Cold Case Files: Murder in the Bayou (2024) s01e01 Episode Script

(ominous music)
- I couldn't find Krystal
and I knew there
was something wrong.
You don't expect your
child to be murdered.
It was such a nightmare.
- She just disappeared.
Then her body was found under
the Trinity River Bridge.
(dramatic music)
- I can still see her just
like it was yesterday.
I still see it here.
(camera shutter clicking)
- We just kept having
girls coming up missing
(ominous music)
and their bodies being dumped
along the bayous, the swamps.
We've got a monster somewhere.
- It's disturbing that
you've got somebody out there
that's hunting young girls.
- We're gonna go find the
man that killed my daughter
and he's gonna have to
pay for what he did.
(tense music)
(twangy suspenseful music)
(soft ominous music)
- Thank you.
That's genuine Chambers
County alligator
that I actually shot myself.
I moved down here in 1976.
This is home now.
Down here you've
got a lot of bayous.
You got a lot of marshland.
At Chambers County,
I think we actually have
more water than we do land.
(soft ominous music)
- Being on the Texas Gulf Coast,
it's very green, it's very lush.
It's a lot of fishing,
a lot of crabbing.
It's a big place for birders.
(birds squawking)
(tense music)
- I see the beauty
of the swamps,
but also I'm aware of the beast.
I see the other side of
it as a dangerous place,
alive with death.
(tense music continues)
(insects chirping)
(twangy suspenseful music)
- [Narrator] The sun
is starting to set
on the wetlands of
Chambers County.
The sheriff's office
receives a call
about a body found
along the marshy banks
of the Trinity River.
- It was almost time to go home.
It was 4:30, 4:45.
(dispatcher chattering)
I left and went to the scene.
When I arrived, the victim is
about 150 yards, at that time,
down to the bank of the river.
We had a young white female.
Her dress was pulled up, so
I'm thinking sexual assault,
and I can clearly
see it's a homicide.
She didn't have any kind
of identifying information.
I could tell that she had
been strangled with something
just because of the
abrasions on the throat.
I can still see her
just like she was laying,
just like it was yesterday.
I still see it here.
To be as young as she
was and then dumped,
in my mind, there's
no excuse for that.
(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] 40
miles across the bay
in the Gulf Coast
town of Texas City,
the family of 13-year-old
Krystal Jean Baker is on edge.
Earlier that day,
Krystal left the house
while under her
grandmother's care.
- She wanted to go
be with her friends,
but her grandma said no,
and of course she got
in an argument with her.
She walked down the
street and she called me
and I was at work.
- [Narrator] Krystal
tells her mother
that she's calling
from the corner store.
- I was a little angry at
Krystal when I talked to her
and I told her, I said,
"Krystal," I said,
"You need to go back
to your grandma's."
But about an hour later,
my mom calls me and tells
me she didn't show up.
(dramatic music)
I was trying to get in
touch with everybody,
and I kept calling
up her friends.
There was no sign of Krystal
and I knew there
was something wrong,
that she would be here right
now if something wasn't wrong.
(crickets chirping)
- [Narrator] Krystal's
mom, Jeanie,
contacts her local police
department in Texas City.
- When we first got the
call with Krystal Baker,
we assumed that
she had run away.
Krystal was 13 years old.
She rebelled against
her grandmother.
It seemed she had just gone
somewhere and didn't call home.
And back then we didn't
really address runaways
the way you would do today.
99.9% of the time the
child returns home.
In the Texas City Police
Department, they made a report.
They gave out a BOLO
to the patrol officers
to be on the lookout
for Krystal Baker.
- They just kept telling me,
"Oh, well, she's a runaway."
And I kept telling
'em, "No, she's not."
- Historically along
the Gulf Coast,
there had been a real problem
with the police assuming
that someone who had gone
missing had run away.
Working on this book
about Krystal's case,
I spent a lotta
time with Jeanie.
Jeanie knew that Krystal
had not run away
and she was really scared.
- I really felt like
something bad happened to her.
(soft ominous music)
I just had this feeling in
my stomach and in my heart
'cause me and Krystal had
such a good connection.
