How Police Captured Florida's Longest Active Serial Killer

It's your hands, let me see your hands. Police are in the middle of hunting down a wanted serial killer, living inside the very van where he killed his latest victim. Go back over there. What's that, what's that smell? 24 hours before this confrontation, officers discover a brutalized body of a woman with seemingly no evidence left behind that could connect anyone to the case. The victim is still unidentified, and we're taking a shot in the dark and maybe a scene of her. Everybody's seen him around, but nobody really knows him, as far as I know. When I found out Michelle was dead, though, you're going to ask my boss, man, it killed me. But over the following day, small clues would start surfacing, revealing additional victims, showing as far back as four decades, eventually leading to one of the longest active serial killers in Florida's history. I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that there are bodies out there attaching that either haven't been found or gone, this guy cannot be on the street, he has to go away or somebody else to get her. It's around 2pm in Marathon, Florida. Near Vaca Cut Bridge, families enjoy a quiet afternoon, until just off the side of the road, a fisherman notices a strong, overwhelming odor. As he steps closer, he sees something so gruesome, he immediately calls 911. Within moments, Florida officers arrive, and it wouldn't be long before the entire lake area would need to be evacuated. 5112, Rigger City. On the ground, lies an unidentified woman, unclothed, and already beginning to stiffen. From what officers can tell, she's been here for several hours. The current near Vaca Cut Bridge is exceptionally strong, with a history of fatal accidental drownings. At first, officers believe this could be another one of those cases, but as they flip her over, that assumption would quickly fade. We'll move her a little bit, and then Edie, if you want to take your pictures, as we're rolling to that, if there's anything that falls or moves, because I'm looking at this stick right here. Okay. You want a hand? This looks like she was dragged by this hand. Oh, look at that. Yeah, could you see that? Look at her out of that. Right around that. Oh, it looks, look at the side of her head. You got blood? You got scrapes all over the back? Call Doc. As they examine the body closer, they notice strangulation marks on her neck, blood and signs of trauma, all pointing to a violent assault. When they potential homicide on their hands, officers call in the on-duty detective, while others begin evacuating the area immediately. Before the detective arrives, officers at the scene continue trying to identify the victim. Only to realize it won't be that simple. No, doesn't appear to be homeless because she's well-capped, she's grown, I just don't see the clothes. I'm saying it's too. something there. This is all the officers know about the woman. No clothing, no ID, nothing to go off of, but not for long as the on-duty detective soon arrives. Matt Pitcher is a seasoned undercover detective. He doesn't know it yet, but he's about to take down the town's most dangerous killer. Using a multi-hour interview with Pitcher, we'll break down exactly what he was thinking and the complex forensic methods used to crack a near-perfect homicide. I do not have good luck at Thanksgiving time, it just never seemed to work out for me, and so even coming into this, everybody was kind of joking, you'll be prepared for that call. And so I got to call, and then it's kind of evaluating, well, you know, you put out a little bit of hope that maybe it was just a natural death, and I still remember, sorry, my captain, trying to fail, and going on, she said, yeah, it's a naked female. In a minute, she said that I was like, well, this isn't going to be a natural death. Hey, everyone. Detective Matt Pitcher and Detective Rosa D Giovanni. This is US-1 headed up that way, interested in this little gravel area, from US-1, is down there, with your hand down here, and to start what looks to be a red bull can, there are tire tracks leading back, as well as tire tracks on this side. You have a broken branch that's touching the ground, pulled hair right here, and if you come up at about 10 o'clock into a wooded area, about 10 meters away, the female victim, two to three feet in front of that, it's another small chunk of hair, and looks like there is some bleeding in the area there. Easiest way to come back would be along there, suspecting that that's where the suspect went back, we're going to go around another way, deserve evidence. For the first time, the pieces start to come together. As Pitcher walks along the gravel road just off the highway, he spots fresh tire marks. Evidence the suspect had been here not long ago. A few feet away, strands of the victim's hair lie scattered, suggesting she was dragged from the road into the forest. Further in, there are clear signs of disturbance, damaged plants, broken branches, indicating the suspect's vehicle was likely damaged as it sped away, possibly right after dumping the body, and then, something far more significant catches his eye. So there were a bunch of small trees that kind of thing, you have this dirt road, but then I'm walking along the path, that's the first thing that struck me, so there was a little tree and it kind of had, you know how you can tell when something's freshly broken, right? The limb hasn't died or anything like that, we talking about a tree, and we're just kind of hanging there, and so that got me looking at it, and then, sure enough, what looked to be car parts, broken off right underneath