do you remember that night? >> they called and said that stacey hadn't gotten to work. >> there's already an aerial search going on. >> they found stacey on the side of the road in a bunch of wildflowers. >> instead of going to stacey's wedding now we're going to stacey's memorial. >> she's buried in her wedding dress. she was really excited about getting married. she really loved jimmy. >> she told me that she wasn't very excited to get married because she was sleeping with a

black guy named rodney. >> wow, you need to be careful with this. >> they found that rodney reed's dna is identical to the dna recovered from stacey stites' body. >> am i being charged with something? >> if rodney had a relationship with stacey stites, doesn't that complicate your case? >> he was a black male having sex with a black girl. >> i knew my son had been railroaded. i got fight these people to save my son's life [ chanting "free rodney reed!" ] >> bastrop, it's a typical small texas town on the colorado. it's a town that represents a

wide swath of what texas is all about. certainly the churches. football on friday nights. >> all bears. bastrop led 76-9. that is not a typo, folks. >> i grew up here. my dad grew up here. my grandparents grew up here. louisiana has a town named after the same guy that's called bas-trup, but we say bas-trop. >> i'm a fifth generation bastropian. bastrop is known as the home of the lost pines. >> it's an old, old town. and there's a lot of history. bastrop was founded by immigrants from the southern united states. they brought enslaved african-americans with them.

>> in the days of segregation, we as african-americans provided jobs for one another. we had our own barbershops, restaurants. the class of 1970 was the first fully integrated class in bastrop high school. >> in the mid-'90s, even at that period of time, the african-americans and whites were, i think, separated in a lot of ways. >> interracial dating in bastrop in the '90s existed, but it was something that was hidden and it was dangerous. we've come a long way in some instances, but yet still, justice is slow in bastrop count t y for african-americans.

>> this morning, 19-year-old stacey lee stites was reported missing. >> family members came from all corners of texas to comfort carol stites. she lost her youngest of five children, stacey lee. >> she had her plans, and now somebody's taken that away. >> i think you just about got it. >> are where am i sitting? >> there you go. >> it's been 24 years since you lost your daughter, stacey. tell me a little bit about stacey. stacey was your youngest of five. >> i found out that i was pregnant with stacey and i had cancer at the same time. and so i put off any drugs or any chemicals to keep that child alive until i had her. because that soul was more precious to me than mine. >> from the time she was able to breathe, she was up and at 'em. >> she was like the white tornado. that's exactly what they called

her when she was little. she was into everything and did everything and friends with everybody. >> i was friends with stacey in high school. we were involved in some church groups and sports together. she was just kind of like a sunflower, sunshine. she was funny. she was always cracking jokes. she didn't really take a lot of things seriously. she was always in the moment. she was looking for what everybody does, young love. >> go away. >> stacey lost her father as a child, and apparently it had quite an impact on her. according to friends and family, she seemed to lose her way for a while. >> she ended up pregnant. >> she was 15. >> uh-huh. devastating. it took of my daughters to get me in a room upstairs by myself to let me know what had gone on. >> she did decide to give the baby up for adoption.

>> every year, smithville has their jamboree. that's where stacey met jimmy fennell. >> he was on duty at the festival. you know, security. and they got to talking and they talked and they talked and they talked. pretty soon he was hanging around the house, and they talked and talked. >> what did you think about him? >> i liked jimmy. he was raised in the church that i was raised in. he's had the same values i was raised with. i thought he was heaven sent. this guy was here and it was just about everything that i wanted in a son-in-law. >> she was more outgoing. he was a little more conservative, but i thought he was good for her. >> that's the picture of her and him. that was at his graduation when he became a policeman. >> jimmy began working for the giddings police department. >> stacey was very excited about

their relationship. >> stacey moved in with jimmy in his apartment upstairs. and carol lived in the same building downstairs, catty-corner to stacey and jimmy's apartment. >> they moved in together and they said, we're engaged. we're getting married. that was just about -- okay, at least you're getting married. you're not going to live in sin, is i would think of it. >> it was going to be a big wedding. she was so excited. she had planned every detail. >> here's the thing for the georgetown church of christ. the fees and the use of the church facilities. >> she was wanting to make more money for her wedding. she went into h.e.b.'s grocery company, and they gave her a job in the produce department. and so stacey had to be at work

early in the morning. >> she was working hard. every two weeks when she got paid, she was making a payment on the wedding dress. >> there was excitement in the beginning, but i think as every day kind of ticked by, it was less and less. i know that it was definitely stressful for her, just because she had to work and come home and she was expected to do laundry, clean. for a 19-year-old that's kind of a big transition. >> did she share any concerns? >> she didn't share any concerns. that she was really excited about getting married. she really loved jimmy. >> you were a little concerned, you were a little emotional before the wedding. >> stress. >> and that you cried a couple of times. you thought that jimmy wasn't quite as -- >> i was the mother.

and stacey was my daughter. and i expected him to perform the way i wanted him to. >> my name is athena, and we were besties from high school. going back in time. stacey called me and told me that she's getting engaged to be married, and stacey never sound like a giddy girl in love. she sounded giddy about her wedding and planning her wedding and making things for her wedding but she never talked about jimmy. >> i think that she started seeing sides of jimmy that he was very possessive. and it was kind of his way or no way. and i don't know that she was necessarily comfortable with that, so i think that they

started butting heads. >> tell me, carol, when you got the call. >> h.e.b.'s called and said that stacey hadn't gotten to work. >> that's the first inkling that something is wrong. >> we made flyers and started walking door to door. >> hoping that we could find her alive. she's so beautiful. janie, come here. check this out. let me see. she looks... kind of like me. yeah. that's because it's your grandma when she was your age. oh wow. that's...that's amazing. oh and she was on the debate team. yeah, that's probably why you're the debate queen. - mmhmm. - i'll take that. look at that smile. i have the same dimples as her. yeah. the same placements and everything. unbelievable. cinnamon toast crunch. every square blasted with cinna-dust!