(ominous music)
(bright twangy music)
- [Narrator] Like many residents
of the Texas bayou region,
Krystal and her mother have
spent much of their time
enjoying the water.
- Texas City Dike
is like a beach
and then there's a little bayou,
where you go fishing, and
you go with your family,
and go out and have a good day.
We'd swim in the ocean and
sometimes Krystal would go
a little farther
than I wanted her to,
and I had to tell her,
"Come on in," you know?
And I liked the spunk in her.
Good spirit. A beautiful smile.
She was just a natural beauty.
- [Narrator] The striking
teen bears a resemblance
to an iconic star, who some
believe is her great aunt.
- We found out through
my husband's side
that Krystal was related
to Marilyn Monroe.
I think she does look a little
bit like Marilyn Monroe.
- The connection
to Marilyn Monroe
is kind of a family legend.
Nobody knows if
it's true or not,
but some of the
pictures of Krystal,
she's this very vulnerable,
very beautiful young girl
breaking out into the world
and it reminded me a little bit
of portraits of
Marilyn at that age.
That's what stays with
you about these cases.
When Krystal went missing,
this was a young girl
just at the very
beginning of her life.
- It's heartbreaking to not
know where your kid's at.
You want your kid home.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] Across the bay,
deputies are investigating
the murder of the Jane Doe
found in the boggy wetlands
of Chambers County.
- It was basically my
first big homicide.
To say I was overwhelmed
would be an understatement.
There's no witnesses.
We're looking around for
any kind of evidence.
We picked up a cigarette
pack, cold drink bottle,
anything that was in probably
about a 50-foot radius.
As I'm looking around the area,
I don't see signs of
a scuffle in the dirt.
- I think it was pretty
clear that she was killed
somewhere else and then dumped
because the crime
scene was just her.
- I don't have anything
that tells me who she is,
knowing that there's
parents somewhere
wondering where she's at.
That's frustrating.
(tense music)
After we found the victim,
we tried to reach out to
other agencies in the area
asking if anyone had
any missing persons.
This was 1996.
We did not have
the computer system
to network like we do now.
(birds chirping)
(tense music)
- [Narrator] Finally,
two weeks after
the dead Jane Doe was found,
Investigator Moon gets a call
from the Texas City Police
about a missing girl.
- They had the missing
person that was very similar
to what I had described.
Height, weight, and
there was a birthmark.
(tense music continues)
So I left and went
to Texas City.
I'm thinking in my mind,
we're gonna be able to make
a positive identification.
(somber music)
- [Narrator] Investigator
Moon and the Texas City Police
ask Krystal's mom to view
some photos at the station.
- I thought I was
gonna go down there
and look at pictures
of Krystal, you know,
good pictures, you know,
to put in the
newspaper or something.
And then they put down
all these graphic pictures
of my daughter,
how they found her,
what she looked like,
for me to identify her.
(tense music)
And I seen the little
freckles she had right here.
I knew it was my daughter.
(tense music continues)
I almost passed out
'cause she didn't even
look like herself.
There was so many bruises on
her body and even on her face.
It was like, who did this?
This is my baby that's
lying in here dead.
(dramatic music)
(twangy music)
(chirping bird)
- You know, it felt like I
was just in a daydream,
in a nightmare.
I didn't know I was
gonna look at pictures
of my daughter dead.
And murdered.
It was heartbreaking.
It was evil.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] With Krystal's
death now confirmed,
detectives set out
to find the killer
who disposed of her body
in the thick marshlands
of Chambers County.
- The suspect had a two week
headstart, and it's a swamp.
It's desolate.
We know it's rough
terrain if there's a body
dumped out there for us to
obtain any sort of evidence.
- In other words, if you
wanna dispose of a body,
that's the perfect
place to do it.
- We started taking statements
and knocking on doors
to see if we could determine
what happened to her.
(tense music)
Krystal Baker went to the corner
store and used a payphone.
- At some point, she got
off the phone and left.
It was right in the
middle of the day,
busy street, busy
convenience store.
(tense music)
- [Brian] And she
just disappeared.
