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tv   Caught on Camera  MSNBC  April 22, 2012 6:00pm-7:00pm PDT

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criminals are everywhere, but so are cameras, watching their every move. >> i ripped his hat off, pulled the mask off his face. >> recording antics that will stun you. >> there were four guys in here. >> catching crimes that range from cold-blooded -- >> it was very brutal. >> to ridiculous. >> the subject was described as being dressed like a tree. >> they had garbage bags on their heads. they had these eyeholes torn o out.ñññoí?wtwñ in this hour, "caught an camera thieves and thugs." 
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>> when a thief threatens to  kill you, that is terrifying. but when a thief unexpectedly  traps himself in the very place he planned to burglarize, that could be entertaining. i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera."  surveillance cameras are  everywhere. in this hour, we'll show you criminals they've captured in  the act. some of what you see may leave  you stunned, like the tough ñ#p grandmother you're about to mee who fends off a violent attacke in a hotel lobby. this hotel clerk knew working  the night shift might mean  dealing with some strange  characters.  >> i had an elderly gentleman  try to convince me the invisibl mafia was after him. >> but she wasn't prepared to wrestle thieves with >>>ñ machete-sized knives. a harrowing experience caught o
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camera. kent washington, tamarine jones is working the night shift at  the days inn, one of the shuttle drivers dropped off a purse tha a guest left in his van. >> i went to look up her room  number, not more than 30 second later, i heard someone say, excuse me, can you tell me wher a certain room is? i told him, it's on the second  floor all the way down. then i went back to the phone,  looked back down at the phone,  dialed the room number and he  was standing on the other side  of the counter and he said give it to me. i said, you ain't getting it. it doesn't belong to me, it's  not my property, i can't give i to him. so i told him, no, he can't hav it.  >> frustrated that she isn't ç scared into giving him the  purse, he jumps over the countew and launches at her wielding a  huge butcher knife.  >> that shocked the heck out of me when he jumped that counter because it comes up to chest level when you're standing next to it.óoñ >> tamarine recovers quickly an instantly comes up with her own plan.c >> i started backing up into ou
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back office area and threw the  purse all the way into the  kitchen. then i came back out towards  him, forcefully and tried to  grab the phone to dial 911  because he wasn't going to get  the purse, he wasn't going to  get near me.w he wasn't going to do nothing. then i remembered the video  camera was right behind me. he was in the perfect line of  sight. the only thing i could think of was get his face on camera. i ripped his hat off and pulled the mask off his face. çççç >> not only does she unmask him she also unmasks her inner  forensic scientist.  >> and then i went, wait a  minute, i need dna. i don't know why that sounds  funny. but i've watched every single  "csi" series and i'm thinking,  scratch his face and as i did,  he turned and tried to bite me. and i thought, huh-uh, not  getting near the teeth, there  could be a disease, germs. he put me into a headlock and tried to push me down and stabbed me in the thigh. it t hard e
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it because  of pulled it out, there was no blood. that made me mad.  >> the struggle intensifies but this gutsy grandma refuses to  surrender and starts wailing on him with the phone. >> somehow i had the phone in m hand and i started hitting him  as hard as i could on the head with the phone. the whole time i'm yelling and  screaming for him to get away,  for someone to help me. there has to be someone in the  hotel that could heard me  screaming. i turned around to go for the  phone again, the dial and i fel him punch me in the back. and i had started having a hard time breathing. so i thought, he broke a rib, i punctured my lung. now i'm really ticked off.  >> the angrier tamarine gets, the more courageous she becomes lying to her attacker that she  can't open the register, that  she doesn't have the key.  >> it was like instinct took  over. but i've never, ever done 
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anything like that in my entire life. i've got four children, a great fiance, a wonderful mom and dad, a sister that we're finally  communicating again and i've go my beautiful granddaughter. that's what i fought for.  >> eventually the thief realizes the only thing he's leaving thi hotel with is a good fight and  he darts out. >> as soon as he started to wal away from me after he was ready to leave, he puts his hat back  on, covers his face back up and walks out the front door. i'm going, idiot, i just caught you on camera. you don't think i'm not going t see your face again? >> her hard-fought victory  leaves her bleeding profusely. she has three stab wounds in he back, her thigh and her face. she's struggling to call 911  when a hotel guest comes to her rescue. police and paramedics rush to  the scene. >> people can say, well, i woul never, ever do that. but you never know until it's i your face. i just happened to choose to  fight, and i did. i fought as hard as i could and for as long as i could.