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>> tell me about that night, april 22nd. do you remember that night? >> it was normal, everyday evening stuff. >> this voice that i've heard on my ear -- and it makes me sound a little nuts, and i call it the holy spirit all my life that i've had guide me. it said, you did a good job, and now your job is done. and how can you tell your daughter that the thoughts in your mind was, if you was to die today, i can never be more proud of you? how do you tell that to someone? >> we know that jimmy fennell was at little league practice from around 5:00 in the evening on april 22, at around 8:00 p.m. carol saw jimmy come home from little league practice. carol actually saw jimmy and

stacey meet outside and have sort of an embrace outside her window. of course she lives downstairs, and she saw of stacey walking with jimmy, laughing and joking as they went up the stairs to their apartment. >> the last words out of her mouth was, mom, i love you. and i said, i know you do. >> the narrative that jimmy provides is that the two of them are basically home for a good part of the evening, and they're sort of getting along great. and that she goes to bed, he stays up and watches some tv. >> we knew from jimmy, her fiance, that stacey stites left her home at approximately 3:00 a.m. like she always did, to go to a 3:30 a.m. shift at the h.e.b. to work in produce. she drove jimmy's truck as she often did. her normal route to work was on highway 21 through bastrop. >> andrew cardenas is a coworker of hers, and he's there in the parking lot waiting for stacey to arrive.

stacey never does, and stacey's not one to be late for work. that's the first inkling that something is wrong. >> they found a red truck in bastrop by the high school. at about 5:23 that morning, a patrol officer had come across it. he didn't know that it had any relevance to anything. he called it in to dispatch just because it was at the high school. it didn't register as stolen. >> he was advised that the truck was owned by fennell. he basically was able to look inside the truck. it was securely locked. the ignition was intact. there was nothing overtly wrong that he knew about, and so he just went on his way and continued his patrol. >> then as darkness shifts to daybreak, that innocent-looking truck becomes a little more suspicious. >> roughly an hour later, around about 6:45 in the morning, carol stites gets a phone call from the grocery store wondering where stacey is.

she hasn't shown up. >> stacey was always on time. >> did you suspect something was wrong immediately? >> no. i thought maybe his truck broke down or something. i immediately turned around and called jimmy. i said, jimmy, stacey didn't make to it h.e.b.s. and he says, okay, i'll be down, just a minute. >> he's getting dressed, he's tucking in his shirt. she notices that he looks he's just woke up. she grabbed the keys, she handed them to jimmy so that he could go look for stacey. >> my name is david board. i worked as a detective for the bastrop police department at the time of stacey stites' disappearance. i received a call of a missing person. stacey stites had left giddings, texas, and was en route to work at h.e.b. in bastrop and never made it.

>> when the call comes in that stacey didn't make it to work, then dispatch and the patrol officer had sort of a "uh-oh" moment. and they went back. >> her pickup truck was at bastrop high school, so i responded there. i remember there was a belt, a part of a leather belt was located outside the truck. >> now we've got a missing person, and we've got the car that she was supposedly driving that morning, so we're going to put these together. they impound the truck. >> once jimmy finnell, stacey's fiance, unlocks that truck for investigators, they ask him to take a look and point out anything that seems unusual. >> detective ed salmela of the bastrop police department stated that jimmy pointed out a piece of green colored plastic.

jimmy stated that it was part of a glass that stacy drank out of and that it was not in the truck broken like that before. jimmy then pointed out one of the tennis shoes that was lying on the passenger floorboard. jimmy pointed out that one of stacey's earrings was on the passenger side floorboard. >> there were body fluids in the floorboard of that truck. didn't really know exactly what it was or what caused it, but it was -- it was unusual. there was evidence of a struggle at the truck. we suspected foul play. >> the police chief questions jimmy and says that he's visibly shaken and very concerned but not in a state of panic. then jimmy identifies that belt found outside the truck as stacey's, and that's when he breaks down. then he goes home to be with stacey's mom, carol, to wait.

>> since her truck was found, she was nowhere around, the texas ranger, rocky wardlow, was contacted. we went up in the helicopter. searched all over bastrop. >> what was going through your mind, crystal, all day? >> hoping that we could find her alive, but still have dread. >> stacey's body isn't discovered until about 3:30 that afternoon alongside of a dirt road out. kind of out in the county. there was a fella who was out there for an appointment, and he had stopped to pick his wife wildflowers because it was the spring in texas. and then he found her body. >> it had to be devastating. >> it was. >> it was awful. it was awful.

>> and then as unbelievable as it may sound in this small town, just two weeks after stacey's body is discovered, a second young woman is found dead in the woods. >> the citizens of bastrop were believing they may have a serial killer on the loose. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable. that's when the amount of virus is so low it cannot be measured by a lab test. research shows people who take h-i-v treatment every day and get to and stay undetectable can no longer transmit h-i-v through sex. serious side effects can occur, including kidney problems and kidney failure. rare, life-threatening side effects include a buildup of lactic acid and liver problems. do not take biktarvy if you take dofetilide or rifampin. tell your doctor about all the medicines and supplements you take, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding,

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and my question to him was, how could god let this things happen. this is the devil's world. >> when the dps crime lab arrives, this is an impressive vehicle that comes down this dirt road, in the middle of a pine forest. exiting were photographers, serologists, physical evidence collection people. this was quite a unique crew to show up in this little, sleepy county of bastrop. >> stacey's body is kind of almost at 10 to 12 feet off of the road in the high grass. she's laying on her back. and in between her legs there's her name tag for the h.e.b. and she is missing a shoe from the foot that we found the shoe in the truck.

that seems to be the shoe that she is missing. an interesting thing about that is her sock that's revealed underneath is completely clean, so it doesn't look like stacey walked to this location. it looks like she was carried to this location and placed, meaning dumping a body. >> the way she was clothed, what she has been doing, how her zipper was broken from being pulled apart. all of the things that told us this was a classic rape case. >> there was what appeared to be the mate of that black woven belt that was found in the high school parking lot laying on the side of the road. so this scene is now tying to the high school parking lot. >> it was a braided leather belt that had been busted. it would appear to me that it was leather and that for it to break, it would've had to have a tremendous amount of force pulling on it. >> it was enough force on that belt around stacey stites' neck to kill her.

