you everything points at you don’t Point nothing points at Conor but you you’re pointing at him because you don’t want

43:36

43 minutes, 36 secondsto take the blame for something you did and if it didn’t do it did you go to his house and look Charles Charles are you

43:43

43 minutes, 43 secondslistening to what we’re telling you if something happened something happened by it don’t sound right and if something happened by accident and it wasn’t

43:51

43 minutes, 51 secondsintentional now and we told you this before you know this stuff needs to come out you know we can’t spoon feed it to

43:59

43 minutes, 59 secondsyou but this would be a very hard sell for anybody because his mama is all over him

44:08

44 minutes, 8 secondsbecause she doesn’t want him falling back into the problems he had last year mama’s going to know if he’s got something like that because Mama’s on top of him and she hauls him back and

44:16

44 minutes, 16 secondsforth to school you can’t hide a 44 Magnum in a backpack well he did that blue backpack you tell me that

44:25

44 minutes, 25 secondsbackpack’s not big enough to hold that in someone who he has no affair with no relationship whatsoever than he knows her in school is going to suddenly just

44:34

44 minutes, 34 secondsbrutally kill her it’s not even an accident he he murdered her and that’s what you’re telling us yes

44:42

44 minutes, 42 secondssir so can you explain why you bragged about having a 44 magnum and a people saw the gun in your truck that you

44:51

44 minutes, 51 secondspulled it out and showed it I don’t know so all these people Li too these people are lying against you

44:59

44 minutes, 59 secondsnobody says Connor has anything Connor don’t have a gun nobody sees Connor with a gun nobody has Conor bragging about a

45:06

45 minutes, 6 secondsgun but they come in and say Charles is bragging about having a 44 magnum Charles showed the 44 Magnum in his

45:13

45 minutes, 13 secondstruck on J Ray to me I saw it Tuesday before mcka got

45:21

45 minutes, 21 secondskilled and you know that we’ve talked to Conor despite being told that his story was nonsense and that blaming Conor wouldn’t work Charles remained adamant

45:29

45 minutes, 29 secondsinsisting he was the innocent one I’m 54 years old think about how many years just to

45:38

45 minutes, 38 secondswhen you get my age and you’re still there life is not 25 years and then you get Paro not on a murder life is life

45:47

45 minutes, 47 secondsthat’s your life now do you want to take that risk on this Kaka

45:54

45 minutes, 54 secondsstory yes sir okay all

46:01

46 minutes, 1 secondright don’t feel bad down the road seeing that he was determined to

46:08

46 minutes, 8 secondsstick to his lies the detectives took a bold step and put the two suspects face to face in the interrogation room hoping that the tension and conflicting stories

46:17

46 minutes, 17 secondswould force one of them to crack I want you to tell him what you’re

46:25

46 minutes, 25 secondstelling us you shot her and I went for the

46:34

46 minutes, 34 secondsgun that’s it and you told me when we out back in the

46:40

46 minutes, 40 secondstruck if uh if I tell anybody you going to shoot me next how would I shoot you if I didn’t

46:48

46 minutes, 48 secondshave a gun you do I’ve got the gun that is at my house and I already turned that

46:56

46 minutes, 56 secondsinto the office officers it’s not we got to match anything that was shot with her you had the gun you shot her first

47:05

47 minutes, 5 secondsPoint Blank Range to the temple soon after Charles and Connor were questioned at the same time and

47:13

47 minutes, 13 secondsthat’s when the chilling truth of what had happened slowly began to unfold about it and all we wanted to do was sort out cuz we knew both of you were

47:22

47 minutes, 22 secondsinvolved we just had to figure out who was going to carry my cuz we knew the first shot to endure

47:30

47 minutes, 30 secondsher she could have survived it could have survived it was the second shot she

47:37

47 minutes, 37 secondsnever stood up prayer and it was the second shot that did so much damage to her her family can never look at

47:48

47 minutes, 48 secondsher all those detectives beating those bushes and talking to those businesses and getting all that film footage and talking to all those kids at thato

47:56

47 minutes, 56 secondsSchool wasn’t for not we knew what we

48:03

48 minutes, 3 secondshad and you’re right he shot her first what I want to know was your shot

