EP. 131 INDIANA - She Probably Smiled At Her Kidnapper - The Kidnapping & Death Of 19 Year Old Disabled Girl Aleah Beckerle
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Warning. The following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

There are certain people in our society that we innately wanna protect, like children, the elderly, people who are pregnant or sick, or like in our case for today, people with disabilities. I remember hearing this story back in 2018 and it stuck with me throughout the years. It's about a 19-year-old girl from Evansville, Indiana named Alia Beckerley.

Throughout Aliyah's short time on Earth, she was wheelchair-bound, non-verbal, and she suffered from seizures. But even though her mental function was at the level of a six-month-old infant, Aliyah changed so many lives. According to her family, she was always smiling and laughing, and she loved everyone.

Because of Aaliyah's disability, she didn't know that there was evil in the world. She trusted everyone that she came into contact with. And sadly, someone would take advantage of that. In the early morning hours of July 17th, 2016, someone would walk up to Aaliyah's bedroom window and kidnap her from her bed, leaving behind her wheelchair and seizure medication.

And for the next eight months, no one knew where Aaliyah was or what happened to her. That is until March of 2017, when her body was discovered in an abandoned home

Alia Beckerlee was so decomposed, they weren't able to determine a cause of death. But soon enough, there was evidence that she had been sexually assaulted. And this case is frustrating to say the least because Alia's kidnapper is currently in jail, but he wasn't convicted of her murder and his punishment for kidnapping and raping a disabled girl, all of which led to her death

was a mere 17 years in prison. So we are going to walk you through the tragic story of Aaliyah Beckerley. Major trigger warnings for this episode. But I'm Courtney Browen. And I'm Colin Browen. And you're listening to Murder in America. ♪♪

On July 17th, 2016, it was a still and quiet morning in the city of Evansville, Indiana. But unbeknownst to everyone, all hell was about to break loose after a heartbreaking discovery at 403 East Iowa Street. Inside of that home, Kara Beckerly woke up shortly before 9 a.m. And like every morning, she immediately went to her daughter's bedroom.

Although Alia Beckerlee was 19 years old, she was completely dependent on her mother because of her physical and mental disabilities. So, every morning for the past 19 years, Kara would wake up, get Alia out of bed, give her her medication, and tend to all of her needs. However, on this morning, when she walked into Alia's bedroom, there was no sign of her daughter. Her bed was empty.

Now, most people in this situation would start looking all around the house. Some parents would even call around to friends and family, thinking maybe their 19-year-old snuck out in the middle of the night. But that was an impossible scenario here. Aliyah couldn't get out of bed on her own. She couldn't even walk on her own.

And there, sitting next to her bed, was her wheelchair, which could mean only one thing: someone had taken her. From here, chaos would erupt throughout the home, and soon enough, the Evansville Police Department would receive a 911 call from Kara's youngest daughter. 911? My sister's missing. Okay, where are you? 403 Shiloh. Okay, calm down, I'm having trouble hearing you. 403 Shiloh?

403 East Iowa. East Iowa. How long has she been gone? We just woke up and she's gone. How old is she? 19, but she's disabled. Okay. What's her name? Aaliyah Darling-Beckerly. Aaliyah Beckerly? Yeah. Do you have any idea how long she's been gone? No. Is her challenge, is it mental or physical? Um...

No, but I think she can't walk the house or anything. As you can hear, the little girl on the phone is young, and clearly every disappearance has to be taken very seriously. But given Aaliyah's disability, the dispatcher is quickly realizing that the situation at hand is dire, so she asks the little girl to hand the phone to her mom.

Okay, calm down just a little bit. I understand. There's nothing we can do. Calm down. Calm down. I cannot help you while you're screaming. Okay? Your daughter's told me that she's mentally challenged. I want to know exactly how long it was that somebody didn't see her. When's the last time you saw her? Last night when we put her to bed. What time?

around like nine o'clock they weren't sleeping in the same room okay okay is she white black or hispanic girl is she white black or hispanic she's my race are black and white i'm gonna throw up just

Just try to calm down, okay? I can't get my bag with no... Ma'am. It's with my daughter. Ma'am, I'm trying to get everybody over there to help you. Now you need to calm down a little bit, okay? Okay. I know you're scared. This would scare anybody. But you got to try to calm down and let me help you. How tall is Aaliyah? Probably 14. How much does she weigh? Like 100.

What color is your hair? Brown and short.

Like a boy. What was she wearing last night when you put her to bed? Just a t-shirt. That's a dance theater, black. Black t-shirt? Yeah, it's a dance theater. Has she ever taken off before or is she able to do that? She can't walk. Okay. She can't walk and I took her. Calm down. Who do you think did this? I have to find out the lesson. I don't know.

Nobody in her dad's side of the family is around. I have as far as I can go to do this. The only people in her family is my side of the family. Okay, so the window opened. You said it came through the window? The bathroom window was open in the back door. And then locked the back door and the gates wide open in the back and killed her.

Now, Kara is making it very clear to the dispatcher that her daughter could not have left on her own. The only way Aaliyah could get around was with her wheelchair, which was still sitting next to her bed, which only meant one thing. Someone had taken her.

Now from here, Kara is going through a mental checklist of questions. The first is who? Who could have done this to her daughter?

The next question Kara asks herself is how? How did they take her?

As Kara is walking through the home, she seems pretty confident that someone came through the window. And the next question Kara asks is why.

Why would someone come to her home and abduct her disabled daughter? This question was the hardest because only the worst possible reasons came to mind. To Kara, the only reason someone would do this is so that they could sexually assault her.

Don't think of things like that, okay? Honey, calm down, please. Don't let things like that... Honey, I know... Honey, I know that, but don't think of the worst, okay?

Don't think of somebody hurting her. I don't know why they would do it, but you need to try to calm down and not think the worst, okay? I know you're scared. You've got to be scared. Don't think of those things, okay?

You got two other kiddos there that are worried about you. You got to take care of them right now. The officer's on the way. They're going to come and talk to you, okay? Honey, don't think that way. I know you are. You would have to be.

You've got to calm down. I want her back home. Honey. Why don't you take her from me? We're going to work on that. I just had three surgeries two weeks ago. Okay. My daughter's gone. What's your name? I'm Kara Beckerley. Okay, Kara. Try to calm down just a little bit, okay? I'm trying to get everybody okay with you. Kara. Kara. Kara.

I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I

And the officer's going to come in and help you, but you try to calm down, okay? Take some deep breaths. I know. Calm down a little bit. Okay.

Despite the dispatcher's attempts to calm Kara down, she just can't shake the feeling that someone was out there sexually assaulting her daughter.

You don't know that anybody's doing anything like that to her and to think that is awful. I don't know, but you can't think that way. You cannot do it. I know. I know you told me that. Okay? They should be there any time. It's been less than five minutes. You are just so worked up. You're not paying attention how long it's been.

When officers arrived at the home, Kara was inconsolable. She kept talking about how this had to have been a bad dream, but it wasn't. This was her new reality. Aliyah Beckerlee was gone, kidnapped from her own bed in the middle of the night.

As officers processed the scene, everyone knew that this situation was bad. Not only was Alia missing, but her seizure medication that she needed to survive was sitting on the nightstand next to her bed. And if Alia was going to survive, they would need to find her quickly. Sadly, that wouldn't be the case here. Days would pass and there was still no sign of 19-year-old Alia Beckerlee.

and the entire community of Evansville, Indiana was heartbroken over her disappearance. Right now, Evansville Police need your help to find a special needs adult who authorities believe may have been abducted. This is 19-year-old Aliyah Beckerly.

She was last seen early yesterday morning at her home on East Iowa Street. She's handicapped and is totally dependent upon family care. She's in a wheelchair and cannot walk or speak. She also requires medications and suffers from severe seizures. If you have any information on where she might be, call police.