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and it must have been enough  because he had left.  >> while tamarine's in the  hospital recuperating with her  family around her, the video is released to the media. >> the first thing out of my  mouth is, i'm sorry. and my mom goes, don't you ever apologize to me again for  fighting for your life. and everyone else said the same thing. he tried to kill me. he tried to take me away from m family, from my friends. he tried to take my life. >> i've done this job for 18  years. i'm never surprised. i often wonder why sometimes  people don't fight. part of me said, you know, way  to go. with your efforts, i'm glad  you're not dead. i'm glad you're able to survivew but way to go because this case is going to be solved.  >> despite the camera and the  dna she gets, two months go by  and still, no arrests are made. in the meantime, tamarine has t return to work.
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>> my first night there, i was  terrified and i was nervous  because he was still out there  and i had that feeling that he  was watching me. but you've got to go on. i just turned around, went back inside and just kept working. i've got four kids, a grand  baby. i've got bills. i have to work. and at my age, it's getting  harder and harder to find a job >> finally a break in the case  comes from an unlikely source.  >> while i was called at home  that following monday by a  detective that works for us and he said, he got a call from our city jail where an inmate said  they knew who this guy was. they had seen him on the news  while staying at the jail.  >> the information's correct an it turns out the attacker had  been out of jail only a few  weeks before he tried to rob th days inn. >> his name's shannon hill. prior to this, he had been  incarcerated for 16 years for a similar type incident where he 
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robbed somebody. so there wasn't a lot of histor on him because he had been gone? for 16 years. >> and he'll return to prison. hill is convicted of attempted  robbery in the first degree and is sentenced to ten years in  state prison. the detective was certain  without tamarine's smarts and  courage, this case would not have been solved so quickly or  perhaps at all. >> the only way we were probably ever going to catch him is that the cameras caught who he was. to watch her, you can see when  watching the videotape that tha was her purpose, to fight him off and to get that mask off him so he could be seen. >> she still wonders if the  woman whose purse she fought for will ever truly know what she went through to save it.  >> i don't know if she ever did or not. but i saved it for her and she got it the next day because she checked out the next day. she was only there for one night.  coming up next, "caught on  camera," a tree walks into a  bank and it's not the beginningo
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of a bad joke. >> there were people in front of him and there were people behind him, but no one in those images appeared to think that anything unusual was going on.  >> and later, a thief's worst  nightmare, breaking into a stor that sells security cameras.  >> we have cameras in the ññn corners, cameras back in the corners and then cameras in the back rooms here. "caught on camera: thieves ♪ w [ male announcer ] aggressive styling. a more fuel-efficient turbocharged engine. and a completely redesigned interior. ♪ the 2012 c-class with over 2,000 refinements. it's amazing...inside and out. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. and then treats day after day... who gets heartburn well, shoot, that's like checking on your burgers after they're burnt! [ male announcer ] treat your frequent heartburn
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>> the subject was described as it's not every day sergeant ernie goodno gets a call about a heist quite like this one. >> the subject was described as being dressed like a tree. i think i was sipping coffee and i almost spit it out. >> manchester, new hampshire, citizens bank reports a robbery just a few minutes after it opens and it's caught an camera. the suspect is reportedly wearing an unusual disguise.