48:13

48 minutes, 13 secondsin accident look at me because I already thought she was dead when he shot her he

48:23

48 minutes, 23 secondsdidn’t shoot her on accident he had the gun pointed straight at her head why did you shoot her what why did you shoot her because I just wanted to get out of

48:32

48 minutes, 32 secondsthere I had the why couldn’t you just tell us that huh why couldn’t you just tell us that because it was obviously going to look bad on me and I had no

48:39

48 minutes, 39 secondsintention on killing her did you intend to kill her no sir was it an accident yes sir I had the hammer pulled back

48:47

48 minutes, 47 secondsjust to try to scare and S was this whole thing accident did you mean to kill her no sir nobody meant

48:55

48 minutes, 55 secondsto kill were you scared she was going to say something I didn’t know that she was alive anyway you just wanted to see what it looked like if you shot her no I

49:04

49 minutes, 4 secondsdidn’t like I was just [ __ ] around with it and um I knew that she got hit and I didn’t know whether she was alive

49:11

49 minutes, 11 secondsor dead but I figured she was probably dead so I just popped the second round mhm not even thinking about it okay

49:21

49 minutes, 21 secondsbut okay there was never any intention to kill anybody okay is that true yes sir can you show me where the guns at

49:29

49 minutes, 29 secondsyes sir is it in a place anybody could find it yes sir okay and that’s what I’m concerned about is it fallen in wrong

49:37

49 minutes, 37 secondshands okay um although the detectives now have what seemed to be a confession they needed to be sure that what they

49:44

49 minutes, 44 secondswere saying was true after explaining how they had bumped into Makia and persuaded her to join them for a smoke session in the woods near their school

49:52

49 minutes, 52 secondsCharles was asked to describe what happened after they arrived all right just for clarification so you can get it on your notes where were you

50:01

50 minutes, 1 secondstanding Sam her okay where were you standing when you had the gun right here all right you were standing that close or closer no I

50:10

50 minutes, 10 secondswas uh about right here he’s about six 7even feet away from her that far away okay did she turn her head this

50:18

50 minutes, 18 secondsway or did she turn her whole body At first she turned her back that’s when I was messing with it okay she turned her

50:25

50 minutes, 25 secondsback and I said hey mcka I was poing it she didn’t think much of it and she looked that way and

50:33

50 minutes, 33 secondsI didn’t catch the hammer or anything or something and I pulled the trigger shot her in the now you it scared her right

50:41

50 minutes, 41 secondswhen she looked back and saw the gun mhm and but she thought I was messing around okay which I was so okay how how much time how much time do you think from the

50:49

50 minutes, 49 secondstime that she turns back and I show me the gun where it was at all right so she turns back and sees the gun yeah and did she jump back a little bit bit I mean

50:57

50 minutes, 57 secondsshe didn’t okay and then she’s looking at it how long do you think before the gun went off uh two seconds maybe okay I me okay

51:07

51 minutes, 7 secondsand it was this distance yeah pretty much it wasn’t any closer no I mean it’s it’s not it’s not really ger I’m just

51:14

51 minutes, 14 secondstrying to get yeah it wasn’t okay and then she went was she fell yeah she fell back down that way okay so when she fell

51:21

51 minutes, 21 secondsdown and then you went to the front of the truck yes sir I went around the front okay just need to clarify that

51:28

51 minutes, 28 secondsokay by man thank throughout the investigation they both stuck to their story insisting that

51:37

51 minutes, 37 secondswhat happened to Makia was just a terrible mistake further investigations revealed that Connor’s gun which he claimed his mother had given him was

51:46

51 minutes, 46 secondsstained with blood and fragments found in maia’s wounds matched those fired from that very revolver with the

51:53

51 minutes, 53 secondsmounting evidence against them both boys were taken into custody and would face serious charges however later that year

52:01

52 minutes, 1 secondin October Connor through his attorney was offered a deal to share what he knew with the authorities in an attempt to seek a more lenient sentence for his

52:09

52 minutes, 9 secondscrimes they hoped he would finally come to his senses and reveal the shocking truth behind their evil act but they had

