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Pretty secluded area next to a forest reserve. So it was and it was clear and dark and still, and vacant, here with the deep woods fought back against the decaying urban sprawl. I remember crying this violent cry. Youre just waiting to wake up. Feels like youre literally in a nightmare. Yes, still does. The name youll want to remember is nava. One who succeeds. This is her mother, maria. I wanted her to be successful and she was. Frankly had the rest of them in this big family. This is leah, the firstborn. We might need a graph or a chart because its kind of involved. Full siblings, half siblings, quarter siblings once removed, very blended. We share one parent so technically half siblings. That word is kind of offensive to me. To me it implies its something less and i never used that word, were just siblings. One big close, happy family said john the youngest. We grew up from young so were one big family. Not one but two ashleys. Shes ashley an e and shes ashley with an y. Imagine this, kind of unusual, kind of rare that everybody gets along. Its a good thing. Although when we were kids it was a lot more crazy to other people. In the middle of the big family was naiela. Little moot they used to call her because once she decided something, all arguments against were moot. She was assure of herself from the earliest time. Yes she was going somewhere. always accepted you for who you were. Like she glowed when she walked in a room. She began building a career eventually in farm sought cool sales. I think everything she wanted to be she was. Just as a theme fabulous. Quas the separation and she met that mark. Always number one really she stayed in touch, never failed. Call her shed call back right aw away, text her shed reply always. She managed to water all her relationships. She went time to everyone, friends, family. Thats a pretty special skill. To manage that and your career. Narrator there were men, of course there were. Though she was shall we say, discerning. The yunlg mention were of theical berle. What sort of guys . Nice, respect recall men. Professional men. She was dating with Plastic Surgeon guy, and this guy and that guy. She took up briefly with a dashing investor with a White Bentley. And in july of 2007, she met andre wright. This lawyer from milwaukee. She had a big, beautiful smile, a big beautiful woman, she had a very warm personality and we kind of walked around the space looking at different pieces, talking about my interests, what i was looking for in a piece of art. Obviously i tried to engage her. Suddenly this was a different search. The art work became of little interest to me at that point. Just like that, it was all over for both of them. I dont want to go all Hallmark Card on you, but this was clearly like a transcendental moment. Yes, absolutely. The family loved andre, what family want . He came to my sons Birthday Party and he brought a gift. Because hes a nice, quality person. They liked you . I think so, yes. Due to her influence, though. You started planning on moving in together, right, on being together . We did. And it was happening pretty fast . It felt good though, it just felt natural. It was long distance, he in milwaukee, she in chicago. They stayed connected by phone and email and text all day long. I would call her every morning. And no one seemed to notice any dark force, any unseen thing festering in the heat of that hot late summer, didnt feel the warning, didnt know who said what to whom. It was september 18, a tuesday. That tuesday morning, i thought i had called her on my way to work. But i was interrupted and she called me and said, hey, what happened to my call. I said oh, i thought i had. So we spoke for a bit, exchanged emails later. And then just kind of went about the day. Evening came, he in the flush of love, called again. No answer. Left her a message saying i was heading home and got a text message back from her phone saying she was at a dinner and would reach out later. Wait a minute. You had been calling her every day, talking all the time. Yeah. And she said, im at dinner, ill call you later . But she didnt. Then, 9 00 p. M. , one of the ashleys call nailah, nailah who always picked up the phone for a sister. I texted her and i got a text message that said something along the lines of im at dinner and ill call you in a few. That sound like her . Its not like her to not answer her phone. I have seen her step out of the shower to answer her phone. I sent her an email, in all caps, are you alive . One of those half in jegs half worrying. Without knowing, what a good question it was. Not only was nailah increasingingly hard to reach even worse she hadnt shown up for work that day. I had my spidey sense on. One more ominous sign, three calls to 911 from her cell phone. 