Michael Thomas

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With no seller fees, you keep every dollar you earn. Halloween. On the night Los Angeles celebrates its dark side. One man's revelry turns into a nightmare. This person wearing this costume and this hooded robe coming out of the rose bushes. I mean, you would have thought it came out of a scary movie, but this was real life. Did a passion for fringe interests lead to murder? He got into alien cultures, ancient cultures, ancient civilizations, and he had this business where he sold spirit animal first to adults. One of his favorite venues, it's a Gothic SNM club. Police eventually discover the truth is even more frightening than alien ancestors or SNM. Halloween did provide a great setting for the shooter in this case to disguise his appearance. All murders are bad, some are more heinous than others, and this was about as bad as it gets. You think you realize where the bottom of society is, and then you realize that whatever that bar was, was lower. It's a mystery that proves, on Halloween, some monsters are real. I'm like Dr. Frank is dumb. I'm sorry, but I am. In Los Angeles, Halloween is crazy. Most people are dressed in Halloween costumes. People are all in masks. West Hollywood is really the epicenter of parting on Halloween in Southern California. Hollywood's been a Halloween party night for decades. It's a fun time, but it's also a scary time. You have your ghosts, you have your goblins, you have your devils. No one's thinking that the ghosts or goblins, the person dressed up in those costumes, would ever think to actually commit a crime until it happens. November 1, 2012. It's the morning after another wild Halloween in LA. For one Angelino, the party is coming to an end. All morning, she's been trying to reach her friend and coworker, 42-year-old Eric Polterack. She had called him multiple times that morning, but he wasn't picking up. Just after 11 a.m., his worried coworker decides to head to Eric's residence in the Fairfax District. What happened there, ma'am? I just came to see my friend. I pulled him into his driveway. I go to his door, throwing the bell, and he's there laying on the floor in blood. Is anybody killed him? He's cold and bad. He's going in blood. When officers rush to the scene, they confirm her fears. The injury to Eric's head was very clearly a high-powered firearm. It was clear that where the injury was to the back of the head is not something that he could have survived. The body is exhibiting that it's been dead for some time. It did not occur recently. Probably 10 plus hours since he was assaulted. This is a brutal crime, even for seasoned L.A. cops, but the fact that it seems to have taken place on Halloween is even more concerning. Halloween could provide a great setting for the shooter, in this case, to disguise his appearance and to be able to get close to Eric's doorstep and Eric's home without much suspicion. Everyone spoke very, very well of him, and that he would really give them the shirt off his back. What happened? Who would go after Eric? Eric Polterack was born in Los Angeles in 1970. One of two sons raised by Henry and Delia Polterack. I was the older brother. He was the younger brother, and there were just the two of us. And Eric was maybe a little bit of the darling of the family. After high school, he started doing a number of different jobs. He was an entrepreneur. He was doing some unique sales. He was selling costume jewelry and he was selling clothing and fashion stuff, high-end stuff. He was also doing some financial planning and insurance sales. It was very successful with that. As Eric's business ventures grew, so did his circle of friends and business partners. We were our best friends. He was such a good listener. He was very bright. He was very accomplished. He worked hard. He was very accepting of everybody. He'd do people as they are. He kind of led an alternate lifestyle in a certain way. I mean, yes, he had the jewelry business, but he was also the executive in a very popular fashion business as well called role play fashion. Eric had this business where he sold spirit animal first to adults. In addition to outfitting the alternative community, he also catered to the crowd at clubs and EDM venues. There was a laundry business where they were selling laundry too. It was bras everywhere. I was surprised to find out one of his favorite venues to sell at was an old bar up in Hollywood, a Gothic SNM club. And he was a regular selling his wares, selling his jewelry, selling his lingerie stuff. That was fun for him because he was a people person. As Eric entered his 30s, his business ventures were going strong, and he was ready to settle down. Eric met a girl named Nikki through her mother. She introduced him to Nikki, her daughter, and eventually they got married. In 2003, Eric and Nikki had a daughter together. And as she grew up, Eric was a dedicated parent. Eric became a father, and he loved it. He doted over his daughter, and he was spending every minute he could with her. He wanted to teach her about all the stuff he knew about history. You know, he was excited to pass on his knowledge when she was ready. The bond between Eric and his daughter was strong. But in 2008, after six years of marriage, he realized he and his wife, Nikki, were on different paths. Nikki got very involved with Scientology, and was pushing Eric to also get involved with Scientology. Eric did not believe that, and that caused a big rift between them. And eventually they ended up separating. The divorce gave Eric a chance to start over. He moved into a nearby house he inherited from his grandmother, and stayed involved as his daughter grew up. They were amicable