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>> all i could picture was like a tree outfit, a foam outfit like you'd see in a christmas play. that's an odd disguise for a bank robbery. i immediately went out with my crew of detectives and we responded to the scene to see what was going on. >> and what other location but the elm street branch would a tree find the most fitting to burglarize? when the police arrive on the scene, witnesses confirm the man in question is indeed of a leafy persuasion. >> basically what he did is he anything that had leaves on it  and duct taped them on his head, his chest, the trunk or torso area of his body, his arms, his legs and probably 6 to 8 inches apart at different levels.yçç the leaves would hang and fill  in the gaps. >> when local law enforcement  watched the video, the consensu is the disguise is unusually 
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bizarre, even silly. but surprisingly, pretty  effective. >> in this particular case, onc again, a lot of people say that they think it's funny and this  guy wasn't that smart.yq?q?qq? i disagree with them.q?qq?qq the fact that it's so eccentric is other people in the bank  really couldn't give -- if you  showed them a picture, i don't  know that they would be able to describe him because they were  concentrating on the leaves. >> not only that, his disguise  fails to create alarm. in fact, people barely notice  him. at 9:00 a.m., he walks in the  front door, undisturbed. he waits in line, then demands  money from a teller and takes  off to the parking lot with his loot. the whole ordeal takes fewer  than five minutes.  >> there were people in front o him and people behind him, but  no one in those images appeared to think anything unusual was  going on. for me as a prosecutor, maybe  it's because i primarily deal  with bank robbers. if i would go into a bank and  see someone with leaves duct  taped to their head with gray 
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duct tape, i don't think i'd w want to stick around in that bank. >> the people in line aren't  distressed by the tree among them. but someone working at the bank is. >> the bank teller put in a dye pack. when you exit the bank, an  electronic device activates the pack and explodes on the suspec as he was leaving the bank, so  he dropped the entire bag of  money in the parking lot. >> shortly after the videotape  media,  ñññ anonymous tip able to track thief, just 11 hours after the robbery. >> when i banged on the door, i could hear a voice from the  inside saying, what do you want so i said, hey, jim, i want to  talk to you.sw didn't tell him why. just said, jim, i want to talk  to you. he cracked open the door, looke at me. obviously, he knew it was a  police officer. let out a big sigh of relief an said, i've been expecting you. >> according to law enforcement the robber, james coldwell said
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he was down on his luck. he lost his job, his marriage  had ended recently and he was  dealing with some alcohol  issues.  >> he said he thought he would  feel this huge adrenaline rush  when doing this robbery. but he said he actually just wl felt ashamed. >> turns out, his robbery  attempt is high-risk for low  return. >> i think they keep very low  amounts accessible to the  tellers, for that particular  reason, to discourage people  from robbing the bank. >> although it all seems like a strange and pathetic comedy of  errors, sergeant goodno says q something other than the  ridiculous branches and leaves  struck him about coldwell.  >> he maintained a level of  calmness which actually i was  looking at -- it wasn't like hurried and rushed. that tells me what kind of  person am i looking at here? it's someone that's very cool  under pressure.  >> apparently, coldwell put som forethought into this tree  disguise.  >> he comes from a military 
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background we served in the  special forces of the army.? part of his training would be - they would put him on an island with nothing and he'd have to  make and fend for himself and  try to infiltrate another  military squad on that island. if he had just placed a couple  of more branches with leaves on the sides, we never would have  got him. >> james coldwell pleads guiltyó and is sentenced to 28 months a the federal prison in otisville new york. seems like this tree robber w scheme was rooted in failure. this thug may be an  embarrassment to his family but his robbery attempt provides a computer store the best free  advertising it could ever want. >> we are living proof that it works. >> boise, idaho, 21-year-old  allen darnell has a brilliant  rob a specializes in security cameras >> we sell a lot of different  types of cameras here.çóó7÷
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but we use a small camera system that's easy to set up.ó??çó?o out at this pool hall next door to computer central, darnell  smashes the door with a large ?? rock.?7?ó?o??7ñw??o7o and wouldn't you know it??o?ó >> most of the time, the sound  and the sirens, those kind of i things will scare the suspect ? this guy stuck around.  >> undeterred, darnell enters  the store without even  disguising himself. but then he decides to cover up the back of his head. >> we have cameras in the  corners, cameras back in the  back in the corners and cameras in the back rooms here and all  the store, five or six differen areas, we have cameras. besides the corners, too. we move them around a lot so  they're hidden. >> he checks out the back of th store first. ?? >> we had a bunch of pcs back  there. but these are big and you can't get them out of here easily. 