stacey stites was strangled to death. the only prints that they were able to lift from the inside of the truck, that were readable prints, were stacey's and jimmy's. and yet since that was his truck, his fingerprint being in that truck is not evidence of him perpetrating the crime. >> jimmy fennell was absolutely considered as a suspect. any time a woman is murdered, the significant other is and should be one of the prime suspects. >> around the time of stacey's death, another woman by the name of mary ann arldt was also found dead. a man named david lawhon had confessed to her killing. and there was some talk that he might have been responsible for stacey's death. >> we knew about that case, and i know that it was definitely a -- >> a consideration. >> a consideration that there might have been a serial murder out there. >> there are some similarities

between the stacey stites case and the mary ann case. mary ann arldt is a little bit older than stacey stites, but in both, the truck is used, and in both, the body is dumped, and in both, the earring is an important piece of evidence. >> david lahan had bragged about killing stacey. and so david lahan became a suspect in stacey stites' murder. however, david lahan was excluded pretty quickly because the dna from stacey's murder did not match. >> david lawhon is convicted of that second murder, but still no arrests in stacey's case, and her devastated family is mourning her loss. >> stacey's funeral was there in bastrop.

it was standing room only. >> the police set up a camera, secret camera to provide surveillance of the ceremony that's taking place. they're trying to surreptitiously, capture people's emotions, people's reactions. >> i remember walking around and thinking, "did the person that killed stacey -- did they come to her funeral?" at i can fight psoriatic arthritis... woman 2 vo: ...with humira. woman 3 vo: humira targets and blocks a specific source of inflammation that contributes to both joint and skin symptoms. it's proven to help relieve pain, stop further irreversible joint damage, and clear skin in many adults. humira is the number one prescribed biologic for psoriatic arthritis. avo: humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores.

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there are very few murders in bastrop, a sleepy, little southeast texas town. ♪ and this one, to be a young girl who went to high school, played sports, was active in her church, this would be the last person most people would believe would be involved in a crime. >> there are 32 h.e.b. employees from austin helping out at this

bastrop store, a small favor they feel for fellow workers trying to cope with a traumatic experience. >> very sad for what happened. >> almost all of the more than 100 workers from this store are attending the memorial service for stacey stites. ♪ amazing grace ♪ how sweet the sound >> at the church, at the funeral, the police placed two camcorders in strategic locations. the camcorder that is placed in a box with a hole cut in the box, it's placed like that so that you can't tell that it's a video recording device. four days after this crime, they don't have any direct leads on anybody, and so they're looking for anything that seems out of the ordinary, anything that looks like it might point to a suspect.

>> we were supposed to be getting together for a wedding in a few weeks. instead of going to stacey's wedding, now we're going to stacey's memorial. >> it was devastating to all of us, including jimmy. he was definitely a man who had just lost his fiance. >> jimmy went over to the coffin, and he had the wedding ring in his hand and he put the wedding ring on her finger. >> told her goodbye. >> yep, told her goodbye. it was devastating. and she's buried with that wedding ring, and she's buried in her wedding dress. and she worked hard for that wedding dress, and we all decided that that's what she should be buried in. >> there was a graveside service. and what seemed unusual to me at that service was just that jimmy, her fiance, really didn't show a lot of emotion at all.

>> of course, everybody grieves in their own way. now, today, stacey's mother and sisters say they have always believed that jimmy was innocent. but at the time, stacey's sister crystal was so concerned about jimmy's behavior that she hired a private investigator and even made a list of his questionable behavior. >> you kind of want to suspect the people nearest to her and then try to figure it out in your head of what happened. once we knew she had been raped, our emotions were like, it had to be somebody else. >> we did not believe it was m jimmy at all.

>> in fact, jimmy himself even later talked about the pain he was feeling over stacey's death. >> it's gonna be with me forever. i'll think about it. it'll be there. there's no way it's gonna go away. >> so karen blakely was the lead dna analyst who processed the crime scene. she makes a telephone call to rocky wardlow, the lead investigator on the case. karen blakely told him the semen was deposited at the same time as the death. essentially, she told him the rape happened at the same time stacey died. it meant that rocky wardlow had the smoking gun. it meant that all he needed to do was to find the depositor of the semen. he is simply looking for a dna match. >> investigators obtained reference samples from 28 men who had some part in stacy stites' life -- acquaintances, friends, coworkers. >> not one of them is a match. not even her fiance, jimmy fennell. so the police are wondering, is there some other explanation? what if stacey had been cheating? could that be a motive for jimmy fennell to kill her?

>> it's hard having the finger pointed at you. it's hard when they's saying yeah you killed stacey, your fiance, that you did because these reasons, these reasons you know but i kept my mind that i didn't do it. >> bastrop county sheriff's office. >> there is a recorded phone conversation in which a woman calls in anonymously and claims her son was having an affair with stacey. >> i think stacey was having a liai -- liaison, okay? i'm almost positive of it. >> i mean, we've all kind of assumed that. >> who has the -- a motive for this? >> well, at this point, the boyfriend does. >> that's right. >> that's the prime suspect. the person, though, we're trying to find is the liaison. >> for the longest time, we've had our suspicions, okay? >> the woman refuses to provide her son's name, although subsequently he was identified and he was ruled out.

