- 5/22/2025
Killer at the Crime Scene - Season 4 Episode 2 -
Robert and Robbie Ford
#CinemaJourney
Robert and Robbie Ford
#CinemaJourney
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FunTranscript
00:00In South Carolina, police are alerted to an abandoned car in a field.
00:08There is not a lot of information.
00:10They simply said they were reporting a car that had been there overnight.
00:15The windows on the vehicle appeared to be black and soot covered.
00:19Is there anybody alive or dead in that car?
00:23Has someone been trying to get rid of evidence?
00:26If so, why?
00:28The car is empty.
00:30A license plate search finds the owner lives 12 miles away.
00:34They got no response at the front door.
00:37As the officer walks into the backyard, there were two male victims in there, both with
00:42gunshot wounds to their head.
00:45There are a range of emotions that may drive an offense like this.
00:49Greed, revenge, anger.
00:53It's really important that CSI teams get to that scene as soon as possible.
00:57You need to tell us what you know.
00:59Who was it?
01:01We need to find out who they are.
01:03What you know is monumental for this case.
01:06We need to catch that killer at that crime scene.
01:27Horry County is a pretty diverse area.
01:46You have a beautiful stretch of beach along one end of it with a lot of high-end homes.
01:54And as you move inland, some areas are extremely desolate and not very well populated.
02:01Very quiet neighborhoods.
02:04When something major happens in the inland areas, it's always a bit of a shock to everybody.
02:12In a remote community on the outskirts of Conway in South Carolina, an officer secures
02:18the scene of the shooting.
02:21At that point, he had no way of knowing when they had been killed, by whom they had been
02:27killed, where the killer or killers were, that no one was laying in wait for them.
02:36Finding no one else at the property, CSIs scope out the scene.
02:44The gunshot victims are identified as the homeowner and his 25-year-old son, Robert
02:50and Robbie Ford.
02:53The older victim, Robert, is on the ground at the back of the house with a close contact
03:00gunshot wound under his chin.
03:04The younger, Robbie, is found off to the side of the driveway.
03:09He has a gunshot wound to the back of his head and a gunshot wound to the upper right
03:14shoulder.
03:16The doors to the residence were locked, so neither victim had gone into the house yet.
03:24Robbie appeared to be trying to flee.
03:27His cell phone was found next to his body, and the pocket that it was in had been pulled
03:33out of his shorts as if he was frantically trying to get his phone out to call for help.
03:40To shoot someone from close range who was already shot and debilitated on the ground
03:45really is cold.
03:48As well as the family car, Robert and Robbie's wallets have been taken from their pockets.
03:54One of the first things we wanted to check, did someone go into the home?
03:58Was this a burglary gone bad?
04:00Because there really were no other leads.
04:06Not quite a year before the murders, there had been a burglar reported at Robert's home.
04:11One of the things that had been reported stolen was a .38 caliber revolver.
04:16It's just one of those things that's sort of interesting and makes you go, hmm, is this
04:21some sort of pattern?
04:23But some of the things that sort of counted against that was that it did not appear that
04:27their home had been entered.
04:29It appears both victims were returning home when someone came upon them.
04:35This is clearly an ambush type of situation.
04:40The killer had maybe been observing or stalking the victims, so they were prepared in terms
04:47of what they were intending to do and how they were intending to do it.
04:51Their deaths sent shockwaves across the neighborhood.
04:55Robert and Robbie were long-term members of that community.
04:59Good southern people who lived here their whole lives.
05:03They were well-liked by their neighbors.
05:06From everyone who I have spoken to, Robert was a devoutly religious man.
05:11He was extremely involved in his church.
05:15He taught Sunday school along with his late wife.
05:18He was the choir director.
05:19He sang in the men's choir and in the quartet.
05:22Just a very well-respected member of the community.
05:26Robbie Ford was a devoted son and was a hardworking student working towards an architecture degree.
05:33He played an active role as a caregiver for his mother in the final days of her life.
05:39There was really no reason for someone to commit this horrific crime.