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Beautiful day in baltimore where most people probably know that geico could save them money on car insurance, right . You see the thing is geico, well, could help them save on boat insurance too. Hey okay. Im ready to come in now. Hello . Im trying my best. Seriously, im. Im serious. Request to come ashore. Geico. Saving people money on more than just car insurance. September 19, 2007, dawned in chicago like any late summer day, hot, humid, the usual, except for one thing. Nailah franklin, ambitious, dependable, always on her phone, silence, even with her new love, andre. I called her that morning, emailed her, called her again early afternoon. Thats when he sent her that all caps email, are you alive . You probably didnt mean it the way it was . Its like to say to someone, are you there . Later in the afternoon, big sister lehia did get a call, not from nailah, but from nailahs boss. He said she missed a meeting, and immediately my spidey senses were high so of course i tried to call her, i didnt get her. She called her and her other siblings. Had anyone heard from her . I didnt speak with her that day, i didnt speak with her the day before. No, actually, ive been really busy, and i havent talked to her. She called the chicago pd and filed a missing persons report. Then she drove over to nailahs condo, no answer. She got a key, went in. You see her eggs and coffee that she had just left there, just out. Somethings wrong. Im like, you know what . This isnt right. Then lehia got a professional, she knows how, shes a Public Relations executive. She called every Media Contact she had. You kind of went wide on this thing. Your pr impulse really kicked in. Yes. Lehias experience told her not to hope too much for medias help for very unfortunate reason. Quite frankly, i dont know of women of color of people of color who get the same attention by the media in general. In fact theres some truth to it. I think theres some truth to it. That the good looking young blond, the whole world wants to know about her, stay talking about her for years, a black womans not quite the same deal. No and there is reality to that. It troubles the mind when people of color go missing, or if it didnt fit the narrative of gun violence or Gang Violence or Something Like that, then somehow, its not real. Though lehia knew, but lehia was not to be denied. You decided they damned well were going to cover it. Well, they were. Maybe this is because of lehias media salve savvy. Flifrz are taped to posts and handed out to people passing by. We were in the streets and putting up any place we could, downtown, suburbs. They phoned and texted and emailed their friends, but no one reported seeing nailah, no one. Nailahs sisters kept replaying their last conversation. She called me and she said, ive got something to tell you. And before she could tell me, she got a call on the other line. She clicked over and said she would call me back. She didnt call you . She didnt call me back. Awful what a persons mind can churn up in the dark, as day one became day two, and then day three. I just kept calling her, i was thinking, shes going to answer, shes going to answer. Shes going to answer. Theres no handbook about this, you think youre going to wake up and its a dream, but, no, its real. The casing of the missing pharmaceutical representative fell on detective greg jacobson, who right away scanned nailahs phone records and found something alarming. Just after 10 00 p. M. , the night nailah vanished, her cell phone made three calls to 911. Chicago emergency, may i help you . No voice, no struggles could be heard, no background noise, with the exception of some light music in the background. Thats kind of eerie to hear that. Yes, it is. If a person is physically unable to complete the conversation and just able to dial the 911. So the investigators set about talking to just about everybody nailah knew. There was interviews completed through doctors she visited to try to retrace her steps and everyone she had encountered. Everyone we knew had a relationship with her. Maybe lehias campaign worked because we had some anonymous tips of people saying they had seen her at this location. But not a single one of them led to nailah, now detectives believed they were dealing with a serious crime and yet shes missing, technically, there hasnt been a crime committed. That makes it somewhat awkward when youre looking into it. Anyone we knew had contact with her, the boyfriend she went to see from wisconsin the week before she went missing. They were all interviewed. Andre had come to chicago, helping with the search and soon was perhaps the subject of it. They came to you. They did. The perfect boyfriend, now to police, a perfectly obvious person of interest. Coming up, a discovery in an empty parking lot. It was in a pretty secluded area and right adjacent to a lagoon. Whoa. I watch enough dateline to know thats not a good sign. A strange sight to be sure, but what, if anything, did it have to do with na sometimes we use ky ultragel to enhance my bodys natural moisture so i can get into it a bit quicker. And when i know shes into it, i get into it and. Feel the difference with ky ultragel. It was a big search . Yes. How overwhelming was that . You dont realize how the world seems so big when youre looking for someone. Imagine, all of chicago, and nailah would be anywhere, tied up in a basement, in the trunk of a car, or worse. Then middle of the night, 20 miles south of town in a place called calumet city, a cop was on routine patrol