How Police Captured The Texas Church Assassin

[MUSIC PLAYING] Faster? Carrier, sir. Thank you for coming out here. Inside this church in May, Texas, locals are gathering to mourn the tragic death of 25-year-old Shantay Blankenship. Somewhere within this crowd is Shantay's killer, hiding in plain sight and watching town folks pointing suspicions in all directions. Has she had problems with anybody? There's this guy I've fallen. We used to have problems to at least drive around with and stuff. Whoever it is is a pretty sick person, and they're still out there somewhere. I think he's a boyfriend, don't we? You know, she's a good-looking girl, and that makes me a dirty old man. I think that's what we're sad. As detectives exhaust every lead, the case eventually goes cold, leaving this small community questioning if any one of them might be the next victim. Yet, for over a year, one unusual witness sits quietly unnoticed, holding the answer and detectives had been hunting for all along. He was so evious and smart. He just didn't know that that was going to be the thing that would finally catch him. The badges that we're showing on this is, man, you're, you're off the freaking charts. And here, he is, running from us, and I miss him. It's May 15th in the small town of May, Texas. Nearly 48 hours have passed since 25-year-old Shantay Blankenship mysteriously vanished after going on her usual evening walk. Since then, church volunteers have searched tirelessly for any sign of her until this Sunday morning, around 11am, when one couple stumbles upon something. Right away, the Brown County Sheriff's Office dispatches two patrol deputies to the caller's location, an abandoned farmhouse nearly 25 miles away. Once they arrive, they find Charlie and Jackie anxiously pacing outside, ready to go into detail about the gruesome discovery they had just made inside. They were just driving around looking for it. They did a, uh, everybody met at three at the church to go look for it, and we were just driving around and looked at every creek and. The, uh, the peel-out marks were already here. They'll go over there, yeah. I've seen those tracks and they pulled in it, they didn't go on through. They would just stop. These aren't y'alls? No, this is the vehicle we're in. Are these, are those over to the gate? Are those your shoe prints? Probably mine. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Let's stay over here on the rocks and not walk around where there's any footprints. Don't let them leave there to lock it out there, please. 10 for their waiting for everybody. To the deputies, this discovery immediately raises questions. The farmhouse sits miles out of town in an isolated location that many locals don't even know exists. So, while they wait for additional officers to arrive, the deputy begins pressing for answers, trying to understand how this couple ended up here in the first place. How long? I guess y'all called immediately when y'all found it. Yeah. Uh, which gate did y'all jump? I walked around the house. I didn't see nothing in there, and I went out for all the house building. Do what? I walked around in the house. Uh-huh. I didn't see nothing in there. I went to all the out building. Yeah. And I was coming back in that storm suburb there, had a bunch of grass knocked down. So, I went around and looked, and there she is, she's upside down in there, and she is beat. I got a daughter at age. She's naked, and it's J. Bergossi. I don't know if that white shark she was working on in Prady when I was a kid. Fucking in my hand. And then she said, "Don't have that. That's right now, flesh. I took it in bastard." I don't mind it. She had a mentality of a nine-year-old. There's an old house back there. They apparently all met up at the church earlier in North Lake, and they were just coming out and driving around looking. She's in a cellar. She's serious. Yeah. Well, they said they were just out looking for places she had a gray house. Yeah, I think so. They said they found a hairline out on the ground. What the heck is that? So, they've already picked it up. It's like, I don't think cow hair or anything, and they were wondering around. I found her in the cellar. The gate's locked, so we'll have to cut it. But there's tire tracks that pull in there and then pull straight back out. First stretch. Yeah. A lot. Today, fresh. Indeed, these are very fresh marks, planting a terrifying thought in the deputies' minds that Shantay's killer could be somewhere nearby, keeping a close eye on the area. Shortly afterward, more units begin arriving at the scene, including the crime scene photographer. But as the deputies prepare to head towards the body's location, they'll soon realize that whatever the couple told them is nothing compared to what they're about to see. Watch that bar. Yeah. It's on your gun. There you