05:44CSI suspect the men were killed several hours ago.
05:51Time is of the essence, and that is whether the crime has just happened or it's 10 or
05:5612 hours old.
05:57There's still a lot of evidence that can be recovered in the first few hours of examinations
06:01that you don't want to lose.
06:02The longer the bodies have been there, the more critical the golden hour becomes.
06:07So immediately, my first thought would be to see if you can find the bullet casings.
06:12If you find the bullet casings, it will give you an indication as to where potentially
06:17the shots were fired from and also how many shots were fired.
06:22One of the things that stands out is that there are no fired shell casings.
06:27Now with the two types of handguns, you have a revolver where that fired cartridge casing
06:32stays in the gun.
06:33Then the other type of handgun you have is a semi-automatic where that shell casing is
06:37ejected from the firearm.
06:40Therefore it would be at the scene unless someone picked it up.
06:43So immediately we need to start thinking, is this a revolver or is this someone who
06:47was so forensically aware that they picked up the shell casings?
06:52Finding no trace of the shooter anywhere, it appears they have covered their tracks.
06:58This is an offense that has been premeditated, organized, thought out.
07:04The killer's approach is ruthless and brutal.
07:07It was a targeted attack, the killer meant business.
07:10That's leading us in a totally different direction now.
07:14This perhaps may be somebody who is intimately related to the victims and was looking to
07:23seek revenge.
07:26But with the motive unclear, the team needs a forensic breakthrough to lead them to the
07:30shooter.
07:32There is such urgency.
07:34There is a killer on the loose.
07:36We are doing everything we can to track that killer down.
07:39We have no eyewitnesses.
07:40So we are relying on the evidence that is recovered at the scene to tell us the story
07:44of what happened.
07:46CSI's expand the search into the land around the Ford's home.
07:53We came across a hunting camera.
07:57If it's captured the images that we're hoping it's captured, then we may have an identity
08:03on our offender.
08:05That camera is our most critical piece of evidence.
08:07What it may have documented would tell the entire story here.
08:24In South Carolina, police are investigating a brutal double murder after finding popular
08:30father and son, Robert and Robbie Ford, shot dead on their doorstep.
08:36This has raised concerns to a lot of citizens.
08:40Who do we have on the loose here?
08:42Could it happen on my street in my house?
08:45So we've got to come up with an answer on this as quickly as we can.
08:51The killer appears forensically aware, but they may have missed a key detail.
08:56A wildlife camera has been recovered from the scene and sent for analysis.
09:02Based on the placement of the camera, it should have captured images of the offender
09:08attacking Rob.
09:10That would be a priority examination by the technical teams, the digital team to see what
09:17information's on that camera.
09:21It was determined that the camera had no power to it.
09:25The pictures that it had captured were from a year earlier.
09:31It was a huge blow to us.
09:35The crime scene points to Robert and Robbie being deliberately targeted.
09:40The autopsy confirms they were shot at point blank range with the same .38 caliber firearm.
09:50In search of a motive, the team looks deeper into their lives.
09:56You know, based on my years of experience and the lack of reasoning behind the murder
10:02of these two, my thinking from the beginning was that a family member may be involved.
10:09Because there's no other, there's no reason for these two to be dead.
10:16Detectives find 59-year-old Robert was a devoted dad, grandfather, and brother.
10:24Robert Ford was very frugal and really worked his whole life to be able to provide for his
10:29children.
10:30Robert has two children, Robbie and Samantha.
10:35Samantha Ford-Rabin, Robert's daughter from a previous marriage, spent much of her time
10:40with her mother but would visit her father often on the weekends.
10:44He and his first wife were divorced fairly early on, and then Robert remarried and married
10:50Robbie's mother, and they were married for 26 years before she died.
10:55Robbie and Samantha were in constant communication.
10:58By all accounts, the family was very close.
11:00They would spend holidays together.
11:02They would often bring meals to each other.
11:06Still no closer to identifying who wanted Robert and Robbie dead, the team needs a forensic
11:12breakthrough.