it, like sitting on the ground right there, and that's kind of what it was like, hmm, could just be, you know, the suspect vehicle. But even with this small breakthrough, Pitcher still hasn't uncovered the most critical piece of the puzzle, one that suggests this is far from an isolated incident. With this scene locked down and the victim transported for autopsy, investigators are left with two critical questions. Who is the victim, and who is her attacker? To answer the first, detective Pitcher comes up with a plan. Yeah, I'm kind of going through things, and basically my thought then, especially keeping my, like I said earlier, this is, right coming in the Thanksgiving, right? Everything is about to get slammed where we live, this is a huge tourist spot, so I was concerned that, okay, we can lose video evidence that might be in the area, and I showed the captain to the car part and all that, and I said, alright, I'm leaving the scene, and I'm about to start hitting every business, starting with the bars in the area, and at least get them marked so that they don't get rid of evidence on us. At Pitcher's request, officers go from business to business, searching for any sign of the suspect's vehicle. One missing a black, three by eight inch piece of bumper, and showing damage consistent with hitting branches, as well as any indication of a possible daylight abduction. But with no clear timeline for when the murder occurred, the search could take anywhere from hours to days, so Pitcher splits his efforts, directing some officers to focus on the second piece of the puzzle, identifying the victim. He sends them to local businesses, hoping that someone might recognize her. But that's when an unexpected problem emerges. They started on Detective Brady, this is Detective Bonds, we're doing a, we're part of the Homestead investigation is going on now, that if you've heard, we don't know whether the victim is still unidentified, and we're taking a shot in the dark, and maybe if she might have been a patron here, so it's a graphic photo that we're going to ask if maybe a few, maybe a senior or a couple of bartenders, I'll take a look, so I've been here the last few nights. With the victim still unidentified, and no sign of the suspects vehicle, officers are at a loss, with every passing hour, the killer edges closer to vanishing for good. Along with any chance of solving the case, but just as leads begin to run dry, one bartender would step forward, giving them their first major lead. can I just add your phone number 917 and you will look at the photo of the victim and see if you might know her or it's pretty it's up to you yeah okay all right you're still standing here might be able to recognize her yes okay do you know her name oh perhaps this she drive a car or should live it I mean anything where we could try and track down we don't know who she is so it's very important trying to find out who she is I can't think of it okay but for sure yes I know exactly who she is okay definitely although the bartender doesn't remember the woman's name she recalls seeing her multiple times suggesting she's likely local and then another bartender approaches she recognizes the victim too but still can't provide a name however she remembers something else she had seen the woman working at the sunset grail restaurant just a few miles away with this new information officers quickly wrap up and rush to the restaurant realizing they may be moments away from answering one of the cases biggest questions that Rosa did your body um the reason that I'm asking is has she ever worked for you oh she have some now here yes yes she did yes and I I tried to help her what do you mean you tried to help her well when she first moved here she worked for us and um you know when that was more alive I have all the dates that would be nice um and I feel so bad about what happened to her because I really finally officers have a name 51-year-old Michelle but when detectives check for a missing persons report they find nothing leading them to assume the victim has no close family that is until her employer reveals something that makes her death even more tragic she told me you know she was from so Wisconsin or minus Wisconsin I have all her info where she was from think and she had a family I knew she had children and uh you know ex-husband she didn't have custody she's just her children but she she used to be like a therapist too and she goes I know better I shouldn't be taking these pills and stuff nice and well you know you need to get straightened up because I'm going to have to let you go but she did talk always I don't know her children I never met her but she always talked to I always I didn't know how old they were actually always talked about going back I know our children must be devastated if if you talk to her kids or anything just tell them that you know she was a wonder if she had a good heart she did that's basically what we're trying to get for her kids you know she did and I always thought that too I thought god I wish her kids knew that I liked I really liked thanks to her employer officers are able to get into contact with several of Michelle's family members in jeans for Wisconsin all of them describe her the same way kind with a good heart but after moving to Florida she lost contact with them this information is immediately related to detective pitcher who now has one question left to answer who is her killer and that answer maybe closer than they think that's how the captain says all right I'm going to send a picture of this car part to buddy mine who's in narcotics he is extremely good cards she literally says him this little bit