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>> he also pockets $250 from th register and gives the police a early mug shot.  >> we had a camera set up that  was called the robot. we call it. it was like a contraption, it's hard to tell what it is. he was probably checking it out to see if he could steal it. he should have stole it. he could have been better off. >> while this is all going on,  the alarm company contacts  computer central and an employe at the pool hall next door comes to check out what's happening.÷ when he gets there, he finds th? burglar hanging around the oon outside of the store. ññó >> the perpetrator asked him,  let's go in, let's go in. i didn't break the glass but  let's go in. kept coaxing him. >> after playing it cool, not  letting on who he is, something amazing happened. >> our employee said, let me ?ñ have your i.d.ó>?ó?óçó? >> the suspect gave the guy his real i.d. card and actually  grabbed it away from him and ó took off running.óókóióóç >> sergeant toland from the óóç boise police department arrives on the scene and the employee k gives him the burglar's óçókói information.óióçókçóççóñ other witnesses give him>??ñ
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information about the burglar's escape route. óoókçoçyóç >> they said he was last seen eastbound from the location. i was looking off that way in the distance and i saw a man dive into the grass and bushes  in that area. >> toland orders darnell to sto running but he doesn't. and now, the chase is on.ñ?ñ >> i was chasing after the  suspect here through the yard. we both fell down. i was attempting to pepper spra him. at one point i finally did pepper spray him successfully. we ended up over here by the  front door, basically, at which time he was finally taken into  custody and taken to the ground >> he initially denies  everything. but allen darnell eventually  pleads guilty to burglary  coming up next, a robbery almost too silly to be believed. >> the girl i was training looks over and asks me, is this for and i said, yes, this is real, 
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we're really getting robbed.  and later, in some cases,  persistence pays off, but not  for this guy. >> all the damage he made, we thought it would be at least  four guys in here.ñ it was amazing how one guy could this is lois. the day starts with arthritis pain... a load of new listings... and two pills. after a morning of walk-ups, it's back to more pain, back to more pills. the evening showings bring more pain and more pills. sealing the deal... when, hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. it can relieve pain all day with fewer pills than tylenol. this is lois... who chose two aleve and fewer pills for a day free of pain. [ female announcer ] try aleve d for strong all day sinus and headache relief. oooh, what's her secret? [ male announcer ] dawn hand renewal with olay beauty. improves the look and feel of hands in just five uses. [ sponge ] soft, smooth... fabulous! [ male announcer ] dawn does more... [ sponge ] so it's not a chore.
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word has it, the trash bag that's what these two masters o disguise in west virginia  mistakenly think. jenny gibson, a waitress at  jolly pirate donut shop, starts off her night shift as she  always does.  >> my shift starts at 10:00 at  night. i come in and by that time  usually the baker has the cake  donuts made and i have to  them i powderedóñw that went smoothly.? everything was fine.  >> the baker for the evening is her sister, sammy. they soon notice strange things
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happening.  >> about 3:00 is when things  started getting weird. a strange car kept pulling into the parking lot and almost hit a customer.  >> he come in like every hour. when we went out at 5:00, jenny cigarette, a guy outui0i0ipim dumpster and walked across the parking lot.sssssssssc most people walking in the  usually say hi?ñ?u?ñ?ñ?u?u? to us. but him, he wouldn't. >> nervous about the man's  behavior, the sisters start  taking precautions.  >> i had been taking money out  of the register and hiding it  all night long. i had put it in a different spo so that there was only like $35 in my register throughout the  night. you notice things a little bit  more than most people would  because it is the night shift.ñ the weirdness was going on so  much, it was just too much of  it.  >> and just as jenny is about t change shifts with the morning  workers, her fears are realized >> we looked up and there they  come running across the front o the window, two men, they come  running in, yelling for us to 
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get on the floor, to get down,  that they would shoot. we had one customer who refused to get on the floor. i'm laying there trying to will him to get on the floor or  something.iikñ?ñ?c?g?oo >> but something seems a little unusual about their disguise.  >> so the garbage bags and the  eyeholes were ridiculous. they had these eyeholes torn  out, no nose or mouth holes and they're ripping the lottery box off and the register, they're  grabbing it and yanking on it. it was like -- it seems like it took forever. the girl i was training looks  over and asks me, is this for  real? yes, this is real. we're really getting robbed.ñ so i was laying there thinking  about my kids and my husband an worrying about whether they're  going to come behind the  counter.)-=ñ÷ they're yelling the whole time, stay on the floor, to keep  quiet. 