11:14Detectives request the men's phone data and begin to track their last known movements
11:19while CSIs turn their attention to the stolen car.
11:25We certainly believed that whoever drove that car was the person who had killed Robert and
11:29Robbie.
11:32Whoever would have driven the vehicle there may have left fingerprints, DNA.
11:40After searching in over a 200-foot radius around the vehicle and finding nothing, as
11:46I approached the vehicle closer, there are cigarette butts on the ground just outside
11:53the driver's door.
11:56If the car was parked on a roadway, the cigarette butts may not be relevant at all, but in this
12:01particular case, there's three of them just outside the driver's door of this vehicle.
12:09The cigarettes are sent for forensic testing.
12:13Cigarette butts are an incredibly good source of DNA evidence.
12:16The DNA is actually on the outside because that surface is in contact with the smoker's
12:23lips.
12:24It's not actually the filter itself, which is contaminated with nicotine.
12:27The skin cells from your lips are actually transferred onto the end of the cigarette
12:32butt.
12:34This is where the DNA is going to be.
12:41Taking a closer look at the Ford's car, CSIs are concerned any further evidence may be
12:47lost.
12:48Once I open the vehicle up, I can smell some type of a flammable liquid.
12:54I'm seeing charring on the steering wheel, the driver's seat, the console in the vehicle.
13:02Initially, the thought that the car had suffered so much fire damage was thought to be a setback,
13:09but as we are looking more at the scene, we realize that the car was not completely
13:14engulfed in flames.
13:16By closing the doors and windows, the oxygen in the vehicle was consumed by the fire and
13:22actually smothered itself.
13:26Inside the vehicle, a ski cap and sweatpants were found.
13:30Although they had smoke and a little bit of fire damage, they may hold a DNA profile.
13:36So this was not a rocket scientist, you know, doing this crime.
13:41On one hand, the killer was well planned and organized, but as they come to dispense of
13:46the evidence, it seems that they maybe experienced a moment of panic.
13:52The car is sent off to be examined further in a controlled environment.
13:57Using CCTV and phone data, detectives have pieced together Robert and Robby's final hours.
14:05Robert and Robby were looking for an apartment in the Charleston area for Robby, who was
14:09going to be studying there the next semester.
14:11So they had traveled down there, looked at a few apartments, and then stopped for dinner
14:15on the way home.
14:18While at the restaurant, Samantha messages Robby.
14:33This is the last time anyone was in contact with the men.
14:45At 9.15, their neighbor hears gunshots.
14:52There are quite a few lawfully possessed guns in Horry County, so it's not unusual to hear
14:57gunshots.
14:58But what was different in this case was that it was a number of gunshots interrupted by
15:02a screen.
15:04Ten minutes later, Robert's car is caught on camera.
15:09We had surveillance video from a nearby business showing the car being driven past.
15:16That was on the route that would have been traveled from the scene of the murder to where
15:20the car was found.
15:21And that was very helpful in establishing the timeline of that night.
15:26Now able to pinpoint when Robert and Robby were killed, the team confirms alibis for
15:32all relatives.
15:35The evidence recovered from the car is the last remaining lead.
15:43The cigarettes and the ski cap return the same male DNA profile.
15:51Let's run through the police database, CODIS.
15:55Unfortunately, in this case, CODIS did not give us a hit.
16:00That means that the killer had never been put in the system before.
16:04It was a real blow to our investigation.
16:08This case is going to go cold if we don't come up with something new.
16:15We had to start thinking outside of the box, and the Horry County Police Department decided
16:19to look into forensic genealogy.
16:22This was really an innovative step.
16:28Forensic genetic genealogy is basically the use of genetic genealogy databases to assist
16:37in the identification of a potential suspect.
16:41Lots of us do genealogy tests because it's interesting.
16:45A lot of us want to know how much DNA do we share?
16:48And we find a fourth, third or fourth cousin, and people are actively choosing to send their
16:52samples because they want to find distant relatives.