Alia Darlene Beckerle was born on January 16th, 1997 in Evansville, Indiana. And although there isn't a lot of information out there about her childhood and upbringing, we do know that Alia had a rough start to life. Shortly after her birth, she suffered from a meningitis-induced stroke, which would leave her with lifelong physical and mental disabilities.

She was never able to walk, so she used a wheelchair. She was also non-verbal and very prone to seizures. At the time of her disappearance, she had the mental function of a six-month-old, so she couldn't form sentences, but she could communicate. Her mother, Kara, admitted that she depends on total care. She knows her name and she interacts with you. She can say, "Mom, up," meaning she wants to get up, and she can say, "Baba," meaning she wants her drink. She also loves making song-type noises and shouts when she's excited and cries when she's hurt.

We know exactly what she wants from us. We know when she's happy and when she's irritated. She has the cutest personality in the whole world."

And despite everything life threw at her, Aaliyah was the happiest girl in the world. She was always seen smiling and laughing, and anytime someone had the pleasure of being around her, they couldn't help but smile too. At the time of her disappearance, she attended Harrison High School, and she absolutely loved riding the school bus. She also loved musical toys, going out with her family, and riding roller coasters and other amusement park rides at Disney World and the Westside Nut Club Fall Festival.

Evansville, Indiana. Many people close to Aliyah called her by her nickname, which was "Lady." And according to everyone, Aliyah was a literal angel sent from heaven. Her mother would say, "She's an angel. She's perfect. She'd made me feel better to live because she was so… I felt like she was from heaven. I mean, really, from heaven." And the fact that Aliyah was so pure, so innocent, it made her disappearance that much more heartbreaking.

There was also growing concern around Evansville. When a week had passed with no sign of her, Aliyah's seizure medication was crucial to her survival, and everyone knew that time was of the essence. So the entire community came together. Flyers were posted around town. News stations everywhere were covering her disappearance.

Search parties gathered to help find her, and a $1,000 reward was offered in exchange for information in her disappearance. It's a pure nightmare. Total disbelief that this has happened to us, to Aaliyah. A family in shock and disbelief over the possible abduction of 19-year-old Aaliyah Beverly. She's lovable, kind. She didn't think wrong of anyone.

Family, friends and strangers are now holding search parties in hopes of finding Aaliyah. Search groups were assigned to different locations around Evansville to pass out flyers and look for her. So I don't even imagine, you know, what was going on through this family's head right now. But I'm here to support them, do whatever I can to help them.

make it work for family members. Seeing so many people from the community come out to fight for Leah's return home brought them to tears. It's inspiring and hopeful. It makes me have faith in our community even more. You know, it makes me believe there's good family believes someone came here to their home on the 400 block of Iowa Street and took a Leah out of her bed without anything she needs to survive. Whoever took her didn't take her to make sure she was OK. You know,

They took her out of pure evilness. Aliyah suffers from cerebral palsy and her mental functioning is equivalent to a six-month-old. And without medication, she won't survive. The family is pleading that whomever took her return her home. Please just bring her home. Bring her home.

Bring her home. You don't have to bring her home. Just drop her where she'll be found. Just drop her somewhere and she'll be found. The family will hold another search party Wednesday beginning at 10 a.m. in the parking lot at Garvin and Iowa Streets. Chelsea Kerpler, 44 News. Now, as for the crime scene where the abduction occurred, there really weren't many clues as to what happened.

Living at the house at the time were Kara, Aaliyah, and Aaliyah's two teenage half-sisters, and according to her family, no one heard anything on the night Aaliyah was abducted.

One of the lead investigators on the case was Evansville Police Detective Brent Melton, who stated: "Present in the home on the night of the abduction was her mother and two teenage sisters. They're reporting that during the night someone came into the home and abducted her, and that's where we're at." Now, investigators noted that there were no signs of forced entry, but according to the family, they had left the doors unlocked that night. They also didn't find any unknown fingerprints or anything that pointed to someone in particular.

Now, this case was puzzling to even the most seasoned detectives, so the Evansville Police Department enlisted the help of the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They had all hands on deck trying to find Aaliyah Beckerley, but even then, no one knew where she was or who could have taken her. As for Kara's beliefs on what happened to her daughter, she said, "I only share that with the FBI and detectives. I get a lot of negativity because of that, but I cannot discuss this case like a soap opera."

Now, soon enough, an anonymous tip would come in regarding a burned out house in Evansville.

The tipster suggested that Aaliyah's body could have possibly been inside. So everyone held their breaths as police searched the home for the missing teen.

Evansville police still desperately trying to find a missing Evansville teenager who they say is in serious danger. Tonight, their search led them to a burned out house. Good evening, I'm Randy Moore. And I'm Jackie Monroe. 19-year-old Aaliyah Beckerley has not been seen since Saturday night. But investigators and loved ones are not giving up. Jessica Schmidt is live on North 2nd Avenue where crews combed a home today.

Well, it is this house right here behind me in the 1,000 block of North 2nd Avenue that was at the center of tonight's search. I'm told Evansville police, along with Evansville fire officials and Ohio Valley search and rescue canine teams were all here tonight looking for Aaliyah Beckerley.

They did not find her. Police say they did get an anonymous tip indicating that this abandoned house could be connected to Aaliyah's disappearance. Fire crews were at this home only days ago. It caught fire early Monday morning. Aaliyah's grandmother says the family actually showed up to the fire, worried the teenager could have been put inside. That's because they say they suspect someone took Aaliyah.

Investigators believe Aaliyah is in a dangerous situation because she relies on family care and medication to survive. We spoke exclusively with Aaliyah's mother earlier today while family and friends continue to search. Nobody could be so sick and take her and just abandon her just because of

A feeling that they're feeling towards whoever. I don't understand it. I don't have answers. I don't even know why someone would ever do something like this to a child, period, a child with special needs. That depends on you 100% to love you, not hurt you.

Police say Aaliyah was last seen at her home on Iowa Street Saturday night. Now, Aaliyah's grandmother did tell us tonight that police told her the FBI is going to be joining in on this investigation. Now, as far as the fire at this house here behind me, investigators have not been able to determine a cause. Of course, if you know anything about Aaliyah's whereabouts, you're asked to call police and report it.

Now even though nothing would be found inside of this abandoned house, it was an eerie foreshadowing on what was to come. But in the meantime, every single available agency was still looking for Aaliyah, and her family was doing everything in their power to spread the word about her disappearance.

On August 4th, 2017, her mother, Kara, even invited a news crew led by Paige Hagan to come to her house to discuss the case. Let's just get it over with. I don't want to sit here no longer. I have to. Okay. Tell us how you're feeling right now. Let's start off with that. Right now? Yeah. Okay.

I don't know. I don't know what I'm feeling. I feel sad all the time. I'm depressed, sad. Then I get excited when I think there's a possibility she's coming home. The excitement goes like 100% plus. And then when my hopes get down, I go to negative 100 plus. So that's a roller coaster. I'm up and down.

Are you awake at night, lying awake at night, restless? I mean, what's going through your head right now? Yeah, nighttime's the worst. I think about her the most because it's another day gone that we lost, you know, without her. And I just wonder where she is. Is she sleeping? Is she got a cover? You know, is she being taken care of? I know she's not being taken care of like I do, but, you know, where is she? That's all I think all night long. What are the latest search efforts? This coming up weekend,

9 o'clock? Yeah, 9 o'clock. 9 o'clock in the morning. Is it 18 or 16? It's going to be 18 years and older. 18 and older from 9 a.m. to desk. What do you ask of the people listening? To come out and please help find my daughter. It's been too long, and it's definitely time for her to come home. I can't help to, I can't change me 100%. It's just part of me, see? It's part of me. My nerves are wrecked right now. I can't even take it.