of what you're not to be a bit of a fender he comes back first thing he sends a text all right it's going to be from a van full size van like this within 15 minutes of that he sends a picture and says it's going to be this type of van that picture he sent actually end up deep and be the exact same color everything as the van is subject to the teeth but in my mind I'm saying you know number one what 50% chance is actually going to be the suspect vehicle be able to match that to vehicle yet probably not going to happen naturally detective pitcher is skeptical but he still relies this information to officers coming through CCTV footage and to his complete surprise after six hours of finding nothing of value they're about to stumble upon something big I don't know how to download it from the system but he's fixing to go past here and yes do you need anything else for once no bro I'm just going to fit find this vehicle and then try to clip this i found him he's right here office max right there a last police spot what they believe to be the suspect's vehicle a blackened silver dodge conversion van visibly damaged with pieces missing and once they run its license plate detectives can begin reconstructing the killer's movements piece by piece he's going to go bomb sure there he goes right there he'll let you yeah that's the van right there here it is yep all right 1240 he has a stop somewhere 12 1239 what were you getting off radio was off rados was 1208 23 so that's four minutes four minutes since 17 seconds you got to stop somewhere quick now four minutes 17 seconds get going to sit in traffic for four minutes that's a big that's it so where can he stop between radios huh great ones great ones or if he came in here as officers piece together the van's path across town it suddenly disappears somewhere near came our plaza on us highway one just over three miles from where the body was found while officers search for additional camera angles around the last known location investigators run the van's registration and that's when they discover something deeply concerning the van belongs to 58 year old Steven Matthew Wolf a man with a long and serious criminal history obviously the one thing I can't remember it was a juvenile record that was sealed and they had to go a little bit further to find it out or whether they grabbed but he had a murder at a young age so immediately I have someone getting on the phone for me and contact an athletes department let's get details on this and fast and it was this 90 year old man that he and a couple of his friends robbed and he decided to kill so many fun stuff like that out you're like all right we're you know you're you're building those building blocks right you're like okay we're on the on the right path here this is most likely our guide decades earlier in 1976 Wolf was convicted of a homicide in Boise Idaho at 15 years old he and three others murdered a 78 year old man named Enrico Florey a robbery motivated killing that landed him 15 years in prison the case gained nation-wide attention when in 1977 Steven escaped from the Ada County jail sawing through a bar on the fourth floor and climbing down using bedsheets and conduit he remained on the run for six days before being recaptured as picture digs deeper they uncover even more disturbing details a prior diagnosis of psychopathy a history of animal cruelty and long-term drug use raising the question of whether he should ever have been released with these findings picture realizes he's looking for someone with a history of extreme violence a proven capacity to have a justice and potentially a serial killer by midnight the van still hasn't reappeared on CCTV suggesting it's still somewhere near the cluster of fast food restaurants unwilling to waste any more time pitcher alongside a dozen deputies from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office heads out to search the area and as they begin to look for their suspect something inexplicable happens when the Capitol in town we're going out to scout in this parking lot you're doing a lot of this just hoping and you know looking for that neon haystack but most likely you know the person's going to bounce pretty quickly and get out town so while you're hoping it's not great and she's driving keep him on the lobster side of the road so like she had to see it from a long ways away and according to my captain lieutenant said a prayer and the man he's tossing stop the prayer looked off to her left where there is a K-Mart and McDonald's and sitting just right by the McDonald's was the van and she starts yelling there's a van there's a van of course they almost wrecked the car but they get into parking lot sit tight for a second I get over there make contact and go from there to pitcher surprise they spot it the black and silver van parked between a Windixi and a McDonald's approaching from multiple directions officers surround the parking lot carefully ensuring no bystanders are in harm's way with pitcher meticulously guiding the operation and his officers inch closer they brace themselves knowing a dangerous killer could lash out at any second do we want me to give him verbal commands you're gonna get this side I'm gonna show his office I'm real County Sheriff's Office come up with your hands up. Sheriff's Office, let me see your hands. Let me see your hands. All right. What have you done, Patrick? Come on out. Anybody else in the van? Hands up. Come on out. Come out, driver side. Here, just drop whatever you're doing. Come out. Come out. Don't reach around. Don't reach around. Just let me see your hands. Come out of the van. Okay. Go back towards back of your van. Get in there. Get right here. Come on out. What's going on? Sir, right there. Hands around your back. What's up, baby? What's your laughing? Well? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got my teeth. All 2460. 92460? Yeah. Thank you. Is this vehicle registered to you? Yes. Okay. To the officer's surprise, Stephen doesn't resist. Instead, he's calm, almost unusually so for someone being arrested without explanation. After placing him in a patrol car, officers begin inspecting his van when something immediately stands out. Okay. Watch this. Look at this. Right here. What do you see? What do you see? Didn't that the piece? There's some grass. Yeah. Yeah. This is our murder suspect. Oh. What's that? What's that smell? This is Sam. When they were going through the van, I believe there was blood in there that they have yet to identify for one thing. There was, unfortunately, underwear in the van that appeared to be used. There was other women's underwear in there, so I 100% think that there are bodies out there attaching them that either have them found or gone. There's all these little details that too many to overwalk. After securing the scene just after midnight, Stephen is transported to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office for questioning. But despite Pitcher's plan unfolding nearly perfectly, he still has a long way to go. On the way to the station, Pitcher realizes that from a jury's perspective, there's still reasonable doubt, and nothing truly conclusive beyond a single piece of bumper. And with the right lawyer, he could claim he was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time, and the charges could easily be dismissed entirely. Even so, Detective Pitcher remains confident he can make Stephen break. Less than 12 hours after the murder is believed to have taken place, the two arrive at the station and Stephen is placed inside the interrogation room. With Pitcher and Stephen have been in the situations before, and each of them believes, they have the perfect plan to outsmart the other. "A way I interview, like I'll write for a second, I think I can interview pretty much better than anybody. I think I have a track record to prove it. I believe your interview, the most crucial part of the interview, are the first minute to three minutes. I never, ever walk into an interview room and start talking about that night, and even remotely close to the crime and hand, I usually kind of find out what they're into." "Deep." "All right, Stephen." "Is it the arrest on the court now that's put to hand, right?" "I need to be in the table, all right?" "Before I can talk to you, I've seen how you're going to talk to me." "It's all right. I'll let you have this for a minute." "All right. Well, here's the deal. We have some questions about yesterday." "Maybe you can walk me through it and help me out a little bit, tell me about yesterday." "Is walking to the day, if you would?" "No, I'm curious, but I'm talking at the police car for a second, and I see you come here. He says, "I'm about vodka cup." "Yeah, that's what I'm waiting for today." "Thanks for seeing me." "I have a room for a place to sleep. I used to go down there and sleep in the house or going to bed, but I couldn't get in. That was not very good." "That's what the damage to my car was. That's what I did there." "That's what you did there?" "I'm talking to all of us. That's the other." "Yeah, that's never good." "What time was that?" "30, I guess, I don't know, except for you." "Okay." "He was all saved, washed out, treated all the wrong, I said, "I can get back to my sewing back down, it was a shoe, treated, I like my man, I scratched it all up. I didn't even know I heard it, so I got to the library and walked out and I was like, "Damn it, broken the smell." "It was already cracked, anyway." "Yeah." "So, would you try it back out, and that's how you hit it?" "Yeah, no, no, no, turn around. You can't, that thing turns like a bolt. I couldn't turn around." "Pulls got stuck." As Stephen calmly explains, he damaged the vehicle while turning around, searching for a place to sleep. But what catches pitcher off guard is this. If Stephen is responsible, he's just placed himself at the scene of the crime, for reasons pitcher can't yet explain. So, pitcher searches for something more concrete, something incriminating, but what he finds would come as a complete surprise. "Can I just get you to put your fingers out like this one by one?" "Thank you so much. Give me just two seconds." "Oh." "I can't if you could just kind of the best you can." "And it's gonna be a lot harder, but it's a blow up to that." "Hey, that was a lot easier for you than I thought it would be." "What's your look for?" "What's that?" "So what's your look?" "It's any kind of marks?" "It's like I know marks don't scratch it or nothing." "Get the hell out." "And that's what I got to do." "What's that?" "It's any kind of marks?" "It's like I know marks don't scratch it or nothing." "And that's what I got to do." "What you're doing?" "Well, I know you got 10 feet, and it's a pretty good one." "I know what you're going to do." "I know what you're going to do." "I appreciate him." "He's a big brother." "I know." "Baffled by the lack of scratches on Stephen's hands, Pitcher pauses the interrogation, fully realizing the evidence they have so far is insufficient for any breakthrough." "Especially after learning this as far from his first run-in with police. For now, they're simply isn't enough to charge him." "So Stephen remains in holding." "Investigators know time is against them. By tomorrow, they need something concrete because, without it, they won't be