16:56By identifying genetic matches between people in these databases and the crime scene DNA,
17:02the team are hoping to narrow down the search for the shooter to one particular family.
17:09We take small fragments of DNA and we look at how many of those fragments of DNA you
17:17share with other people.
17:19And then you've got a possible family connection for who that DNA profile belongs to.
17:25Although not foolproof, it's possible for forensic genetic genealogists to locate a
17:30third cousin or closer in 90% of Americans.
17:36The male DNA from the Ford's abandoned car is sent for analysis, but the team must be patient.
17:45A forensic genetic genealogy investigation is as long as a piece of string, basically,
17:52because there's a lot of computer algorithms involved in looking at relatives.
17:57So it could be in excess of six months to do just one case.
18:03As the months pass, the pressure builds.
18:07Roberts, two sisters, were really going after the investigators.
18:11What have you found?
18:12Do you have any leads?
18:13The law enforcement and prosecutors are waiting and waiting and waiting to get back results
18:17that could really make or break a case.
18:23A year later, they find out if it's been worth the wait.
18:30They're able to give us the names of three brothers.
18:33Two of those brothers were already in the CODIS system, so investigators were able to
18:37rule them out, leaving us with that one remaining brother, Randy Granger.
18:44At the time of the murders, Granger was living close to the scene of the Ford's abandoned car.
18:50Granger did have a criminal history for kidnapping and robbery.
18:56He had actually spent 15 years in the prison system, but he was released just prior to
19:02the passage of the act that allowed the collection of DNA for this database that we now know
19:07as CODIS.
19:08And so he sort of just missed that cutoff.
19:12Granger has a military background.
19:15Here is somebody who has been trained to survive in combat and follow orders.
19:21Somebody who is familiar with using a gun and able to kill at close range.
19:26But to secure a warrant for Granger's arrest, the team still needs a direct DNA sample,
19:35as forensic genetic genealogy is not always admissible in court due to concerns over quality.
19:42Forensic genealogy is kind of used for intelligence purposes.
19:46It gives you an indication as to who it might be, but then you need to confirm that.
19:52Determined not to let Granger slip from their grasp, he's put under surveillance and his
19:57phone data is investigated.
20:02When we are using cell tower data, what we try to do is identify three locations of interest.
20:10In this case, they identified the scene where the car was abandoned, the murder scene and
20:16Samantha's home because she was the last person we knew who had contacted the victims.
20:21He actually turned his phone off at the murder scene, but we were able to squarely place
20:26him at the scene of the abandoned car.
20:29At a quarter past 10, Granger calls his girlfriend, Teresa Martin.
20:36At the time of the murders, they were living together.
20:39We had him pinging at the car scene because he had to call Teresa to pick him up.
20:50Randy Granger and Teresa Martin are brought in for questioning.
20:56All right, well, thank you for coming here this morning.
20:57You're welcome.
20:58We want to talk to you about a couple of things.
21:01I'm nervous.
21:04Don't be nervous.
21:05It's OK.
21:06We just got some questions.
21:07OK.
21:09We're very confident that we have two of the right people with Granger and Martin.
21:13We have the genealogical DNA match as well as the tower data.
21:18But if you look at it, it just didn't make sense.
21:20Granger and Martin didn't have any obvious motives.
21:24It makes this look like a planned hit.
21:28What do you know about anything that Randy has been involved in while you guys were dating?
21:33Nothing.
21:34Because I had time getting the rascal out of bed.
21:38He's not a bad person.
21:39He don't drink.
21:40He don't do drugs.
21:42He's just lazy.
21:43So you've never known Randy to be any kind of violent or something like that?
21:47I've never known him to be in any kind of trouble.
21:51We knew that there was someone else involved.
21:53And in order to get to that person, we had to have either Martin or Granger talk.
22:11Exactly two years on from the brutal murders of Robert and Robbie Ford,
22:17investigators believe they're on the verge of a breakthrough.
22:21Morning, Randy.
22:22Morning.
