Show full transcript 0:43 Grainger's $2 billion in odd hand inventory 0:45 helps you get what you need when you need it 0:48 so you can help keep budgets balanced in lines moving. 0:51 Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click Grainger.com 0:54 or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. 0:58 They search his home you're listening in to the dateline morning meeting. There's 1:05 nothing there. There are no clues. Our producers are catching up on breaking 1:09 crime news. He said he was always the suspect. What was the motive? Why? Welcome 1:17 to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Jose Diaz-Balart, NBC News anchor and host 1:22 of Dateline en Español in for Andrea Canning. It's October the 22nd and 1:27 And here's what's on our docket. 1:29 In Orlando, Florida, a stunning arrest in the case of a mother of three who went missing 1:34 just a few hours after she appeared on an episode of the TV show, The People's Court. 1:39 He said that he wanted his ring, so I took it off, and I threw it at him. 1:44 In Dateline Roundup, a new twist in the OJ Simpson case, and the judge presiding over 1:49 Alec Murdoch's retrial has strong words for the attorneys. 1:53 This has got to stop. 1:55 This is court. 1:56 This isn't a sound bite, okay? 2:00 Plus, scammers who prey on young people looking for work, NBC News chief consumer investigative 2:06 correspondent Vicky Wynn will be here with some safety tips. 2:10 Be wary of random job offers, right? 2:13 No one's just going to reach out to you and offer you a high paying position out 2:17 of the blue. 2:18 But before that, we're heading back to Boston, where graphic and sometimes upsetting 2:22 Reading texts have taken center stage at the trial of former police officer Matthew Farwell, 2:28 who has been charged with killing pregnant teacher's aide Sandra Birchmore. 2:32 A warning for listeners. 2:34 This story includes discussion of suicide and sexual abuse. 2:40 It's week three in the trial of Matthew Farwell, former Stoughton police officer 2:45 accused of strangling 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore to death at her apartment on 2:51 February 1st, 2021 and then staging the scene to make it look like a suicide. 2:57 Prosecutors say Farwell murdered Birchmore to stop her from exposing their sexual relationship 3:02 which began, they say, when she was underage. 3:06 Farwell has denied it all. 3:08 He says he didn't have sex with Sandra when she was a minor and that he didn't kill 3:12 her. 3:13 This week, the jury got to hear Sandra's own words about the relationship as prosecutors 3:17 years, called investigators to the stand to testify about tens of thousands of messages 3:23 they discovered on her phone and laptop. 3:25 Here to walk us through is evidence as Dayline producer Cassie Marshall, who was in the courtroom. 3:30 Cassie, great seeing you. 3:31 Thanks for being with us. 3:32 Thank you. 3:33 Thanks for having me here. 3:34 Cassie, understanding the history of Sandra and Farwell's relationship is key to the 3:39 prosecution's theory of what happened to her. 3:42 Can you just remind listeners what prosecutors are alleging? 3:45 Yes, sure. 3:45 So, Sandra Burchmore joined the Stoughton Police Explorers Program. 3:51 This is a program geared towards teaching kids interested in fields of law enforcement. 3:56 And Matthew Farwell was an instructor in the program. 3:59 Then according to the prosecution, they started having sex when Sandra was 15, which is 4:06 statutory rape, illegal, and the sexual relationship continued to the time of Sandra's 4:12 death when she was 23. 4:13 What do prosecutors say triggered him to kill Sandra? 4:18 Well, it's interesting to say, according to the prosecution, 4:21 Sandra was starting to threaten Farwell 4:24 with exposing their affair to his wife. 4:27 And also, in the weeks before her death, 4:30 one of Sandra's friends called the police department, 4:32 where Farwell worked, and exposed the relationship, 4:36 saying that Sandra was sleeping with him. 4:38 But it's clear that Farwell became very upset. 4:40 And the prosecutors feel like he had a problem 4:43 that he could no longer control in his mind and so the solution was getting rid of Sandra. 4:48 So that's the prosecution theory. This week jurors got to hear about some of the actual 4:52 communications Sandra and far well exchanged over the years. How did investigators get their hands 4:56 on them? After Sandra's death investigators had Sandra's devices. So they had her current iPhone, 5:03 they had her old iPhone and they had her MacBook laptop. So they could look for communications 5:10 on that, and there were over 24,000 of them. 5:13 24,000? 