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>> while jenny is lying on the  floor, her sister is watching ó the whole robbery happen on the monitor in the back of the shop she's terrified for her sister. >> i seen them come in with the bags on their heads. it does not register for a few  minutes until finally i noticed that his arms are all -- he's  pointing. i couldn't tell if he had a gun or not. >> sammy screams for the night  manager who's in the back as  well and they call police.  >> i said, they're being robbed and i'm surprised they didn't hear me out front holler that. because it was loud. i tried to get out the front  door.  he held his arms up and wouldn' let me out the front door. >> i did not want sammy to come out front. i did not need my sister out  there. she was safe, as far as i was  concerned. as long as they didn't come  behind that counter, she was m safe.?q?q?q?b?b"b that's one reason i kept lookin over my shoulder trying to make sure they weren't coming behind the counter.  >> helpless, as they wait for  the police to arrive, sammy's  anxiety grows. 
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>> i was thinking of what they  could do to jenny and the other waitress that was out there. and then the gentleman, they kept telling him to get down an he would not get down at all. >> finally after a few minutes, the thieves storm out with the  lottery tickets and the  register.  >> we went out front and made  sure everybody was okay. he grabbed jenny and held her  and we made sure the other waitress was okay. because that was her first  robbery. she'd only been here like two weeks. we made sure the gentleman was  okay. which he left really quick. >> the police arrive on the  scene and jenny and sammy give  their account of what happened  that evening. jenny remembers something  strange about one of her  customers that night.  >> about 5:30 a man come in and asked for the price of a donut. i told him it was 81 cents. he said he didn't have enough  money. patted his pockets, thank you  for your time and he turned  around and left. he looked to be either homeless or like he had been working all night. i wasn't sure if he was going t become a regular customer or if he was going to become a  problem. you check these people out.
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>> as investigators review the  security tape, everybody sees  the man jenny remembers as being a little shady. he's actually the man that held up the store.  back and rewind the footage of the camera and we're looking dead at them. easy it is to find the men in this small west virginia town, o where pretty much everybody ñóñ knows one another.ójv=wóñ one of the detectives in the town knows the men involved. >> one of the detectives here in our office had been around for 30 plus years and you just about come and gone.ññ> maybe the most shocking of  all is that this robbery isn't  just a family affair for jenny 
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and sammy.yñ these two are related as well.v in fact, they're actually fatheó and son. 7ñçw?>ñ >> this is my 33rd year in law  enforcement, and it's the only  occasion that i can recall in óñ regards to an act of this natur where both of them participatedñ in a robbery like this actually together.o?ñóów3ñowwuó you may have a case to where  property's stolen and may go /ó back to a relative.mwñ but nothing like this, this was different, at least for this w area.ñw÷oóñññ >> the father and son team don' have weapons on them when they  storm the jolly pirate and  they're drunk when they carry  out the robbery. the dad blames the son. son blames the dad and still  nobody knows why they did it. charges have been brought  against them for second-degree robbery, destruction of propertó and larceny.??????? a grand jury is expected to hea? the case.?ó????????????????? and a word to the wise -- if  you're planning to rob a store  in huntington, west virginia,  you better think twice.  >> you're going to get caught,  somebody's going to know you,  somebody's going to see you.
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coming up next, an =wñ 85-year-old woman is robbed in  an elevator. cameras record the brutal ó attack. and later, a bank security  camera captures a cold-blooded  murder. but will the video lead to the  capture of the killers? >> the surveillance camera was  located up above my head lookin straight down on the night  deposit box which captured the  whole crime.  we love gardening... yeah, but the feeling wasn't always mutual. i should be arrested for crimes against potted plant-kind. we're armed, and inexperienced. people call me an over-waterer. [ female announcer ] with miracle-gro, you don't have to be a great gardener to have a green thumb. every miracle-gro product helps your garden grow bigger, more beautiful flowers and bountiful vegetables. guaranteed. so even if... i have all these tools, and i have no idea how to use them. [ female announcer ] everyone grows with miracle-gro.
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i'm melissa rehberger. here's what's happening. police in tucson, arizona, are looking for leads in the missing of a 6-year-old girl. she was last seen at home on saturday night. investigators searched two search warrants and made no arrests so far. nicolas sarkozy is gearing up for a re-election. all the ballots have been counted in tonight's vote and hey square off next month inó
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?election.wñsçó now back to "caught on camera." welcome back to "caught on  camera." i'm contessa brewer. some of the videos we've shown  so far in this hour might have  made you laugh. the criminals' approach seemed  so silly. but the video you're about to  see is anything but funny. an attacker traps an 85-year-old woman in an elevator and she's left fighting for her life. all lillian france wanted to do was pay a visit to her niece. but what she got instead was an elevator ride from hell. and it was all caught on camera brooklyn, new york -- the senio community is not aware of a  string of vicious muggings  targeting the elderly.