able to hold him much longer." "But little did they know, Stephen is already preparing a strategy for their next conversation." "One, he believes, will let him walk away completely free." "The next morning, with Stephen still in custody, Detective Pitcher begins receiving tips from multiple marathon residents, each claiming to have vital information. By approximately 10 a.m., officers are dispatched to follow up on every lead, hoping one of them holds the key to the case. And it wouldn't take long for police to realize Michelle may not have been the only target, and Stephen may not have been the only suspect." "Okay, my name is Jennifer. How are you?" "I have a cousin of mine that I just found out today was with the male, I guess, who he was in the van." "He was in the van." "All right, go ahead." "Hey Greg." "Hey." "I saw Frankie in the van in a second." "Frankie goes." "Here he goes, I was in his car the day before it gave me a ride to like his downstairs, all like that." "I said wait a minute." "I said Frankie, if you're right, I said you're in that van." "Because yeah." "I said because you have to think of a place where probably you live in Frankie." "A freight of being implicated, locals begin coming forward, bringing new information about Stephen." "They reveal he wasn't alone the night before the murder, just hours before the woman was killed." "He had been driving around town with two other people in his van, and one of them is about to show up to speak to the detective." "Hey Tracing." "How are you?" "Good, I'm sorry." "Everybody knows me here, except the rookies of course." "Well, I don't know you, so you were in the van with Frankie." "Yep, he come up to the library, I asked him if he would take us to go to the store so we could get something to drink." "Okay." "As what the hell was said, I'm knowing him for a little while now, I never thought that he would do some off the wall." "Excuse my language, like this. Okay, I am shot. I am lowered, right, to be honest with you." "Right." "What if this happens to me?" "Yeah, we don't want to happen to anybody, and that's why I want everybody to come together and we can get there." "Well, like I told one of the deputies that knew me, I said, listen, I'm pissing either sleep over here at the library or I'm gonna sleep on you all's doorstep over here." Thanks to Tracey, officers are now able to piece together Stephen's movements leading up to the murder. But before the detective leaves, Tracey would go on to mention one more name. Terry, a close associate of Stephen. Officers immediately recognize the name. After confiscating Stephen's phone, they describe him. He covered a five-minute call with someone named Terry just hours before the murder is believed to have taken place. Looking further into his background, they also realize they've spoken to Terry before, in connection to a assault case, making him a potential suspect alongside Stephen. Within the hour, they arrive at Terry's house, but from the moment they approach him, something feels off. And unlike the others, they would have a much more difficult time getting Terry to talk. "Hi, how are you?" "No, I just need to talk to you about Michelle, please, please." We know you didn't do it, man. "No, you didn't do it, honey." We heard your friends with her. That's all. We just want to talk to her friends. "That's what you're going to call school." "Did you?" "No." "That's all. We just want to talk to her friends, man. That's it." "No, no. Listen, Terry. We just want to see, when was the last time we saw her, Terry?" "No, Terry. Listen, you're not in no time." "You have to call that a bent through this with you before they can try and get me to." "Terry, let me talk to you." "I'm not saying that." "I'm not saying that." "I don't want to talk to you." "Terry, Terry, just listen for a second. Terry, just listen for a second, man. Listen for a second." "I'm not listening." "Listen, all we know is that Michelle was on the 17th. We're trying to track down her timeline, man. If you cared about her, wouldn't you want to help us?" "If you can't tell me who I cared about and all that. I'm not talking. You got to get it. I don't even want to talk about Michelle, bro." "Okay. I'm not trying to see me, but I know how y'all do. Just like we do." "Man. We're not doing it. So no, I ain't telling the same thing. We don't know." "When detectives question Terry about Michelle, it's clear he doesn't trust them and has no intention of cooperating. But then they changed their approach, mentioning something designed to make him think twice." "So did you know Stephen?" "I don't know. Why?" "Really? Why do you call you then?" "I don't know." "Really? Because you talked to him for like five minutes on the day he murdered her." "What? From the day he went?" "You talked to him on the day he murdered Michelle for like five minutes." "I don't know. What did you say?" "Okay. Okay. But I talked to him and all this, I don't care what you say, Miss." "I don't really care what you say. Either the phone records prove it." "So why are you talking to me? I don't care then." "So what did you talk to him about?" "I don't know what you talked about. I don't even know what you talked about." "You don't know." "I don't know. Miss." "The dude did like Michelle. He always threatened her. Me and him got into it over her. Michelle was a close friend. You don't have to need the back-up bridge when she pulled the guy killed or whatever. I put a cross down enough for her." "I appreciate it. Honestly, you seem like the first one that we've talked to that's really cared about." "Okay. I didn't like work." "Okay. Why not?" "What did you mean? Why not? You