checking out a golf course parking lot. His name is Calvin Lucius. I was in this area right here, i noticed right in front of me, six perfectly stacked cardboard boxes right in the parking lot. Sitting right there in the parking lot . Sitting right there on the curb, something stood out, so im like, somethings not right here. Inside the boxes, pills, hundreds of them. I was thinking this might be something big, some type of narcotics and drug related case. Except it looked like samples, something a pharmaceutical rep would be handing out to doctors. What were they . Different types of medicines, i cant even pronounce the names. What were they doing here . On the label, the address to a storage locker and a name. Nailah. Pretty soon the fbi and Chicago Police, everybody was out here looking. Including detective greg jacobson. It was in a pretty secluded area next to a forest reserve, which was righted ajay september to a lagoon. Whoa. I watch enough dateline to know thats not a good sign. Was nailah down there in that murky water . They drudged the lagoon. Acand forth they went, scouring every inch of the pond and the thick behind it and found one weird thing. Jewelry in some of the bushes. Pearls and such hanging there. The cops checked with their friends, looked like nailah, they said, except nailah wasnt here. But remember sister lehias p. R. Campaign, not far away from there, next town over a person saw a newscast, and theyre like, that cars been on my block for a couple days. And thank god they saw that and thank god they cared enough to call it in. That call came from here, hammond, indiana, three days after nailah vanished, a black chevy impala. We rushed out there to see it. Reporter it was hers. You opened that trunk, the last thing you want to think is theres something in that trunk. And fortunately there wasnt. You obviously do a workup on the vehicle. Did you find any prints, any dna, anything useful at all . I think the way our technicians described it, it was wiped clean. Including in the trunk . Yes. Yes. Believing somehow she might find her sister, the younger ashley drove out there. The car was parked in front of an abandoned house. And i went, i banged on the door, looked through the windows, i screamed her name. I didnt want to leave. I had to be taken from that area. Of course the cops canvassed the neighbors, and what do you know . They had seen a male mulling around the vehicle and enter another vehicle and leave, that was a few days prior to locating the vehicle. Did they give you a good description . It was a male africanamerican, thin billed. That description may have fit a lot of people in nailahs life. For example her new boyfriend, andre wright. Police had questioned him about their relationship and where he was when she disappeared. They asked when the last time i saw her was, the last time we spoke. Or could that man mulling around the car have been someone else, her exboyfriend, his name was Reginald Potts. But before the cops could find him, he stepped up and called them. He said he wanted to know why the Chicago Police wanted to talk with him. He agreed to stop by he headquarters for a talk. He gives us a lot of information. He had met her a year earlier, but purely by chance in the street on the ritzy gold coast, she was sophisticated, so was he. They dated briefly, realized it wasnt for life, though a girl could do worse with his White Bentley and duplex living over a lake. He lives in a very large apartment complex, a highrise. Nice place . Beautiful. In an upscale area. Its where you want to live. Wow. Reginald told them everything they wanted to know. Everywhere he went, very detailed. The days events. Shopping with friends at target, bar hopping with not one, but two girl friends, separately of course, and after that an intimate plan with a third girlfriend. They made arrangements to meet at reginalds apartment around midnight on the 18th. This guy gets around. If you got a bentley, your options are open. I guess so. As investigators headed off to check Reginald Potts alibi, down in calumet city, officer calvin lucious was staking out spots, when a partner noticed something. He saw a pair of ear buds hanging from the trees. Bright little baubles hanging there in the dark. What else was there at the edge of the midnight woods. Coming up, its now a different type of investigation, and detectives take a closer look at a man from nailahs past. She felt that there was something off about him. Sir, this alien life form is growing at an alarming rate. Growing fast, you say . We cant contain it any long. Oh you know, that reminds me of how geicos been the fastestgrowing auto insurer for over 10 years straight. Over ten years . Mhm, geicos the company your friends and neighbors trust. And deservedly so. Indeed. Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Disinfect with lysol bathroom toilet gtrigger. Just stay in the toilet. 