go. All right. Here, John, hold this. I'll step up here and I'll grab the camera and hold it. The brake works land right on the other spot. Yeah. Okay. The little bracelet right here on the other side of the gate, you said, yeah, right over there in the middle of that grass. There's one of those wristbands, those little rubber bands out this one. It looks the way this grass is right here, like someone's been through it recently or something. Knife laying on the ground. It looks like it's been there a little while. Yeah, it's been there a while, but we'll go ahead and photograph it just in case. I don't see any blood anywhere though. I haven't seen drops. I wonder if someone pulled around to the backside of this house where it wasn't as obvious. Yeah. Just follow the dirt tracks. My grass is turbed. She only can't talk. Oh my goodness. Yeah. One of the things he said, he pulled this metal back, we need to find out, I mean, because you can see where there's a path right through here, and the grass is still thick. There's not, I was not going to meet any friends. This metal right here, we'll need to process probably how I would say. Here's another pink man right here, John. Yeah, it's a legit homicide, it looks like blood, all on that rock right there. Once all your guys get out here, I'm sure they'll want to go through this building and make sure that there's not something inside here either. On the ground, halfway inside the cellar lies Shantay's deceased and partially closed body, beaten so severely that she is almost unrecognizable. Beside her is a broken lawnmower blade stained with blood, its condition and placement leave investigators with little doubt that they're looking at the murder weapon, all of it, the secluded location, the sheer brutality of the attack, and the way Shantay's body is positioned, leave deputies wondering, just what kind of a deranged person could have done this. Following this, Shantay's body is taken away for autopsy while officers clear the abandoned house. Inside they find trash, empty alcohol bottles, and decay, but no blood or signs of a struggle. The next step for investigators is to speak with the remaining search volunteers, so they release the couple who found the body, instructing them not to tell anyone about the discovery to avoid alerting the killer, but that's easier said than done. Because for Brown County, discoveries like this carry a familiar weight, as the area has been no stranger to tragedy. In 1989, 13-year-old Amanda Goodman was abducted while walking home from school and murdered. Seven years later, in 1996, 30-year-old Juan Laurels was found shot death beside his burning car. Decades later, both cases remain unsolved, and even more recently, police recovered the remains of two missing residents in remote areas of Brown County, so while investigators hope to keep details of Shantay's murder from spreading, in a town this small, news travels extremely fast, and investigators are about to learn that the hard way. Because May, Texas is a deeply religious community, the search for Shantay has been organized through the local North Lake Community Church. To investigators head there, but by the time they arrive, the situation has already changed dramatically. A volunteer firefighter has just informed Shantay's family that her body has been found, putting deputies at a significant disadvantage. And as the deputy approaches the church, he's As met with uneasy stairs from the crowd, as he scans the room for any potential suspects. Okay. I'm just looking. Oh. I'm just making observations. Oh. Appreciate it. The crowd. You're not doing what, sir? Okay. That's fine. Come on. Hey, folks. Good. You have your attention. Just a minute. Folks. Folks. Hello. Ladies and gentlemen. If you're believe you have information that will assist in this investigation, I ask you don't discuss it with anybody else. I don't want to make sure your notes with anybody else's notes or anybody else's observations. That's important because I want your recollections to be your own. Thank you very much for your cooperation. Faster. Are you, sir? Okay. Don't know what, sir. While the community may not trust the deputy yet, they do trust Pastor Ron Keener. Having spent nearly five decades in ministry and years helping local charities, he knows this town inside and out, and having him on their side could prove invaluable to the investigation. As the deputy continues moving through the church, he notices people beginning to leave. With no legal authority to stop them, he urges Pastor Keener to help gather Shantay's family and those closest to her. But as detectives begin speaking with the people who knew Shantay best, one person quickly draws their attention. Her boyfriend, John Adams, and as they sit down with him, his behavior would be nothing like what you'd expect from a grieving