in the divorce as far as their daughter was concerned. They split custody. Eric had her very often, and they were always doing something together. They loved amusement parks. They loved star wars. They loved space, science, you name it. When he wasn't spending time with his daughter, Eric threw himself into his work and his friendships. Eric's house was always open. He was always having people over and coming and going. He was doing his business out of the house. He was selling his wares and preparing and doing photo shoots and whatever. Everybody always liked to hang out there. They just loved going over there. But on November 1st, 2012, Eric's coworker has discovered him murdered on his doorstep. Officers check the surrounding area to make sure there are no other victims. When the police looked inside Eric's house, they did not find anything to suggest any kind of crime or anything happened inside the house. After clearing the scene, homicide detectives respond. When we arrived, I met with the police officers that were at the scene who told us what they knew at that point. The victim was wearing a costume at the time, a Halloween-type costume. It was kind of like a 1920s gangster kind of thing. So we didn't know if he had just got home from partying. We didn't know if it was a random act of violence. He had a shotgun blast to the back of the head and he had a graze wound to his face. It was clear that there were two shots fired. To an experienced investigator, it would look as if it was at close range because there were other indicators like suit and stippling. There were no casings left behind. There were no items taken from his person. If it's not a robbery, then clearly the only crime that was sought to be committed that day was to murder Eric. Why would they want to murder him in this way, at this location, on this day? It happened really quickly. We were just trying to figure out what happened. We never heard a soul. There were some in-answer questions. I just wanted to know who did it, who would do such a thing. Coming up, investigators discover this isn't the first time Eric's been attacked. And they zero in on a real life monster. It was as if he feared nothing and nobody. From the cradle to the grave, help. The morning after Halloween 2012, Los Angeles detectives are piecing together what happened before 42-year-old Eric Polterack was gunned down in front of his home. Responding to a crime scene like that, and root, you're trying to think of any knowledge of the neighborhood that had a previous problem. Is there a crime problem going on there, is there a gang problem, is there a violent crime, assault problem in that area? If the crime occurred the night before, when the streets were filled with revelers, detectives hope to find someone who witnessed the horror. Eric did have a nice network of neighbors that he knew, but where he was positioned in the house, unless you came up to his door, you would not see him. But some neighbors told them that they did hear something that could have been gunshots, but I mean, keep in mind, it's Halloween. This could have been anything, so no one thought enough to cop police. Officers do spot an important detail. There were surveillance cameras set up, and one was pointed directly in the area where Eric Polterack was shot and later located. When we saw the cameras, we were hopeful that we were going to get footage of the actual crime. But you don't know if they're being recorded, if they're dummy cameras, you don't know what the value is going to be. It didn't cause him enough fear to have him go then install cameras to different parts of the house. As police continue their investigation, they learn they have a difficult notification to make to one of their own. At the time I was working for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a deputy sheriff. We were doing some training for the homicide bureau, and we did our training. We finished it up. We wrapped up, and my sergeant got a phone call, and he says, "I have some bad news. Your brother was killed." His belief went through my mind because I hadn't put it together yet. I definitely disassociated a little bit, and went into that unemotional cop mode where just get the facts, take a motion out of it, get the job done. I met with the LA Police Department detectives, and they started filling me in on the story of what happened. They take me into the house and they show me the scene and the patio, and then it starts to sink in because the house was very quiet in a weird kind of way. The house felt very empty. That's where it happened, that's where he was killed. To find out if their victim had enemies, detectives talked to Eric's co-worker and his brother. We talked to the 911 caller that called in what they had discovered, debriefed them the best we could. She was very upset about her friend and business partner, but in control, I'm able to really share the information that she had about what may have happened to him. While some of Eric's entrepreneurial endeavors were a little unconventional, his personal beliefs were even more unique. He was heavily interested in the exploration of humanity and the origins of humanity. Eric was a devotee of Zechariah's Sitchin, an author who argued humans were descended from extraterrestrials. Zechariah was his mentor and kind of his teacher in a lot of these ancient cultures, ancient civilizations, and Eric also became his webmaster in sort of managing his knowledge portfolio. Eric would travel to Mexico, you could tempt an insula, study the Mayans, and even more ancient cultures he traveled to Egypt several times. I thought it was a little far-fetched, but when Eric would bring up different bits and pieces of evidence, he