Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20170205 : comparemela.com

Transcripts For WCAU Dateline NBC 20170205

Theres a darkness thats at work here. You believe nick hillary killed your boy . Yes. People call me a murderer. Im 100 innocent. You could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. Reporter potsdam. Way upstate new york. A small speck on the map on the road to the canadian border. That they like to joke up there that theres more cows than people, and i dont think theyre joking. Reporter in this sleepy place, with a main street from the 1950s, youd think nothing happens that could possibly interest the outside world, but an epic story has been unfolding here. A murder case, for sure, but so much more than that. Its a little bit fargo. It is a little bit fargo. Jesse mckinley, a reporter for the New York Times was drawn to it. Its got a small town. Its got love triangles. Its got fated love. And those elements, for a writer, are irresistible. Reporter the woman in the middle of it all, tandy cyrus. A very pretty woman in a town where pretty women stand out. Reporter one of her lovers stood out too, nick hillary. As a black man in a predominantly white town. You still have people who will not accept interracial relationship. Reporter what happened between tandy and nick would tip the balance in a political campaign, give rise to a controversial lawsuit, and lure high profile, big city attorneys to confront each other in a murder trial that attracted national attention. This has become a story that kind of echoes beyond st. Lawrence county, and even beyond new york. Reporter except, when you drill down, its as local as it gets all about a smalltown boy. This one. 12yearold Garrett Phillips, tandys son. Garrett was a blur of a kid, perpetually set on fastforward, according to his mom. He was very energetic. Always on the go. Always had to have something to do. Reporter people here remember him tearing around town on his ripstick, a little bit skateboard, a little bit snowboard, all hip action and balance. There goes garrett sidewalksurfing his way home in 2011. Did you think, wow, my kid is really an awesome little athlete . Yes. Soccer, lacrosse, football, hockey. He was very good at everything. Reporter his bedroom wall a poster shrine to his sports heroes, including new England Patriots quarterback tom brady. Hes never really inside. Wasnt much for video games. Reporter its got to be pitch black before hes ready to come in for the night, huh . Yes. Reporter but when he was still a toddler, garrett was dealt a devastating blow. The death of his father, robbie. Garrett was nine months old when his dad had a brain aneurysm that ruptured. And then he was 2 when robbie passed away. Reporter tandy, a single mom, picked up the pieces as best she could. She studied at the Police Academy but eventually gave up Law Enforcement for a job in a credit union, where she became a loan officer. She also had a brief marriage, which gave garrett a kid brother, aaron. Did garrett like to mess with him . All the time. Reporter he liked to play jokes a little bit, didnt he . Yes. April fools was his favorite day of the year. Reporter then tandy moved in with a sheriffs deputy named john jones but it didnt last. How did the breakup go . Not well. At one point, she said that john shoved her during an argument, and that that was the last straw in that relationship. Reporter so in 2010, tandy was alone again, making ends meet by moonlighting as a bartender in a joint on potsdams main drag. Thats when nick hillary walked in and pulled up a stool. So hes just a customer who comes in . Yes. He came in on evenings after he was done work and coaching. Reporter they came from different worlds. She was local, the frozen north. He was from lush jamaica. Whats a happy memory from jamaica for you, nick . Going to the rivers. Just swimming all day. Coming back home. Mom has a great homecooked meal waiting for you. I mean, you thats a fantastic day. Reporter he moved to brooklyn as a teenager and found his niche as a soccer star, earning a scholarship to nyu. But the kid from jamaica was still searching, so he ditched school for the army, just as the first gulf war was winding down. I said, let me serve a greater purpose for a while. Reporter three years in the army, all stateside, forced nick to grow up, and now he was ready for college. Soccer was his ticket to st. Lawrence University Near the canadian border. Heres a jamaican guy used to swim all day in the rivers and youre going to be in fields of snow for six months a year . Exactly. Exactly. You know, but in the summertime, it brings me back, right back to jamaica again. Reporter weirdly, had you found something in upstate new york that worked out very well for you, a good fit . Yeah. It sure was. Reporter he felt most comfortable on the soccer field, where his respectful teammates gave him a nickname. Nick was the general. He was a leader. The general. Reporter so that was a tip of the hat both to his career as a vet yeah, absolutely. Reporter but also his traits as a person. Yeah, his leadership traits for sure. I mean it fit him to a