But I'm doing it because I love my daughter and I want her home. So you guys are just going to have to delete a whole bunch of this. But I mean, I love her. She's going to be here. My hopes will never go that she's dead. Never. I know she's alive and she's coming home. And I got to keep that in mind. Is there anything that's coming to mind? I mean, how long has it been? Almost three weeks. Sunday will be three weeks.

I thought Henderson, Kentucky, and I still feel Kentucky, but I'm not sure anymore. I thought I just would she be home already by now, and she's not. All kinds of directions, and we think of all these different possibilities, and then we...

report them and then we get feedback and then we still don't hear anything. So it's like she said, a roller coaster ride. But there is, we have them and we have them all day long.

From here, a member of the Jody Powers search and rescue team asked Kara to speak into the camera and ask the media to help her find her daughter. But Kara asks her cousin, Donna Robertson, to do it instead. Please, whoever has Aaliyah, wherever she may be, you just know anything, no matter how small you might think it is, if you could just please, please contact the Edwardsville Police Department, or if you feel better, you know, you could do the tip line.

Or even yet, you can contact our Facebook page, Bring Aaliyah Home. But please, just do something. Just please. We want her home. Kara and her sisters and her grandma and her aunts and her uncles and cousins, we want her. Bring her back home to us. All these different emotions, you know. Sadness. Lots of sadness and fear for Aaliyah. That they could be watching this and not do it, not call us.

Now, Donna Robertson will come into play later on in this story, so remember her.

But at this point in the interview, Paige Hagen turned her attention to Aaliyah's younger sister, who was sitting on the couch in between her mom and Donna Robertson. What are you feeling going into starting school? I don't want any questions and I know people are going to ask questions, but...

If you're not, like, all these people are so nosy, but they're not even out here helping. That's all they want to talk. They just want to talk. Donna then begged the community for more help in the search for Aaliyah, admitting that without the help of Evansville, they would never find her. We need volunteers. Bad. Bad. For Saturday and Sunday's search, we need the community to come out.

They showed out last Saturday with Echo Search in town. I would love to invite them all back out this Saturday for searching. We're going to continue with what they taught us and hopefully with more search and rescue people and groups. And hopefully we can continue the search. I can't do it without the community. You can't do it.

You know, we have to have the community's help to join in this. To bring Aaliyah home. To bring her home, yes. Yeah, Kara, I want to hear from you how much volunteers, what it will mean to you as a mom. Well, it will show me that my community cares. Like how they're posting things on Facebook, I would love to see you actually come out and show me. And the words, I appreciate the prayers, the words, the encouragement.

The inspiration, that's all. I love it and I appreciate it. But I like to see people come out and actually join us to find Aliyah and bring her home. At the end of the interview, Kara agreed to show the news crew around her home. She pointed out pictures and cards that people had given Aliyah throughout the years, including a note written by Kara's boyfriend, DeMarco Roach.

Now, the police did look into him as being a suspect here, but from what I could tell, I believe he was incarcerated at the time of her abduction. So, he couldn't have been their suspect. This picture was made from Rita Shore. It's Donna, my cousin's sister. And it's 2012, and that was her birthday, her birthday. And that's Aaliyah riding on a horse.

And this was made by her dad, Marco Roach, for her 18th birthday, which was just last year. And he wrote there, "There is a special person who has brought much joy to me and in many ways has made my life the best that it can be. I feel fortunate just to know this person and I think you should know too when I think of special people, I always think of you. Dad, love you."

Now, at this point in the interview, Kara shows the crew Aaliyah's bedroom. The walls were orange, there were dolls and teddy bears all around, and still sitting next to her bed was Aaliyah's blue and purple wheelchair. Interestingly enough, Aaliyah's bedroom didn't even have a door. On the night of her abduction, Kara and her daughter slept on the couch in the living room, probably less than 15 feet away from her bed.

Meaning that if someone did come in through the window, they would have to sneak in, pick Aaliyah up out of her bed, and then take her out of the home. All while being extremely quiet so they wouldn't wake up Kara in the other room. Now, Kara did admit that she was on medication at the time due to her surgery. So it's possible she was in such a deep sleep she didn't hear the intruder come inside. In addition, the family also had a Rottweiler that was known to bark. And he too stayed quiet throughout the night. Leading many people to believe that the dog knew the kidnapper.

This case was puzzling to everyone and it would only get more complicated from here. Just days after this interview in Kara's home, the Evansville Police Department received a 911 call from a woman claiming to be in the same room with Aaliyah's kidnapper and the woman said that he was ready to confess.

Now this next part can get a little confusing, so stick with me. But that woman you just heard in the interview with Kara, Donna Robertson, who is her cousin, well her girlfriend is 51-year-old Deborah Wollner. And Deborah was the one who made this phone call to the police. So the cops show up to this house and everyone is on edge.

I mean, here is the girlfriend of Aaliyah's family member and she's claiming that Aaliyah's kidnapper is ready to confess. So the cops walk in and find 41-year-old James Martin, the alleged suspect. According to the police, Deborah turns to James and says, quote, now tell them what you told me.

From here, James is taken to the police station for questioning. And sure enough, he admits that he was indeed involved in Aaliyah's abduction. But almost immediately, investigators sense that something was off. According to WRTV, quote, they quickly believed that he was not giving the statement of his own free will, end quote.

After a little more questioning, James finally confessed that he had been attacked by Deborah Wollner, her girlfriend and Aaliyah's cousin Donna Robertson, and another man named James Wilson Jr. So, it was a false confession, beaten into him by Aaliyah's own family member and her people.

In an official statement from the Evansville Police Department, they noted, "Police then learned of the beating and observed several injuries consistent with his version of events. Investigators do not believe Martin had any involvement in the disappearance of Alia Beckerlee and that his statements were made out of fear of further violence against him."

According to James Martin, he had been held captive for several hours against his will while Debra used a metal pipe to beat him. He was also beaten by Donna Robertson, and he admitted that she had used her hands and feet to assault him until he told them he would confess to the police. In his statement to police, he said that Debra, Donna, and James Wilson Jr. had lured him to the house after they asked him to bring Valium and Methamphetamine.

The trio then confined him inside of the living room and kitchen of the home located on the 1100 block of North 3rd Street between the hours of 1:00 and 7:00 AM on the morning of July 21st, 2016. During this time, he was tied to a chair and asked about his involvement in the disappearance of Alia Beckerle. During his confinement, he was moved from the living room to the kitchen behind a refrigerator, and Deborah Wollner repeatedly beat him with a metal pipe and Donna Robertson beat him with her fists on the right side of his face.

He admitted that the beating was so severe that it caused moderate bodily injury, and at one point he almost lost consciousness. In order for the beatings to stop, he told his captors that he would confess to the police that he was involved in Aaliyah's disappearance. So, from here, Deborah Wollner called 911 and told them about a man who was ready to confess to the abduction of Aaliyah. After police spoke with James Martin about what had happened,

they were inclined to believe his story as the injuries on his body were consistent with a brutal beating. From there, he was taken to the hospital and admitted for his injuries, and they found that he had suffered a broken left forearm, broken shoulder blade, and had multiple bruises and lacerations on the top and rear of his head. Then, nine days later, the Evansville Police Department received a video proving that James Martin had been telling the truth.