5:14 A lot. 5:15 Sandra was constantly online, constantly texting, 5:19 reaching out to friends and family, 5:21 and she was a prolific texture, especially with Farwell. 5:25 Cassie, as the agent walked the jury 5:26 through these messages, they were presented 5:28 in a really unique kind of way, almost like a play. 5:32 Yeah, so the FBI special agent would read Sandra's 5:37 text messages, and then the prosecutor 5:39 would read Farwell's responses. 5:42 So it was that back and forth reading 5:44 that sort of brought the text messages to life. 5:47 And they weren't overly theatrical at all, 5:49 but they did give you sort of like more of a feeling of it. 5:52 And there were a lot of them 5:53 and they were very, very detailed. 5:55 A lot of them were quite disturbing, frankly. 5:58 Some of them had to do with violence, 6:00 violent rape fantasies or sexual fantasies. 6:04 Some of them had to do with, 6:06 the first time Sandra had sex, 6:07 These weren't at the time that Sandra was 15. 6:10 They were much later, but Sandra remembered the date and far well responded and they talked 6:16 about the details of it and how it happened. 6:18 I mean, you know, disturbing stuff, but very, very detailed. 6:22 What were the reactions when these readings of these text messages were carried out? 6:28 You know, it's interesting that the jury is hyper focused. 6:31 You know, I give them credit for that because there's a lot being thrown their way. 6:34 They each have individual monitors. 6:37 So they were, you know, looking down, they were just really focused on what they were 6:41 being presented. 6:43 So, in a way, the prosecution is painting a picture of a relationship that went on for 6:47 years, right? 6:48 I mean, Farwell got married, he had kids, and they say what's obvious from the messages 6:52 is that Sandra began to get frustrated with Farwell. 6:56 Yes, yes. 6:57 I mean, what was interesting about the messages is she called them several times 7:00 in the messages her best friends. 7:02 I mean, she really looked up to him. 7:04 And then, you know, as she got older 7:07 and learned about the life he was having 7:09 with his wife and the children, 7:10 she really wanted that and she wanted it with him. 7:15 And so when he was starting to show 7:18 that that's not what he wanted 7:20 and sort of was pulling back, 7:23 it was clear she was frustrated. 7:24 She was hurt, sometimes angry. 7:27 It was clear by the end. 7:28 They were angry with each other. 7:29 Yeah. And what happened next is that Sander demanded that Farwell get her pregnant. 7:34 By the time she finds out that he had a third child, she started saying, 7:37 okay, I really want to have a child. I want to have it with you. She put the pressure on him 7:42 to make it happen or sort of saying, I'm going to expose this. 7:46 And then there's that December 28th, 2020, I guess, text when lab work confirmed that 7:52 Sander was pregnant. She then texted Farwell, congrats. We're going to be parents. 7:57 How did he respond to that? 7:58 He wasn't happy. 7:59 He was mad. 8:00 He didn't feel like she should be reaching out to him 8:03 and he wanted to table it to talk about in person. 8:06 So did he believe that he was the father 8:09 of Sandra's unborn baby and was he? 8:13 The prosecution says that, yes, 8:15 that that's what he believed, 8:16 but it did turn out after Farwell's arrest, 8:19 not before his arrest, the DNA testing was done 8:22 and it was determined that he wasn't. 8:24 So in these texts, as you say, 8:26 there are tens of thousands of them, 8:29 a lot of them show conflicts. 8:32 It also sounds like Sandra and Farwell argued 8:34 when they got together in person as well. 8:36 Yes, she shared with a couple of her friends via text 8:40 that he had come over, he was angry, 8:43 he was standing by her. 8:45 And if you saw photos of them, Jose, 8:47 there is a huge disparity in their appearances. 8:50 Sandra is like all of four foot 10, five feet maybe, 8:54 and he's like 6'4", and huge, and she looks much younger than her age, so there's a huge 8:59 weight and height difference, and so she says that she felt fear because he was pulling 9:04 out the phone and her laptop from her hands, and then at one point sort of pushing her 9:09 or shoving her with his full body weight, which frightened her, and she shared that 9:14 with friends. 9:14 How did the defense handle the special agent on cross? 9:17 The text messages about the statutory rape they did not address. 