22:23How are you?
22:24Good, thanks.
22:25Yeah, I'll sit right here for you.
22:28Evidence points to Randy Granger as the shooter,
22:31helped by his former girlfriend, Teresa Martin.
22:36Looking at just the two of them, Granger and Martin didn't have any obvious motives.
22:42We knew that there had to be someone else in play.
22:45The goal was to try and get to the person behind the murders.
22:50What we came to learn was that Teresa Martin was kind of loosely related to Robert's daughter, Samantha Rabin.
23:00Samantha?
23:01Yes, sir.
23:02How well do you know Samantha?
23:04She's a good girl.
23:06She, you know, don't bother nobody either.
23:09As you know, she's got them three kids she has to take care of.
23:14Teresa lived next door to Samantha's mother,
23:17and had spent quite a deal of time with members of Samantha's family.
23:22As far as I know, she loved her daddy,
23:25because she could, you know, she posted on Facebook
23:29about his birthday and stuff, and that she loved him and stuff.
23:33Which I know she loved her daddy.
23:35I mean, anybody that's got a daddy is going to love them.
23:39But other than that, that's all I can tell you about that.
23:44Martin engaged in what I call progressive truth-telling.
23:47She would give little bits of the story,
23:50but the detectives were very good about leaving her alone for a little bit,
23:55coming back into the room and confronting her with evidence that we did have.
24:00Investigators ask her about the Ford's car.
24:04So down the street from here, there was a car fire.
24:07And at that car fire, we knew Randy was there.
24:13Oh, now, I don't know.
24:15But you picked him up from it.
24:16No, I did not.
24:19It's starting to worry her.
24:23And then slowly, slowly, by using the rapport that they've built with her,
24:28they are starting to get the information.
24:32I'm not saying you know about it,
24:34but we know that you were right there where the car fire was, and Randy.
24:40Well, I don't know nothing about the fire,
24:43but I did pick him up down the road, but it was way down the road.
24:48Talk to me about that.
24:51He called me.
24:52He said, it's Randy, come and pick me up.
24:54He never mentioned about nothing honest to God on my dead daddy's grave.
24:59He never said anything to me about nothing.
25:03But you're not telling us 100% truth.
25:07Obviously, we've got your cell phone records, and we've got text messages.
25:13Tell us what you know, please.
25:17Will I get in trouble?
25:22If you're not involved, no.
25:25I'm not involved.
25:27But what you know is monumental to this case.
25:34Martin was fairly cooperative.
25:37It was clear that she wanted to be able to testify in an effort to get a better deal.
25:46We don't want you to be in trouble at all.
25:56Let me tell you this, and I will tell you this.
26:00He's in the next room, because we're going to go talk to him.
26:06If he's going to tell us something that incriminates you,
26:09you need to tell us first to get out in front of him.
26:13Convinced Granger is the shooter,
26:16the team still needs a direct DNA sample
26:19to confirm the results of the forensic genetic genealogy
26:22and link him to the Ford's car.
26:26The forensic genealogy leads us to a potential suspect,
26:30but the buccal swab is required to confirm it.
26:34We have a search warrant for your DNA.
26:36Two sets of buccal swabs from Randy Granger.
26:39Two sets of buccal swabs from Randy Granger.
26:42Buccal swabs are a Q-tip in your mouth.
26:50It's actually a swab from the skin cells around the mouth.
26:53It's the skin cells that will provide the full DNA profile.
26:59As they await the results,
27:01Teresa Martin breaks under the pressure.
27:05Now, obviously, we had detectives come to your house this morning
27:08and knock on your door and talk to you politely about coming out.
27:11Mm-hm.
27:12We didn't come over there kicking in doors,
27:14sending a SWAT team, arresting you, nothing like that.
27:17Because we wanted you to come here and speak to us
27:19in a calm fashion, just like we're doing, have a conversation.
27:24We want to give you the opportunity to be honest with us.
27:28Oh, Jesus.
27:35I heard...
27:39that he done it.