was very passionate about it and very emotional about it and very convincing. It was fun. The theory was kind of weird, but he was really into it. He was doing all the research with professors at Zechariah. They were learning about Sumerians. I made them happy. Their own investigation like the one that happened here would look at those things and then look at everything they can about Eric, but they looked at who the victim was and they investigated his background and there was nothing there to suggest that he had any enemies. But Barry tells investigators Eric did have enemies. Just not from his businesses or his beliefs, Barry thinks the shooting is related to a scary experience Eric had the year before. I knew that he had a home invasion robbery, but he was very hush hush about it. In fall of 2011, Eric was at his home and he got a knock on his door and there were two men outside, one African American male and another white male. They said they had a document from court that they needed to serve Eric with. So he said the guys got some papers to serve whatever and he let them in. Once the two suspects entered Eric's apartment, the African American suspect produced a firearm pointed it at Eric and told them where's all the money. Give us all the money and when Eric said there is no money, the African American suspect hit Eric on the head with the firearm. Eric was pistol whipped, tied up and then the house was ransacked and robbed. The assailants fled with the computer, two phones, a camera and $600 in cash. Once Eric realized that the suspects had left, he was able to loosen himself from the electrical cord and he was able to call 911. to break into my house and assault on me. - You know who this person is? I think we're about to talk. - There was two people. No, I did not know who they are. I reckon we'd recognize you in the police bottle. - Responding officers realized Eric's attackers left a crucial piece of evidence behind. - The police arrived. They confiscated the supposed court document and they took that into evidence. Our lab personnel were able to get fingerprints from that paperwork. They were lifted by technicians from our LAPD lab. Those fingerprints, cards were entered into the fingerprint database and we got to hit. (upbeat music) - Detectives investigating the Halloween murder of Eric Polterack learn about a previous home invasion and analyze the evidence to determine if it could be related to his murder a year later. - Two suspects in that case. One of them left fingerprints behind on some documents. The list came back to a Michael Thomas. He was a crook, the bad guy, with a rap sheet. - Michael Thomas is familiar with the criminal justice system. He was on felony probation at the time that the home invasion robbery had occurred. He's had prior convictions. He's had cases of evading police. He's had drug possession convictions. - After his fingerprints matched those false documents, they showed Eric Polterack a lineup of men and Eric was easily able to identify Michael Thomas. - And my understanding is that they had targeted him thinking that this jewelry, this costume jewelry was real and that someone had targeted him from his online store. - But law enforcement was unable to identify this other suspect who did the home invasion. - Thomas was arrested and charged with robbery on August 30th, 2012. Almost exactly one year after the home invasion. Eric agreed to testify in court. - I was 100% against him, testify. - I said, it's a robbery door, don't get involved. - Forget it, another he lived, what are you doing? - He was very paranoid about being robbed again. On the Sunday before he died, Eric was talking to me about testifying an open court and with the defendant know who was testifying against him where he lived and if he was entitled to witness protection and all of that. - The pretrial hearing was scheduled to take place after Halloween on December 2nd. But Eric was murdered before could happen. - Barry tells investigators the experience convinced his brother to up his home security. - He was also afraid that they would come back again and do another home invasion because now they know what he's got. - That afternoon, investigators finally get access to the password protected security system. - So when we found the hard drive for the security system and got into it, the footage we pulled up occurred just after about two in the morning. - As investigators watch, a nightmare scenario unfolds. The video that police witnessed, I mean, you would have thought it came out of a scary movie, but this was real life. - I knew he was out in West Hollywood at the Halloween carnival with a couple of his friends. They'd come back to the house, set their goodbyes, so Eric had walked his girlfriends out to their car, got them safely into their cars at good night and he was coming back into his house. - And once he gets to the front door, at that same time, the shooter comes up. - This person wearing this costume and this hooded robe coming out of the rose bushes, they fired twice. - And you could see the blast, but you just couldn't see the impact. But what police could see was Eric feeling that impact and falling to the ground. - All murders are bad, some are more heinous than others, and this was about as bad as it gets. - Knowing that Eric Colterock was supposed to be the key witness in this pre-trial hearing from Michael Thomas, police now have a suspect, right? Because that would have been the motive to get rid of him. - However, there are two major problems with the theory. For one, Michael Thomas does not seem to fit the description of the very large man who killed Eric, and he's in no position to shoot anyone. - Michael Thomas was in custody