always threatened her, man." "He was always threatened her." "Every time I seen them, they were fighting." "Fussing." "Was they in a relationship?" "I don't listen, Miss." "But Michelle stayed in the van." "She used to sleep with this guy in the van." "I used to get mad when she used to be with me." "I'm not on those streets. I changed my life after that." "Fuss, I talked to the worst five minutes before she got killed." "That's bullshit." "Okay." "But for anything, if I had to get my hands on him, I heard him." Finally, once they get Terry to talk, detectives uncover a direct connection between Stephen and the victim. Michelle had allegedly been staying in Stephen's van and Terry makes it clear he didn't approve of the two being together. Now detectives realize the man in front of them may be the key to incriminating Stephen once and for all. "That's all I'm saying." "If you wanted to know the truth there, you just helped us a lot and being able to make that happen." "I was still saying B, the guy she used to sleep around with this guy." "Okay." "This guy used needles. She told me that he tried to get her to shoot dope one time." "Okay?" "Him and Michelle don't have altercations." "Okay." "When I found out Michelle was dead, you can ask my boss man to kill me." "You know what I'm saying?" "I am sorry for your loss." "Okay, it's not my loss." "It just that she was in the street." "It is your loss." "She stayed on the street, man." "And I had been on the street." "But for the wolf, if I had the way to put my hands on him, I would." "Okay." "We are pushing." "And if you could look at the phone records, or any law where I was talking to him, you can't see but me cussing him out." "Thank you." As Terry breaks down, detectives begin to believe he's telling the truth and that he is indeed one of Michelle's few genuine friends. After wrapping up the interview, they return to the station and relay their findings to detective pitcher who, for the past 12 hours, has been sleeplessly studying Stephen's profile. When Han covers something interesting about Stephen's experiences in jail. "Talking about his time in prison, things came out that, number one, he has a hatred for women. Somehow, I think it stems from his mom, but I still can't quite place it. He went into great detail with me about when his mom was sick, how she couldn't do anything. And like, very disturbing that a normal human being, normal person in a conversation, isn't going into detail about these kind of things. That's a red flag. Obviously, there's a lot of prison egos. I figured out a way around it though. I would just have an awful host to everybody and that way they wouldn't want to. Yeah. All of that is putting together a pretty good picture of who this is and we have the right guy. At that point, you're kind of like, alright, this is making too much sense. And then, talking about women in general would snap and all that and that would cause me to have to bring him back down. But even with this unusual finding, picture is only beginning to understand the twisted mind he's dealing with. What he does know for certain is that this isn't Stephen's first time. And that by now, he likely has a plan he believes will let him walk free. And if picture wants to get anything from him, he needs to build a bond. Gain Stephen's trust, enough to make him confess. So that afternoon, picture decides to change his approach. He asks Steve to step outside, offering him a cigarette. He's a small gesture, but one that would have monumental effects on the investigation. Because when the two step outside, Stephen begins to break. Or instead of not having a cigarette. I know you are. And I know that seems scary as hell. I've been through it because it's hot, but I remember it well. Things are different from some instances between what happened when you were 15 and what happened now. Somebody died with my hands. It's the difference with somebody died, but it wasn't at my hands. Steve, you made a mistake. I know. I didn't do the search. Steve, I know you. You're right. Okay, listen. You made a mistake. All right. I didn't kill him. Good boys won't kill them. What happened? They fought. They fought. I didn't see anybody. They were having trouble in the back of my bed. And they fought. And I just kept driving, so come down quite down. What other names? I just can have them back. I'll pick them up. We're going to pick my Walmart. They want to come to the keys. All right, off, Matt. Steve, come on in. I don't know what to do here. We got to keep going. We got to get this. I do not do this, but we got to want to get this together and get rid of them. All right, but we can work through this, okay? This isn't the end of the world. We walked away and he's gone. That's like, excuse me. What am I going to do? Despite being prepared for something new, Steve Pitture is clearly taken aback by this version of events. Stephen insists he didn't kill Michelle, but admits to helping cover it up, claiming the real killer was her ex-boyfriend. At first glance, the story feels completely fabricated, a last-digit attempt to deflect blame. But then, something clicks. Pitture recalls coming through Michelle's social media and uncovering a troubling detail. An ex-boyfriend, persistent, unwanted, openly harassing her online, still unconvinced and questioning why Stephen is only bringing this up now, the two return to the interrogation room has Pitture prepares to press him further. Can you do your best to describe who you said he had? You got it. Go ahead and head to town. Everything you can tell. Long, can't be short. I don't know what kind of tends to use no socks, okay? A flowery type of