27:42You heard that who done it?
27:44Randy.
27:45Who'd you hear it from?
27:48Him.
27:50You know, based on everything that they had been looking at,
27:53they had a strong feeling this was their man.
27:56It was just a matter of getting something to prove it.
28:01When the results of the DNA swab come back,
28:04Ranger is cornered.
28:08The cigarette butt that was collected from the ground
28:11came back as a match to the DNA swab.
28:14The cigarette butt that was collected from the ground
28:17came back as a match to the profile developed in this case.
28:21I got your DNA off of three of these
28:25that were sitting right outside of this car
28:28that matches this skullcap with DNA on it.
28:31What's in here then?
28:33That matches the cigarette butt.
28:36Randy Granger was in the vehicle that day.
28:40This is a major accomplishment for us.
28:43This is good detective and forensic work coming together.
28:49What do you think about it for a second?
28:51You sit there and look at these.
28:53I know it's a lot.
28:54We'll be back in about five minutes.
28:57But the team still needs to identify who recruited him.
29:03You're not the one I want to deal with on this.
29:06When they do leave,
29:08you can kind of see the cogs ticking in Granger's head.
29:13You can see his chest going up and down,
29:16suggesting fear, anxiety, panic.
29:21I know you didn't do this by yourself,
29:24but I want to see the person who asked you to do it.
29:28Who, I?
29:30You.
29:33Who, I?
29:36You really want to play stupid?
29:39I'm serious now.
29:41Because I got you right now for at least two counts of murder,
29:45arson, criminal conspiracy,
29:48for something that wasn't your idea.
29:51I want the person who hired you to do it,
29:54or asked you to do it,
29:56because that's the only way that this benefits Mr. Randy.
30:00Do you understand that?
30:05Only as long as I can.
30:09With Granger climbing up, police need to keep Teresa talking.
30:15Listen, I know you're not being completely honest.
30:20So at this point, Miss Teresa has to worry about Miss Teresa.
30:24Everybody else is out the window.
30:28We know you guys were hard up for money.
30:30We know Randy was very hard up for money.
30:32Like you said, he was lazy, didn't have a job.
30:35I think somebody gave him a job.
30:38But see,
30:40it's not like you did, somebody gave him a job.
30:43Who was it?
30:51It's going to feel good once you get it off your shoulders.
30:58Samantha.
30:59Samantha did?
31:01Okay.
31:06Samantha had been on our radar the whole time.
31:09Roberts, two sisters,
31:11were really going after the investigators.
31:13Samantha, on the other hand,
31:15really was not
31:18interested in how the investigation was going,
31:21and I think that that's something that sort of keyed
31:23the detectives to look at her more closely.
31:26With the focus now on Roberts' daughter, Samantha,
31:29investigators still need to verify Teresa's confession.
31:35From a forensic point of view, that's incredibly difficult to prove,
31:38because if they've never been to the scene,
31:40there's no evidence at that scene that can link them back to it.
31:43Digital forensics can play a really important role
31:46when you can't physically put someone at that crime scene.
31:50Experts find no evidence of Samantha and Granger
31:53having ever communicated.
31:57They need to find out if someone acted as the go-between.
32:03Using the cell tower data along with phone records,
32:06investigators were able to see that,
32:08in addition to being in contact with Granger,
32:11Martin had also had frequent contact that day with Samantha Raven.
32:15On the day of the murder,
32:17cell site data shows Teresa and Samantha were in contact 24 times.
32:23One of those communications fell in line with the timeline
32:27that we created for the murder,
32:29and that text message was from Martin to Samantha Raven,
32:32saying, I'm home alone.
32:35Why did you send that message?
32:37You did that so she would know that he was there.
32:39Yeah, yeah.
32:41Did someone tell you to send her that message?
32:43No, I sent it myself.
32:45You just did it all by yourself?
32:47Yes, sir. I just told her I was home alone.
32:49Okay. But that was key phrase for...
32:52It's happened.
32:54Okay.