52:17

52 minutes, 17 secondsno idea how far he was willing to go to hide how twisted he really was first of all take me back to the guns the guns

52:26

52 minutes, 26 secondsyeah um we were when when did you first become aware of them uh months beforehand um when the Daniel Ki was

52:33

52 minutes, 33 secondsshowing them uh to me and Cody green I believe were in the room he brought us upstairs it was in his uh parents

52:41

52 minutes, 41 secondsbedroom closet and showed it to me as a the obviously the 44 Magnums both the

52:47

52 minutes, 47 secondsSmith and or the Ruger Ruger Red HW and Astra something you’re pretty good with guns you got a fascination with guns you

52:55

52 minutes, 55 secondslike to shoot stuff uh I I wouldn’t say a Fascination on guns but I I know I know about them okay you go out with

53:04

53 minutes, 4 secondsyour family and you go out shooting and stuff on the weekends yes sir okay um now did you ever discuss with Daniel

53:14

53 minutes, 14 secondsum taking the guns no we never told him anything about taking the guns okay now where were they kept in the in the the

53:21

53 minutes, 21 secondscloset up in the bathroom upstairs par bedroom it’s like a bathroom closet and a toolbox okay was the toolbox locked or

53:29

53 minutes, 29 secondsunlocked it was unlocked it was unlocked it it was like a latch like you know how most to old tool box have a latch MH it had no lock on it but I it just a latch

53:38

53 minutes, 38 secondsI just flipped the latch open like he showed it to it was open available mhm with boxes of ammo Well the box of ammo in the same box with a gun or a separate

53:45

53 minutes, 45 secondsbox they’re in a separate box he starts by detailing how he had stolen the two revolvers from their friend’s bathroom when no one was around with Charles

53:53

53 minutes, 53 secondsacting as the lookout they then took the guns to their houses until they would use them on Mia the following week next he was asked how and why Makia became

54:02

54 minutes, 2 secondsinvolved in the first place but the story he told was totally unbelievable Mia why Mia mhm he had gotten a fight

54:09

54 minutes, 9 secondswith her at school it wasn’t a physical fight but it was more of like an argument in which he had said that she

54:17

54 minutes, 17 secondswas messing around with uh another different kid by the name of

54:23

54 minutes, 23 secondsuh Brad Brad Graham or Brad Sutton one of the two um who’s also in our grade in

54:30

54 minutes, 30 seconds10th Grade and yeah like he was already messing around with other girls but he got mad when she started messing around

54:38

54 minutes, 38 secondswith other guys and that’s when he brought it up after uh he and her got into an argument in third crft classroom

54:46

54 minutes, 46 secondsand when did that take place that had to been the probably the Tuesday or Monday before um all right you say by an

54:54

54 minutes, 54 secondsargument did other people hear it they had to have heard it um Charles told me about it and uh threadcraft said that

55:03

55 minutes, 3 secondsthey had gotten into it in the middle of the classroom like it was on a break or something we always eat lunch and thre CFT classroom every day there’s always a

55:11

55 minutes, 11 secondsgroup of us instead of eating in the cafeteria MH but do you remember when we talked before and I asked you what his relationship was to her and I believe at

55:20

55 minutes, 20 secondsthe time you said that uh she liked him but he didn’t like her it was like he do you remember that I hly uh I remember it

55:29

55 minutes, 29 secondswas that a lot uh I think he liked her more than I let on uh cuz he obviously was jealous when she was messing around

55:36

55 minutes, 36 secondswith other guys I think he I think more than her liking her he didn’t like the idea of messing around with her right

55:44

55 minutes, 44 secondsafter she messed around some else Connor once again began to stray from the truth it was hard to believe that Makia was

55:51

55 minutes, 51 secondskilled out of jealousy especially when previous interviews suggested she had only casual relationship with Charles

55:58

55 minutes, 58 secondsnaturally the police and prosecutor didn’t buy his story and decided to probe further for more details the guns were taken that there that was the first

56:07

56 minutes, 7 secondsdiscussion that you had with Charles about shooting Mia yes sir okay specifically where did this conversation

56:15

56 minutes, 15 secondstake place in his truck after school and we were going to Old Kings okay and what specifically did he say best words that