Then her body was found
about ten after five
in the afternoon, 46 miles away
under the Trinity River Bridge.
- We needed to know
how she got there,
how she met her demise, who
it was that brought her there.
(tense music continues)
It was during that time that
we spoke with Krystal's family
hoping they could point us
to some potential suspects.
- [Narrator] The family
shares that Krystal
had been spending
time with a local boy
named Randall Robbins.
- She's 13.
And of course, Krystal
being a little teenage girl,
it was more like puppy love.
- [Narrator] According
to Krystal's mother,
Randall claimed to
be 15 years old.
Yet, while digging
into his background,
detectives discover
that he's actually 19.
(dramatic music)
- That was a major
turning point.
We're going, "Wow, we got a
19-year-old with a 13-year-old."
You know, this is unusual.
- [Narrator] Police then uncover
an even more unsettling find.
It turns out Randall has a wife.
- It's a very big red flag
when I find out he was married.
He may have been
separated at the time,
but nonetheless, he was married,
and he was substantially older.
- After I found
out how old he was,
his real age, I freaked out.
I thought he was a little boy.
He had a baby face.
I assumed that he was
telling me the truth
when he even told me he was 15.
And Krystal, she didn't
know that he was married.
She didn't know
any of that stuff.
- The fact that he was
married, it could have been
that the wife discovered his
relationship with Krystal
and may have instigated
what happened to Krystal.
- At this point, he was
the primary suspect.
He was the number one person
we were going to look at.
- [Narrator] When questioned,
Randall claims that he struck
up a friendship with Krystal
while separated from his wife.
- He told us of his
relationship with Krystal.
You know, this is unusual,
but the police didn't
get a report of indecency
with a child or
anything like that.
He had an alibi
for the whole day.
There were documents
that were provided
from the business
that he was in.
He had dates and times.
Randall Robbins was an
immature 19-year-old
having a relationship
with a 13-year-old.
We did a solid investigation
and cleared him.
(tense music)
(dramatic music)
(tense music)
- [Narrator] As police
search for new clues,
the medical examiner
releases his findings.
(tense music continues)
- It was ligature strangulation
was the cause of death.
She was strangled with
something other than the hands,
just because of the
abrasions on the throat.
Because of the injuries
that did look like
she'd been sexually assaulted,
but they didn't found
any kind of traces,
any body fluid on her person.
(tense music continues)
Her dress was sent
to the crime lab
as well as the fingernail
scrapings and clippings.
The lab told us that there
just wasn't enough there
for them to tell you
what you needed to know.
- Back in the '90s,
it was a general rule
for law enforcement
that you needed at least
a dime-size bodily fluid
to get a DNA reading,
and a dime-size is a lot,
and you gotta be able to see it.
Nowadays, you're
swiping something
and you need to get DNA when
you swab it with a Q-tip.
- The clothing and the
fingernail scrapings
and clippings were
all put into evidence
and secured at our facility.
I was hoping we may
eventually have technology
that would help us
find something useful
in the evidence that we had.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] Two weeks after
her body is discovered,
Krystal's loved ones gather
in Texas City to say goodbye.
- I had bought her a dress
that covers up her neck,
covers up her hands.
I seen the bruises on her face
and I had to get into my
purse, put some makeup,
a little bit of makeup
where the bruises were at,
and put a little
bitty eyeshadow,
little lipstick that's light.
I wasn't gonna let
her go out there
lookin' like they had her.
And I knocked down a
whole bunch of flowers
'cause I was so mad
about everything.
I was mad, I was heartbroken,
and I was devastated.
I kept telling her,
"I'm so sorry, baby,
you went through this.
I'm so sorry, Krystal,
you went through this.
I'm so sorry."
(somber music)
(tense music)
- [Narrator] As leads dry
up, the investigation stalls.
Then the sheriff's office
learns of a chilling development
further up the coast.
Another young girl has gone
missing in the soggy marshlands
just 30 miles from where
Krystal had disappeared.
- [Reporter] Laura Kate
Smither told her parents
she was going out
for a quick run.
The 12-year-old,
who is homeschooled,
was last seen around
nine in the morning.