>> and as the call continues, you can hear the investigator's frustration. it's been four months, and this investigation is going nowhere. >> see, at this point, we're stymied. we've -- we've hit a brick wall. i have to look at stacey stites' mom at least once a week, every day, in the face. and it makes me not want to answer the phone because i know it's her, and i know she -- she's got -- she wants me to tell her something, and i have nothing to tell her. >> we can see that rocky wardlow continues to look at jimmy fennell through 1996 as his investigation continues to go on. we can see that because he gives him a polygraph test. >> one of the questions we asked jimmy was, "did you strangle stacey?" jimmy answers he did not. another question we asked jimmy

was, "were you involved in the death of stacey stites?" jimmy fennell stated again he was not. the examiner determined that jimmy was deceptive in these two answers. jimmy, in defense of himself, said that he was emotional, that all he could visualize in his mind was her lying deceased in the casket. >> so it didn't concern you at all that he seemed to be deceptive on the polygraph test? >> no. >> nah. i think we would talk about it and think that he was just upset. >> i think he felt bad that he didn't get up and take her to work that day. and then you feel like, if i had been there, this wouldn't have happened. >> right. >> what was it that led them to eliminate jimmy fennell? >> because of the logistic problems. jimmy's truck was found in bastrop, and he was home in giddings, which is some 30 miles away.

and so that was the problem, is that law enforcement could never make it make any sense that jimmy had any involvement in this, because they couldn't figure out how he ever could have gotten back home. >> unless he had a friend who might have given him a ride. >> the investigators, the texas rangers, explored the possibility that somehow maybe someone had helped him. and they could never find anything or anybody that credibly could have helped him. they looked at the mileage on the different patrol vehicles there at giddings pd where he worked to see if there was any of those that were off, and there weren't. they looked at whether there were bus fares for people that night, and there weren't any. they looked at cab fares to see if there was some way he could have taken a cab. >> jimmy fennell himself has always insisted that he is innocent. >> they thoroughly vetted all the evidence they had, and they cleared him. >> it was only after they matched the dna to somebody that they dropped jimmy as a suspect. >> another woman is violently

attacked, and this woman lives. and her case is about to change everything. >> i'm one of the investigators on the stacey stites murder. do you even know who she is? tonight...i'll be eating cheesy cauliflower pizza with extra broccolini. my tuuuurrrrn! tonight...i'll be eating cheesy cauliflower pizza and yummy broccolini! (doorbell rings) thanks. (doorbell rings) thank you. ♪ is that my leotard? no. yes... ehh, you can keep it. now walmart can help check off your gift list with free curbside pickup, fast delivery from your walmart store, or gifts shipped right to your door. let's end the year celebrating. ♪ can my mouth hurts.ret? let's end the year celebrating. almost 50 percent of kids in america get cavities before they're eight.

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stacey's murder goes unsolved for nearly a year. the cops are ostensibly looking at jimmy, and maybe in a couple other directions, but nothing's really happening. >> 1996 was an election year. richard hernandez won the position of the bastrop sheriff. hernandez announced that he would solve the murder of stacey stites within six months of taking office. >> richard hernandez seizes on the stites case, and this investigation begins to speed up. wardlow is looking for a dna match. that's the smoking gun. >> linda schlueter was another woman who was about 19, who had

been abducted and beaten. >> linda schlueter was at this pay phone in bastrop, and there's a man who's kind of bothering her. >> and he picked up the pay phone next to the pay phone i was on. he proceeded to ask me if he could get a ride. and he said, i'm going to freeze to death. i felt bad, so i said, fine, i'll give you a ride. once we took a right on main street, he started to get out, and he got back in really quick and he said, don't i get a hug? and the next thing i know, he grabs me by the back of my hair with his left hand and proceeds to slam my face into my steering wheel. >> there's this incredible fight happening in the car. she basically gets away, and this guy takes her car and drives, and then sort of crash abandons it somewhere down the road. >> deputies arrived, took her into bastrop. they photographed her injuries.

they took a statement. >> i described the man that i gave a ride to. the police automatically knew who he was. they presented six africans-american on a piece of paper. this is the one who attacked me. the police told me that his name was rodney reed. >> mr. reed was arrested and later he was released without posting a bond. he was just released. >> the way in which linda schlueter was attacked really lent itself to the police narrative of how stacey stites was attacked. >> rodney reed surfaced as a suspect wholly and exclusively because he tried to abduct linda six months after stacey's murder and a detective told the ranger about the case. and the ranger heard it and said, oh, my god, that sounds like the stites case.

>> rocky wardlow, the lead investigator from the texas rangers, he's wondering, do we have rodney reed's dna on file? and it turns out, they did have a sample of rodney reed's dna in the system. >> because he had been involved with a woman in 1995, in some sort of a relationship. >> and she alleged that rodney reed had sexually assaulted her in her apartment. i responded and conducted a crime scene investigation. >> she ultimately declines to pursue charges against reed. and that case is kind of dropped, but the police retain this biological evidence. >> texas ranger rocky wardlow, he requested that the serologist take the dna off a washcloth and various other items collected in october 1995 and compare it to the dna collected from

off stacey stites' body. >> it was a match. they found that rodney reed's dna was identical to the dna from the evidence recovered from stacey stites' body. >> my name is sandra reed, and i am rodney reed's mother. richard hernandez, the sheriff and the city police came to the house, and i knew richard before he even became sheriff. and they were looking for rodney. rodney was not there, so i said, richard, i said, what is this for? well, me, i'm thinking it's drugs. well, look, richard, i said, now people know rodney don't sell drugs. he's not a drug dealer. he said, i know, sandra, but that's what they got.

sure enough, rodney came home, and i said, well, buddy, and get you some warm clothes, 'cause i'm taking you to jail. >> so, they basically get rodney into the police station on a drug-related charge, t it all seems pretty much kind of a ruse in order to ask him about stacey. >> i don't sell no drugs. so what are we talking about? >> well, let me read you your rights and stuff first though, and then we'll get off into that. >> oh, so what we we're talking about is different than -- >> yeah. that drug case, i just want to kind of push it off to the side. i'm one of the investigators on the stacey stites murder. you're one of the many, many people that we have talked to

regarding this case. so talking with you is really nothing unusual, but what i want to know from you is if you know this girl. have you ever met her or do you even know who she is? >> no, i do not. i don't know a stacey stites. i've seen that stuff on the news and stuff like that, but i don't know that person. >> never dated her? >> no, i haven't. >> what i would like to get from you, if you don't mind, is a written statement stating that i don't know this stacy stites. do you have a problem with that? >> no, i don't. >> and along with the statement, what i'd like to do is, if it's okay with you, is to get a sample of your blood. i'll get some saliva samples and some hair samples so that we can compare that with some of the stuff that we already have. >> i don't mind doing the thing, it's just that i would rather have a lawyer, an attorney present to guide me on what i'm doing. >> well, i understand. that's perfectly all right. >> okay. david, david, david, david. >> yeah? yeah? >> all this here, this stuff here, am i being charged with something? >> we'll visit with you later about that. >> by the time the questioning

is over, rodney is charged with the murder of stacey stites. >> he stated that he was a friend. he was aware that stacey was dead and he was a black male having sex with a white girl in bastrop. >> stacey stites was white. rodney reed was black. he live in the texas long enough to know what that meant. >> this case is about to draw big attention to the small town of basrop and spark what many believe would be a long road to justice. ♪ one more? ♪