boyfriend. My name's John Harper. I'm a vestibule. I'm going to get your shirt. I don't want to get trouble anymore. What was that mean? No, no, no, no, remember who you are, yes, no, remember who you are, how long have you been with her? Well, over three years. How did you know, how did you and her get along? We got along. Yeah. You know, we, there was times I had a lot, we'd argue, I mean, but she's not capable of handling things. She had no problems with me, like, I'm trying to talk, she has to have the feeling and stuff. And I was just trying to, sometimes I'd leave and sometimes I could just talk her out and be nice. And she'd come down and she just has, I mean, like, I didn't say it. She expressed herself different, I mean, like, just, sometimes it was like a wall, but she showed me love, you know what I mean? Despite just learning that Shantay has been found dead, John doesn't ask a single question about what happened to her that night, leaving detectives to wonder if he somehow already knows. At this stage, deputies are looking for anyone who may have had a reason to harm Shantay. And without hesitation, John would point investigators towards another man, someone who had just slept out of the church, the moment the deputy arrived. Anything else you can, has she had problems with anybody? Who's this guy? This guy is Colin. Guy, where? Colin. Yeah. What about Colin Smith? For me, we used to have problems because he used to choose to ride around with him and stuff. And he used to just do stupid stuff, I mean, like fire on drone, I'm like that and I don't like that. And I mean, like, I should hang around with stuff, but it's pretty much, I mean, he got into it one time. So, he came out to the house and she was drunk, uh, drunk there all of a sudden, I'm off of work. I mean, I'm like, what the hell? And me and her step that were out there straight now, and I never heard much of it. He pretty much turned his nose in a bit, and then I heard off my arms, he goes over the air. But it's just something I can't really do myself upset about and, I mean, but I'm not foolish over. As John's interview comes to an end, deputies still aren't sure what to make of him. Although he agreed to speak with him voluntarily and remains cooperative, detectives find his behavior oddly unconcerned. For now, John points investigators towards the only possible suspect he can think of. Colin Smith, a man deputies soon learn is no longer at the church. And as the church empties and the night comes to an end, detectives decide to wrap up the interviews and continue the investigation at first light. But when the community finally learns who the killer really is, they would be left speechless that someone they thought they could trust was capable of such evil. The next morning, just as deputies prepare to head back into town, they receive a major update from the forensic team. The initial autopsy results are in. Dante's cause of death is determined to be the long-forced trauma to the head and neck. Her injuries are consistent with the broken lawnmower blade found at the scene. She has no defensive wounds, while bruising on her arms suggests she had been dragged by the elbows, but investigators uncover something even more disturbing. Dante's body had been violated as she was dying, or even after her death. Male DNA is recovered, giving detectives their first concrete clue about the person they're looking for. And combined with the sheer brutality of the attack, investigators begin to suspect that this was not the killer's first time, and that other victims may still be hidden somewhere. At 10am, deputies make their way into town and split up, interviewing men throughout the area and collecting DNA samples in hopes of identifying the killer. In their dealing with a serial killer, they know they can't afford to waste time as anyone could be a potential suspect, but the terrifying part is that they have no idea which of those encounters will be the one with the killer. "I've been here about four years, and she walks up down the street every day, and I'm not sure about the source, because I was just assigned to come out, something that you had said that you get excited when you see her." "They might have been a comment and made me say that she's a good-looking girl, and that makes me a dirty old man, and I think that's what we're saying. I don't give a--if you're malign, you're going to look at a young lady and say, "Well, she's pretty." "Yeah, I hear you." "Somebody reported a dead body hanging in there, and they got on that gate, started to keep open with him. He told me, "She said, "How long ago was that?" "Oh, that's been a couple of years." "Oh, okay." "You've just seen her in way too, and you don't stop talking to her." "You don't stop talking to her in the past, she's a good-looking girl." "And there's boys that