56:23

56 minutes, 23 secondscame out of his mouth what did he say about shooting on Friday this would have been before going to K’s house I guess

56:31

56 minutes, 31 secondsright no we didn’t go to K’s house uh I went to C’s house on Friday but he he like we were going to Old King so I

56:38

56 minutes, 38 secondscould pick up a cigarillo for me and C so we could smoke um did he say in that ride over to the store that was the same

56:47

56 minutes, 47 secondsuh conversation where we had we both said there was we had an interest in shooting somebody uh before we went into

56:53

56 minutes, 53 secondsthe Marine Corps that um um he had me that was he mentioned the argument that they got into it about and that it was

57:01

57 minutes, 1 secondmore of a thing of opportunity than like anything else it was more like she comes with us every day like not every day but

57:10

57 minutes, 10 secondswhenever she wants to she comes with us uh to uh to perform oral sex on Charles and get a a smoke from Old Kings and he

57:19

57 minutes, 19 secondshad said it really didn’t really nail it down so he planned it out but he said that it would be a perfect thing cuz it was a crime

57:27

57 minutes, 27 secondsopportunity okay after she asked he tells you okay I’m going to shoot her today yeah what’s your reaction uh I was

57:34

57 minutes, 34 secondslike I wanted to go out there with them I didn’t plan on shooting at all but I plan on going out there with them to see it I cuz we had already talked about a

57:43

57 minutes, 43 secondscuriosity in it or whatnot okay so he’s telling you he’s going to kill your friend and you’re thinking hey this

57:50

57 minutes, 50 secondssounds like something cool I’m going to watch yeah it sounds bad but that’s

57:57

57 minutes, 57 secondshonest okay even if Charles had indeed instigated their plan it came as a surprise as to how calm Connor seemed

58:06

58 minutes, 6 secondsabout it from the start however he went on to explain how after the shooting he had discarded her jacket while Charles

58:13

58 minutes, 13 secondswashed the truck and they later agreed to claim it was an accident but as Connor described how mcka was shot the detective noticed even more

58:21

58 minutes, 21 secondsinconsistencies in his story before you actually did the de yeah cuz he was like why don’t you shoot her she’s already dead it’s not like I going to do

58:29

58 minutes, 29 secondsanything M and I didn’t plan on shooting anybody when I went out there I plan on just seeing watching it go down you remember when we’ve talked every other

58:36

58 minutes, 36 secondstime you said it was almost instantaneous yeah every other time we talked I was sort of worried about

58:44

58 minutes, 44 secondssaving my ass and not getting arrested okay but it was some period of time in thought before you actually pulled the

58:51

58 minutes, 51 secondstrigger all right and then when you I had to get the gun out of the truck before I even did anything it’s not like I had it in the waistband like he did

59:00

59 minutesdid you have the gun and you confused me there by saying yeah you did because earlier you said that after you saw that he had his gun you went into the truck

59:08

59 minutes, 8 secondsand got your gun out no after he shot her I went into the truck and got my gun out okay and that may just been us

59:16

59 minutes, 16 secondsmisunderstanding what you were saying but the way it sounded to us just a few minutes ago was that you got your gun out before the first shot was fired no

59:23

59 minutes, 23 secondsthen when he sort of showed you his gun and made some motion with his gun and gave you a look that that’s when you got your gun out took it out of the holster

59:30

59 minutes, 30 secondsand put it in your pants he had made that he had made a look and showed me his gun and I knew I knew it was going

59:37

59 minutes, 37 secondsto go down at that point I I went to go I was like going in there I was lighting up my smoke I was actually pissing right

59:44

59 minutes, 44 secondsthere which wasn’t the greatest idea to do it a crime scene but um I was pissing on the like front side of the truck

59:52

59 minutes, 52 secondswhich is why she didn’t realize me going into the truck or anything thing I was sitting over there I just let up a smoke the first shot goes off I open the car

1:00:01

1 hour, 1 seconddoor under there grab that had it like that Conor let me stop you for a second and

1:00:08

1 hour, 8 secondsand the video that we have running right now is going to show what you just told us okay let me be specific with you