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you're sitting here with me and the clock is ticking. >> to put them for death for something that they know they did not do -- i've got fight to save my son's life. >> we know for sure 100% positive that rodney reed murdered my sister. we did not believe that jimmy her fiance hurt stacey at all. >> they cleared him. >> they provided an affidavit that jimmy says, if you cheat on me, i will kill and no one will

ever know about it. >> what did the state completely get wrong as far as you're concerned about her death? >> everything. this morning investigators charged 29-year-old rodney rodell reed of bastrop with capital murder in connection with the death of stacey stites. >> when it came out that the person arrested for stacey's death was tied to dna, the citizens of bastrop county would believe that they actually caught the killer. rodney reed was charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, and murder of stacey stites. with those two enhancements of a kidnap and a rape where it resulted in a death, it became a death penalty case. >> rodney reed, around that

timeframe he was in his early late 20s. he was fairly well known around town. he is doing some work at a super s facility in bastrop. >> achievements in sports were phenomenal. he really excelled in boxing, that he was a contender in the golden gloves. but rodney reed also was a free spirit. he had some run-ins with the law. he wasn't a choir boy. >> he had told me, mama, i'm dating a girl, and she's engaged to a cop. and i had warned him, too many fire and you're going to get burned. >> he said they had the relationship. a consensual relationship. >> there's never been any evidence whatsoever that there was any type of relationship. there's no notes, letters, phone records. >> my son was arrested for the

murder of stacey stites. i knew it was a lie instantly. i'm hurt to the core, and at the same time, i got to fight these people to save my son's life. i found a lawyer by the name of jimmy brown. he was a good lawyer. >> i went out to meet rodney. i knew that he initially denied knowing stacey. and i asked him about that. rodney stated that he and stacey were having sex. stacey would pick him up at various locations, one being the h.e.b. parking lot. it wasn't boyfriend/girlfriend. it was purely sexual. >> he was aware that she was

dead and that he was a black male having sex with a white girl in bastrop. he stated, you know, quite honestly, that he was afraid. >> i did tell the family, you're going to need resources. need to get experts. >> rodney reed's family is not wealthy. they're going to need at least $50,000 to retain an attorney. and very shortly it becomes very obvious that the reed family is not going to be able to raise the money. >> at that time in january 1998, the court appointed calvin garvey and lydia clay-jackson to represent rodney reed. >> the state had almost two years to investigate the case. we only had two months to prepare. we had numerous motions for a continuance.

the ruling was generally, i'll give you more funds, but never any more time. >> the trial of state after texas versus rodney reed started may 4, 1998. this is arguably the largest case that bastrop had ever seen. >> this is front page news. a lot of people have already drawn their conclusion. >> at that time, a capital murder case in a small town like bastrop was unusual. there was also the racial component to it. you had an african-american defendant and a white victim. that raised the tension around that case in bastrop. >> i have six sons. rodney is my fourth son. >> i have faith in god. i have a god and i'm believing in him, and i will hold on to my faith with god that he will bring my son home.

>> i turned it over to god because it all works out in the end and god's still in control. she had hopes and dreams, and he took that all away. >> in the opening statements, the prosecution made it clear that the dna was really the heart of their case. the prosecution called the dna cinderella's slipper. it only fits one person. >> this is dna that was found inside of stacey stites that matches rodney reed. >> the defense told the jury that they were going to provide evidence that rodney reed and stacey stites had a relationship and that would explain the dna. >> in front of an all-white jury, prosecutor lisa tanner began her opening arguments and laid out the narrative that the prosecution would go with the entire trial.

>> that morning, stacey stites got up at 3:00 or so. she left her apartment. to go to a 3:30 a.m. shift at the h.e.b. her normal route to work was on highway 21 through bastrop, where she would go through the railroad tracks going into bastrop. and rodney reed either jumped in her truck or talked his way into her truck, much like what he did with linda. we believe from there that rodney reed raped her and strangled her. and then dumped her body on the road and then put her truck less than .6 of a mile from his home and walked home. >> jimmy fennell testified in the trial. he gave the timetable and the timeline of where they were, how much he loved his fiance and that he didn't kill her.

>> the state's key witnesses were meghan clement and doctor bayardo. >> these individuals painted a damning picture for mr. reed. >> dr. bayardo took the stand and he opined on stacey's time of death. and this time of death that he put was 3:30 in the morning. >> and this was devastating to rodney's team, because it put stacey in bastrop at the time of her death. >> it set the foundation for the fatal blow to be delivered. >> their most powerful witness in the name of meghan clements. >> meghan clements was a serologist who tested vaginal samples from stacey, and she connected them with the dna with rodney reed. >> what i was really waiting for was the testimony about this affair that they contended was happening between rodney and stacy.

>> they had one witness who said someone matching stacey's description came to reed's house. but she got stacey's name wrong. >> other witnesses we talked with feared there would be retribution should they testify on rodney's behalf. i knew we were in trouble. >> prosecutors are about to deal a devastating blow as they pile on evidence that will cripple reed's case and his overwhelmed defense team. >> it is a free-for-all. rodney's defense attorneys were scrambling to try to get their ducks in a row. so, what should we do today? ♪ wow. can we get some sun? ♪ uh, mom? can we go to the beach? (beep beep beep) should we just go see a movie?