tee. Reporter in 1999, nick led st. Lawrence to an undefeated season and a national championship, cementing bonds of friendship that remain tight today. Just great person on and off the field. A great role model. Yeah, he was our brother. He was our big brother. Reporter he was the glue that kept us all together. He brought us together. He arranged dinners at his house. He cooked for the whole team. Is that the rasta pasta nights . The rasta pasta. Absolutely. I mean it, it was a staple of who we were as, as a group. Reporter after the championship season and graduation, nick kept leading. He became a coach and, in 2009, landed a plum job, head soccer coach at clarkson, just minutes from his alma mater. Life was good. It got even better when nick, a father of three whod drifted from his kids mother, met tandy at that bar. Him drinking guinness and die graham agplays on a cocktail napkin. What do you think the attraction was, tandy . Conversation was just it was easy. The one thing that i liked about tandy, she had goals and ambition. Reporter things between the two heated up quickly, as these emails attest. From nick, i miss you millions. Have a great work day. From tandy, i cant wait to get home to you. I ly. I love you. They were sharing a house, blending families, and going on vacations as a couple. Nick took her to jamaica. But, as they say in the islands, it wasnt a cool breeze being an interracial couple in potsdam, which is over 90 white. And, he said, it was particularly hard on garrett, tandys boy. Garrett was being teased at school because his mom is dating a black man. Reporter so hes getting schoolyard aggravation, huh . Exactly. Reporter but, whatever tensions garrett was feeling, it didnt keep him from his sports. They were always a welcome distraction. Even on the fateful afternoon of october 24, 2011. He was playing basketball with his friends in the gym. But i had got upset with him because he knew the rule was he had to go home and do his homework first. Reporter do your homework and then go play with your pals . Right. So i made him go home. Reporter garrett blasted home on his ripstick on what seemed like a nothingspecial, raindreary monday in potsdam, where Community Safety was a given. So no worries hed be home first, home alone. What could possibly go wrong . As it turned out, a lot. Potsdam police. Reporter a little after 5 pm a neighbor called police. Hi. I live in an apartment house and the folks next to us, i thought i heard um screaming like no and help a couple of times. So i knocked on their door, and i heard the lock click. Reporter what happened in that apartment . They get the key. 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Reporter that october monday in 2011, Garrett Phillips was supposed to be the first one home to his secondfloor apartment at 100 Market Street. He apparently arrived just before 5 00 pm. Its on a very busy street. Market street is basically the reporter right off the main drag. Right, it is the main drag. Its a kind of rundown apartment building. Reporter sean hall and marissa vogel, engaged then and now married, didnt know tandy cyrus or her sons, but they were very familiar with the boyswillbeboys activities across the hall. You could hear running or roughhousing sometimes, or something rolling down the hallway like a skateboard. Reporter but that afternoon, as sean and marissa were watching the drama dexter on tv, the sounds coming from next door were different scary different. I heard a loud crash, and after that it was silence for a few seconds, and then in a low voice, i heard what sounded like moaning, help, ow, or, no. At that moment, i didnt think it was two little boys roughhousing anymore. It felt more dangerous. It felt wrong. Reporter concerned, marissa walked down the hallway and listened in. I knocked on the door and waited a moment, and then i definitely heard a click, like a lock. I had the feeling that there was somebody on the other side of that door. Reporter she called potsdam pd. I live in 3a, and they live across the hall. It just made me a little nervous that i thought i heard yelling and then i knocked to see if theyre okay and then it was silent. Im sorry if its not anything. It was a weird situation that it makes me uncomfortable. Okay. Ill have somebody check on it. Reporter a Patrol Officer arrived at the secondfloor apartment around 5 15 pm. No one answered his knock so he waited for the building manager to bring a key. The patrolman hears what he thinks is footsteps moving inside. Reporter inside . Inside the apartment. And then they get the key. They open the door. And they go inside. Reporter everything appeared to be in order. The living room was tidy, garretts stuff all in place rip stick propped against a wall. Backpack in the corner. They walk to the back. They turn the corner there, and then they find garrett. Hes lying there. They think at first hes sleeping. Perhaps hes fallen. Perhaps hes knocked himself out. But at that point hes pretty much in physical distress. Potsdam rescue. Need an ambulance to respond to 100 Market Street. Apartment 4 and expedite. Patrol on scene beginning cpr. Reporter