9:21 They did in terms of the messages about the violent sex and just the fact that they did 9:30 have a lot of sex in different places sort of focus on the fact that she was an adult. 9:35 I'm assuming suggesting that this is consensual at this point. 9:39 Cassie, there was a moment there where the defense actually questioned the realism of 9:43 these texts, fantasy versus fact. 9:45 Exactly. 9:46 Exactly. 9:46 They seem to be suggesting, like, how do we know that actually happened or is it just, 9:52 you know, them talking about it via text? 9:54 And then there were also notebooks that they put into evidence, Sandra's notebooks. 9:59 There was an entry from Sandra's notebook that I think it went back to 2017, four years 10:05 before her death. 10:06 But it seemed like a goodbye letter, a suicide note. 10:10 And so they had that read aloud and that was impactful. 10:14 They were talking about her having a history of mental health issues. 10:18 So the defense we have to remember is saying that Sandra wasn't killed, 10:22 but she rather died by suicide because Farwell broke up with her. 10:26 What about Farwell's phone? Did investigators examine that? 10:29 So he had two phones. He had a personal and he had a professional phone. 10:32 So the phone that he gave the state police, 10:36 he said that he had already erased the communications with him and Sandra 10:40 because he was breaking up with her. 10:42 And then the work phone from the Stoughton PD, 10:47 there was no communications with Sandra on that phone. 10:49 But they did find a couple of searches, 10:52 as I recall, that were interesting. 10:54 He searched, can deleted messages be retrieved by Celebrite, 10:58 which is a technology that law enforcement uses to retrieve deleted messages. 11:03 So from the prostitution side, 11:05 I'm thinking they're suggesting he deleted the messages 11:07 so that they wouldn't see what was going on with Sandra. 11:10 But his story to investigators is I didn't want anything to do with her anymore. 11:15 So I was erasing my contact with her. 11:18 So what's next in this case? 11:20 So next it seems like we're going to hear from more of Sandra's friends. 11:24 And then we're actually supposed to hear from the father of Sandra's baby. 11:30 So all we know about him right now, we know his name, he was an Army of Recruiter. 11:34 But we'll find out more about how they met and if there's any sort of relationship 11:39 between him and Farwell. 11:40 I don't know if there is, but we'll find out. 11:43 Cassie Marshall, thank you so much. 11:44 Thank you for having me. 11:46 Good seeing you, Jose. 11:48 Coming up 15 years ago, 11:50 when Orlando Woman appeared on an episode 11:52 of the People's Court TV show, 11:54 within hours she had vanished. 11:57 Last week, police announced the man 11:58 was under arrest for her murder. 12:00 We'll tell you all about it. 12:06 A strange thing happens when you put 12:08 a finishing-year college degree. 12:10 Maybe next semester, 12:12 turns into five years and the thought is still lingering, waiting, haunting you. 12:19 That's where Southern New Hampshire University understands they have more 12:23 than 200 affordable flexible online degree programs and the application takes 12:28 just minutes to complete. 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See CapitalOne.com for details. 13:33 On November 17, 2011, Michelle Parker, a mom of three and aspiring beauty stylist, stood 13:45 before a judge in an episode of the TV show The People's Court, alongside her ex-fiancé 13:50 Dale Smith Jr. 13:51 Dale told the judge Michelle owed him money for a lost engagement ring. 13:56 She threw the ring and it bounced over the railing and down nine floors. 14:01 This is what Michelle had to say about Dale. 14:03 It just, it's been a hell of a roller coaster ride and it's poison and we're done. 14:11 A few hours after the episode aired, Michelle didn't show up for her shift at the Orlando 14:16 Florida bar where she worked and the next day her car was found abandoned on the other 14:21 side of town. 14:22 Michelle was never seen again. 14:24 The mystery of what happened to Michelle Parker sparked an almost 15-year police investigation. 14:31 Last week, Orlando police announced a stunning update. 14:35 This morning, OPD's fugitive task force and SWAT team arrested Dale Smith Jr., 14:40 Michelle's ex-fiancé, on a charge of second-degree murder. 14:44 Here to bring us up to speed on the case, 14:46 is NBC News correspondent George Solis. 