want to be with her, and John said that he was a poor kid, and she'd say, "Colour works with a poor kid, and you never know, hit him." After speaking with more than a dozen residents, detectives uncover a troubling reality. There is no shortage of men who knew Shantay, knew her routine, and may have had the opportunity to harm her, meaning there are still too many possibilities and no clear suspect. So in search of a breakthrough, the lead detective contacts Shantay's family and learns from her mother, Michelle, that the last person likely to have seen her before she disappeared was her closest friend, Caitlin. After getting Caitlin's address, detectives drive to her house unaware that the woman they're about to meet may hold the key to unraveling the entire case, because no one in this house knows Shantay better than she does, or the three-strange men who had recently entered her life. "Hey, Caitlin, we're just trying to get as much information on this as we can, but you just kind of tell me about Friday, what was she talking about?" "She was talking to you about a whole bunch of different stuff. One thing that really got me was, she told me, her and Colin got back together. Her and her boyfriend, John, talked about how they broke up because she didn't like it and then said that actually Colin told her to meet him in the shed behind his house that night." "Sorry." "It's okay. Take your time." "I remember this guy, he drove by us in Bronco, it's white and red. You know, when you see somebody, you think it's really creepy, you kind of get this. He was kind of creepy and he waved at her and she was like, "Yeah, that's so-and-so. He really tricks me out." Caitlin points to the three men who may have been involved in Shantae's disappearance. John, Colin, and a third man she can't remember, except for one detail, a red and white Ford Bronco. Once investigators locate the only matching vehicle registered in the area, the name comes back as Bobby Sosa. So with three potential suspects now at the forefront of the investigation, John, Colin and Bobby, deputies split up and head out to each of their homes. The first team makes their way to Bobby's property, and when officers arrive, they're immediately struck by something unusual, a strong odor coming from inside the trailer. "Just follow up on everything, I think, let me." I don't think you're being, you know, misleading with us or anything, but just for us to cover anything since the vehicle's in the area. Do you mind if we go in your trailer and just make sure everything's okay, and there's nobody in there? Yeah, you can take, there's nobody in here, but it's amazing. It's just more just to cover all of our bases. Sure, that's the only way. We'll probably. Any guns in there, anything like that? No, no weapon. No weapon. That's fine, all right. Tell him you moved out here, man. I like you saying that even more. Oh, yeah. It's a mess. That's fine, man. Should we have been in worse? I don't know. Not least you got a water around here, quick. Goodbye. We got plenty of those, man. Hortars. Oh, yeah. Yeah, freezer looks like it works good, man. That's a propane. Do what? It runs on propane. Yeah, as long as we're here real quick, you're a storage unit. Yeah, right here. Is that cool? Appreciate it, man. Yeah, you got it. You got a dog, be it? No. That smell? Yeah. Who's on the RV and he's done my things. Oh, done with that, eh? Yeah, I got to use that little thing there, because I might have guessed it. But we'll haul it to that place down the street. Oh, really? You got a dump in the map and haul it down there? I'm sorry. I'm sorry about this. No, I'm trying to get everything good. It looks pretty good, man. Despite the strong odor on the property, which Bobby claims is gasoline, officers fail to find anything that connects him to Shantay's murder. And while officers continue questioning Bobby, another team makes his way to Collins' house. At first, they're prepared to treat him like any other potential witness. But Collins' behavior and his refusal to cooperate would soon shoot him to the top of the suspect list. How you doing, sir? What's your name? Paul. You mind if I, you'll ride with me to the SO and that's all right? Yeah, and I'll bring. I've got to do it. Okay, you don't want to go with me? I mean, that's ridiculous that I'm even being looked at. She's got a boyfriend or husband going to Adams. She's like, in fact, she went to me and she'll just walk up and down. Did y'all have any type of physical relationship at all? Because some of the people we'd talk to is that y'all had a relationship at one time. So, never. What kind of relationship did she and the boyfriend have? They'd always pick her up and tell her to get her at home and be treated like a dog. And there's a lot of people that are kind of looking at him, I mean, it's. Yeah, well, he's. I