shirt. I don't know what pants it is wearing really. And scruffy, his hair doesn't touch his shoulder's boots close. It's straight as an arrow. God, they're not feather-weighted and not wood. And how old was he? He's younger, I think he's younger than she is. Are you playing? All right, yeah. Skinny is a rare skinny skinny. It's all on skinny. Black is heavy. at the blackest you can get, but where were you exactly when you picked them up? I was at my van. Right. I was in my van. But what about the location? They walked by the liquor store, they walked up to the front of my van by the grassy area. They were walking. He said, "Yeah, I said, "Beautiful Brian." So you learn men, they get in the car. He's in the front. No, not even out of the parking lot yet. Can I go in them cigarettes? Not even out of the parking lot yet. How much down to road? Where's the long strip? After you get out of the water? Right by. Do you long? Yeah. Long, long, long key up in there. Okay. Somewhere in there. But the long strip's got west of my road and at night time it lets you all rip. Yeah. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah. That's where he came back up in my front seat, said, "Brose is dead." I'll go in there. He didn't say I came, but he just said, "He's dead." Okay. What? Brose is dead. My brain was thinking, "If she's really dead, I don't know if she's. " You call, please. Yeah. He's right there next to you. Call the police. You know, I'm going to pick up the phone, and I pulled the engine there. I can't go over it. What? I thought it was your idea for a buck because. I just think I got to get rid of it. I got to get rid of both of it, but I got to get her out of here now. And he jumped out. He pulled the door open. He pulled her out. I seen it. I heard her. I actually had guns. What's your dead? Or she hit the ground. I think, "Yeah, I remember thinking, "Oh, Jesus, that's not good." Despite Stephen's emotional retelling, his description of the killer doesn't match the ex-boyfriend. The man detectives how identified was older, with short gray hair and a heavy build. But Stephen describes someone completely different, younger, slim, with pinstrate black hair. And that's not all. Something major has just taken place outside the interrogation room. The full forensic examination of the van is complete, and the findings are even more disturbing than expected. Now we have the search warrant to the van, they started going in it, and immediately there are lots of boys, a lot of homemade toys. We knew sheets were missing, that kind of thing, like we were missing a lot of evidence. There was also, we had a start cut now for the head homemade bed in there too, so we had to cut out the mattress of that, the floor. There was blood, not a ton, but a little bit of blood on some of that, which was, that's big evidence we needed. Alongside what pitcher has just revealed, investigators uncover even more disturbing evidence, strands of blonde hair matching the victims, women's underwear, and a child swimsuit. And more concerning still, the only DNA found belongs to Stephen and the victim. This is far more incriminating, and far more convincing than anything Stephen has told them. Peter prepares to confront him with the evidence, and with nowhere left to shift the blame, his reaction would say at all. And Stephen missed some blood, he missed under, I didn't do that, he missed cleaning up with blood on the person on the bush, Stephen, I'm telling you, I'm not lying, I hear you, I'm just telling you, there's a change, I'm telling you, I have been asking, that's not a big concern, it's not her panties, I'm telling you about those panties, I got it, I can get it. Oh Jesus, you got a child having a life, but tell you who they are, you're going to tell them and then you're going to know what they have. Stephen, right now you're looking at murder. You get it. Oh, okay, but they're Susan, they're become Susan's daughter. Susan, Susan, that's Jerry's wife. Why do you have to ask, you guys, since, come sometimes, with them wants to never dirty, like put them in there. Okay. In the hair. I don't have no idea. And the blood under there. I don't know what you're doing. I don't know anything about it. There's no blood in there. This shift in the detective's demeanor clearly catches Stephen off guard. Up until now, he believed Pitcher was someone he could trust. More than that, Pitcher believes the bond between them has gone beyond a typical detective suspect relationship. Like I even, one of the disturbing parts of the interview, which this just may mind it, is I put my hand on a shoulder at one point. Like one of the phrases I used with him a lot that, you know, once we had that real comfortable level was, you know, this isn't an if-type situation. This is, I need you a why. You know, what happened? Like you're obviously a good person. Why did this happen? And so at one point, you know, he was getting worked up that sad-wise that he knew he was in trouble. I put my hand on a shoulder and he goes, he goes, "Yeah, I don't let people put their hand on my shoulder because of prison." And so I immediately took it off and I'm sorry, he says, "No, no, I like it when you do it." I was like, that was one of the key moments. I was like, "Okay, well, this is, he's not looking at us being in a relationship." Like he once, he has feelings for me in terms of that. He was putting me in his mind in an awkward position to have to testify. I don't know if part of me thought that I had feelings for him and that he was putting me in an awkward position making me testify against him. I've never even come close to having anything like that happen for him. As