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so far, it hasn't hit the media >> we had absolutely no idea. my aunt would have definitely  been a lot more cautious. ñzñ >> a very independent and  unknowing lillian france, an  85-year-old woman from the area is planning to surprise her  niece with a visit.  >> she lives about a mile from  me. she occasionally makes surprise visits. and that day, unfortunately, sh decided to do so.??=ñ >> before she arrived at her f niece's house, she makes a few  stops in the neighborhood,  although she says she was  feeling uneasy on this day from the get-go. >> she woke up with like a heav feeling, as if something was  going to happen. >> france goes against her  instincts and makes a stop at  this bank to withdraw money to  give to her grandnieces who areo
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in from out of town.ññ as she becomes more comfortable walking around that summer  afternoon, her fears dissipate. she has no idea someone is  watching her every move. >> he waited while she went int the drugstore. he waited while she went into  the supermarket.o7o7 he waited while she went into  the post office.onzóó?9 >> at 5:00 p.m., france finally arrives at her niece's apartmen and buzzes for her. claire is now at home cooking i the kitchen and doesn't hear th buzzer. but her aunt is let into the  building by someone else who  lives there. the man following her in doesn' live there. he has no intention of ever  setting foot in an apartment as we will soon see. within seconds, he has france  trapped alone with him in the  elevator. he thinks no one can see him. but this 24-hour security camer
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is rolling the whole time.  >> he walks up the stairs and  prepares himself, calls the  elevator, waits for her to come gets in the elevator with her,  talks to her, makes her feel  comfortable. asks her what floor she's going to. pushes the elevator. he's very calculating about the whole thing. >> as the fifth floor approache and france tries to walk out of the elevator, the man she's  sharing the elevator with grabs her from behind and violently  chokes her. he then steals her bag filled  with the money she just withdre from the bank to give as a  present and he steals her cane. then he darts out of the  building. france's niece, claire, has no  idea any of this is happening  right next to her apartment. >> the elevator is just steps  away from my door, literally. this is the elevator and to kno she was so close to safety.  >> she lays there for several  minutes, unconscious and then  comes to.
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she struggles to exit the  elevator and then finally makes it out. a group of teenagers sees franc struggling and help her to her  niece's apartment.  >> my first instinct was -- or  my first thought was that she  had a nervous breakdown and  someone found her and brought  her to me. she had one sneaker and sock in her hand. her wig, she did not have her  wig on. her eyes were bloodshot red.  >> claire finds out her aunt ha been robbed and calls the polic right away but finds out they'r already there.?? the building superintendent saw it all happen on his monitor an he called the police. the video is released to the  media to help find the ññóg perpetrator.ñoñíkçç a break in the case comes when  detective matthew walker from  the nypd recognizes the  perpetrator's style of attack,  watching it on the news.  >> when i observed the video an saw him choking the old lady  from behind, the elderly woman,
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i realized that it was very  similar. >> this guy got out of prison o may 7th, i believe, from an  attack that this detective had  put him away for in 2002 in the same area in brooklyn, same kin of attack on apparently two muggings of two women, one of  whom i talked to who was still  terrified and it had been since 2002. so it had been six years. still terrified, completely  terrified. >> lillian france makes it out  of the elevator with only minor physical injuries. but like a lot of the other  victims he attacked, she's  robbed of a lot more than just o money. ooooo? >> she was vibrant, full of w life, really, truly the head of the family. before, we did not look at her  as an elderly person. she was just our aunt. and now she's totally dependent for everything.  >> seeing lillian france  attacked so viciously tugs on  the heartstrings of many who sa
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the video and an outpouring of  support surrounds this case.  >> it got so much press because lillian france is 85 years old. what he did to her was caught o camera. you could see him strangling he from behind.w it was really violent.çwwç it was really mean. i think that everybody's got a  grandmother. everybody can relate and even i you don't have a grandmother  anymore, you certainly know how fragile older people can be. and it was brutal. it was very brutal. >> in fact, this man, richard, from nearby queens, buys france a new cane and a youth  organization from crown heights goes door to door raising money. to replace the $900 that's stolen. >> they were horrified and they wanted to do something good to  show my aunt that there are  still good young people out there.gggogog >> france is recovering from he attack but still struggles to  forget what happened to her. cornelius absent, the accused  attacker, pleads not guilty to 
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the lillian france mugging. he later sends her an apology  letter saying he did it because of drugs. is ect that he' a stringnsible for area.e muggings,  and is sentenced to 17 years in prison knows  butm she has? no plans to see it. coming up next, imagine wha it feels like to be this guy -- >> when i saw him in the back of i'm hurt, i'm hurt. and to again with, i felt sorry for him because i thought he was in pain.o oooooooo [ male announcer ] we put a week's worth of bad odors in a home. some aerosols may just mix with them. can febreze really remove it. we asked real people what they thought. [ moderator ] take a deep breath for me. describe the smell. it's very pleasant. fresh. some kind of flower maybe?