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What she washed this like a month ago hows a guy supposed to move on the long lasting scent of gain flings. Its a grassroots effort by family and friends. For all the frantic activity, the phone calls, the flyers, the organized looking about, it was a rare quiet time, nine days in, when nailah franklins sister felt it. We were at a prayer vigil that night and i knew, i was like, shes not coming back. And that very night, in the 3 00 a. M. Hush of calumet city, Calvin Lucius made his way from the ear buds his partner found the glirting ear buds hanging in a tree, behind a derelict video store. I got right around in this area, and just looked over and the body was there. What was that moment like . Shock, you dont know if its her or not, but you have a idea, because its a female body. They had to resort to dental records to confirm, it was nailah. I think this type of death, it doesnt just kill that person, it kills a lot in the family. Its the absence of a piece of you because that person is not here. I cant describe it, its like you know its happening, but it just doesnt feel real. It just feels like youre in, literally like in a nightmare. An autopsy confirmed the death was by asphyxiation, so now it was homicide, but who was the killer . Not andre. Confirmed he was in milwaukee when nailah vanished. Everything with him checked out. As for being questioned are you upset by it . Not at all. They should have done that. Thats part of their job. What about Reginald Potts who had been so helpful. Well, this is curious, when investigators went to visit his highrise apartment, they couldnt help but notice one of the doors was extremely damaged, like it had been forced open. Hmm, thats weird. But maybe not so weird. There was an explanation. Reginald potts was visited by the members of the Cook County Sheriffs Department in an attempt to evict Reginald Potts. Of course this was 2007, lot of people were falling behind in their mortgages. But by the look of it, reginalds problems were deeper than that. He was constantly in default. 15 parsz of pairs of gucci shoes but not a mattress to sleep on. He had not a pot or pan in the kitchen, but what he believed were important items to surround himself with, cars, clothing, high end restaurants. There for show. The bentley it turned out belonged to somebody else. And reginald juggled girlfriends and hookups and a wife who was raising his children and another one who was raising another. It didnt take nailah long to figure it out. Or so her friends told the police. She sensed there was something off about him and thats probably where she decided to, you know, look a little deeper. So she ended it, and as she did, she warned whomever she could about reginald, even one of his other girlfriends. Watch out for this guy, hes bad news, and hes cheating on you . Yeah, they were in communication about reginald. Nailah told andre that when reginald found out, he wasnt happy. He got wind of that and reached out to nailah in a threatening manner. Sent her nasty emails and voicemails. Did you worry about that a lot . She didnt exhibit any worries to me about it. But she must have been worried. Detectives found a report that nailah had called a Nonemergency Police phone number, asked about filing an order of protection against a threatening exboyfriend. She mentioned mr. Potts. So, yes, Reginald Potts was a murder suspect. But he wasnt exactly hiding from the police. Remember, he had given them a very detailed alibi to check out. He was pretty specific on where hes at. And as the weeks went by, he seemed quite eager to help. He continuously called me on my cell phone. Really . Yes. Called you to tell you what . Trying to direct the investigation, why havent we talked to you. His friend, the echols were with him much of the day, he said. They were at a target store shopping. And sure enough, mr. Echols confirmed his account, there they are on surveillance cameraless at the target store, which would seem to exclude potts as a suspect, if he was shopping. He wasnt kidnapping and killing nailah but this was curious. For some reason reginald did not show up on camera. If youre going to commit a crime do not do it at target. They have everything down to your signing your trances on the keypad very clear. Meaning either he managed somehow to avoid every camera in the store or his friend lied for him. So they hold reginalds buddy down to the station and after a few gorounds he admitted not only was reginald at the target but shall. He did receive a phone call from rental nald potts and went to hammond to pick him up. The town where nailahs car was found. On september 16, 2007, reginald pots was arrested for the murder of nailah franklin. But reginald, quite vehemently denied killing her. We can put you in fabration. 