Pitcher explains, this unusually strong bond is both beneficial and detrimental to the investigation. Although Stephen appears to want to be honest, he seems afraid of hurting Pitcher's feelings. But unbeknownst to Stephen, that bond is entirely one-sided. Because Pitcher is about to confront him with even more evidence, he failed to cover up. "Can you explain the blood when the cushion under the sheet?" "No, my leg and the other leg." "That's not good for it." "I know." "I know, so I'm going to go to jail for a long time." "That will check it to stay Italian, but as of right now, I'm afraid of that." "Oh, Jesus, you guys, I'm not the guy." "What?" "Okay." "Can I, let's backtrack?" "I understand so much of you." "Because you were at the crime scene." "We had the at the crime scene." "Because you were at." "Yeah." "And then. " "He had a report to wreck." "But it was on her damage, I get that." "I'm visually there." "Then we had. " "You come to the library using a dumpster." "With a blood in the dumpster." "And you told me you protached that." "Yeah?" "And then. " "But the researcher, man, when she said, 'No body has been in that emphasize,'" "No one can see, and. " "Chant Arlady." "I think of me." "And that was a couple days ago." "And the hair doesn't match that person." "I don't know what you guys are talking about." "I'm pretty. " "Always. " "He brought some investment because I. " "I'm getting back down here." "So I look, and. " "Then. " "The worst part about it is that you're convinced that it's me." "What is that?" "More panties." "In Miami?" "Then we see that again." "Her bikini bottles." "Those are serious and simple." "I wouldn't worry about all of those things and see." "That's what I am." "My decision is probably to never see her again." To Stephen's surprise, on the night he was found, officers recovered a bloody shirt that had been disposed of nearby. And despite it all, Stephen would continue to deny that he had killed Michelle. At this point, it doesn't matter. They don't need a confession because the final and most disturbing piece of the puzzle has just come to light. When they were going through the van, there were some of the toys were probably 8 inches to 12 inches in diameter. So it was again very, very horrific. And I think they ended up finding her DNA on a couple of those and that's probably what helped to cause her to bleed out. The strangulation was probably not. Most like now I'm kidding, but that he was trying to let her in and out of context, just torture the best way to describe it. Based on the crime scene and the horrific autopsy findings, in 2023, Stephen Matthew Wolfe was convicted of first-degree murder, two counts of battery and tampering with evidence. And in the end, he was given the only fitting sentence for his crimes. That's kind of what did him in, like, this whole situation where he knows, like, even in a review he brings a death penalty. that I'm going to get the death penalty for this yes so maybe the first time in Florida if not it's only been one or other two times where every member of the jury believes he should get the death penalty even though yes obviously he's a very horrible person it's also always weird when you know that it was your testimony and you're going that is going to end this man's life so it's a mixed bag in that sense I think even the things like the touch on the shoulder like is dumb as it sounds that's him that's all this guy cares about me you know he really does like me is crazy as that is you mentioned that there could be more victims tied to this guy do you personally think that he could be like a serial killer with more unsolved murders connected to him so I 100% think I would I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that there are bodies out there attached him that I either haven't been found or gone he so he was a homeless guy who lived in this van and you have long periods where you can't even say where he's at he was kept to go and telling us other locations kind of thing everything just pointed I mean we even had when they were going through the van I believe I don't remember I believe there was blood in there that they have yet to identify for one thing I didn't come back to either one of them there was unfortunately underwear in the van that appeared to be used there was other women's underwear in there and not granted he had stolen underwear that we found out from somebody else but there was there's all these you know little details that too many to overwalk as pitcher finishes recounting one of the most disturbing cases of his career six years after Michelle's murder he is now retired but the weight of what he uncovered leaves behind questions that were never fully answered in terms of this type of crime and the brutality this one at above all the rest and I definitely had some interesting ones in my career I'm in the process of writing a book actually I did undercover work that I can say legitimately nobody else has done first year I spent two years with the mob and then was asked to infiltrate a domestic care group had everything from being irrigated for eight hours to shooting with a psychopath who was positive was going to kill me one day and it also happened to be my best friend and hated police more than anybody but I did prevent the bombing credit saving over a hundred thousand lives out of all the complex investigations detective pitcher worked on Steven's case continues to linger and as of late April 2026 Steven remains on Florida's death row refusing to tell pitcher whether there are any other victims and with an execution warrant potentially right around the The corner, that answer, may die with him.