The police department was provided with a video that we believe shows the aftermath of that beating. Forced into a false confession on camera. We don't want to hear that. I want to know why you only told me you had the girl. Now you're telling me all this other information. How do you know all the information? Police say this man... He took her at 2.30 in the morning on Sunday morning.

and children across the bridge was beaten by this woman Deborah Walner a friend of Alia beckerley's cousin held against his will his head bloodied from a metal pipe told to tell the truth to police okay and Marty did this to you because he knew about right you would tell me so he beat you like this right police say this man had nothing to do with Alia an investigator saw right through this false confession the amount of time and resources that were devoted to investigating this portion

of the events since Aaliyah was reported missing caused us to divide our resources and our time to look into this taking away valuable resources that we need to help bring Aaliyah home. When asked if this arrest cast more suspicion into Aaliyah Beckerle's immediate family, Sergeant Jason Cullum stuck to this answer. I think right now with the information that we've had and that we've been following up on

It doesn't really change what we're doing. When 14 News went inside the room where the family says Aaliyah was taken, they told us they had been sleeping just a few feet away. I was sleeping right here. She was sleeping right there. Even with no doors to her room and this protective dog, the family says they didn't hear a thing. I don't know. I don't know what I'm feeling. I feel...

Sad all the time. When I asked police if any new evidence has surfaced as to who took Aaliyah, I was told that information is being kept in-house. The things that we've collected that we deemed as valuable to our investigation right now are

being kept amongst the investigators is not to hurt their opportunities to move this case forward. Now, Donna Robertson, Deborah Wollner, and James Wilson Jr. would be held accountable for beating James Martin. Soon after police received the video, they were all arrested for their role in the assault.

But as you can see, this whole incident really caused a lot of suspicion about Aaliyah's family and whether or not they were involved. Which is understandable when they're literally beating innocent people into confessions.

Most people don't do those sorts of things. Now, I will go ahead and say that I feel like there was drugs kind of involved in this whole thing and it's possible they actually thought James Martin was responsible and they just wanted justice for Aaliyah.

I also will say that at the time of this recording, this case is closed. Someone is in jail for Aaliyah's abduction and it's not the man they beat up or any of the people that beat him up. The Evansville police have also gone on record to say that they will not be investigating anyone in Aaliyah's family. So it's important for us to mention that they are innocent in the eyes of the law.

But as you can see, after these three were arrested, the public was a little suspicious about what exactly was going on here. James Wilson Jr. even talked to a local news station from jail to let him know his side of the story.

What was that something of interest? They haven't said, but they have just said that it's not a body or the coroner would be here. We're standing here waiting, waiting to hear just like everybody else. We've contacted the coroner so far. We do not understand that he's been called this direction.

the suspect that they said they may have seen around here. Who is that? I don't know. They have not told us that. They tell us little bits and pieces. And really, the only reason we know that, or I know that, is because a neighbor had told me that. And I guess he had heard that from the police himself because he lives around here. And has seen them. Okay. And has seen them. Yeah.

Now, after this, Kara Beckerlee, Aaliyah's mom, faced a lot of scrutiny from the media. And people started tearing into her past, which wasn't the cleanest. Back in 2007, she and her boyfriend were arrested for dealing marijuana and child neglect. But she would later say, quote, "'Yes, it was a mistake to have marijuana in my house.'"

But the neglect came with having marijuana in my house. Not because my kids weren't getting fed. Not because the house was dirty." End quote. And Kara said that since then, she's worked hard to turn her life around. But she's the first to admit that she's not perfect.

She also commented on how she believed Aaliyah's abduction was a planned kidnapping from someone that knew their family well. She said that this person likely knew she was on medication, they likely knew the layout of the house, and they were probably even familiar with their family's dog, which is why it didn't bark that night.

When asked if Kara was involved in her daughter's disappearance, she said, "Of course not. No way. No. She's 19 years old. I love my daughter more than anything. She's an angel. She's perfect. She made me feel better to live." Now, sadly, months would pass and there was still no sign of Aliyah.

However, the citizens of Evansville never stopped looking. And in September of 2016, they found something suspicious. After it was called in, the Evansville police responded to a wooded area near Wineback and I-69.

Breaking news on the search for Aaliyah Beckerley tonight. Of course, this search has been going on for more than two months when she disappeared July 17th from her East Iowa Street home. But tonight, Evansville police say they are searching South Weinbach Avenue south of I-69 because it is connected to the Aaliyah Beckerley case. Jackie Monroe and Brandon Bartler are live on the scene right now. Brandon, Jackie.

Randy, we're out here at Weinbach where Weinbach meets 169 and it is the area just beyond this overpass where authorities say they are searching for something. What it is, we do not know. All we know is that they have told us they are taking part in an investigation and that investigation is linked to the Aaliyah Beckerley case. As soon as we found out this was happening, we sent our Brandon Bartlett to the scene and he's going to

Give us a quick debrief of the situation just in the last half an hour to an hour, Brandon. Yeah, and that's really all we know right now is this is linked to the disappearance of Aaliyah Becker. We don't know how, though. That's the question right now. The coroner's office does confirm to us they have not found anything yet. So we're not sure exactly why Evansville Police and the Sheriff's Office got the call to come out here, if they found something or if it was a tip. That's what we're waiting. Jason Cullum with Evansville Police.

is here on the scene. He is down there on the scene right now gathering information that he's going to come and update us in just a few minutes as to how this is related to that case.

As word got out about this break in the case, many of Aaliyah's friends and family immediately made their way to the location, and everyone was on edge. There wasn't a lot of information about exactly what was going on, but they did learn that police had followed one of their suspects to this very location twice throughout their investigation. So was this the moment they had been waiting for? Were they finally going to find something that led to Aaliyah? Here are Aaliyah's grandmothers speaking with the reporters. So this area, we're here out at Weinbach and 69, is

Is this an area that your group has searched before? I don't want to really speak on that. Just in case, for some reason, you know, there's nothing out there, people are sick and they may move a body. And it's, I mean, look at past cases. People move bodies. I forget that that's a thing. I don't think like that. Has your thinking changed since you've joined this? Yes, it has definitely changed.

Like I said, I mean, I'm just a normal guy. I joined out of the kindness of my heart to go look for this girl. And now that I've took over, I have to look at things from a different aspect. You know, the planning, you know, the resources that go into this and, you know, trying to get...

get help from the community, you know, trying to get people together. But actually the planning, the planning takes a lot of time. It's like working a second full-time job. I mean, if not more than that, so. Consuming. Yeah, definitely. Okay. So how did you find out that this was happening today? Like right now? I got a call from one of my search team members to let me know that things were going on down here. I was actually at work until 10 PM this evening. And as soon as I got off, I shot down. What was it like to get that call?

My stomach dropped. I mean, it made me sick to my stomach. I mean, I'm shaking. I'm still shaking right now. I mean, you know, part of me, I hope it's not her. I hope she's still alive, you know, but she needs to be found whether she's alive or she's not with us anymore. She needs that. She needs to be found. Her family needs that. Yeah, everybody's just hungry for answers. Correct. And it's just they're not coming fast enough. They're not. And then speculation happens and it's just this and that and...

People get kind of ugly. Yeah, they do. They do. And that's probably why they have law enforcement out here. I mean, there's quite a bit. There's a pretty good crowd out here. And I think that's why they have law enforcement out here in case something happens. I mean, we are all members of social media. And, you know, some people in the community ain't as nice as we are. So it's brutal. It's brutal. And all it takes is one bad apple to come out here and it could get bad.

For nearly four hours, everyone anxiously waited around for answers. According to some sources, an inmate told investigators that Aaliyah's body could be found in this area. So the Ohio Valley Search and Rescue Group brought two cadaver dogs into the woods, where they discovered a plastic bag that smelled of decomposition. But after everything, they learned that it was just animal bones. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when they found out it wasn't Aaliyah. But at the same time,

They still wanted answers. Sergeant Jason Cullum said that the Evansville Police Department and the FBI were still committed to finding Aaliyah, despite the false lead. He stated, We're still encouraging people to share information. If they have heard somebody talking about something or they saw something that was out of place, share that with us, and we will follow up on it.