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♪ ♪ oh, crossin' all your borders ♪ ♪ freein' freein' all the smalls ♪ ♪ the trial really seemed like the prosecution's show. they had their dna evidence. they brought out their specialists. the linchpin of the whole case for them was they had rodney reed's dna inside stacey stites. >> the big weakness in the defense's case was after they told the jury they were going to show evidence of this affair, they weren't able to produce witnesses to testify about it. >> when the prosecution came

over to the jury and said, the secret affair between rodney reed and stacey stites was so secret that stacey didn't even know it existed -- i think that really sold the jury. >> after less than a day of deliberating, all 12 of the jurors came back unanimously and decided that rodney reed was guilty of the capital murder of stacey stites. >> it was not an easy decision, it was very hard. it was a lot of pressure. we considered all the facts and i believe that justice was done. >> with 12 white jurors, this is something that you expect. just like i said before, i had built myself up already for this verdict that they were going to give. >> since the jurors had found rodney reed guilty, now they have to determine what his punishment is for the crime of capital murder. >> and there's essentially a second trial. the second trial is to determine whether or not he has to be

sentenced to death or spend his life in prison. >> during the punishment phase, the prosecution can bring up anything about your background, prior bad acts, accusations, things that haven't even been proved in court, to try to convince the jury that you deserve death. >> the lawyers for the state bring in a string of unadjudicated rape allegations that they say rodney committed but was never charged with until after he is on trial for stacey's murder. >> but the defense said they didn't have time to investigate the claims of any of these witnesses. >> among the witnesses who testified was vivian harbottle, who was raped six months before stacey's murder in october of 1995 along the railroad tracks in the area. >> it was dark and i'd been drinking, and when the police

wanted to show me a lineup, i said no because i couldn't identify this person, and i didn't want to pick the wrong person. i think it was, like, six months to a year until they called me in to say that they had matched the dna to rodney reed. i had no idea who rodney reed was. >> one of the other witnesses at the punishment phase was a young woman by the name of angela hamby. >> angela hamby was a 12-year-old girl that lived in bastrop. sometime in '89 -- in the first week of september '89, she was raped. >> that case went unsolved for years until the advancement of dna, and the dna that was collected from angela hamby was

cross-referenced with rodney reed's dna and it was a match. >> you also have the linda schlueter case where the states decided that all these additional cases were committed by rodney to bolster the notion that he had murdered and raped stites. >> when you have witness after witness after witness coming and saying, the man who's seated next to you did these terrible things. it's taking a huge toll out of your client who's told you that, no, he did not do that. >> convicted murderer rodney reed is on death row in huntsville. a judge formally sentenced him today for the murder of 19-year-old stacey stites. >> it's devastating news for one family. >> they got a capital murder out of the deal, and that's what they wanted. >> news of justice and relief for another.

>> i'm really glad that justice was served and that the system really does work. >> when he was sentenced to death, debra, did you have any doubt about whether this was the right person? >> we haven't had any doubt at all. >> no, we we know for sure that, 100% positive, that rodney reed murdered my sister. >> i knew my son had been railroaded. for someone to put them to death for something that they know that they did not do. >> once a defendant is sentenced to death in a capital murder case, the state will pay for all of his appeals, up to his exoneration or execution. >> if you look at the entire universe of what has come up as evidence since rodney has been convicted, you get a very disturbing picture. >> while reed is appealing his death sentence, some startling claims emerge from a texas ranger's investigation

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rodney reed spent all this time on death row fighting for his life. but what's going on with jimmy fennell? well, he's moved onto another police department up in georgetown. it's north of austin. >> in 2007, about 10 years after stacey stites' murder, it appears that her former fiance, officer jimmy fennell, is under investigation by the texas rangers after a pretty disturbing incident. >> my name is connie lear.

and jimmy fennell was the police officer who had taken me and raped me. >> october of 2007, connie lear is with her boyfriend at an apartment complex. they've been drinking. they get into sort after a disagreement. there were some neighbors and they call the cops. >> the cops showed up, one being jimmy fennel. and separated us apart so they could figure out what was going on. >> the police end up arresting her boyfriend. according to police reports. sergeant fennell ends up telling one of the officers that he was going to try and get intelligence from her. >> the only one that was still there was fennell. we were alone. and that's when i was asking, "please take me to my boyfriend." he took me over to the patrol car, and he put me in the front seat. so, he started driving. i started to realize that something was wrong when we

pulled into a secluded park. and he came around to my side, and told me to get out. and so i got out, and he took out his weapon and he laid it in front of me. and then he slammed me up against the back of his patrol car, and then -- he jerked my pants down. and he raped me. and i didn't fight back because i was scared. and when he was done, he put me back in the patrol car, drove me back@apartment complex and handed me his business card, and told me were going to do it again the next day.

>> connie ends up going to one of her neighbors. connie calls 911. >> 911, what's the address of your emergency! a cop just raped me. >> what agency was the cop with? was it georgetown? >> it was williamson county, georgetown, texas. i don't want him to come back here. >> we're going to send somebody out to help you, okay? >> i don't want -- >> it's going to be a different officer. >> i want an ambulance and a rape kit. stay on the phone with me. >> i'm not going hang up, okay? >> only a couple minutes went by. i notice spotlights and the patro patrol cars. pulling in with no ambulance. i realized that the first police office in line was

jimmy fennell. it's the same guy, it's the same guy. help me! >> connie, listen to me. he got out of his car. ma'am, this is the same cop. >> do you see an ambulance? connie, is there a female officer with you? >> he says there's an ambulance around the corner, which jimmy fennell is! >> and according to what one of the other officers wrote in his report, sergeant fennell tells another officer, she's claiming i raped her. >> connie says she was placed in a police car, and then forced to take backup claim that fennell did not rain her.