at the time that the murder was committed, so he was not the shooter. - Even if Michael wasn't the shooter, his behavior proves that he is still dangerous, even behind bars. - When it came to Michael Thomas, it was as if he feared nothing and nobody. I mean, he would threaten police officers, and while he was in jail, he stabbed someone with a shank. - At the L.A. County Jail, inmates can use a payphone and all of those phone calls are recorded, in this particular investigation, we worked with the Sheriff's Department to pull all phone calls related to Michael Thomas. - Detectives sift through hundreds of recorded calls, and find one that's very suspicious. - Is anybody ready to put in some work? - Whoa, whoa, whoa. - Well, if there's not not out there, there's nobody here. Somebody killed has got the fight just case for me on the street. They got a message out, this **** got disappeared. - They were communicating in code, trying to leave out key words and phrases. The motive behind this crime could be to prevent a witness, the victim, in this case, Eric, from appearing in court and testifying against Michael Thomas. - The person doesn't come, then, you know, the person's not there, then it goes away, or test, all the way out. This is all the way up on the clear. - Detectives use visitor logs to determine the man on the recording is Alan Williams, Michael's friend and the man dating Michael's niece, Jessica. On another suspicious recording, five days before Eric's murder, Thomas seems to coach his girlfriend, Ivan Keith, on what to say if police show up asking questions. - Do you have a right to remain silent? - Well, right to remain silent? - No, no. - From the cradle to the grave. - Yep. - Got it. - And that's an idiot all circumstance. - And on the morning after Halloween, there is a final call that is chillingly celebratory. - Coming up, a mastermind reveals the true source of his power. - Well, I always remember, first motherfucking, the first ever. - Recorded prison phone calls have given detectives reason to believe inmate Michael Thomas, orchestrated the Halloween murder of Eric Polterack from behind bars. Those same calls also reveal an upcoming visit from his possible co-conspirators. - The three individuals that came to visit Michael Thomas were identified as Ivan Keith, Jessica Thomas, and Alan Williams. Ivan Keith was Michael Thomas' girlfriend. Jessica Thomas was Michael Thomas' niece that Michael Thomas let live with him. Alan Williams was the boyfriend of Jessica Thomas. - When they arrive, three days after the killing, police are listening in. From the image on Eric's security cameras, [BLANK_AUDIO] Investigators know his killer was a giant of a man. And Thomas' first visitor fits the description. Alan Williams, a 300-pound man, nicknamed The Beast. They start talking, and the conversation begins like Michael Thomas asking him, you good? You all right? [INAUDIBLE] But I always remember, first mother [BLEEP] and the first ever. Throughout the conversation, they're both laughing. It was a very kind of cold and callous response to what had occurred. Michael's conversation with his niece, Jessica Thomas, is equally damning. How you feel? Good. But you're up close to birth, don't you confirm it? Really? You did? Michael Thomas kind of adopted her as his daughter and would refer to her as such. He said, well, now this is done. You know, we'll go to Vegas for your birthday. Michael's final visitor is his girlfriend, Ivan Keith. I knew what I had in my head. Everybody that I had, so he ought to know what I'm doing with it. I know. He was well. And I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like me. I'm like Dr. Fringer's dog. Really? I'm sorry, but I am. I'm like, Dr. Fringer's dog, you know what I mean? But detectives are just as interested in the moments where no one is talking. As they're speaking, there are different pauses. You can hear silences throughout. And it's at that time that we suspect he was putting up written notes on the glass partition that could be read, and that way he didn't have to save them. Very conscientious, sheriff's deputies monitored visitation. They saw where they ripped up and threw away some documents in the trash when his visitors left. The deputies recovered those documents. One note written by Ivan informed Michael that Eric's murder was on the news. Another is written by Michael Thomas himself. If anyone asks you questions, say that you're not talking without a lawyer, and that you were on that day playing zombies, which is a video game all night. The day after their visit, investigators arrest all three of Michael's accomplices. A search of the home they shared with Michael reveals a visitor's pass dated two weeks before Halloween, and a notebook containing the instructions Michael dictated over the phone. It included writing related to double-ought book, which is the size of the buckshot that was ultimately used to murder Eric Ultrak. It doesn't take long for police to get Thomas's henchman to do the one thing he warned them not to do. Talk. Tactically, we interviewed Michael's niece, Jessica first, always trying to interview the weakest link first to obtain the most information we can. She essentially broke and laid out all the circumstances of what occurred with Eric being killed. She laid out herself as being a lookout while they were at the location. She had described that Alan was the person who shot Eric and killed him. And essentially spelled everything out to us of what happened to Eric. They mentioned the fact that Halloween is a busy night in Los Angeles on the west side. They would fit in if they were wearing masks and disguises. And that was a perfect night to have a mask or a disguise. She told