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the criminal caught on camera in this surveillance video gives a brand-new meaning to the term break-in. welcome to ft. worth, texas, home to paul's liquor store and quite possibly the most absurd break-in you'll ever see. at about 1:15 in the morning, larry bynum strolls around to the back of paul's to break into the store through a vent hood on the roof. first he has to scale the wall to get him to his point of entry, which is giving him some trouble. after about ten minutes of unsuccessful attempts, he gives the roof one last try and makes it. >> there was a vent hood -- when we purchased this building -- this building was a restaurant. and we didn't cover the vent. that's how he got in. >> within a few seconds of him
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the vent shaft, the insulation from the ceiling inside starts  to give way. and so does the burglar.  >> his hat got in first and was laying there for five minutes. that's what saved his life, i  think. he fell right here. >> once he comes to, his  shopping extravaganza begins. a few bumps and bruises don't  derail his focus. shopping carts all the to get expensive liquor in. he just put some bottles in.  >> he also makes his way over t the cash register, which has no money in it. but there are a plethora of  lottery tickets.  >> they think so simple. they think so easy way, you  scratch and luckily we win. we have to call the texas  lottery and they'll put a stop. if you happen to claim the 
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stolen ticket, you're in big  trouble. you're dealing with the state. you're not dealing with us. >> bynum has been in the store  for 25 minutes, completely  uninterrupted. he cut the phone line and the  alarm and there's not much left for him to do but load up and  head out. but just like his entry into th store, his exit won't be smoothk the front door is not only  locked from the outside but  chain locked from the inside. >> the unbelievable to me is  that -- this is a liquor store. with our inventory in here, can you believe that we would make it easy for you to get in and  out? >> bynum seems confused, so he  takes a seat here on the keg an thinks for a moment. he tries several methods to pry the bulletproof door open.  >> the more he tries, the worse that he couldn't get out.
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no matter how he tried. this is the actual bottle -- th actual mix that he threw at the door. so angry he couldn't get out.  >> he has to go out the same wa he came in. but for some reason, he chooses a different spot to go out. and that doesn't go very well  either, nor does his theory tha nobody's watching.  >> across from us is a grocery  store and they're open 24/7. the worker is also one of our  customers, too. he saw something in here, some  people in here moving or  something, that's why he called 911. he called police and that's how police knew. and the alarm company called us >> after an hour and a half of  completely destroying the store and possibly all of his interna organs, bynum's fate is sealed. he can't get out. he has to wait for the police t arrive on the scene to let him  out. the owners arrive on the scene  around 3:00 a.m. and are 
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horrified at what they see. so much booze spilled, you coul practically get drunk off the  fumes.  >> there was a river of liquor  all the damage he made, police  thought it would be at least  four guys in here. to make all the mess in here. after they saw the video and ? everything, it's only one. when i saw him in the back of ? the police car, he kept saying, i'm hurt, i'm hurt, i'm hurt. he was so -- i felt sorry for  him because he was in pain.  >> but in the end, they think h got something good out of it -- besides a nice buzz. >> he learned the hard way  because i've been here almost 3 years in this country, there's  no shortcuts. you have to work for it.  >> bynum causes almost $10,000  worth of damage. it takes a month of cleaning to get the store back in shape. he's convicted of burglary of a building and is sentenced to on year in jail.