1:00:16

1 hour, 16 secondsbecause I’m a detail guy I remember details well and I have a really good memory this part of the reason why I like doing my job what you just told me

1:00:26

1 hour, 26 secondswhat you just told me four minutes ago was that when the first shot was fired you pulled your gun out because you you pulled it out and now you’re telling me

1:00:34

1 hour, 34 secondsthat you got the gun out of the car after she was down on the ground you see Connor the whole reason in this you

1:00:41

1 hour, 41 secondsyou’re you’re taking this whole scene scenario and and you’re creating things as you go along

1:00:49

1 hour, 49 secondsyou did this before many times and this is any credibility that you’re trying to give us that all that you’re telling us

1:00:57

1 hour, 57 secondsis true you know you’re washing out the window that’s like because you’ve changed already you’ve changed your story and hear it hold on a second you

1:01:05

1 hour, 1 minute, 5 secondscan’t do that he and I are going to walk out this door you’re going to have a conversation with Miss Taylor here okay

1:01:12

1 hour, 1 minute, 12 secondsI’m not playing these games son okay I don’t play this all right it’s clear to me that you’re making [ __ ] up as you go

1:01:21

1 hour, 1 minute, 21 secondsalong okay I need you to sit there think about what you’re you’re going to say and then when we come back in here

1:01:28

1 hour, 1 minute, 28 secondsyou’re going to tell us the truth all right right now I think you’re lying to me and trust me you’re the last person

1:01:36

1 hour, 1 minute, 36 secondsin this room you want to believe that you’re lying yes sir okay yes sir fed up with his lies the detective walks out of

1:01:43

1 hour, 1 minute, 43 secondsthe room not only had Connor just lied about going to retrieve his gun after Charles fired the first shot but he also denied being closer than 6 ft when he

1:01:52

1 hour, 1 minute, 52 secondsfired his own after his lawyer berated him for lying the detectives returned and decided to confront Connor with their findings hoping to finally break

1:02:00

1 hour, 2 minutesthrough his web of Deceit said this to a jury on many occasions witnesses can lie they can cheat they can steal they can taint their testimony or whatever they

1:02:08

1 hour, 2 minutes, 8 secondswant to say if they have an interest they’ll Tain it towards their interest mm but the physical evidence cannot

1:02:16

1 hour, 2 minutes, 16 secondslie I have a trained medical examiner who’s going to say your shot was pressed up against her face

1:02:26

1 hour, 2 minutes, 26 secondsphysical scientific evidence a Doctor Who’s done this for years is going to come in and is going to say that shot

1:02:34

1 hour, 2 minutes, 34 secondswas pressed against her face and what you’ve told me from where you’re standing and how her face was is inconsistent with the trajectory of the

1:02:43

1 hour, 2 minutes, 43 secondsbullet we recovered one bullet from her head yeah his shot was straight through yeah that’s Point Ming went straight

1:02:50

1 hour, 2 minutes, 50 secondsthrough the one bullet that we recovered from her head was your bullet yeah okay mm mhm and where it entered

1:02:57

1 hour, 2 minutes, 57 secondsthe body and where it ended up couldn’t have been fired from where you’re saying you were standing and where you were aiming from 6 feet away

1:03:05

1 hour, 3 minutes, 5 secondsit can’t happen I admitted to moving from that spot right there I I’m I’m saying I moved but I did not the shot

1:03:13

1 hour, 3 minutes, 13 secondswas here son okay you just told me her face was down the right side of her face was lying on the ground the shot was here

1:03:22

1 hour, 3 minutes, 22 secondspushed up off the corner almost to the point where the medical examiner didn’t even notice it was a gunshot W because when it entered it was at the crease of

1:03:30

1 hour, 3 minutes, 30 secondsher mouth okay and the bullet went upward with the gases going upward blowing out her nose her eyes her entire

1:03:40

1 hour, 3 minutes, 40 secondsfacial area okay which means the trajectory was entry here and blowing up here what you just told me is impossible

1:03:49

1 hour, 3 minutes, 49 secondsfor that shot to occur this isn’t JFK this isn’t the Magic Bullet scenario it’s impossible for you you to be standing 6 ft away