mean, he's one of the people I need to end up in. Are you working anywhere right now? I do lawn mowing out here. Okay. According to Collins, he never had any kind of relationship with Shantay, but detectives are buying it. And when the conversation turns to his job, Colin reveals he works in lawn care, giving him access to the same type of weapon detectives believe was used to murder Shantay. But, seeing how defensive Colin is becoming, detectives decide to leave, asking him to come to the station the following day to provide a DNA sample and answer a few more questions. So now, with three key figures firmly on the investigator's radar, detectives back at the station begin taking a closer look at each of them and what they uncover is peculiar to say the least. John has prior burglary and assault charges and withheld critical details about his relationship with Shantay. Bobby has a previous assault charge against a woman and was known to spend time near the area where Shantay's body was found. And Colin, while having no known criminal history, has long been the subject of rumors about his violent temper. But this is when detectives realize that any one of these men could be Shantay's killer, but figuring out which one will prove far more difficult than they expected. As the day comes to an end, rumors begin spreading throughout the community and neighbors start keeping a watchful eye on one another. And with Shantay's funeral set for the following day, detectives will be doing the same, watching the crowd for a killer hiding in plain sight. The following morning, medical examiners released Shantay's body to her family for the funeral, but not before delivering one final unexpected update. Investigators have discovered unusual markings on Shantay's chest. Markings investigators cannot explain and believe may point to something ritualistic. To make matters even more unsettling, detectives realize Shantay had been murdered on Friday the 13th. A detail that only adds weight to this theory, but with no way of knowing whether the markings are significant or simply a coincidence, investigators file the possibility away as the community prepares to say it's final goodbye. Around 11am, nearly a hundred churchgoers begin gathering for Shantay's funeral. The church is so crowded that summer forced to wait outside, and among them, patiently waiting, is Shantay's killer. Inside, Pastor Keener leads the service as the family and friends pay their final respects. The ceremony lasts for hours, though a handful of attendees quietly slip away before it ends, including the man responsible for Shantay's death. A short time later, Shantay's coffin is carried to Pleasant Valley Cemetery where she's finally laid to rest, and despite all their best efforts, police fail to recognize the killer. With the funeral over, detectives turn their attention back to the investigation. They call all three key suspects and ask them to come to the station for questioning. Around 4pm, Bobby and John are first to arrive at the station, handing over their phones to be searched for potential evidence. And as detectives sit down with both men, it quickly becomes clear that they both have some explaining to do. The police are also in the hospital. Upon speaking with both men, detectives notice they appear more nervous than before. That said, they also know both have prior run-ins with law enforcement and could simply be wary of being wrongly targeted, but one detail stands out. So detectives release the men while instructing them to provide DNA samples. Shortly afterwards, Colin arrives at the station and this time, things would take a very different turn. Colin is though he may be their strongest suspect yet, investigators immediately ask him to take a polygraph test. And as they sit down with him, it doesn't take long before Colin admits he hasn't been entirely honest with them. What do you think it's gonna take to pass the test today? - To pass the test, I mean. - What do you think it's gonna take to pass the test? - Honestly. - Honestly, yeah, that's gonna be the one on the surface. - So, right, right, so, when she was with John, she always had A-spandages and John. Always looked like something was wrong with her. - Church was always telling me about him, putting her hands on her. - We all pretty shrewd back then. - Yeah, it's a couple of times a month. I told him no the other day just 'cause I was scared. - How far is that, how she died? Would all of you know about how she died for her? - This is the first story we got, all right? This is sickening, honestly. Sorry, it's a cousin of mine. - I don't really sit to thank all, how many people out there have been gossiping and making their own stories up, you know what I mean? - What do you think, the person that killed her is feeling right now? - I don't know. - I think they're