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Now with lightweight spf 30 here we are in a little room in a Chicago Police station, Reginald Potts is under arrest for the murder of nailah franklin, the detectives they are certain they have their man. But mr. Potts . I adamantly deny that i was ever there, period. He appears to be insulted they even asked. I can tell youre lying. Nailah, he was nowhere near her, he said, when she was vanished. I was not near her or near her. Of course they told him they had evidence. I have video of your bentley in the parking garage of your building. I can tell you for sure thats a lie. A police frameup to which the detectives said you understand that video cameras are everywhere . Yes, including nailahs apartment building, and there is reginald, plain as day with nailah, arriving and leaving with her on that very day she disappeared. So you knew he was there . Yes. But reginald, doubled down on hiss denials. I am certain that i am nowhere near inside of nailah franklins apartment. Accused the police of fabricating evidence. You have can be very creative with photoshop. I guarantee you, you dont have video of me getting off the elevator at nailah franklins house, if you do, youre very creative with photoshop. He talked and talked, denied and denied all without any apparent desire for an attorney, but when they asked him to stand in a lineup so witnesses could have a look the states attorney is representing the people in registering the case, i would not feel comfortable at all, at all. So they waited for reginalds attorney to arrive. And then, it got odd. Your attorneys right there. Why are you taking your clothes off . Whats that . Your attorney is right here. We want to take him for a lineup right now. You can step in the other room. Reginald removed all of his clothing and refused to stand in the lineup. Thats an interesting tactic. Yes. Have you ever seen that before . No. So no lineup, but they charged him anyway with capital murder. Nailah by then had been dead three months. I was definitely relieved, i was kind of surprised that it took so long. But i was relieved. Relieved too that Reginald Potts as was his right, demanded a speedy trial, but then Reginald Potts used every resource at his disposal to delay the process. Nbcs charlie wojiewoski watched in amazement as reginald turns speedy justice into Something Else all together. He hired lawyers, he fired lawyers, he tried to act as his own attorney. At each step of the trial, the trial had to be reset. One, two, three years passed that way. In the fourth half of the year, indiana had abolished capital punishment, so that was off the table. Still reginalds actions forced delays. This is one of the most bizarre cases weve seen in chicago. Just as nailahs family had reached out to the media, Reginald Potts tried to launch a p. R. Campaign from behind bars. His family reached out trying to convince me that there may be some way that he was not associated with this crime, that it might be associated with someone else. Every delay, every manipulation was slow torture. I very much believe that everyone should have a fair and just trial and that too often people who are poor or people of color do not or most often, they dont get proper representation, and they dont get a fair shake in our court system. But this was not that. And then finally, on october 28, 2015, on a crisp, fall day in chicago, the state versus Reginald Potts began. It had taken eight years to get here. When it was finally happening, we were confused about how things would go down. Finally a trial, what type of experience is this going to be . They had no idea, how could they . Cook county assistant state attorneys Maria Mccarthy and fabio valentiti brought the case against potts. This was a case with no eyewitnesses, no concession, no video of the crime, no physical evidence linking Reginald Potts to the crime and a cause of death that was based on primarily exclusion. We dont try many cases like that. And not many cases with a defendant quite like Reginald Potts. Coming up, an accused killers defense. Hes smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is. And after eight years, a verdict. What really tormented me all these years is that theres a possibility that justice wont be done. Sometimes we use ky ultragel to enhance my bodys natural moisture so i can get into it a bit quicker. And when i know shes into it, i get into it and. Feel the difference with ky ultragel. For eight years, nailah franklins family struggled through their incomplete grief. What really has tormented me all these years is that theres a possibility that justice wont be done. There was no real forensic evidence, only circumstantial things. Though according to the prosecutors, there was a whole is more gas board of proof. The video of reginald with reginald popts the day nailah vanished, the video at the target store that did not show him and thus blew up his alibi. Nailahs friends testified she showed them emails and played a voicemail in which he threatened her. Nailah played that voicemail for them because she was so terrified and essentially, in that voicemail, he said, nailah, im going to have you erased, im going to make you disappear. In fact said the prosecutors, thats exactly what he did. Snuck into her building, led her terrified to the garage, strangled her and stuffed her body in the trunk of her own car. How did they know he took her out to the suburbs to dump her body an her car . Cell phone towers, linked together like bread crumbs. The moment they walked out of the vestibule to the parking lot, shes not calling anybody, shes not answering calls, her texts are all odd. But her phone and his phone were together, lock step, the entire rest of the day. Right to the abandoned video store behind where they found nailahs body. No coincidence that he chose