14:48 George, great seeing you. 14:49 Thanks for being with us. 14:50 Thanks for having me, Jose. 14:52 George, this case grabbed national attention 14:54 within days of Michelle's disappearance 14:56 with coverage on The Today Show and Nightly News. 14:59 In Florida, police are searching for a missing mom who vanished after appearing on an episode 15:04 of the People's Court. 15:05 Who was Michelle? 15:07 She was 33 years old. 15:08 She was working as a bartender and she owned a spray tanning business and she had just 15:12 graduated from beauty school. 15:14 She had hopes to join the family business. 15:16 Her mom and sister had a salon. 15:18 And she was a devoted mom. 15:21 She had an older child from a previous relationship, but she also had twins with Dale Smith, 15:25 Jr. 15:26 Yeah. 15:26 What do we know about the relationship at the time? 15:28 Well Jose was rocky at best. They had an on again off again relationship since 2006. Michelle actually 15:34 took a restraining order out against Dale. That was later overturned by a judge, but they seemed 15:39 to patch things up somewhat in 2010 when they got engaged, but that quickly fell apart a year later 15:45 in 2011. Sir George, this brings us to their appearance on the People's Court. For people who 15:50 don't know that show, how does it work? Yeah, it's an iconic show. It's really famous for 15:54 of that intro with the drums and the bass line 15:56 and that tagline. 15:57 What you are witnessing is real. 15:59 The participants are not actors. 16:01 It was basically a reality court TV show 16:03 and people agreed to have their disputes heard by a judge. 16:07 Dale wanted Michelle to pay him $5,000 16:10 over an engagement ring. 16:11 Now he said that she thrown it off a hotel balcony 16:14 during an argument. 16:15 Her story was a little bit different before the judge. 16:17 She said that she threw the ring at him. 16:19 She saw it land. 16:20 It didn't go looking for it. 16:22 but in the end, the TV judge ordered Michelle 16:24 to pay $2,500 to Dale. 16:27 Yeah, and whoever is to blame for that ring incident 16:30 what comes to as clear as water here 16:33 is the tension in the relationship. 16:35 I mean, there's a lot of rancor. 16:37 Right, and Michelle told that TV judge 16:39 about the various arguments that she 16:41 and her then fiance had that led them to break up. 16:43 He gets pretty malicious and vindictive 16:45 and he's a mean person. 16:47 Now, Dale on the show didn't specifically respond 16:49 to the allegations, 16:50 But he said he had his own allegations against her saying that she had been unfaithful and 16:54 her behavior was making the co-parenting of their twins particularly difficult. 16:58 The episode was pre-taped, meaning Michelle and Dale recorded it long before it actually 17:04 aired on TV on November the 17th, 2011. 17:07 But it's certainly noteworthy that Michelle disappears on the same day the episode airs. 17:14 What else do we know about Michelle's movements that day? 17:16 Right, Jose, and according to Orlando Police, and we've seen the video, Michelle can be 17:21 seen on security camera picking up food from a local drive-thru about 12.30 that day. 17:26 A few hours later, she went to see her mom and sister at their salon. 17:31 Then sometime after about 3 p.m., she drops off the three-year-old twins she shared with 17:35 Dale at his house. 17:37 That's where the police timeline stops. 17:39 Michelle's older son, who was 11 at the time, called Michelle's sister when 17:43 she didn't come home before heading off to work. 17:45 Then they called the police here in Orlando efforts to find Michelle now includes search dogs people on ATVs 17:52 Even people on horses Michelle's family organized searches trying to find any trace of her and hundreds of people showed up 17:59 Here's Michelle's mother Yvonne Stewart talking about that when she appeared on the today show. I have been climbing under trains 18:06 I have been going through ditches and dumpsters 18:10 investigators praying that she's not there. 18:13 George, investigators want to talk to Dale right away, I mean, which you'd expect. 18:17 It's not surprising investigators want to take a closer look at him given the contentious 18:21 relationship that especially aired on TV, right? 18:24 And what's more, it turns out that Dale himself had a checkered pass. 18:27 He had been dishonorably discharged from the Marines in 2003 after being convicted 18:32 of drug possession and domestic violence. 18:34 Ten days after Michelle disappeared, police came out and announced a press conference 18:38 that Dale was the prime suspect. 18:40 Yeah, and so what was his response to being accused so openly and so quickly? 