feeling guilty about it. - Do you think that? - I think it's a boyfriend doing. - The only thing I can say is, maybe don't be the better, like if you're on a passion, you know. - Interestingly, Collin admits that he was, in fact, involved in an intimate relationship with Shantay, but he insists that he has been truthful about everything else. However, that claim would soon be put to the test when the polygraph examination begins. And before long, something would happen that would cause Collin to abruptly end the interview. - Okay, Collin, when we take this test, man, I'm starting to see some things in here that's a little bit concerning to me. You know, you got to be sure to be still when we take the test for a first off. Secondly, you got to be, keep everything the same. As far as when you're answering, there's a little bit of movement going on. Okay, so just, you know, everything you do, just be yourself, okay? There's all we're asking. Collin, what do you think the best question to ask you is gonna be today? - Did I kill the Shantay Blanketrape? - Whether it be through strangulation, whether it be through blunt force, whether it be through whatever, did you physically cause the death of Shantay is what I'm asking, okay? So your response is no. What have you not been honest with me? - I've been honest to you about everything. - Okay, so why's it shown that you're being assertive about this? - I guess because, I don't understand how it's, what's shown, it's showing what's shown. - You're not even showing any reactions to those questions where I'm telling you to lie, about it where I'm telling you. - 'Cause you're telling me to stay his phone that I can and look at the board, so I'm just saying yes and no. - Yes and no. - And you know what, the reactions that we're showing on this is, man, you're off the freaking charts. - I'm telling you, I didn't do anything wrong and I'm not, I like to leave. - And that's up to you, I can't force you to be here, but you know, you're the one that needs to clear this thing up. - I've been coming here to clear it. I gave DNA right off the bat, the very first one that's tested for DNA, and I came in here suddenly. - This is a bunch of crap, man. - Yeah, there's the door. - I did what I was supposed to do, I was 100% cooperative. - As Colin walks out of the room, detectives begin to believe they may have found their killer. Because while Colin had been adamant that he had nothing to do with Shantae's death, his polygraph results appear to tell a very different story. His elevated emotional responses reflected in changes to his breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and perspiration suggest he may not have been entirely truthful when answering questions about Shantae's death. That said, polygraph results aren't foolproof and aren't admissible in court as proof of guilt. DNA, however, is a very different story and with DNA samples now collected from John, Colin and Bobby, detectives believe the answer to who killed Shantae must lie with one of them. The samples are sent to the Tarant County Medical Examiner's laboratory in Fort Worth, more than a hundred miles away. And while detectives and the entire community wait for answers, the killer remains free to roam the streets. A month passes and the DNA results finally arrive. But when the DNA profile is entered to the National DNA Database, there are no matches, no match to John, Colin or Bobby and no matches to any known offenders in the area. Detectives are left with a troubling possibility. Perhaps their killer wasn't a local, but someone passing through town would already disappear for good. More than a year into the investigation, in October 2017, another investigator who had worked on Shantae's case, Carlisle Gover, would make an incredible discovery. While watching a true crime show, Gover learns about an emerging technology known as DNA phenotyping, a technique that had successfully solved another cold case by generating a snapshot prediction of what a person may look like using only their DNA. The next day, Gover rushes to tell the lead detective Scott Bird. Within hours, the $4,000 needed for the testing is secured and the DNA is submitted. And as the image slowly begins to take shape, suspects would be eliminated one by one until the true killer turns out to be someone no one ever expected. - Yeah, by the time that the linkage case came along, we had a couple of cases that had used the phenotyping information to help solve their cases. Given the investigative capabilities that they had at that time, which were not DNA, he managed to avoid leaving any clues that got him caught. But he did leave DNA. - This is Dr. Ellen Gray-Tank, Director of Bioinformatics at Parabon Nano Labs, a company behind the snapshot technology detectives used in the hunt for Shantay's killer. Within weeks of receiving