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coming up next, a violent  murder captured on camera.  >> when i saw it, i just wanted to see him.ññ i didn't look at the murderers. i didn't look at any of that. i was trying to see phillip.  [ male announcer ] this is lawn ranger -- eden prairie, minnesota. in here, the landscaping business grows with snow. to keep big winter jobs on track, at&t provided a mobile solution that lets everyone from field workers to accounting, initiate, bill, and track work in real time. you can't live under a dome in minnesota, that's why there's guys like me. [ male announcer ] it's a network of possibilities -- helping you do what you do... even better. ♪ ♪ [ gong ] strawberry banana! [ male announcer ] for a smoothie with real fruit plus veggie nutrition new v8 v-fusion smoothie. could've had a v8.
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a cold-blooded murder caught on camera. the victim is phillip leon washington, a 50-year-old money courier. he's murdered at the state bank and trust in dallas, texas, just as he's about to make his nightly deposit. >> they've taken someone's father, someone's husband, someone's brother. it was senseless. they didn't have to take his life. >> surveillance cameras captured the chilling incident. but there are few clues about ó the perpetrators.
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>> it's rare to actually captur a murder on video. and it's been extremely  frustrating in the fact that we have the murder on video, and  yet we haven't been able to  solve the case yet. the problem is, the suspects ar masked so one cannot identify a suspect from the video. as a result, the case remains  unsolved. >> as a money courier, phillip' responsible for picking up mone from various nightclubs  throughout the dallas/ft. worth area and dropping off their  nightly deposits.  >> his normal routine was to  leave about 2:30 a.m. and head  off to the first club, whicheve one was ready. and he would go pick up the  day's money, as far as work was concerned. >> he's aware it's potentially 
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dangerous job. and he has a background in law  enforcement. so phillip always takes several precautions. he never tells anyone what he  does for a living. he always changes up his routin at which clubs and banks he goe to and at what time.  >> if a person knew that, they  were close to phillip.  >> even after ten years of  running his own money courier  business with no major problems his wife, barbara, is still  nervous whenever he goes out.  >> i was on him about stopping it. i was saying, you're getting to old, you need to be at home. i don't like you having to leav out at 2:00 in the morning, get home at daybreak. you should be at home in the be sleeping. >> when he doesn't come home at his usual time, she's worried  but tries to stay calm. an hour later when a phone call comes from the hospital,  barbara's worst fears are  realized.  >> i said, is he all right?ó and she says, we'll talk to you -- we can't give you any information over the phone, we'll talk to you when you get
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here, get here as soon as you can. >> barbara and one of their daughters arrive at the hospital and receive the news, phillip has been murdered. >> in my mind, i thought accident. and she said, i'm sorry.ó and so at that point, something happened to me, something shut  down. >> shortly after his death with no suspects arrested, a video  surfaces of the murder from the state bank and trust.  >> the surveillance camera was  located up here, up above my  head, looking straight down on  the night deposit box, which of course captured the whole crime as you see from the video, mr.  washington turned around and  attempted to draw his weapon bu was shot by one of the suspects before he was able to draw his  weapon. one suspect actually, for some  reason, came back to the scene.
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we don't know why. and then he eventually leaves  the scene in mr. washington's  pick-up truck. after the shot was fired, a  couple of neighbors who live  across the street from the bank actually came outside to  investigate. and they were the ones who  actually found mr. washington  down in the parking lot and  called 911. >> when i saw it, i just wanted to see him. i didn't look at the murderers. i didn't look at any of that. i was trying to see phillip. i was like, what happened to  you? you were supposed to come home. phillip was strong. he was strong. he was a strong man. and so -- i still haven't á processed him dead.?? and so when i saw him on the  ground, i saw it but i still 
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didn't get it. and it took me a long time to  really believe that he was gone made for two re  rogers. currently  trial. nobody can escape cameras  these days. they're everywhere, watching an recording our every move. sometimes that feels a little  creepy and some people are  concerned about the possible  invasion of privacy. but it's also the reason many  criminals are caught. if you have a video you'd like  to send to us, logon to our  website. caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i'm contessa brewer. that's it for this edition of  "caught on camera."

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