(tense music)
- Laura Kate Smither,
like Krystal,
she disappeared on
the side of a road.
They were about the same age.
Laura was about
six months younger.
- [Narrator] Three weeks
after she vanished,
Laura's body is found
in a nearby weedy pond.
Like Krystal, she too
had been strangled.
(tense music)
- And then three months
after Laura's body was found,
Jessica Cain's truck
was found on I-45.
Just gone.
She had vanished.
Was a lot of speculation that
perhaps the three killings,
Krystal's, Laura's, and
Jessica's were all connected.
- It's disturbing that
you've got somebody out there
that's hunting young girls.
It just seemed like every
time you turned on the news,
some young girl was missing.
It was almost like we were
living in the Twilight Zone.
It was just like every
day we were thinking,
who's gonna go missing today?
(ominous music)
(somber music)
- We just kept having
missing persons come up.
1996, we have Krystal Baker.
And then in 1997 we had Laura
Smithers and Jessica Cain.
We've got a monster somewhere.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] With the
disappearance of 3 young girls
in the Texas marshlands,
fear hangs heavy in
the thick bayou air.
- I just remember everyone
being in disbelief,
and in horror, actually,
thinking that it's
outta control,
that there's some
serial killer out there
who's obviously not gonna stop.
(tense music)
- With these murders
happening as the way they did,
I did reach out
to other agencies.
Maybe we can pool
our information
and come up with a suspect.
- Also, we were in constant
contact with the FBI,
and they were the profilers.
They were the persons
that could examine
someone's characteristics.
- But after talking
with the other agencies,
there's no leads that are
developed at that time
to take us any further
than what we already were.
- The police eventually
concluded that Krystal's murder
was not connected to Jessica
Cain's or to Laura Smithers'.
They had a DNA profile.
It was a man named
William Lewis Reece,
who was ultimately charged
with their murders.
- [Narrator] The investigation
into Krystal's death
slows to a crawl like the
sluggish waters of a bayou
and the case goes cold.
(ominous music)
(somber fiddle music)
- Everybody kept telling
me it's a cold case
and there was no evidence.
(soft ominous music)
- [Narrator] Back in 1996,
lab results failed to detect
any foreign DNA
on Krystal's body,
but Jeanie holds out hope that
one day there will be a clue.
- My child actually
fought for her life
in every way with her
legs, her arms, everything.
She had bruises all over her.
So I knew that there had
to be some evidence on her.
I said, "I need to hire
a private investigator."
So I call him, and they
went to investigate.
- [Narrator] The PI digs
deep into Krystal's file
at the Chambers County
Sheriff's office.
He finds nothing.
- An evidence officer,
she pulled the case
after the private
investigator contacts her.
She pulled the case and she
started reading through it,
got interested in it.
- She remembered
Krystal being murdered.
She was a high school student.
It stuck with her.
- It was after this that
we get what could be
a major break in the case.
(dramatic music)
- I became the sheriff
after the sheriff's office
started this case back from
what had relatively turned cold
and making that
cold case hot again.
It was a major case.
Anytime you have a 13-year-old
body that is disposed of
like it was, it's
really never put away.
It's usually kind of
waiting for that tip.
In 2009, our state police lab,
the Department of Public
Safety Laboratory,
was making great strides
with some of the new
technology from DNA.
In this particular case,
'cause it was a cold
case for a long time,
they were able to get
that evidence resubmitted
and reanalyzed, the dress and
some fingernail scrapings.
(tense music)
- This time when the sample
was tested, they got a profile.
(tense music continues)
And it was loaded into
CODIS, the national database.
- In September of
2010, we got the call
we had been waiting
for all those years.
(phone ringing)
- Brad is the one that called
me and told me, you know,
"You're not gonna believe this."
(dramatic music)
We had a hit on
Krystal's killer.
(dramatic music)
(tense music)
- When we got the CODIS
hit, it was a huge moment.
Everybody was ecstatic
that we now had a suspect
for Krystal Baker's murder.
So we finally get a name,
and then we start trying
to track him down.
(tense music)
- The sheriff's office
sent me a picture of him
and they said his name
is Kevin Edison Smith.