that particular spot so far from chicago, said the prosecutor. We find out that the video store is owned by pots brotherinlaw. His friend, the alibi witness now testified for the prosecution that yes, he originally lied for reginald but didnt know it was to cover up a murder. Remember those three strange hangup calls to 91 and those odd texts and mails her boyfriend and sister were received . It was potts, using her phone, hours after he murdered her, said the prosecution, a clever attempt to throw off a missing persons investigation. Hes smarter than the average criminal, but not as smart as he thinks he is. But Reginald Potts was nothing if not strategic. His defense was to refute their evidence and discredit the prosecution. Defense attorneys need to create reasonable doubt. In this case it was very difficult to determine cause of death. Immediately the defense is going to rush to that, you cant really tell how they died and its Little Things like that in the hopes that one juror or two jurors will latch on to that and say i cant convict. They even disputed the cell phone evidence the prosecution believed cinched the case. The idea that you can trinksage late the location of a cell phone by the pings on the tower is flawed. Did reginalds art persuade them, two hours and 15 minutes after they began, the jury answered no. They pronounced Reginald Potts guilty of firstdegree murder. Whew. I was so relieved. I was like, okay, thats past now is the next thing. The next thing was sentencing, nearly four months later. Still waiting and hoping he doesnt get four years or something stupid like that. But again, they had no idea. What was this man all about . There was a hearing to help the judge make a decision about sentence, normally just arguments, recommendations from both sides. But not this time. The prosecution called 35 witnesses to tell the judge a hair raising story about Reginald Potts. Reginald was not quite the gold plated Success Story he appeared to be. He lived a live of a lot of smoke and mirrors. He was a con man who fooled a lot of people. And when the con man was challenged, even Law Enforcement was a target. He said he would kill my family, my family would never be safe. I was struck three times by mr. Potts in the face. He spent much of his adult life in prison where he assau assaulted guards. I was struck in my right eye by potts. All of that was too prejudicial to present at trial, but now absolutely relevant. He took her back by the elevator and i heard slap. This guy has been a menace his entire adult life. Do you see mr. Potts in court today . And when a woman stood up to him. Witness after witness testified that reginald betrayed them, by bullied them or worse. Choked her, choked her out and threw her on the bed. This guy not only had a propensity for violence against women but he had a propensity specifically to choke and strangle them. Hes a sociopath. He lies as easily as he breathes about anything, no matter how stupid. If he tells you what time it is, look at your watch. That bad, huh . Yes. The guys a monster. A monster, who however briefly fooled even the sophisticated, successful nailah, to her mothers eternal sorrow. You dont know who youre letting into your life. They dont always come looking like a monster. There was a kind of ceremony about these things, everyone gets to talk. Nailahs murder stole from our community of bright light. Might mares still taunt me with her screaming, moaning, calling out, begging for her life. But reginald cried, denied everything. The jury of my peers came back with a verdict that i believe is false and i believe is invalid, and i believe a court of appeals will overturn it. But right now this court has to honor what they said and impose sentence, but i tell you i am not the person that ms. Mccarthy has tried to paint in this courtroom. Im not a monster. Im not a monster. We waited to see if a judge would buy reginalds story, or the prosecutors. And here it was. You are a cold, calculating, conniving, coward of a con man who must be punished. And indeed he was, life without parole. Take him away. So that was justice, the most nailahs family could hope for. Terribly important. And strangely, empty. Its still not done. Shes still not back. We still cant talk with her. No, they try to remember nailah, not as a murder victim, but as the beautiful young woman she was, the vibrant center of her family. But grief, real and painful, comes to visit every day. You know, people say, oh, well shes your spirit and shes your angel and shes in a better place and all this other stuff, im like yeah, but i want her here, i dont want my 28yearold sister to be my angel. I want her to be right here in the thick of it with me. Eegs. I am lester holt. Thanks for joique us. Today marks the most tedliest shooting in american history. This was an act of terror and an act of hate. My son was in the club with his boyfriend, and juan got shot. They both died. People on the ground bleeding, people screaming. I could smell the ammo in the air, this was a gun, isnt fireworks. The schts name is amore mateen, lives in port st. Lucie. He made inflammatory comments alleging possible terrorist ties. Something really horrible