saw what they stole. and she said she saw all of it looking through this bathroom window. the only problem is, if you go back to where the shooting actually happened, it s pretty clear miriam tavares couldn t have seen anything at all. she said from the bathroom window she heard these conversations going on inside the car. i mean, it s just incredible testimony. but what disturbed cross even more, detective donnelly never looked at the crime scene from the perspective you just did. wouldn t that sort of be standard operating procedure to check out what witnesses say? you would think so. i think they got on the horse early on in this case and they rode that horse and they weren t going to change direction. we wanted to speak with miriam tavares. she died of a drug overdose in 2002. other than her testimony, there was no physical evidence, no forensics, no prints, nothing that tied eric or the others to the cab driver s murder. even so, detectives donnelly and aiello went with wh
be headed by 31-year-old detective mike donnelly, who worked alongside detective aiello. the two detectives donnelly and aiello ended up putting their heads and cases together, concluding the same group of several people committed both murders. did you know the other people? i knew two of them. from the neighborhood? from the neighborhood. these are good friends of yours? acquaintances. just guys you saw around? yes. february 4th, 1995. one of those guys was 19-year-old michael cosme, the first suspect arrested. you have the right to remain silent. he was the only one videotaped by police. i have one thing to say, though. i ll read you those rights and you can i only have one thing to say, though. i didn t do it. i wasn t there. i was in my house asleep. detectives didn t believe him and cosme was arrested for both murders. days later so was
drug overdose in 2002. other than her testimony, there was no physical evidence, no forensics, no prints, nothing that tied eric or the others to the cab driver s murder. even so, detectives donnelly and aiello went with what they had and closed both murder cases. within three weeks, they arrested their suspects and the bronx district attorney tried them. in all, six people were convicted. we ll call them the bronx six. five men and a woman. all sent away facing 25 to life. one of them was eric glisson. what s it like to hear that verdict read? it s like a shot in the chest. it s like your heart just melts. just dissolves. you actually think that, you know, they read the wrong verdict. that this can t be true. the nypd was quite proud of detectives donnelly and aiello s work, so proud that five months after the arrests
office but both declined comment citing the multiple civil suits they faced as the bronx six sought millions in damages against the city. and those two detectives, donnelly and aiello who were portrayed as super sleuths back in 1995, are now both retired and they didn t have anything to say to us. but in court filings attorneys for the city of new york denied that either detective threatened witnesses or falsified statements. and yet o both new york city and state would ultimately agree to pay each of the bronx six millions of dollars in damages. but for eric the immediate challenge was starting a new life. one full of amazing discoveries. hello? no, no. upside down. huh? coming up eric glisson s first night of freedom in almost 20 years.
about how detectives donnelly and aiello connected the two murders. it was through this witness. her name is kathy gomez. kathy, we re on the record. cross tracked her down and videotaped his interview with her. you know i m here today because eric glisson gomez, who was 16 at the time of the murder, says she first came in contact with the detectives for only one reason. she was friends with miriam tavares, who spoke only spanish. so you served kind of as a translator? yes. but by the time she had walked out of the police station, kathy gomez had become the key witness in the investigation of the fedex murder. gomez had signed a sworn statement claiming she overheard the same suspects talking about details of both crimes that only the killers or the cops would know. tell me if you recognize your signature on that document. yeah, that s my signature. here s the problem. it s a