now quisenberry was admitting he had visited his friend earon that day, but he insisted he left before anyone was shot. rick sensed that quisenberry and his story were crumbling, so he went for the jugular, demanding he come clean. and it worked. i saw him go in there and i was behind him and pow, pow, pow, i heard more gunshots. him saying he was in that house was critical. that becomes the most important thing he says in the statement. detective arnold now had admission number one. the interview nearly over, quisenberry had a request, one of the strangest rick had ever heard. i know this is hard to ask police this [ bleep ] i need to smoke a blunt. a blunt is a king-sized marijuana cigarette. i ve never been asked that in an interview before. we can t do that. now it was time to interrogate williams. he proved to be a tougher nut to
from a family friend. james quisenberry had known earon for years. he called her auntie a. police brought him in to see if he had any information that could help the investigation. one of the very last people to call her or talk to her by phone was you, which is why we want to talk to you. was me? uh-huh. quisenberry provided some names for police to check out and offered to assist police in any way he could. help you find whoever it is. back at children s hospital, erica was now in the icu, holding on for life. her heartbroken grandparents and big sister stood daily vigil. it was like a horror movie, really. i don t know who that was on that bed. that wasn t erica. ebony took it very hard. 14 years older, she had been like a second mother to erica.
welcome back to dayline extra. i m craig melvin. and her 2-year-old daughter erica gravely injured. one of the men was eriaron s friend, james quisenberry. but the other man s image was too grainy to make out. an unexpected witness was about to step forward with a story that could blow the case wide open. here again is hoda kotb. just 27 days after being shot in the head, erica was released from rehab and met officer and pastor steve kelsey and her other rescuers. it was nothing short of a miracle. that is beautiful. that is beautiful. to see the looks on those faces and know that she had survived was a pretty powerful
witness whose testimony would unravel the mystery, and offer a motive for murder. hear wh here with the conclusion of our story is hoda kotb. how you doing? reporter: on the carousel of life in louisville, it was what everyone had been asking. how was erica, the miracle baby doing. how you doing? reporter: but through it all, other questions swirled too. what happened in the house on wilson avenue, and would the men involved in the shootings pay for their crimes? okay. we are on the record. those answers would come three years later, april twine in a louisville courtroom where james quisenberry and kenneth williams stood trial for the murder of earon harper and attempted murder of little erica. whatever the verdict, one man would not be there to hear it. for harold harper, facing the defendants was simply too much
using bogus names. and on the security tape, rick looked closely and saw the man in the baseball cap leaning through the window of the enclosed pharmacy section, seemingly checking out names from pill bottles. over and over detective arnold stared at the grainy walgreens tape. the man in the baseball cap looked familiar. one person looked like quisenberry. as in james quisenberry, earon s family friend who phoned her minutes before the murder. earlier, he told the detective how much he wanted to help the investigation. help you find whoever it is. rick wasn t buying any of it now. quisenberry had become a prime suspect, though rick wasn t ready to arrest him. not yet. not until he had the other man. but that wouldn t be easy. although there were two suspects in his sights, the mystery man was not in focus. how clear is the image of the second guy? it s not very clear.