Now, at this point in the investigation, police had received almost 200 tips regarding Aaliyah's case All of which had led to dead ends And a few days later, they would be investigating another tip

This time, a federal search warrant was served to search a specific area of the advanced disposal Blackfoot landfill, which led many people to believe that they were looking for Aaliyah's body. So, was Aaliyah dumped like trash? Sergeant Cullum told the Courier and Press: "This is not an acknowledgement that she is deceased. Obviously that we're searching a landfill can create grim speculation. We have found nothing during our investigation that tells us that she is not alive. But even with this statement,

Many people around Evansville had given up hope that Aaliyah was still alive. But not Kara. She would later say, "I still have hope that she's in someone's house and she's going to come home. She's alive. She's going to come home."

Today, in connection with the missing person case of Aaliyah Beckerley, a federal search warrant was served at the Advanced Disposal Blackfoot Landfill in Pike County. The area that is being searched, we do have images from that area that we will provide to the media today so they can see a visual of the area as well as some of the equipment that is on site.

Again, the warrant itself is sealed, so we will not be able to discuss what information has led us to this site. We just want to make sure that people are aware that we are here, that we are continuing our commitment to finding Aaliyah Beckerley, to bringing resolution to this case. A month later, on October 25th, 2016, a search of the landfill concluded, and it was determined that nothing significant was found.

Once again, investigators were back at square one with no new information regarding Aliyah's disappearance, which was just so disappointing to everyone. And after a while, naturally, the search party slowed down. There was only so much the public could do to help, but no one ever forgot about her, especially on January 16th, 2017.

It was Alia's 20th birthday. To celebrate her, all of her friends and family gathered at the St. Lucas United Church of Christ. Everyone cried and embraced each other as they released dozens of pink and green balloons into the sky.

Here's what they want to do. This is the family's idea. The family would like for us to all say in unison, happy birthday, Aaliyah, and then release them in unison. Can we do that? Yeah. Everybody here? Got it. So ready, set. Happy birthday, Aaliyah.

Well, Jess, an emotional night tonight for the 50 people that showed up. Kara Beckerly, Aaliyah's mom, was the most emotional I've seen her to date. She was sobbing in tears during that prayer service, and the family is celebrating Aaliyah's first birthday since she disappeared almost six months ago. They tell me this was not a memorial.

memorial service, but a celebration. People gathered for a prayer service and afterwards signed balloons in honor of Aaliyah. They gathered in the parking lot to let them go. Kara says the holidays were especially hard for the family. Today was even harder.

Don't forget her name. Don't forget that she is missing. And we need her home. And I want her home so bad. And if they know anything to please, please call. She's so innocent. She don't deserve to be away from us. And just to think about how it was your child or your cousin or...

If you knew something and nobody called in, how would that make you feel? She's so innocent and perfect. How could anybody hurt her? I don't even know why they took her in the first place. I just pray that they didn't do anything to her. And I'm going to get her back. She's never hurt anyone. She'll smile. The people that took her, I know she smiled. I don't want to.

But little did anyone know, they were just around the corner from the answers they had been searching for all along.

On Saturday, March 25th, 2017, about eight months after Aaliyah's disappearance, a woman named Kathy Murray was looking through some abandoned buildings with a group of her friends. It was something they did pretty often, and if she was lucky, she would find items inside of these homes that she could later sell for a profit. And this particular afternoon was no different.

Kathy and her group eventually found themselves walking down an alley on South Bedford Street when they decided to walk into an abandoned home. Kathy would later say that she originally sought out to find some clothing inside, but that's not at all what she would find. After entering the dark and quiet house, she made her way up a flight of stairs.

And as she did, she couldn't help but notice the overwhelming smell of bleach. Now from here, Kathy walks into one of the upstairs bedrooms, and on the floor she spots two mattresses stacked on top of one another. And she could see that in between the mattresses were some clothes, which is what she set out to find that day.

So without even thinking, Kathy walks over and props the top mattress up against the wall. However, as soon as she did, she was met with a sight that will forever be ingrained in her mind. It was a severely decomposed body that was nude from the waist down. The body on the mattress was so decomposed, there were bugs and maggots everywhere.

And at first glance, there was no way to even tell the person's race or gender. Soon enough, the police were notified. And as word got out about the body found at 1628 South Bedford Street, everyone in Evansville had this sinking feeling that it was Alia Beckerley.

I was worried. I was hoping that it's her so the community can have some closure. I mean, that's maybe wrong to say that I'm hoping this person, but she's been gone so long that...

After Evansville police arrived on the scene, the body was taken to the Vanderburgh County Coroner's Office for an autopsy, and over the next few hours, everyone anxiously waited for the results. By the following morning, Aliyah's family would get the answers they had been waiting for.

We have just heard from the Vanderbilt County coroner that human remains discovered Monday evening at a home in Evansville are those of missing 19-year-old Aaliyah Beckerley. It really is a somber day here. You know, it's been several months since Aaliyah was reported missing. And so many questions and so many calls about what happened to her. Where is she? Where is she?

Where could she be? And now we have just learned that her body was found on South Bedford Avenue in that vacant home there just a couple of days ago.

The community of Evansville was heartbroken to learn that their fears had been true all along. Alia Beckerlee was dead. Her body was found in an abandoned house just three miles away from her home. She was positively identified through a medical device known as a vagus nerve stimulator. But as for how she died, well, that was still a mystery.

In the eight months that she had been missing, Alia's body had gone through such severe decomposition, the coroner couldn't even determine her cause of death. At the time of her autopsy, she only weighed 17 pounds, so there was barely anything left of her.

Now, they could tell that there was no physical trauma to her body. So there was speculation that she was maybe suffocated or she suffered from a medical emergency.

Detective Brent Melton admitted that the case of Alia Beckerlee would haunt him for the rest of his life. Holding back tears, he stated, quote, "This has been eight months of emotions. I can't word it any other way to say that I'm just happy that this poor innocent child or adult that is a child has finally gotten justice coming. She's at rest. It's an emotional day. That's all I can really say."

End quote. But finally, there were some answers in this case. However, the biggest question of all was still in everyone's mind. Who could have done this to Aaliyah? For whoever the people are responsible person, our people are responsible for this. If you have any heart, any heart, and you may even be what's going on right now, you have any heart, please,

We are begging you turn yourself in. This child needs justice. It just has to stop. Evansville has touched Evansville. It touched the world. I see they don't see it in. So please, let's get together and pray to God that detectives and stuff can come bring it to an end and we can get justice for this young lady. I have a pastor, if he could speak.

and then if we could all just join in to a song, "Welcome." Thank you so much. From the beginning, everyone's biggest fear was that Aliyah wouldn't get justice. But to everyone's surprise, just two days after her body was discovered, there was an arrest in the case. The suspect in connection to Aliyah's kidnapping was 24-year-old Terrence Roach, a man that she knew very well.

Terrance was the son of Kara's boyfriend, DeMarco Roach. It was also her half-sister's brother, and he had been in Aaliyah's life on and off for years. He also had a checkered past.

In 2013, Terrence pleaded guilty to criminal recklessness involving serious bodily injury. Then again in 2014, he pleaded guilty to attempted robbery resulting in serious bodily injury. At the time of our story, Terrence had been living with his stepfather, Glenn Eastwood, in a house that happened to be right next door to the abandoned home where Leah's body was found.

Now, at first when investigators spoke to Terrence, he pushed the blame off himself, and he came up with a story about how Kara let him take Aaliyah. Now, he would later say that this was all a lie and that he made it up.

And since this is a closed case, we have to assume that it was indeed a lie. But at the time of this interrogation, investigators didn't know that. So you'll hear that they do seem pretty skeptical of Aaliyah's mom. Now once Terrance Roach was brought into an interrogation room for the second time, investigators gave him some McDonald's to loosen him up. The last fast food he would be having for a while.