18:45 Yeah, from the get-go, Dale denied involvement in Michelle's disappearance. 18:48 He got a lawyer who continues to represent him to this day. 18:52 That lawyer said Dale had turned his life around and moved on from his earlier troubles. 18:56 He said it would have also been physically impossible for Dale to commit the murder. 19:00 According to the lawyer, Dale had taken the twins to his parents after Michelle dropped 19:05 them off. So frankly, he wouldn't have had time to kill Michelle, get rid of that body, 19:10 drive her car across town and get back to his parents. 19:13 Let's remind everyone that years went by and Dale was never charged with anything. 19:18 So what changed for them to finally arrest him last week? 19:22 Yeah, Jose was during a press conference last week that Orlando police chief Eric Smith 19:26 offered a few reasons. He said that detectives had never stopped investigating. 19:30 Over the past year, we expanded our investigative team looking into this case and took a fresh 19:36 focused look at all of the evidence. 19:39 We reexamined testimony and conflicting statements made by the suspect and used advanced and 19:44 digital forensics to uncover and analyze additional evidence. 19:49 George, what are these conflicting statements that Chief was referring to? 19:53 Yes, it turns out, according to the authorities, Dale had given multiple interviews to investigators 19:57 over the years. 19:58 and the chief said that investigators had asked Dale Smith Jr. the same questions, very 20:02 specific questions numerous times, and they said that he gave different answers to those 20:06 very same questions. 20:08 What do we know about the advanced digital forensics and additional evidence the chief 20:13 spoke of? 20:14 Yeah, it's a great question. 20:14 One of the detectives also spoke at the press conference and said that they had 20:17 uncovered new digital evidence from electronic devices like phones and computers and also 20:23 from vehicles. 20:24 Have Dale Smith Jr. or his attorney spoken out since his arrest? 20:27 Yes, he appeared in court last Thursday and pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder charge 20:32 And I actually spoke with his attorney Rajan Joshi 20:36 Joshi said that he and Smith were both surprised by the arrest 20:39 But he also told me that this was always something that was in the back of their minds that could happen 20:43 Joshi emphasized that Smith maintains his innocence and that all these years he's never run away from the area 20:49 Tried to be a model citizen because frankly he has nothing to hide. He said have we heard from Michelle's family since this arrest was announced 20:55 I mean obviously things are far from over here, but an arrest like this 20:59 could maybe be the first step towards some kind of closure for them. 21:03 Yeah, Jose. The family has been absolutely distraught. It's been bittersweet for them. 21:07 They've been waiting for answers. Michelle's mom spoke to our affiliate, 21:11 Wesh, after the arrest. Here's what she had to say. 21:13 It's like the happiest day because she deserves this. 21:18 I would love for him to tell us where she is. 21:20 George, it's just heartbreaking to hear a mother ask for where her daughter is. 21:27 Yeah, Jose, it's absolutely heartbreaking. 21:29 And the family is still holding out for hope that they will be able to find Michelle Parker's remains. 21:34 Now, the next thing on the case for Dale Smith Jr. specifically is something called an Arthur hearing. 21:39 These are special hearings we have here in Florida in which defendants charged with a serious offense like murder, 21:44 usually not eligible for bond, can ask for a judge to use their discretion to grant them bond anyway. 21:49 Smith is going to be held until that hearing which as of this conversation has yet to be scheduled 21:56 George, thank you so much for bringing us this fascinating case. Thanks for having me Jose 22:01 Up next it's time for Dateline Roundup 22:04 We've got some news about OJ Simpson and the latest from the courtroom in the case of disgraced attorney and murder suspect Alec Murdoch 22:13 Plus scams targeting young people on the hunt for jobs 22:16 We'll tell you how to stay safe 22:18 Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that the new customers you bundle and save with 22:28 progressives save hundreds because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting 22:34 down on those iced lattes you love. Switch your home and auto to progressive and see if you could 22:39 save and keep sipping away. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive casualty 22:45 insurance company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states. Hey Ryan Reynolds 22:50 Now, I don't know if you've heard, 22:52 but Mint's premium wireless is $15 a month. 22:56 But I'd like to offer one other perk. 22:58 We have no stores. 23:02 That means no small talk. 23:04 Crazy weather we're having. 23:05 No, it's not. 23:06 It's just weather. 23:07 It is an introvert's dream. 23:09 Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. 23:12 Up front payment of $45 for three month plan. 23:14 $15 per month equivalent required. 23:15 New customer offer first three months only. 23:17 Then full price plan options available. 23:18 Taxes and fees extra. 23:19 See mintmobile.com. 23:20 Over the years, I've met people whose lives were changed forever in a single moment in 23:25 my new podcast Before and After. 23:28 I explore what happens after that decisive moment, personal, powerful conversations with 23:33 Colin Kaepernick, Jeremy Renner, Gabby Giffords, and others. 23:38 Join me wherever you get your podcasts. 23:41 Listen to all episodes of Before and After with Lester Holt now, wherever you get your 23:46 podcasts. 23:56 Welcome back everyone. 23:58 When joining me for this week's roundup is dateline field producer Alex Lorae. 24:02 Alex, how are you? 24:02 Hey, Jose. 24:03 I'm doing well. 24:04 How are you? 24:04 Great. 24:05 Thanks. 24:05 So for our first story, we're actually going back in time to one of the most infamous true 24:09 crime cases in America, the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. 24:15 It's been 30 years since Nicole's ex-husband, NFL player and movie star OJ Simpson, 24:20 stood trial for the murders, only to be acquitted. 24:24 OJ died in 2024. 24:26 Alex, just when you think there couldn't be any more twists in this case, last week 24:31 questions about a possible accomplice, what do you know? 24:34 That's right, Jose. 24:35 So last week, The New York Times reported it had gotten its hands on newly unsealed 24:40 court documents related to the case. 24:42 The documents contain details about a man who claimed, back in 1995, to have critical 24:47 information about the murders. 24:49 So who was he? 24:50 His name was Joey Ippolito. 24:52 He was a mobster and convicted drug trafficker who became an informant for prosecutors in the southern district of New York 24:58 According to one of the court documents 25:00 He told them he was privy to many facts relevant to the case including Simpson's disposal of the murder weapon 25:06 That's always been the biggest question in many ways hanging over the case. What happened to the murder weapon? 25:12 So Nicole and Ron were viciously stabbed to death, but the knife has never been found Alex 25:18 How did Epolito even know O.J. Simpson? 25:20 So according to the court documents, 25:22 Epolito was a close friend of Simpson's confidant, Al Cowlings, 25:26 who was also an NFL player. 25:28 So Epolito, though, was never called to testify during the 1995 O.J. trial, 25:32 and he died in 2006, but his possible connection to the case doesn't end there. 25:38 Right. So the New York Times says that they recently spoke with Joey Epolito's brother, 25:42 Sam, and he said his brother didn't just have knowledge of what happened. 25:45 He was at the crime scene and helped Simpson clean up. 25:49 But then the New York Times reports that Sam Lader recanted his statements after the newspaper 25:54 refused to pay him for his story. 25:57 NBC News reached out to Sammy Pulido earlier this week and he said in a text message, 26:01 quote, there was no way he was involved and that's all I'm going to say about that. 26:05 Well, that's kind of a huge, huge 180 there. 26:09 What are the original investigators and prosecutors make of this? 26:12 Prosecutor Marsha Clark told the New York Times that she had no knowledge of Joey 26:16 Bolito and the fact she didn't know about him means he had no credible or relevant evidence to 26:22 provide. Tom Lang, who is the lead detective in the Simpson case, told the Times that he never 26:27 believed Simpson had an accomplice, even though Bolito's name came up during the investigation. 26:32 Alex, the LAPD says the double murder case remains active and open. We will keep an 26:38 eye out for any developments. 26:41 Next up, we're heading to South Carolina, where convicted killer Alec Murdoch is preparing 26:46 to stand trial again for the 2021 killings of his wife Maggie and their son Paul. 26:52 Earlier this year, his convictions were overturned by the South Carolina Supreme Court because 26:56 of misconduct by a court clerk. 