1:03:58

1 hour, 3 minutes, 58 secondswith the left side of her face facing you because she’s lying on the ground and for that shot to enter in the way it did it’s impossible and to cause the

1:04:07

1 hour, 4 minutes, 7 secondsdamage going and and to cause the damage that caused to her face there’s going to be a doctor who has no interest in this

1:04:14

1 hour, 4 minutes, 14 secondscase mhm who’s going to say what you just told this is [ __ ] I don’t want to lie to you and tell you I did put it up to her face I understand you don’t

1:04:21

1 hour, 4 minutes, 21 secondswant to do that but what you’re telling me isn’t consistent with the physical evidence at that point his lawyer again was forced to add a comment before he

1:04:29

1 hour, 4 minutes, 29 secondsbegan to tell some form of Truth we talked about this multiple times obviously you’ve given them the whole

1:04:36

1 hour, 4 minutes, 36 secondsstory up to now okay just you don’t need to cover anything

1:04:44

1 hour, 4 minutes, 44 secondsjust tell them exactly and if that’s not what happened then tell them but tell them exactly where you put the gun when you fired it and how close you were to

1:04:53

1 hour, 4 minutes, 53 secondsher it was anywhere from 6 feet to 3 feet I wasn’t any closer it definitely wasn’t point blank to her face I’d Haven

1:05:00

1 hour, 5 minutesgot that close to her there wasn’t any footprints around her that close cuz I never got him within a certain amount of feet from her I was worried about hair

1:05:08

1 hour, 5 minutes, 8 secondsgetting on her like even like I didn’t want there to be any evidence of me being close to her about

1:05:14

1 hour, 5 minutes, 14 secondsit I didn’t put I didn’t put the gun to her face I didn’t do anything I shot straight down both hands directly into

1:05:22

1 hour, 5 minutes, 22 secondsit was your face pointing toward the ground or pointing up towards you it was was it was probably pointing up towards me when I shot but when I actually

1:05:29

1 hour, 5 minutes, 29 secondslooked at her like her face was on the ground like after it happened and like at when my shot hit it like blew all

1:05:36

1 hour, 5 minutes, 36 secondsthis part out M so B up most of her face I don’t say most of it but it did a lot of damage it did a lot more than his

1:05:44

1 hour, 5 minutes, 44 secondsshot did okay a week later Charles’s attorney also managed to secure a profer

1:05:52

1 hour, 5 minutes, 52 secondsagreement for him and after being warned about how whatever he says could affect him he starts by confirming Connor’s story of how they had gotten the guns

1:06:00

1 hour, 6 minutesfrom ki’s house and as he explained the events leading up to the death of Makia the shocking truth eventually comes to

1:06:07

1 hour, 6 minutes, 7 secondslight early on detec bows was asking you we were looking for guns explain that to me why were you

1:06:15

1 hour, 6 minutes, 15 secondslooking for guns um about a week before all this happened

1:06:23

1 hour, 6 minutes, 23 secondsum I wasn’t working as much you know uh everything slowed down I wasn’t working and uh told Conor one day when we were

1:06:31

1 hour, 6 minutes, 31 secondssmoking uh cigars that uh you know I ain’t got much money now you know and uh

1:06:39

1 hour, 6 minutes, 39 secondshe told me about robbing people and he told me about a drug dealer that uh he

1:06:47

1 hour, 6 minutes, 47 secondshad a lot of money who was that I don’t know for teens who came from supportive families with the means to send them to a private school it came as a shock when

1:06:56

1 hour, 6 minutes, 56 secondsCharles said they wanted to become robbers to buy things but what made it even more baffling was his next Revelation I’m about um about Robb

1:07:05

1 hour, 7 minutes, 5 secondspeople and um he said you know there’ be some things that you got to do you know like shooting people or stuff like that

1:07:12

1 hour, 7 minutes, 12 secondsholding up people and he as if I was about that if I would do it m I said

1:07:19

1 hour, 7 minutes, 19 secondsyeah so we’re sitting in lunch and um he said uh are we going to do it because she she was she was like an easy target

1:07:28

1 hour, 7 minutes, 28 secondsyou know so oh M yeah had shoot somebody you had to and you were telling you were assuring