police that Michael had them case the house. She told them how they got the shotgun and how they threw it in the ocean after the crime. Alan later confirms the story when he confides in a jailhouse informant. First, he told them that he was arrested because he had conducted a hit for the homey, Michael. Alan Williams went on to say that the shooting happened on Halloween, the general location of where the shooting was, the fact that they ditched the gun at the beach, and that the reason for the murder was because the witness Eric Poltrak was born to testify against Michael Thomas. After the arrest, Jessica and Ivonne Keith were put in a cell together, and that cell was recorded so they could capture their conversation. In that recording, you can hear Jessica repeatedly getting emotional. Listening to Thomas's conspirators, it's clear that Thomas had a hold over them. Mom, we are out. And I'll just give it a real. I feel like she was manipulated into something that is not her character. I was thinking, my niece is not in jail for nothing serious, because she's not capable of really doing too much. From my perspective, Michael Thomas is an evil human being that took advantage of individuals that he knew he could manipulate. Coming up, a chilling courtroom reenactment. Till this day like when I come to my door, I still think about it. And Dr. Frankenstein is betrayed by one of his own creations. She was a respectful person, and her uncle manipulated her. Less than a week after Eric Polterack was killed at his Los Angeles home, prosecutors charge Michael Thomas and three others for conspiring in a fiendish Halloween murder plot. Eric's final moments were clearly moments of fear. To have it happen in front of his own house, probably was, I'm sure, more terrifying, because that's your safe place. [MUSIC PLAYING] And if you're not safe in your safe place, then where are you safe? It takes nearly two years for the case to make it to court. The alleged gunman, Alan Williams, and Thomas' girlfriend, Ivan Keith, plead not guilty and are the first to stand trial in September 2015. Alan Williams, in my eyes, would be the second most copable person, because he's a shooter. Right before you squeeze that trigger, you have to really think about what you're doing, and if it's the right decision. You need to be determined to do it, and he was. Ivan Keith is a very close third, because none of this would not happen without her. She organized everything. She planned-- she helped carry out exactly what Michael Thomas told her to do. In October 2015, the jury finds them both guilty. Ivan Keith was convicted of murder, and that sentence gave Ivan Keith life without the possibility of parole. The same was found true for Alan Williams. Almost a year later, in August 2016, Michael Thomas' trial begins. As the alleged mastermind, he faces the death penalty. My viewpoint is that Michael Thomas is the worst, and the worst. of the worst. You think you realize where the bottom of society is and then you see the Michael Thomas' of the world and you realize that whatever that bar was was lower. He never showed any kind of remorse. The prosecution's star witness is the last of the conspirators, 24-year-old Jessica Thomas. Jessica said that she wanted to help Michael because she thought that doing that was the right thing. Jessica was offered a leniency agreement where she essentially pled to a second degree murder. So that sentence gave Jessica life with the possibility of parole. After her mother passed away, she moved to Los Angeles. It was pretty sad when she moved away because it was like that side of the family was almost gone. She was a respectful person and her uncle manipulated her to doing a crime. He was the one to put up such young people to such things. To emphasize the terrifying nature of the crime, prosecutors show jurors' footage from Eric's security camera. Till this day like when I come to my door, I still think about it because he was trying to open his door and I think, oh, frightened, he must have been. It was like a bad nightmare. The evidence showed that Michael Thomas was involved in every detail related to this murder, including when it was to happen, the type of costumes to buy, what type of firearms to use, what type of ammunition to use, what to say to the police after the murder was committed. Michael Thomas was the architect of every part of it. On September 8, 2016, the jury finds Thomas guilty. Michael Thomas was found by a jury that his appropriate sentence was the death penalty. While Eric's killers were brought to justice, his loved ones still struggle with the loss. I think about all the time and his daughter and his ex-wife and it's kind of sad that you know, he's missing his daughter growing up and going to high school and graduating and college and the whole thing. I felt like something was stolen for me. I still do. What was once a fun holiday, Halloween will never be the same for Eric's community. Every Halloween I look around and I see kids and costumes and parents and think, on this day back in 2012, this happened to Eric Poltrag. You can't not remember it. I'll really celebrate Halloween anymore and I'll decorate my house. It's hard. It takes a lot of fun out of it, you know. Halloween is definitely a reminder of Eric and fun times that he had with all of his friends even up to the last night he was alive. He said goodbye and that was it. Susan is serving her sentence at the California Institution for Women. In 2019, Susan was denied parole and will not be eligible for parole again until 2029. Abuse is never okay. If you are someone you love is in an abusive relationship there is help available, called the domestic My life's hotline at 1-800-799-SEAF.