In 2010, Kevin Smith got
arrested in Louisiana.
- [Narrator] Smith was
arrested on a drug charge
in Pointe Coupee Parish,
located in Louisiana's
bayou country,
300 miles from Texas City.
- He subsequently
had his DNA taken
and put in the CODIS database,
which subsequently
wound up matching up
with our suspect information.
- In Texas, we were
only taking DNA samples
from people who
had been convicted
of certain sex offenses,
but in the state of
Louisiana at that time,
they would take your DNA upon
arrest even for misdemeanors.
The fact that we had
his genetic profile
in the system, it's huge.
I mean, it's a big deal.
Once we got a hit
on Kevin Smith,
they started doing
some background on him.
Kevin Smith was under the radar.
No criminal record except
for the drug charge.
(tense music)
- [Brad] I come to find out
he's from the Texas City area.
He's worked all up and down
the Interstate-10 corridor.
- In 1996, he was working
as a contractor at the time
at one of the refineries
very close to where Krystal
Baker's body was discovered.
- [Narrator] Detectives
discover that Kevin Smith
is back in Texas and
working in Port Arthur,
an industrial coastal town
near the Louisiana state line.
(dramatic music)
- In September of 2010, we
traveled to Port Arthur
and with the assistance
of Port Arthur PD,
made contact with the suspect.
The day we arrested him,
I was actually able to
put my handcuffs on him,
(dramatic music)
which is something I'd been
waiting for all those years.
When our suspect was arrested,
he maintained his innocence.
- Said he didn't know what
we were talking about.
Very quiet, very unassuming.
And then they took his DNA.
- Myself and one of the
rangers were in there with him.
We explained to him,
you know, being nice.
You know, "We've
got a court order
to get your buccal swabs."
- I pretty much held him down
while the ranger
swabbed his cheeks.
(tense music)
- We got his DNA.
- [Investigator Moon] Let's go.
- [Narrator] Later that week,
lab results for the
DNA sample come back.
- Sure enough, it's
confirmed. He is our man.
(dramatic music)
(soft tense music)
Around the time we rode to
Jeanie's house, Krystal's mom,
We were able to tell
her that we'd found
the person responsible
for her daughter's death.
It got very emotional
for everybody.
- They showed me
a picture of him.
I have already lived
through 14, 15,
almost 15 years of not
knowing who it was.
And then all of a
sudden I have a face
to who murdered my daughter.
I've never seen him.
I don't understand why he
did this to my daughter.
Thank God the detectives
went and made sure
that the cold case
got looked at.
It was a miracle that
we caught this guy.
It was just remarkable.
- Kevin Smith was charged
with capital murder
because he committed
a murder during
or in the commission of an
aggravated sexual assault.
It would be a
death penalty case.
(cell door slams)
- [Narrator] As prosecutors
prepare for trial,
they receive a
surprising request.
- I was told, "Kevin
Smith wants to talk to you
if you'll take the death
penalty off the table."
And of course I think my first
reaction was, "Oh (bleep)."
You know, I mean,
this was a big deal.
We still don't know
what really happened
on the day that
Krystal was abducted.
Maybe I can get some answers.
I thought, hell yeah,
I'll go talk to him.
I wanted the son of
bitch to confess.
(dramatic music)
(twangy blues music)
- Kevin Smith wanted to confess
if I took the death
penalty off the table.
I knew that a
confession would help.
We would use it in trial,
and I wanted to talk to him.
I wanted to hear
what he had to say.
(soft tense music)
(ominous music)
- Kevin, myself,
one of the rangers,
and prosecutor were
all in the room,
and Cheryl did the
majority of the talking.
She was asking the questions.
- Kevin said that he
wanted to be very clear
that he was not the same man
today that he was back in 1996,
that he was a Christian man,
and that he was a good person.
If you get into their faces
and you start berating them,
they're not gonna
tell you anything.
So I sat there and listened
to him and agreed with him,
trying to be his friend and
being nice and sympathetic.
And then we talked
about Krystal.
- Somehow he got
her in his truck.
He said that she
asked him for a ride.
Her family says
there's no way in hell
she would have done that.