1:07:35

1 hour, 7 minutes, 35 secondshim that you could yeah now so now he had did he have his gun that day as well uh he had his backpack all through

1:07:43

1 hour, 7 minutes, 43 secondsschool all through school and how do you know that cuz he told me all right now on Tuesday let me back up a little bit Tuesday when you had your

1:07:51

1 hour, 7 minutes, 51 secondsgun had y’all planned on doing anything on Wednesday no what she what prompted him to bring his

1:07:57

1 hour, 7 minutes, 57 secondsgun on Wednesday uh that Wednesday we were going to go out and shoot it so you had already talked about on Tuesday that you were going to get together on

1:08:06

1 hour, 8 minutes, 6 secondsWednesday and shoot the guns yeah all right so go back you’re in the lunchroom Connor approaches you that you may have to shoot somebody in the course of a

1:08:14

1 hour, 8 minutes, 14 secondsrobbery are you mad enough to do it basically that was uh that was one of those days when we smoke that’s when we

1:08:20

1 hour, 8 minutes, 20 secondsdiscussed it all mhm prior to Wednesday okay wednes on Tuesday y’all both decide you can bring your guns into school you’re going to go out shoot on

1:08:28

1 hour, 8 minutes, 28 secondsWednesday yeah okay on Tuesday when y’all were making those decisions had you already targeted Mia as the target

1:08:35

1 hour, 8 minutes, 35 secondsit was at lunch uh he said uh you know mcka was going to be there he say now this is on Wednesday youall decide that

1:08:43

1 hour, 8 minutes, 43 secondsM’s going to come with you yeah and is that the first time you actually decided that’s she was going to be your first Target yeah okay it was on Wednesday

1:08:51

1 hour, 8 minutes, 51 secondsthat day it was on Wednesday that day and who suggest Ed of the two of you did Mia be the target it was me was both of

1:09:00

1 hour, 9 minutesyou together were you angry at her or did you see her as as an easy target someone to shoot someone to shoot okay now I was

1:09:10

1 hour, 9 minutes, 10 secondsmad or anything the kill for kicks plot stunned the detectives especially since neither of the boys had a criminal record or any apparent reason to commit

1:09:19

1 hour, 9 minutes, 19 secondssuch a crime but as the interview continued the real depth of their Twisted plan soon emerged

1:09:26

1 hour, 9 minutes, 26 secondsdo more of it more killing not not that in particular but

1:09:33

1 hour, 9 minutes, 33 secondsrobbing people and hurting people to get money okay that probably would have led to

1:09:40

1 hour, 9 minutes, 40 secondskillings but basically it was money money backed I mean that was the the actual motive was to get

1:09:48

1 hour, 9 minutes, 48 secondsmoney in the end it was evident that Charles Southern and Connor pigon took it in turn to shoot defenseless Makia in

1:09:55

1 hour, 9 minutes, 55 secondsthe head they would have faced the death penalty applied only in first-degree murder cases but since they were juveniles they were sentenced to life in

1:10:04

1 hour, 10 minutes, 4 secondsprison after pleading guilty to a second deegree murder charge however due to the Supreme Court ruling that life sentences

1:10:11

1 hour, 10 minutes, 11 secondsfor juveniles without the possibility of parole were unconstitutional both Connor and Charles were resentenced under new

1:10:19

1 hour, 10 minutes, 19 secondsguidelines receiving life sentences with the possibility of review after 25 years even with this Charles continues to hope

1:10:28

1 hour, 10 minutes, 28 secondsto get a lighter prison sentence claiming his previous lawyers didn’t do a good job when he wanted the opportunity to get out nearly everybody

1:10:36

1 hour, 10 minutes, 36 secondsfiles a rule three motion claiming the ineffective assistance of councel um very rarely are those motions heard and

1:10:43

1 hour, 10 minutes, 43 secondseven more rarely are they granted how often does that happen if he has changed substantially and he can show that um

1:10:51

1 hour, 10 minutes, 51 secondsthen a judge is supposed to consider that and give him a sentence of less than life without the possibility of parole though their incarceration will

1:10:59

1 hour, 10 minutes, 59 secondsdo nothing to bring Makia back at least Justice for the innocent girl was served