the DNA evidence, Parabon's team analyzes the sample and generates a snapshot report predicting the unknown suspects physical appearance. And as soon as it lands on Scott Bird's desk, he immediately recognizes the man. 21-year-old Ryan Riggs. Years earlier, before entering law enforcement, Bird had taught Ryan in the fifth grade. When detectives dig deeper, they discover Ryan had been there the entire time. He was a long time family friend, attended Shantay's funeral, rode around with John calling out her name during search parties and even hugged her parents at the wake. Detectives now know it was all an act, a year's long act that Ryan managed to maintain perfectly. On November 9th, officers head straight to his address, but instead, they're met by Ryan's parents, who reveal that he is already fled. Within hours of the image being released, Ryan manages to slip away. And once again, police are back at square one until the following evening at a church service, when Ryan decides to do something completely unexpected. As I do for ever service, Scott, I stand in the parking lot greeting people. And there was Ryan standing there with his mother, Michelle. And he said, I'm going to turn myself in tonight. He said, I murdered her. And I said, at that point, I'm going to step out in the parking lot and call Sheriff Hill. We're going to take you to the law enforcement center. He said, yes, sir, I want to confess to them. To detective surprise, less than an hour ago, Ryan had unexpectedly shown up at a Wednesday night's service where he made a horrifying confession. He was responsible for murdering Shantay. Not only that, he had just walked into the sheriff's office alongside Pastor Keener, saying he wants to turn himself in. Baffled by the situation, detective spring Ryan into the interrogation room. And when they sit down with him, they let him speak. Trying to determine whether this young man in front of them is truly the dangerous killer they've been hunting for nearly two years. So this happened on Friday the 13th. Tell me about that day. How'd you start that day out? I don't remember how I started the day. It was just like an average day to me, up until I did what I did. I had stopped and asked her if she needed a ride. And she got in my truck. And then out of nowhere, I just put my left arm around her. I'm beginning to strangle her. I went back to my truck and got along more blade out of the back of my truck. And I went back to where she was and beat her to death with it to make sure that she was dead. I've always had this like this different part of me that it just wants nothing but destruction and evil. And whenever I saw her that day, it took over. So I knew what I was trying to get. It wanted to kill somebody. Ryan's description of what he did, Shantay, perfectly matches the details from the crime scene. Details that had never been made public to detectives. It leaves little doubt that he is. In fact, the killer. If you could say something right now to Shantay, what would you say? Then I'm sorry that I did what I did. And wherever I have come towards me, I deserve it. with the charges laid bare. Ryan Riggs ultimately pleads guilty to the capital murder of Shantay. When news of Ryan's arrest reaches Shantay's mother Michelle, she releases an emotional statement thanking the community for its support "Hey everyone. I don't know if everybody knows but we caught him. We got him to not. For a capital murder trial, God has blessed us with him and it breaks my heart because this man went to charge with her and he's just a kid himself. I wanted everyone to know that we appreciate everything you have done." In 2019, Ryan is ultimately sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But even with Ryan behind bars, the abandoned property where Shantay was found continues to haunt the town. The site became infamously known as the haunted house. People regularly jumped the fence to explore the property, reopening old wounds for Shantay's family. Eventually, in 2025, both the house and the storm shelter were demolished in an effort to finally bring peace to the community and allow it to move forward. And while this case left Texas shaken by a killer hiding in plain sight, our next case takes us to Florida where the warning signs were always there but no one could do anything to stop what was coming. Inside this family home, 21-year-old Dima Tower has just committed the most heinous crime imaginable against his own parents. Lying inside our two deceased bodies with over 100 stab wounds, but the man responsible is already on the run, leading officers on a dangerous multi-hour manhunt as Dima stops at nothing to escape the country. To watch this exclusive doctor and sanity episode, along with three more episodes from our new 2B series, click the link below and check it out now for free on 2B.