26:59 Last week, Murdoch and his defense team were back in court fighting over crucial evidence 27:03 before the retrial. 27:04 Alec, what are his attorneys asking for? 27:06 So, Jose, one of the biggest issues at this hearing was DNA evidence. 27:10 During the initial investigation, police found unknown male DNA under Maggie's fingernails 27:16 and on her cell phone. 27:17 So in August, Murdoch's attorneys asked to conduct their own testing on that DNA and 27:22 the judge agreed. 27:23 The prosecution raised concerns that additional testing would use up all the DNA samples 27:28 left, so they wanted access to the testing results even if the defense doesn't end 27:32 up using it. 27:33 At this latest hearing, the judge sided with the defense again and ruled that they could 27:38 move forward with testing without automatically sharing their results. 27:41 And things Sally's got particularly heated during the hearing when the defense raised 27:46 questions about a 3D scan investigators made at the crime scene. 27:50 What was that about? 27:51 So, investigators used something called a ferro scan, which is a laser scanning technology 27:56 that can create 3D representations of a crime scene. 27:59 the defense asked for access to the original scanned data so their expert 28:04 could examine it and potentially create a new reconstruction. Defense attorney 28:08 Dick Harputlian said that he had requested the data from prosecution 28:11 weeks ago but hadn't received it, also complaining that in the last trial the 28:16 prosecution had turned over a large amount of data just days before jury 28:20 selection, which made it really challenging for the defense to process 28:23 the data. This led to some pretty intense back-and-forth between the 28:28 attorneys. Yeah, let's listen to some of that. We asked the 28:31 Faro day 30 days ago. 30 days ago. And you're gonna hear in a 28:37 minute about the ballistics. Same thing. No response until 28:41 you order them to respond. They don't even respond. He's in 28:44 here just now saying what I keep calling the false discovery 28:47 issue, which they do repeatedly and saying they don't all the 28:50 stuff on us three days before trial. Judge Deborah 28:52 McAzlin eventually stepped in basically saying that she's 28:56 heard enough. This has got to stop. I don't want this tit for tat back between y'all. 29:05 All of y'all lawyers are professionals. This is a court. This isn't a sound bite. Okay. 29:17 And this is a new judge since the first trial. Sounds like she was getting pretty frustrated. 29:22 Yeah, I think that's fair to say. At the end of the hearing, she had a pretty stern warning 29:27 for the attorneys. This case will be tried in a court room under the rules of evidence 29:34 and the law, not in the press and not in the court of public opinion. I will not allow these 29:43 proceedings to become a circus. So what's next for Murdoch? His next hearing is scheduled for 29:50 November 13th and his retrial is scheduled for April 5th of next year. Dayline has been on this 29:55 story since day one and we will, of course, be in the courtroom for it all. 30:02 And for our final story, we're heading to North Carolina for an update on the trial 30:06 of Miguel Salguero-Olivares, a man accused of murdering 19-year-old UNC student Faith Hedgepeth 30:13 in her Chapel Hill apartment 14 years ago. 30:16 Miguel had no known connection to Faith, but prosecutors say DNA evidence tied him 30:21 to the crime. 30:22 him. He has pleaded not guilty. The prosecution rested their case on Monday, but not without 30:27 some drama from one of the witnesses. Alex, tell us what happened. 30:32 So the prosecution called its final witness, Justin Heinrich, an agent with the North Carolina 30:37 State Bureau of Investigation. His testimony focused on that takeout bag found next to 30:42 Faith's body. Remember, it had a note on it that said, I'm not stupid, bitch. 30:46 much jealous. Agent Heinrich testified that investigators found a photo on Miguel's computer. 30:52 It showed some foreign currency and a handwritten note in Spanish. Heinrich testified that the 30:58 handwriting looked similar to the handwriting found at the crime scene. 31:01 But on Monday, Alex, Agent Heinrich returned to the stand and he made a big U-turn here. 31:08 That's right, Jose. So he said that over the weekend he found out the picture wasn't 31:12 actually Miguel's handwriting at all, but a widely circulated picture found on the internet. 