And to gain some rapport, they start a little small talk and ask him about his tattoos. What's your tattoo say? My name. Oh, okay. Where'd you get that done at? On my stepbrother's head, so I knew where I was drunk one day. Oh. I was like 18, I think. I didn't do that job on the bar. But now it was time to get into the nitty gritty, and surprisingly, Terrance was ready to confess.

He told the detectives that on July 17th, 2016, he spent the entire day smoking K2, which is synthetic marijuana. And for whatever reason, during his high, he said that the idea to abduct Aaliyah just "popped into his head." Pretty much my days involved me smoking a lot of K2. Okay. And then it just popped in my head, I do what I did.

So after this disgusting thought popped into his head, Terrence decided to act on it. He drove over to Aaliyah's house and walked over to her bedroom window. He said that Aaliyah was sleeping in her bed. And he also noticed that his half-sister and Aaliyah's mom Kara were in the living room. Kara was right there. Karla was lying like that. Okay, so Kara's here and Karla's here. Okay, and what are they doing?

From here, Terrence said he reached through the window, pulled Aaliyah over to him by her arms, and picked her up. But interestingly enough, he says that he never actually stepped foot in her bedroom. He did all of this just by reaching his arms through.

If this is the side, this is looking down the side of the house. This is like, if I'm standing right here with my camera looking down the side of the house right here, this is the angle, this is the view I'm looking at. Now you see there's a window right there that goes into her bedroom. Is that by chance the window you went in? You didn't go in it. And what do you mean you didn't go in it? You just reached through the window? Well, I mean, this is pretty high. You would have had to crawl through at some point.

Well look, look, look, okay then while we're on that, this is the window, so that window is right there. That's her bed. Now obviously you'd have to reach pretty far. Tell me again how you did that because this is what we need to clarify, okay? Tell me for sure how you took her off that bed without completely getting into that window. Pretty sure I just reached a new graphic. Let me ask you a question.

It's close right here to the toy box, right there. Well, there is a toy box right there, yeah. You're right. So how did the toy box help you in some fashion? Explain that to me. Not physically help you, the toy box can't move. I mean, did that toy box play a factor in this? Tell me about that, because that's important. It helped me slide her over so I could lock the window. Okay.

Show me exactly, but you showed me yesterday how you lifted her. Why don't you stand up for me and tell me again how you, show me how you drove her across and then what you did from there. This is the bed right here. That's the toy box you're sitting on. Okay, show me how you did what you did. Okay. So you pulled her through the window? Okay. Do you remember this? Do you remember that growth, that high...

That's probably a star of a tree or some type of growth, I don't know what that is, but did you remember going past that or anything? You got a rope over this fence by yourself? Did you remember anything breaking on this fence? I think that was already broke. You didn't break that off? It looks fresh to me, like maybe you cracked it off or something? I think it was already broken, not for sure. But you got a rope over this fence, is that what you're saying?

Now, as you can tell by the detective's voice, he's kind of confused on how Terrence was able to get Aaliyah out of the house. For one, Aaliyah would have been dead weight, and Terrence was not the biggest and strongest guy. He would later tell investigators that he was about 130 pounds, while Aaliyah was just under 100.

But even more confusing for investigators was that after getting her out of the window, Terrance told them that he somehow carried Aaliyah over a fence all by himself and the detectives aren't buying it. So it's at this point in the interrogation where the detectives ask him if he had any help getting Aaliyah over the fence. - Your exact quote was the other day that nobody in the family helped.

That's still your story. And there's nobody else that we're not aware about. There's another friend. There's nobody else with you. If you were asked to place your hand on the Bible, on the stand, next to that judge, like you said today, that's an oath to tell the truth and all about the truth. And they ask you the same question. You would say the same answer. There's nobody who helped you remove Alita from the residence.

Why would I have to testify? I'm using this as an example. No, you may not have testified. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that if you were asked to tell the truth in front of a judge, if you were asked to put your hand on the Bible, which is to send a lie on that Bible, what I'm asking you is, would you still say the same thing that no one helped you remove Aaliyah? Yes. Okay.

Are you pretty quiet? I mean, I guess it sounds like you're good at going through a window and getting into a house without somebody hearing you, is what it sounds. Is that pretty accurate, do you think? I mean, how much do you weigh? 130. 130 pounds. So you're small, you're skinny. So do you think that you got through that window and drove the lead out of that window across that toy box and Kara never heard you?

I don't know if she heard me, but I know I just reached in. I heard my whole body never went in. Okay, but I mean that Karen never got up and said, Hey, you, or Terrence, or what are you doing? Nothing. She never heard you awoke or whatever she was doing asleep? I never said nothing.

As the interrogation continued, Terrence told the detectives that he had a sexual relationship with Aaliyah's mother, Kara, while under the influence of drugs. Now, we aren't saying that this actually happened, obviously this is all alleged, and it's important to note that Terrence lied about Kara in the past, but that's just what he claimed in this interview. While we're on that subject, and again, I know we...

You get embarrassed and I understand that. We talked about the dog incident, we talked about, you know, that stuff in the past. And you admit to me that you had sex relations with Kara on a previous occasion when you were under the influence and things. Is that still the truth? You had sex with Kara? Okay. How many times did you actually have sex with Kara? Just one time?

Now obviously, like I told you, about a month before this happened she had a surgery in Annapolis. So, I know you weren't involved, but it was about a time period shortly after the time that your dad was arrested for the shooting incident. Okay? And I think I asked you to make sure you had sex with Kara before the incident when your dad was arrested for the shooting or after? Before. Before. Okay. Alright. And you just had sex for one time and it was involving

Drugs and... Alcohol. Alcohol, okay. So there's no reason you're telling us the whole truth on everything else. You'd be honest about that, you promise? Okay, alright. Life's already over and I don't need to get out of jail anymore. Well, right now the only thing you can do is be honest, right?

I'm gonna ask you one more time because you are being honest. You're not protecting Kara for anything, right? You promised that. Yes. You've been telling the truth now that it's all come out. So we're not missing anything, right? You acted alone. So like we mentioned earlier, at this point in the interrogation, the investigators are pretty skeptical of Kara. But Terrence has made it very clear that she was not involved and everything he told them before was a lie.

So from here, he continues on with the events of that night. According to Terrance, after taking Aaliyah from the house, he admits that he did have to set her on the ground at one point. You said you struggled to get her to the truck. Did you have to lay her down at all or did you just... I did set her down for a second. What is she doing during this time? Is she waking up or is she like grunting? Is she saying, you know how she groans and makes those sounds?

And that part just crushed me. Innocent Aaliyah laughed as she was being kidnapped, having no idea that she was in the arms of someone evil.

After taking her from her home, Terrance placed Alia in his truck and from there, they made their way over to the abandoned house on Bedford Street. Because Terrance lived directly next door, he knew that the vacant home could give him uninterrupted access to Alia, so he parked his truck and carried her inside.

At some point, Terrence got nervous because Aaliyah was making a lot of noise and he was scared that someone would hear her. So he goes back out to his truck and grabs a roll of duct tape. Now, Terrence swears that he only put the duct tape around Aaliyah's mouth, but it's possible that's a lie. Some believe that Terrence cut off Aaliyah's airways completely.

because shortly after putting the tape on her face, he realizes that she's dead. And disturbingly, it wasn't until then when he decided to sexually assault her body. After you had sex with her, you wore a condom? Did you wear a condom? What did you do with the condom? Where is that? Would it be in that house?

Sure. And you said you wore a condom during the live part about having sex with her before. And the condom, you said it broke. When did you realize it had broken? After you'd already, you know, if you'd already came? Or when did you know that it had broke? When I was done. When it was done, you looked down and it's broken? Okay. So what do we do after that? Most I think I'd do is throw it outside if I did do something with it.