I guess at some point
he wants to have sex.
- He says that he
used his hands,
then that goes more in line
to it being an accident.
You know, like, "Oh,
I just, I freaked out
'cause she was freaking out,
so I just choked her and before
I knew it, she was dead."
Which I knew all
of that was (bleep)
because you don't accidentally
strangle somebody
for four minutes.
- But it's so funny how
he quickly remembered
when I told him that he did not
strangle her with his hands.
Then all of a sudden he
just starts telling it,
just like it was yesterday.
- When they get to the
part where they're like,
"Oh, wait a minute, I'm
supposed to be upset right now,"
then the tears will come.
(tense music)
- He knows what he's doing.
He knew what he was doing.
- When Kevin started
crying, I didn't pity him.
I felt like he was crying
because he knew
he had been caught
and his goose was
cooked, so to speak.
- That man wasn't
sorry for nothin'.
He went on about his life.
He had no concerns about
what he did to Krystal.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] With the
suspect's damning statements,
prosecutors are confident
as they head to trial.
- We have the DNA, we
had his confession,
which was everything.
But there's never a slam dunk.
I don't care what anybody says.
You don't know what he's
gonna do with his defense,
and you never know what 12
people on a jury are gonna do.
You never know.
(dramatic music)
- I mean, if he was
such a changed man,
why didn't he confess
one year, two year,
three year, four year, ten
years after he killed her?
(tense music)
(insects chirping)
- [Narrator] With spectators
packing the benches
of the small county courtroom,
Kevin Smith's recorded
statements are presented
during his trial.
- He confessed that
he had hurt Krystal.
He confessed that
he strangled her.
To hear the details, it
was such a nightmare.
It was devastating.
- A jury hearing a
confession from a defendant
is very impactful
because a lotta times
defendants don't testify.
Kevin Smith didn't testify.
He basically put on no defense.
(tense music)
- [Narrator] The jury reaches
a verdict within 30 minutes.
- They find Kevin Smith
guilty of capital murder,
which carries an
automatic life sentence.
He won't ever get out.
I was just glad
that it was over,
glad that we got the
result that we wanted,
that Krystal deserved.
- It felt really good
to hear Kevin convicted
of the murder of Krystal Baker.
It was long overdue.
- How could you do
that to my baby?
How could you do that?
I can't understand that.
He's I think evil is
too good of a word.
- He's a monster. We
put a monster away.
- I probably have
a little more peace
knowing that that man
is never gonna get out.
Thank God his DNA
ended up in the system.
- If Louisiana hadn't had
a law mandating the testing
of DNA for all felons,
Kevin Edison Smith
would never have been found.
- [Narrator]
Following the trial,
Krystal's mother continues
her fight for justice
by pushing for a similar
DNA law in Texas.
- He took everything from
me when he took my daughter.
And he took everything
from her that day.
I don't want any other parent
to go through what
I went through.
- The Krystal Baker Law
in Texas passed in 2019.
We got 24 felonies that
you could be tested for
once you get arrested.
Even in the short time that
that has been the law in Texas,
we have solved over
250 cold cases.
- And now we just
recently were able to pass
some additional legislation
to now collect the DNA
off, off of all felony arrests.
- [Narrator] Krystal's
mother is pushing
to expand the law to cover
even misdemeanor arrests.
- Krystal Baker's Law
has already helped a lot,
but this would even help more.
We need to get these
criminals off the streets.
So if we could get their
DNA like a fingerprints,
maybe they might think
twice about what they do.
- Krystal is being remembered
and will forever be remembered
as changing the law
in the State of Texas.
That's a big deal.
(dramatic music)
- [Jeanine] This is a bench that
we dedicated to Krystal.
I come out here to bring my
great-grandkids and my grandson,
bring the kids out here to play.
Coming out here, I
really feel close to her.
I try my very best to think
about the good
things of Krystal,
laughing and having fun
and enjoying her life.
She was a joy to be around.
I have dreams of her still.
I dream mostly of her
being a little girl
and I'd like to remember all
the fun things we did together,
and remember all the
love I had for her.
(tense guitar music)