the word erie was very fitting that day. lucy, was it chilling for you to walk into this place? yes, especially the office where the three gentlemen were. it was much smaller in person than i felt it was in the pictures. and just being in there, i wanted to get out. there they saw the ceiling tile that had been moved, where serrano had been accused of hiding a gun used in the murders. but as for a supposedly tell-tale dusty footprint on a chair beneath that tile, some jurors dismissed it as evidence. it shouldn t make no difference whatsoever. but what preoccupied jurors most was the tight time line of the theory of the crime. just ten hours for serrano to fly, drive, murder, fly again and be back in atlanta and be photographed by a hotel security camera. a complicated scheme, wasn t it? it was crazy. it was only ten hours. we all travel, we know it s a nightmare getting in and out of airports. did anybody have trouble with these whole orchestrated events? anybody doubt
then six months later came another 911 call from erie manufacturing. four dead, shot execution style. given serrano s stormy relationship with his partners, homicide detectives asked him to give a taped statement the day after the killings. i have no idea where it happened, when it happened, how it happened. serrano talked to police willingly. sharing details of a business partnership gone awry. we never had any problems until we started making serious money. even speculating on how the murders went down. there were many people involved, i mean there are four people in there. one guy is going to go over there and kill four people? serrano told police he was in atlanta, 500 miles away from erie manufacturing on the day of the murders. holed up in his motel room, door locked, drapes pulled suffering from a migraine. and an airport hotel security camera seemed to bear his story out. here he is on tape at an atlanta la quinta inn, in the lobby, around noon on the day of the m
the company made garment conveying systems and sold them for millions every year. in the halls of the business office of erie manufacturing, four people, three men and a woman, had been shot dead. florida state detective agent tommy ray thought he could prove that nelson serrano, an ousted business partner, had done it. although he claimed to be in atlanta that day and a hotel security camera backed that story up. he s got a good alibi, doesn t he? he s 500 miles away. he had planned it out well. detective tommy ray had evidence that his nephew left him a rental car in the orlando airport parking garage. he put the ticket to get out of
but got unpromising replies. they told us that even though they had been working on it for a couple of years and they had many leads, we just want you to understand that there s a possibility that this case will never be solved. but agent tommy ray, the chief investigator, hadn t thrown in the towel. in fact, he made a promise to the victims families, including the mother of george patisso. he said he would never retire until this was solved. he lived and breathed this case. but tenacity and resolve weren t the same thing as results. here was the detective s problem. he d come to believe that it was serrano himself that walked into erie manufacturing and shot the four. but nelson serrano s alibi had him up here at the atlanta hotel on noon of that day. the killings happened about 5:30 in the afternoon way down here. so how did serrano get from atlanta to erie manufacturing in florida and back to atlanta in time to be photographed by the hotel security camera again at 10:00 or
after the killings. i have no idea what even happened, where it happened, when it happened, how it happened. reporter: serrano talked to police willingly, sharing details of a business partnership gone awry. we never had any problems until we started making serious money. reporter: even speculating on how the murders went down. there were many people involved. i mean there are four people in there. one guy is going to go over there and kill four people? reporter: serrano told police he was in atlanta, 500 miles away from erie manufacturing, on the day of the murders, holed up in his motel room, door locked, drapes pulled suffering from a migraine. and an airport hotel security camera seemed to bear his story out. here he is on tape at an atlanta la quinta inn, in the lobby, around noon on the day of the massacre. he walks into frame again about 10:00 that night. agent tommy ray s team, of course, had his alibi checked out. we got a phone call from the