Terrence told the detectives that he only returned to the home one time after Leah's death. He said a few weeks after, he noticed some people snooping around the vacant home, so he snuck back in, threw clothes over her body, and then placed a mattress on top of her. And surprisingly, that helped conceal her for eight whole months. Now, as for the motive why he did all this, besides his disgusting sexual desires, Terrence said that he did it to get back at Kara for setting up his dad.

You see, about a month before Aaliyah's abduction, Terrence's dad, DeMarco, was dating Kara. And there was an incident where he fired a gun in the home. The police came, DeMarco was arrested, and Terrence believed that somehow Kara was setting his dad up. So as revenge, he was going to take her daughter. According to his statement, he had initially intended to hold Aaliyah hostage for a few days before returning her safely back to her home on East Iowa Avenue. When you talked about how you were...

You know, you thought she set your mom, or Kara set your dad up. You said you were going to keep her up a couple days. What was your plan then? If she hadn't passed away, what was going to be Terrance's plan then to reintroduce her back and get her back out? Or what was your plan if she hadn't passed away? I was going to let her worry long enough that I was going to drop her back off.

At the house? Like in the night? Or when would you do that? At night. I was gonna kick open that door and just leave. Like a way to just try to scare the mom? So you never had tension in like turning a lead into like a sex wave or something? The sex was an afterthought? This whole idea was the plan just to give Kara a little payback for the deal with her previous month with your dad and the shooting deal?

Now, there is some speculation as to whether or not this is true. In reality, Terrence Roach is a deeply disturbed individual and it's possible he just wanted to act on his disgusting sexual urges. And the reason people believe this is because this isn't the first incident where he's committed atrocious sexual acts.

This next part involves an animal, so fair warning. But in Terrence's first interview with detectives, he admitted to having sex with a dog when he was younger.

So, animals and disabled people. This guy truly is the worst kind of person. But even further, there is another extremely creepy incident that occurred just months before this interview involving his stepfather's girlfriend.

Can we talk about something else while we're... Jeff, if you think about it, I'm going to have to go in there in a second. There was a report on file. This Maya... Maya... Maya... Dysher... How do you pronounce it? Dysher? Dysher? Dysher. That's Glenn Eastwood's new girlfriend, right? Right.

I guess. I know it's somebody's mom. Okay. Okay. Girlfriend, they're not married, right? There was an incident where you... She caught you in her house, right? I mean, there's no reason not to be honest now, right? And you were able to get into this woman's house about...

4:30, so in the morning. - I'm saying it was not 4:30. - Well, you know what, she said there were two incidents. She said she yelled at you. - It was three. - Well, in the morning? Okay, 3:30, I don't remember the exact time. I don't have my glasses, hang on a minute. I think she reported about 4:30, okay. So it was in the middle of the night. So you were able to get into this woman's home without her hearing you. And she said that she awoke and you didn't know she was on the couch, you were looking in her bedroom.

And she saw you crouching down in her hallway, looking in her bedroom. Not crouched down. But you were in her hallway. You had some type of stuff in your hand, a wooden club or something? I was carrying a stick. A stick. How did you get in her house without her hearing you? Her bathroom window was open. Bathroom window was open. So... And I knocked on the door prior to that, and I asked if I could come in and warm up, because I was walking down...

from First Avenue, and somebody gave me a ride over there, and that's as far as they was going, and she told me to knock on next door to see if his name, Joey, let me stay over there. If not, they'd come back. Okay, this happened just past January 2017 here. So this is a time when Alita is still upstairs in this house on Bedford. I just want to make sure you understand this one.

Be honest with me here, I mean you've been honest about everything else Terrance. Were you going to rape her? No. What was your intention looking in her bedroom having a stick and climbing in her window? Because I was drunk and the police came. The police were outside or something? Yeah, like they shined their lights on me. Like after I got in and knocked on Joy's door, I was ready to walk back up. But I was driving and I seen this white car. Well she said, she said you knocked and then she chased you away.

and then you can't chase me well she told you to leave told you to leave she told me to knock and ask joey if i could stay over there for a little bit she said if not come back over but then she wakes up an hour or so later and you're in her house in her hallway by her bedroom and again terence you know now this is all irrelevant it really is i'm just trying to understand your mind thought because

We had the incident, you're younger, you had sex with a dog, now you've got Lee upstairs in the vacant house on Bedford, you've had sex with her, and she's a handicapped girl. Do you have a sexual drive that you can't control? I mean, now you're in another woman's home here in January, in her hallway, by her bedroom, with a stick in your hand. You're obviously under the influence, so it sounds like

Sounds like your sexual desire increases when you're under the influence. Were you going to have sex with this girl too? No. Okay. All right. And again, Terrence, you know, now this is all irrelevant. It really is. I'm just trying to understand your mind thought because we have the incident. You're younger. You had sex with a dog. You know, now you've got Lee upstairs in the vacant house on Bedford. You've had sex with her, and she's a handicapped girl. Do you have a sexual...

Drive that you can't control. I mean, you know now you're in another woman's home here in January in her hallway by her bedroom What's taking your hand? You know, what was your I mean, you're always in the influence. So it sounds like Sounds like your sexual desire increases when you're under the influence. Were you gonna have sex with this girl, too?

So as you can see, Terrence has some major issues. Who knows what his intentions were, sneaking into a woman's home in the middle of the night with a weapon. But as the detectives are taking all of this in, they are trying to empathize and be nice so that Terrence will feel comfortable talking to them. But I can't imagine what's going through their minds. Now as the interview comes to an end, the detectives allow Terrence to call his mom. Terrence, did you do that? Mm-hmm. Terrence? I don't know.

That wasn't the... Yeah. No, it didn't go the way I planned it. 'Cause I was trying to keep her alive a couple days to get back in character 'cause I thought she set up my dad. Or she was dying that day. You know? You didn't plan on killing her? No, I didn't plan on she die or no. I think it was just suffocation. Uh, you tell me.

I love you mom. We get my stuff. The stuff from the channel. I'm a little bit scared. I don't know what you're gonna do. They're gonna try to kill you. You. Other inmates. They got me on suicide watch right now. No I didn't. It was one of the higher eds. The higher eds twisted with me on it.

It was the higher up police officers that put me on it. Even though I told them I'm not suicidal. And they, they, uh, they ain't gave me a phone call yet. The detectives gave me one. And, uh, you, you, you want to tell me what happened? About my, when she died from suffocating. Because I was smoking and, um, I covered up her mouth with tape so she couldn't, uh, nobody hear. So I guess she...

Like, um, well you know how you, like, use a cryosome with two hands? Like, do you, like, like you know how you cryosome with like two chests? Like when you pick something heavy at that time, right? To his mother, Terrence admitted that he suffocated Aaliyah, which is what the investigators figured happened all along. But after this phone call, Terrence was brought back to jail to await trial.

The charges against him were burglary, abuse of a corpse, criminal confinement, kidnapping, and murder. Terrence's trial began on Monday, May 21st, 2018. He had a jury of nine men and three women. Aaliyah's friends and family arrived to show their support for her by wearing matching t-shirts that read "Justice for Aaliyah." The state called 32 witnesses that were going to take the stand during the trial, including Aaliyah's mother, Kara,

other family members, and 21 members of the Evansville Police Department. Lead investigator Detective Melton was the first person to take the stand. He admitted that he was familiar with the Beckerle family after responding to the home about a month before Aaliyah's disappearance. He was the one who arrested Terrence's father, DeMarco, after he shot a gun inside of their home, and it was during that time where Detective Melton had the pleasure of meeting Aaliyah.

He also admitted that the Evansville Police Department followed up on thousands of leads over 200 locations throughout their investigation. The jury also heard Terrence's taped confession, where he admitted to accidentally killing Aaliyah and how after she died, he had sex with her corpse.