32:56After she was confronted with that text message
32:59is when she revealed the entire plot.
33:02She helped lay the groundwork.
33:04She provided the connection
33:06between Samantha Raven and Randy Granger.
33:11Teresa Martin tells us
33:13that Samantha Raven approached her
33:15and asked her to bring Randy Granger to her
33:19that she had a job for him to do.
33:21And when Teresa Martin brings Randy Granger
33:23together with Samantha Raven,
33:25Raven asks Granger,
33:27will you take care of my dad and my brother?
33:29And it's got to be done this weekend.
33:31I know this is a hard part to say,
33:34but you knew he was going to kill them people.
33:38No, I didn't.
33:40Honest to God, I did not.
33:42On my dead daddy's grave, I did not.
33:45Did he tell you that day that he had a job?
33:48He said that he had...
33:50Samantha hired him to do a job at her daddy's house.
33:52That's all I know.
33:54Okay, hold on.
33:56Now, did he tell you that that day
33:58and then ask you to bring him over there?
34:00Yeah.
34:02And I dropped him off at the road.
34:04I never pulled in the driveway or nothing.
34:06Well, that's fine. I understand.
34:08And I left.
34:10What was Randy supposed to get out of it?
34:21Okay.
34:23Samantha and Randy really only had that one deadly contact
34:27when she asked him to kill her father and brother.
34:30Granger studiously avoided contact with Samantha
34:34because he knew that anyone who was in contact with her
34:38would become a target for police.
34:43Folklore tells us that you always want to look
34:45at the people closest,
34:47but in my 31 years of prosecuting,
34:50this is the only case I have had
34:54where someone hired a hitman to kill their relatives.
35:00There really is some evil that you see
35:04in paying someone to kill your father and brother.
35:09This isn't an emotional or impulsive crime.
35:13It's a means to an end.
35:16That level of detachment and callousness
35:20is really quite concerning.
35:23Why would you do that to your father and to your brother?
35:26What could be so important?
35:28That relationship meant nothing to Raybon.
35:32Digital experts recover disturbing searches
35:36in Samantha's Internet history.
35:47Legally, we don't have to prove motive,
35:49but sometimes you have to to convince the jury
35:53because otherwise, like, why would she kill them?
35:58You want to give them a reason why she would.
36:19Accused of masterminding her father and brother's murders,
36:24Samantha Raybon is taken into custody.
36:34She clearly was not happy.
36:37I don't think it came as a complete surprise to her.
36:48She came to the police department with an attorney
36:51and declined to speak with the investigators.
36:55The charge is murder.
36:57During the month of August 2018,
36:59the defendant, Samantha Raybon,
37:01did solicit co-defendants to murder Robert and Robbie Ford.
37:05Do you want to talk to us?
37:06No.
37:07Okay.
37:10She comes across as somebody quite cold and controlled,
37:14possibly thinking that she may be able to get away with it.
37:18Given the horrific nature of the crime,
37:21we were hoping at some point she would show some sort of remorse,
37:25try to come up with some reason to make this make sense.
37:30Detectives pressed Teresa Martin
37:32on why Samantha plotted to kill Robbie and Robert.
37:36Okay, tell it.
37:38Plain and simple.
37:39Stop covering up for this murderous woman
37:43who's trying to drag you down a hole with her.
37:47Samantha...
37:51...plotted all this so she'd inherit everything.
37:56Had she talked about that before?
37:59The only thing that I've heard her say
38:02that if something happened to her daddy and brother,
38:06she would inherit everything.
38:10Investigators follow the money.
38:14Before the murder,
38:15Samantha was living in a single-wide trailer
38:18that had a value of approximately $32,000.
38:21After the murders,
38:22the properties that she inherited were worth quite a bit more than that,
38:27not to mention pensions, savings accounts,
38:30so she ended up inheriting over a million dollars.
38:34What we came to find out is that
38:36Robbie was the primary beneficiary to many of Robert's assets.
38:42She wanted both of them killed before he left to go to college
38:47because she knew if her dress-up daddy got killed,
38:51then she would have to split everything with Robbie.