>> i looked into the patrol camera and said, i made the whole incident up. and after i was done, he said, "okay, well, you're under arrest for public intoxication. put your hands behind your back." >> after lear was taken to the williamson county jail, she called 911 and she got the attention of the sheriff's office and the texas rangers. a criminal investigation was opened that same day. connie lear was released and taken to a hospital for treatment. the charge against her was dropped. >> a few days later, formal charges against jimmy fennell. >> jimmy fennell jr. segeant now faces charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, improper sexual activity with a person in custody, and official oppression. >> if he got convicted on all of those charges, jimmy would face more than 99 years in prison. instead he pleaded guilty to one count of improper sexual relations with a person in

custody and kidnapping. he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. >> i mean, the mugshots of jimmy fennell make him look like a monster, but up close and personal, just a likeable country boy. in no way am i denying that he committed a crime, because there was misconduct. that he admitted and took responsibility for. >> the d.a. never talked to me about plea agreements. that wasn't their choice to be made. that was mine. >> after jimmy fennell goes to prison, it's discovered that he was the subject of several internal affairs investigations that involved allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. >> according to police reports he had this pattern of targeting certain women, and it seemed like he was really targeting women who were vulnerable. and he would use those as leverage to get them to do sexual acts with him. >> jimmy fennell's defense

attorney, robert phillips, told abc news that authorities apparently thought so little of these extraneous offenses that none of them were ever prosecuted, nor did these women ever testify in court. >> in jimmy fennell's case, he found the lord after ten years of hard time in a texas prison, and he's trying to put the pieces together to create a new world for himself. gymmy was never going to be police officer of the decade. >> this is a person that is supposed to protect you. there's no ten-year sentence that frees me of the things that jimmy fennell did to me. >> jimmy fennell served his time, but rodney reed is still on death row. reed's death sentence is not the end of the story. it's actually the start of a new chapter when attorneys from the innocence project step in to

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♪ open the eyes in my heart, lord ♪ ♪ open the eyes in my heart, lord ♪ ♪ open the eyes in my heart ♪ i want to see you ♪ lord, i want to see you ♪ i want to see ♪ see you well, i think it's pretty hard for an african-american man to be accused of raping and murdering a white woman in the state of texas, be found guilty,

and not receive the death penalty. >> we have an expression among our colleagues in the innocence movement -- it doesn't take a village, it takes an army. how could you not be affected by a person on death row that you think the evidence shows by clear and convincing proof is innocent, right? >> what i spend my time doing is calling individuals who may have information from that time back in 1996 who are willing to come forward. it's an enormous challenge. we are in a position now where 24 years later, we're having to go out and try to speak to people and ask them about things they might have seen a quarter of a century ago. what i see when i am in bastrop is a community that has

progressed from that time back in 1996. i think the idea of an interracial relationship was something that was frowned upon in that community. i think that's changed. you might recall that the jury was not convinced that there was a relationship. this was a very damaging, even devastating, part of his trial. alicia slater is a witness who worked at the h.e.b. with stacey who has come forward talking about the relationship that existed between rodney reed and stacey stites. >> in 1995, stacey and i worked together at h.e.b. she told me that she wasn't that excited to get married, because she was sleeping with a black guy named rodney. to hear that she was actually having an affair was shocking enough to begin with. she and i both proceeded to say, like, wow, you need to be careful with this.

being an 18-year-old about ready to graduate high school, i didn't want to get involved. >> in a 2016 filing, the state contends that her account is patently unbelievable and that she failed to mention the secret affair when she spoke to police at the time of the murder. if rodney reed did have a relationship with stacy stites doesn't that complicate your case? >> well, sure. however, it's awfully hard to find this evidence credible that she miraculously has this secret affair with this girl and somehow his semen hangs around for several days. >> which science says it can do. >> there are exceptions. there are no absolutes in science. that's why you look at all of the extraneous evidence as well in conjunction with just the dna. >> when you look at the actual police reports of the investigation, there was a lot

of mistakes early on. one of the key mistakes from the first day, it is murder investigation 101 that you go to where the last person saw that victim. >> why wouldn't they search jimmy's apartment? >> i wish law enforcement would have searched the apartment. i'm not going to lie to you and tell you, oh, it's okay. but i will tell you this -- i have been doing this a long time, and never once have i had a case where i didn't at some point say, gosh, i wish law enforcement would have done, whatever it is -- "x." >> they were looking at jimmy, but yet they turned his truck back over to him within a week. >> after they had fully processed it. >> but if they're looking at him as a suspect, why would they turn his truck back over to him? >> well, why wouldn't they? forensically speaking, they did

everything that was available to examine the truck forensically at the time. and so it wouldn't have made any sense for them to keep it. he needed wheels. >> one of the challenges that i've had specifically working on this case is getting witnesses to come forward. the problem has been they're fearful. but we have nine new witnesses in this most recent appeal. one of those witnesses is an insurance lady. she's trying to encourage stacey stites to purchase some insurance on her life. and stacey sort of laughs and says, gosh, i'm so young. i have no need for insurance. and this insurance lady provided an affidavit saying that at that moment, before she could say anything more, jimmy fennell says

if you ever cheat on me, i will kill you and no one will ever know about it. >> one of the witnesses who has come forward is a gentleman named charles wayne fletcher, who was a former member of the bastrop county sheriff's. >> in an affidavit, fletcher recalls jimmy fennell saying, i believe she is sleeping with a black man. keep in mind, the way that mr. fletcher tells the story, jimmy fennell used a racial slur and he didn't say the word "sleeping." >> and every time a new person comes forward, it's more colorful and creative than the last. i keep waiting for mother teresa to be the next witness from beyond the grave. it's just nonsense. he's not guilty of murder. he didn't do it, and the evidence shows that. >> in its response, the state argues that neither witness is believable because they waited so long to come forward. what did the state completely get wrong as far as you're concerned about her death? >> everything. it was like, oh, my god, this is