the Patrol Officer called in the distressing details. Unresponsive male. No pulse. The mother is tandy cyrus. Isnt she john jones exgirlfriend . Reporter jones was a sheriffs deputy, so police knew tandy, and tracked her down. She raced to the cantonpotsdam hospital. And garretts in a very bad way in the hospital. Yes. Reporter what has happened . Is there any information about this . When i got there the doctor told me that he was in full cardiac arrest when they brought him in. But i had no idea what had happened. And couldnt understand how my 12yearold had a heart attack. Reporter did you think at first that maybe this had something to do with his dads problem . Maybe there was something genetic, aneurysm or something that had happened to him . I, honestly, was in shock. And couldnt wrap my head around anything. Reporter and i dont really want to take you back there. But youre there when he finally gives up . Yes. Reporter they cant bring him back. No. Reporter how awful for you. Garrett phillips, unstoppable in life, was dead at age 12. What happens in the next few hours, tandy . It was kind of a blur. We were at the hospital for a while. We got sent home. And i slept in aarons room with him. Reporter at the hospital, tandy had been joined by some of the men in her life, her exhusband Casey Collins and john jones, the sheriffs deputy. But no one notified nick hillary. Turns out, he and tandy had split up the month before, and he was no longer in her loop. So lt. Mark murray of the potsdam pd called nick. Mr. Hillary speaking. Its mark murray of the Potsdam Police department. Uh we had an incident uh occur this evening and wed like to speak with you in regards to it. Reporter minutes later, lt. Murray and two other investigators were at nicks door, a courtesy notification, they said. Its, were gonna reach out to all the people who are connected to this kid. What do they know . Do they know anything about where he was or who he might have been with . Reporter attorney tom mortati represents the Potsdam Police. Mr. Hillary, we have some bad news for you. Yes. You know mr. Hillary expresses shock, i cant believe this, oh my goodness, puts his hands on his head. Reporter nick hillary says he remembers the moment well. Im still broken up over the situation. He has lived with me. How could i not be affected by what has happened to garrett . Reporter nick wasnt dating tandy anymore and he told police he hadnt been in her apartment since she moved in two months earlier. The officers didnt stay long. An autopsy was scheduled for the next day, but police didnt wait for the results to reveal their suspicions to tandy. Reporter when was it that you started to get this awful news that there might be foul play . The next morning. Reporter howd that happen . Wed gone down to the police station. And thats when they had made a comment that someone had been in my apartment. Reporter somehow, garretts made it home. And theres somebody there or follows him or something happens and hes attacked. Yes. Reporter is it now a Homicide Investigation . Yes. Reporter a small town in fear. Is there a breakin maniac out there . Someone who is going to kill again . An urgent hunt for suspects begins. Who are the people connected to his life . Tandys partners and husbands . Absolutely. 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Healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever i choose. The east and the west are mine. The north and the south are mine. All seems beautiful to me. Fios is not cable. Were wired differently. Welcome to 8 and a half maple street. Its half a house. And even though it only has half a kitchen, half the closet space and a half bath, its a full house to the wilsons. Because they have fios, their half house has full internet, with uploads as fast as downloads. Dont pay for uploads that arent up to speed. Get 150 meg internet with equal uploads and downloads, tv and phone for only 79. 99 per month online for one year. Only from fios. Reporter october, 2011. Halloween was less than a week away, but the good folks of potsdam young and old were learning that a monster had arrived early. A child killer was in their midst. Can you tell me if it was an adult that hurt him or we dont or children . You dont know . We dont know. Its still under investigation. Reporter news this bad traveled fast in a town where so many people knew the emts, the nurses and docs at the hospital, the cops. Lieutenant mark murray is a lifelong potsdam resident. At the hospital, someone said he looked like he had been beat up. Or he had he had injuries on his body. The boy had a rug burn on his knee. Whats that tell you . The injuries on the knees indicated, along with other injuries, that there was a significant struggle. It was a violent struggle. This boy fought for his life. What do you think it is . Like a choke hold . Or hands fingers around the neck, or what . Its a combination of being sat upon and and smothered and asphyxiated. So it was a long process. It wasnt an instant death. Reporter a chilling headline summed it up boys death is ruled a

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