31:18 A meme, essentially. Well, that's kind of huge. On Wednesday, the defense decided not to call 31:24 any witnesses and rested their case. We will bring you the latest on the trial next week. 31:29 Alex, it's always great chatting with you. It's a privilege to work by your side. Thank you for 31:34 the updates. Thank you, Jose. The school year is in full swing. For some college students, 31:40 That means it's time to start looking for a job to help pay the bills as if balancing work and school weren't difficult enough 31:49 Students across the country are now falling victim to a new type of scam 31:53 Now when we see five responds to a growing frontier of fraud 31:57 That's the online job hunt thieves pretend to be recruiters wanting to hire you when in reality 32:02 They just want your private data for our final story this week 32:06 Andrea Canning spoke with NBC's chief consumer investigative correspondent, Vicki Wynn, to 32:11 learn more about what to watch out for. 32:13 Take a listen. 32:15 Welcome back to the podcast, Vicki. 32:17 Hey, Andrea. 32:17 Always great to be with you. 32:18 Yeah. 32:19 So, Vicki, you say students applying for jobs are sitting ducks for scams, and it 32:25 feels like every school year the Better Business Bureau is warning college students 32:28 and maybe even a little older to be on their guard when they're looking for 32:32 a job. 32:33 Absolutely, because you have this confluence, Andrea, of people who are young, may not be 32:39 jaded to the world of scams in the same way that some of us are. 32:44 And they are motivated. 32:46 They want to land that first job, that paying internship. 32:50 So it isn't just college kids. 32:52 A LinkedIn report from 2026 estimated that one-third of Gen Z job seekers have actually 32:58 fallen victim to some sort of an employment scam. 33:01 So, how do these scams unfold? 33:04 So students go where everyone goes to look for a job, right? 33:08 An online job board, they can be on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster. 33:13 And according to the Better Business Bureau, scammers are also there ready to greet them 33:17 with fake job postings. 33:20 Sometimes they're even going into college Facebook groups and posting listings there. 33:25 And here's one key red flag. 33:28 Like those job postings will often have really high salaries and sometimes requirements that 33:34 seem really easy to get in, like six months of experience or fresh college graduate and 33:40 suddenly you're making six figures. 33:42 Yeah, sometimes the adage if it's too good to be true might apply here, right? 33:47 Absolutely. 33:48 And these scammers, they're trying to get money, personal information. 33:52 It's really a combination of both. 33:54 you know that when you apply for a job, often you are being asked for your 33:58 cell phone number, your email address, sometimes even your social security number, 34:02 and so that's why it's really important to take a step back, look at the email 34:07 where this job offer is coming from, make sure that it isn't all only being done 34:13 over email, right? Vicki, our Los Angeles affiliate KNBC had a story a few 34:18 years ago about a student who spoke to people on an encrypted messaging app 34:22 called element and things did not go well. Yeah, this was crazy. A Cal State student named 34:27 Alexandria Smith applied for what she thought was a paid social media internship for something 34:32 called Greylock Capital Management. That is a real legitimate financial investment firm. 34:38 Someone posing as a recruiter reached out to her for an interview. She had a 45-minute 34:42 text conversation with him. The so-called recruiter even asked her about her prior 34:47 work experience and other interview questions, making it seem like it was real. But the key 34:51 was this all happened over text. 34:53 And in this case, she was informed she got the job. 34:56 And that's when the suspicious activity started. 34:59 So what happened was the scammer sent her several checks 35:03 for thousands of dollars each. 35:04 They asked her to deposit the money into her bank account. 35:07 Then they told her to use Zell to transfer some of the money 35:11 to pay for a laptop and other remote work items. 35:15 What they're doing is preying on that little window 35:17 of waiting for the check to clear 35:19 so that their fake check bounces and your real money goes to them. 35:22 Thankfully, the bank stepped in in this case with Alexandria. 35:26 You know what? And I will give credit to the banks who have been doing more to train their tellers
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