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bryce benjet and this whole team of lawyers have been working on this case and struggling so hard for so many years. >> one day, i get a call from detective sergeant gannon and he had been looking at this

independently. and he says, i found something new and you guys got to hear about it. >> this homicide detective pointed at what he thought was obvious. that was a big deal. >> detective gannon. >> detective sergeant gannon. >> nice to see you. >> you're a former nypd. >> i was homicide. >> the state's case, essentially, was that she was intercepted on her way to work, that she was raped, and that she was strangled. what did the state completely get wrong as far as you're concerned about her death? >> everything. it was like, oh, my god, this was way off. >> what was way off? >> the time of death was way off. it was -- it was hours earlier. >> i give a lot of credit to kevin gannon because he did point to the key scientific evidence that really showed that they were all wrong. >> and then when we take this to the actual medical examiner who testified, he gives us a sworn statement that said that nobody should have relied on what i

said. >> here's what the medical examiner wrote. "my estimate of time of death was only an estimate and should not have been used at trial as an accurate statement of when ms. stites died. >> it's one of the great things about this system, in a way, you can go back to court, not as easily as it should be. if you can get the proof, you should be able to get an exoneration. >> family and supporters of rodney reed gathered in the bastrop county courtroom today. >> rodney reed's defense attorneys are trying to include forensic evidence from that 1996 murder that they say will prove his innocence. >> michael baden, b-a-d-e-n. >> dr. baden has weighed in on some of the biggest cases, from o.j. simpson to george floyd. reed's defense team brings him in to talk about the timing of

stacey's death using the science of lividity. >> the lividity is because of the settling of the red blood cells in a downward position. after about four, five, six hours, the lividity stays, and that's called fixed lividity. in this instance, there was fixed lividity in the front of her body. >> not on her back as her body was discovered. that means that stacey stites was dead in a different position four more hours prior to the time of that 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. window in order to get that way. >> all that shows that this homicide occurred hours before 3:00 a.m., at a time that she was just with jimmy. >> now, you mentioned that there was other factors. >> yes, there was another, which is called classic sign of death. rigor mortis, which you -- stiffening of the body. >> after somebody dies, it begins to set in where the body stiffens and contracts. and that process begins and goes

through a period of about 12 hours and then begins to slacken. >> we have videotape of the body of stacey stites being examined and manipulated and put into a body bag. that video shows that she can be put into that body bag, her arms folded. >> the rigor mortis was present but leaving the body, so this would put it about 20 hours, something like that, of death where the rigor has come, stayed, and then started going away. >> that is very powerful scientific evidence that, again, sthe time of death is way before that 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. window of the prosecution's case. >> if she's killed at midnight and not 3:00 a.m., then rodney reed is excluded as the killer. so according to the defense's legal filings, the perpetrator

then becomes jimmy fennell because he said he was in the apartment with her that night. >> no. not based on any of the credible evidence. or physical evidence or forensic evidence. it's a concoction of creative, brilliant lawyers trying to save a condemned man. >> and the state argues that none of these methods, establishing the time of death, are totally reliable or have pinpoint accuracy, and dr. baden agrees. >> i agree with that, yes. >> that concludes the hearing. >> we're going to win, rodney. love you, baby. >> love you. >> the judge says the new evidence is not compelling enough for a retrial. >> the judge said he rejected baden's testimony because it would not necessarily have changed the opinion of the jury, and that other evidence of reed's guilt was strong. the court went on to say that

doctor baden never examined the body and he based his opinion on crime scene reports, videos and photos. >> in the meantime, another court has set an execution date for rodney reed. >> a state judge granted prosecutor's request to set reed's execution for november 20th. >> at this point, there is outrage all over the country about this execution. the national media has gotten involved, and in the middle of this outcry, i traveled to texas and sit down with reed on death row. you're sitting here with me and the clock is ticking. >> yes. >> you're set to be executed. >> i hope not, but yes. >> i am holding on, not just for myself, but for my family. >> the jury believed that you killed stacey stites. did you rape stacey stites? >> no, i didn't. >> did you kill stacey stites? >> no, i absolutely did not. >> how would you describe your

relationship with her? were you in love with her? >> i couldn't say that i was in love with her. we were both in relationships. i was seeing someone else. she was seeing someone else. >> so it was a casual sexual relationship? >> yes, that's all. if i wouldn't have known her, if i wouldn't have been associated with her, i wouldn't be in this situation. but this is the situation that was handed to me. i have to accept that i'm here now for something that i didn't do. >> earlier this week, attorneys for reed sent a new letter to the governor to ask for a delay in the execution. >> what's on the line is pretty much everything. >> we had unprecedented support from all over the world. >> kim kardashian west asked rodney, is there anything that i can do to be helpful to this case?

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>> free rodney reed! >> now! >> free rodney reed! >> a now! >> they held dozens of protests. >> we had unprecedented support. >> a rally outside the texas governor's mansion. >> something's off here. something needs to be done. >> breaking news this afternoon -- rodney reed will not be executed next week. >> an indefinite stay of

execution. >> a victory for death row inmate rodney reed in the fight to clear his name. >> the hearing coming upkeeps on getting postponed because of covid-19. the one thing i'm very confident about is the more you look at it and the more you look at the forensic pathology and science, there's clear and convincing evidence of innocence. >> do i think rodney reed killed stacey stites? yes. i do think in our criminal justice system is not a perfect system, and that's one reason why i'm not a proponent of the death penalty. this is room for error. >> i have no doubt about his guilt. i have tried and tried to figure out somehow that rodney reed didn't kill stacey stites. i can't get thth and i've also tried to figure

out how jimmy, her fiance, could have done it. and i also can't get there. >> i have a son -- a son's life to save, and that's what i'm trying to do. that's what i'm doing. that's what i'm going to do until i leave. i have to hold on to my faith and stand on this truth and the facts. and thank the world -- i thank the world for the support. i have so much support, and god knows i thank the whole -- the whole world. but leave me alone. with my pain. >> and what do you say to people who say that this case may be a miscarriage of justice? >> i find that people have not heard all of the evidence. >> what upsets you most? >> trying to defend my sister. >> yeah, the lies told about her. >> while carol's daughter was a teen mom, she made the tough decision to give up her baby girl for adoption. stacey stites' child is now a

26-year-old mom of two. >> my oldest is stacey lee. she's named after stacey. i wanted her legacy to live on. she has grandchildren that she never will get to meet. >> the only reason i'm doing this right now is i -- think we really have a shot of getting this across that stacey was human and all she wanted to do is get married and have a baby. shipments of the pfizer

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