After Melton's testimony, on the second day of the trial, the court heard from Indiana State forensic analyst Nicole Huffman, who talked about DNA evidence found at the crime scene. Nicole tested that the evidence that connected Terrence to the crime scene was a cigarette butt found near her body. Nicole stressed to the jury that there is a 1 in 8 trillion chance that that match is inaccurate.

The next witness called was Evansville Police Detective Jeff Hands. During his testimony, the jury listened to a second phone call that Terrence made to his mother from jail. During the phone call, the jury heard Terrence tell his mother that he didn't want to go to prison. Dawn, Terrence's mother, responded that he would probably need to claim insanity. She asked Terrence if the death penalty was in Indiana, to which he responded that he didn't know. But if it was, he would probably get that or be sentenced to life without parole. At one point, Dawn said...

It don't even make sense that you'd done all that. Were we home next door? Terrence responded, Mom, I'm sorry.

I don't know. I was so damn high. Throughout the phone call, it was obvious that Dawn was in disbelief that her son would hurt Aaliyah. He reiterated to her that it hadn't been the original plan and that she had accidentally died while her mouth was taped shut. Now, his defense attorney, Glenn Graham, tried to argue that Terrence wouldn't have been able to grab Aaliyah through the window, and he stated that there wasn't enough physical evidence to support that theory, even though Terrence had confessed to doing it. He

He said, "There's no signs of forced entry, and they want you to believe that my guy came in through that window. The evidence would be that that window was locked. There's no damage to the window." However, prosecutor Nick Herman said that the DNA evidence was the most important evidence in the case, because it placed Terrence in the same room where Aaliyah's body was found, saying, "Obviously it excludes everyone else in the world. It shows he was there, and he was the one using the duct tape as he said in his confession.

It was a difficult trial for everyone, especially having to relive the last few moments of Aaliyah's life But one thing that everyone was nervous about was that during the expert witness' testimony, they made it clear that Aaliyah's cause of death was unknown She was so decomposed they could say that she likely died of suffocation And the reason this was concerning is because that could cast reasonable doubt on whether or not Terrance murdered her So, everyone was on edge

And on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2018, the jury left for deliberation. Here's Leah's grandmother outside of the courtroom as they waited for the verdict. It was very hard. It was hard to sit there and not scream and not cry, get up and stomp my feet.

The jury would deliberate for 11 hours. It wouldn't be until 1 a.m. until they finally reached a verdict.

But when they did, everyone came together. They were hopeful, but they were also terrified. This was the moment that they had been waiting for all along. But sadly, it would not be the outcome that Aliyah's family wanted.

Terrance Roach was found not guilty of felony murder, kidnapping, and burglary. However, he was found guilty of criminal confinement and abuse of a corpse. And because Aaliyah's cause of death was unknown, the jury felt like they couldn't prove Terrance murdered her. Aaliyah's mother could be heard screaming when she heard the verdict, "What the fuck happened?"

Aliyah's family members all hugged each other and cried. Everyone was in shock. The following day, on Thursday, May 24th, 2018, Sergeant Jason Colum sat down for a press conference.

We trust in the system that we work in every day. Our role is to gather evidence, to gather statements, and to present that in a case file to the prosecutor's office, who then presents it in the courts, either to a judge or to a jury. We are disappointed with the verdict, but we respect the jury and the effort that they put into this case.

What a lot of people thought would be, could be a short deliberation went well into the night. And that shows the amount of effort and the way that it was handled by the jury that they took it very serious. But as if Aaliyah's family couldn't be more disappointed, Terrence's sentencing would take place on June 27th, 2018.

And to everyone's surprise, he was only sentenced to 17 years in prison, 15 years for the criminal confinement charge, and two years for the abuse of a corpse. Kara Beckerley admitted that she did not agree with the jury's verdict.

And she believed that Terrence got away with murder. The man convicted of confining and abusing the body of Aaliyah Beckerley will spend more than a decade in prison. Terrence Roche was sentenced today after a teary-eyed plea from Aaliyah's family. I'm with this new Stuart Hammer. As covered this case from the very beginning, the story may be the final chapter.

The chains of justice rattled around the wrist of Terrence Roach. One family might tell you they deserve to be tighter. He shows almost no emotions of any kind. He's almost got a flat effect, you know. I think that speaks to his character, frankly. Attorney Glenn Gramp represented Roach through his three-day trial and ultimately helped him be acquitted of killing Aaliyah Beckerley. Today, her family choked back tears as they addressed the court.

with prepared statements. Her mom, Kara, said, "There are no words to describe what we as a Lea's family go through every day. I wake up every morning and grieve for my daughter. I talk to her and always tell her how much I love her and miss her." Grandma Lydia LaRue said, "Aleah's family has been given a life sentence of heartache, nightmares, grief, fear, and anger. They spoke for several minutes and asked

the judge to give the maximum sentence and they almost got their wish. But I'm not surprised by it. Roach was found guilty of hurting Aliyah before her death and abusing her body after her death. So to think that the judge is gonna give you a lot of sympathy, I think would certainly be a stretch. 17 years in prison is one year shy of the max. It's a whole lot less than prosecutor Nick Herman hoped for with three murder charges. And they came back with a verdict that they did.

I don't agree with it. I don't have to agree with it, but I do have to respect it. Aaliyah's family left the courtroom without saying a word more. Their lives changed forever, with more than a decade to dwell on this decision. He has a history of criminal behavior, so there is certainly a concern. Roach was quiet too, with an escort of bailiffs taking him back to jail. Do you have anything you want to say?

The deafening silence. They'd like to know what really happened. It represents everything that's lost. I would hope that that would come out at some point. I don't think it has. Stuart Hammer, Eyewitness News.

Defense attorney Glenn Gramp has spoken with the media about what he believed happened on the night of Aaliyah's death, saying that he thinks Aaliyah was dead before she was ever even taken from her house. Although there's no evidence to back this theory up,

There are people out there that still suspect Kara of being involved, but the Evansville Police Department have been adamant that the case is fully closed and that they will not be looking into any of Aaliyah's family members unless new information is brought forward. As for Terrence, his defense attorney stated that he likely won't even spend a full 17 years in prison due to getting credit for time served.

While he waited for his trial, he spent 453 days in jail. So it's possible he could be released in the next couple of years. Which is a disturbing thought. After Terrence's sentencing, everyone felt so uneasy about how everything ended. And a huge question that many people were asking was, how did he get such a lenient sentence?

Even if Terrance never intended on killing Aliyah, he kidnapped her from her house, he put duct tape on her face, closing off her airways, and then after he realized she was dead, he raped her corpse. Terrance's actions that night directly led to Aliyah's death, and if he wouldn't have kidnapped her at all, she likely would still be here today.

The ending of this story was heartbreaking for everyone and so many people felt that justice was not at all served.

filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Terrence Roach, but I don't really know what came of it. And sadly, that's where our story ends. Terrence could be released out into the world as early as 2028, and no one has ever been convicted of Aaliyah's murder, which is heartbreaking.

Aaliyah Beckerley didn't have a voice, and she was so innocent she didn't even know about the evils in this world. Even in her last moments, as she was being taken from her home, she was smiling. She had no idea what was ahead. People like Aaliyah are supposed to be protected, but she wasn't.

Instead, she was taken advantage of, and even in death, she didn't get the justice she deserved.

As a lot of you probably know, Courtney and I's time is already really stretched thin. We have multiple projects that we're working on. I'm working on a documentary. We're posting a video every week on YouTube, a podcast, a second podcast. So we don't have a lot of extra time in our lives, especially when it comes to cooking. I know that for myself at the end of a long workday, the last thing that I want to do is get in the kitchen and cook myself something. And meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking can be a huge hassle.

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Hey everybody, it's Colin here. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of Murder in America. This is a, it's a crazy sad story and...

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