38:59Greed can be so destructive,
39:02driven by envy, by fear.
39:05It can be driven by rage,
39:07and there are no winners here.
39:11Everybody's had a price to pay.
39:17Granger is given two life sentences.
39:21Martin takes a plea deal.
39:23Both agree to testify against Samantha.
39:29The courtroom was packed for her trial.
39:31There were staunch supporters of Samantha Raven,
39:35and there were just as many people
39:37who believed to their soul that she had done it.
39:41And there was a clear divide in the courtroom.
39:44But it's not every day that you see a man sit on a witness stand
39:48and admit to cold-bloodedly murdering two people.
39:54Granger said that Martin dropped him off at the Ford home
39:58and he laid in wait for them to come home.
40:01While he was waiting there, he would smoke cigarettes,
40:04but he didn't want to leave that DNA at the crime scene,
40:08so he tucked it into his shoe.
40:10When Robert and Robbie come home,
40:12he drew Robert's attention.
40:15Robert turned, he shot him in the head.
40:17Granger then went up to Robbie, put the gun against his head,
40:19and executed him.
40:23He takes the car to the field,
40:25takes off the skull cap,
40:27takes off the sweatpants that he had been wearing over his jeans,
40:30and changed shoes.
40:32And it must have been at that point
40:34that the cigarette butts fell out onto the ground
40:37and he didn't notice it.
40:39He had gasoline and lit the car on fire,
40:42shut the door and walked off,
40:44not knowing that the fire wouldn't completely consume the car.
40:52That critical mistake meant that a lot of evidence
40:55was still within that vehicle.
40:57It's a common misconception that fire destroys DNA.
41:03With so much forensic evidence putting Granger at the crime scene,
41:08Samantha's defence attacks the credibility of his witness testimony.
41:13It's the job of the defence attorney
41:17to try and knock your testimony out from the jury.
41:22There's a lot of tensions over,
41:25is the person going to be found guilty?
41:28Is there a chance they're going to be let off?
41:31But the prosecution has an ace up their sleeve.
41:35One of the theories that we presented at trial
41:39related back to that whole burglary of Robert's home,
41:42not quite a year from the murders.
41:44Granger testified that Samantha told him
41:47she had taken some things from her father's home
41:50to make it look like a burglary.
41:52Is this the gun you saw?
41:54No.
41:56Both Granger and Martin identified the gun that was stolen
41:59as what Samantha gave Granger to use as the murder weapon.
42:02So it certainly does seem that she had been planning this for a while.
42:07The jury retires.
42:11That is probably the most tension you will ever feel.
42:15And people who have worked with me know that they should not talk to me.
42:19At that point, I've done as much as I can do.
42:24There was a lot of outside pressure with this one
42:27simply because the community was so invested in the trial.
42:32Robert and Robbie were very well-loved in the community.
42:35And I think that added pressure that I don't feel in every trial I do.
42:41Samantha is found guilty of Robert and Robbie's murders
42:45and sentenced to life without parole.
42:49When the judge read the sentence, I said to my partner,
42:52did I just hear that right?
42:54Because it was just a relief at that point.
42:56It was a case that really meant a lot to me.
43:03Without the forensic evidence in this case, it may not have been solved.
43:09Forensic evidence is what told the story of what happened and who's responsible.
43:19Use of forensic genetic genealogy in America has been a real breakthrough for them.
43:24There's no doubt about it because they've had now over a thousand cases
43:28where forensic genetic genealogy has actively been involved in the case.
43:33If you've got DNA evidence that links to an offender,
43:36it's the lead that you don't want to give up on.
43:40Samantha Rabin, to this day, has never shown an ounce of remorse.
43:45It's certainly not unheard of for a family member to kill another family member.
43:51But what was unusual here was the real deviousness,
43:55the advanced planning that had to take place before the murders even occurred.
43:59And it just really shows a coldness of heart.
44:20For more information, visit www.fema.gov
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