48 Hours - For the Love of Cayley Mandadi

Episode Date: January 22, 2024

After their daughter’s violent death, a mother and stepfather track down the suspect’s car for answers. "48 Hours" correspondent Peter Van Sant reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. On October the 29th of 2017, Kaylee Mondati and Mark Howerton go to the Ma La Luna Music Festival in San Antonio. They arrive late in the afternoon,

and they consumed ecstasy. There's an argument, and Kaylee and Mark leave. And at some point, they pull off of the road for what Mark describes as makeup sex. And afterwards, she tells Mark she's not feeling well. There are hours that are unaccounted for. She goes unconscious. And at 10.30 at night, he goes to the hospital, and he flags down the nearest EMT.

She has no pulse. and he flags down the nearest EMT, she has no pulse. She's covered head to toe in bruises and unclothed from the waist down and her bra above her chest. Oh, I'm just looking for... Quiet place to talk. Quiet place to talk. So she was perfectly normal having sex? Yes.

Just like always? Everything was normal. When I first got to the hospital, I saw something I could have never imagined. I was Kaylee's best friend. I know she was definitely mine. It just felt absurd. The amount of life support that she was on.

Doctor came in and we asked, what's the prognosis? And he said, there is none. He said, she's not coming out of this. I'm telling you right now, I'm sorry. The medical examiner ruled that Kaylee had died from blunt force trauma to the face and to the head, and Mark Howerton is arrested. This is a case where there's more than meets the eye,

and things aren't always as they seem. He tried to perform CPR on her while trying to operate a motor vehicle. My client isn't exactly the brightest bulb in the box at this moment, but he's attempting to try and assist her. It's not a homicide, in my opinion. This is, I think, a terrible, terrible accident.

Mark Howerton, he's a dangerous person. He is a textbook example of a domestic violence abuser. It's about control with him. Kaylee Mendotti, she had just turned 19. She was coherent, she was walking on her own, and she got into the car with that defendant. After what can only be described as a dramatic trial... All rise, jury.

The jury ultimately hangs. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I'm declaring a missed trial. Devastated by the result of the first trial, Kaylee's parents feel the need to take things into their own hands and to see that justice was served in the second trial. I spent hours and hours studying autopsy photos. We knew she had suffered a big blow on her left side, and I wanted to see what did her head hit after taking that blow.

Lawrence, tell me about this car. Peter, this is Mark Howerton's car. And you bought this car, is that right? Yes, I did. I needed to be able to show the jury what happened to Kaylee. What did you figure out? So, we determined that Kaylee's head likely struck that locking knob, resulting in fatal injury. They commissioned a reenactment of what they believe happened to their daughter.

The video could be a game changer. This is the moment of truth. Will their daughter get justice? Thank you. Kaylee Mandati and Taylor Clement, best friends since ninth grade, had a streak. Snapchatting every morning. Every single day. She was much more of a morning person, so I would get mine first thing in the morning. But Monday morning, October 30th, 2017, no word from Kaylee. I didn't get a Snapchat at eight o'clock in the morning like I usually do, and that's actually how I knew something was really wrong. Both good students, they bonded

in science class. Taylor says she was instantly drawn to Kaylee. She had like a really infectious smile and the big eyes and like the loving heart. The two separated to go to different colleges. That October morning, Kaylee was on Taylor's mind. As I'm working in the library, it's in the back of my head, like I haven't heard from her. Taylor didn't know it, but just hours earlier, Kaylee's mother, Allison Steele, and stepfather, Lawrence Bataitland were awakened at four in the morning with horrifying news. Your daughter's been involved in some incident and she's been life flighted to Kyle, Texas. They raced from their home in Houston to the hospital, praying Kaylee was OK. What was it like when you entered that room? What did you see?

I saw my daughter's body smashed. I could see that she was on a ventilator and my heart just stopped. And I knew that it was bad. Within hours, Kaylee's parents were told there was no hope for recovery. Their daughter, just 19 years old, once so full of life, was soon declared brain dead. Lawrence and Allison want the world to know what happened to her. All that potential had been destroyed and not knowing how it happened or how it was even possible. They invited Kaylee's friends to see her one last time.

They invited Kaylee's friends to see her one last time. Taylor sat with Allison as she held Kaylee's hand and prayed. I remember her repeating over and over, this has to be for something, this has to be for something. Kaylee had previously requested that her organs be donated to help others. As she was taken to surgery for that procedure, her parents said goodbye. It was very emotional. Of course, we didn't want to let her go, but this is what had to be. Just days before, things seemed to be going well for Kaylee. A sophomore communications major at Trinity University in San Antonio, she had joined a sorority and was a cheerleader. And she met a boy. Kaylee at the time was very

much in love with the only serious boyfriend she had ever had. His name was Jet Burcham. Jet was a Trinity football player and fraternity brother. Kaylee dated him freshman year, but they broke up. What she told me was, I don't know that he wants a serious relationship. And she did. I think that part of her life got very murky for her very fast. There was another man in Kaylee's life, Mark Howerton. He was 22 years old and had been a star high school baseball player.

I've been a pretty good hitter. I just keep my weight back and keep your eye on the ball and whack it. Mark lived in Houston, but was often on Trinity's campus visiting friends. That's where he met Kaylee. I think that they're both very beautiful people, and I think that that was the primary attraction. John Hunter is Howerton's lawyer. I think that there were problems with her relationship with Jed, and Mark was offering an alternative to that. Both Jed and Mark knew Kaylee was seen the other man and neither friends say like the competition then just one month into this new relationship Mark Howerton

rushes Kaylee to a small rural hospital in Luling Texas the chapel is actually really quiet. While medical staff tended to Kaylee, police officers interviewed Howerton in the quietest place they could find. Okay. It was recorded on the officer's body cam. So tell me, where were you all at today? Howerton told officers that he and Kaylee went to the music festival. There, they drank alcohol and took MDMA, a drug known as molly or ecstasy. Christy Jack is an attorney based in Fort Worth. We asked her to look at the files in this case. She says things took a troubling turn at the music festival.

They saw Jet Murchum at some point and began to argue. Howerton says sometime after 4 p.m., he and Kaylee left in his Mercedes, still arguing after Kaylee told him she still had feelings for Jet. I was pretty much saying, you need to get over this, dude, and you ain't worth your time.

Your frames are fake as... I was just telling her all... I was trying to get over this dude and you ain't worth your time. Your friends are fake as... I was just telling her all... I was trying to get it through her head. Howerton said they then stopped in a parking lot where they had make-up sex. We were having sex. I choked her. But it wasn't like killing her.

It wasn't like that. Rough, said Howerton, but consensual. 500% consensual. After we had sex, like, she still talked to me for five, six minutes afterwards. That's when she was like, I'm not feeling too good, but then she just passed out. Howerton told officers they got back on the road. Hours passed. Howerton says at some point, Kaylee stopped breathing, and he tried to resuscitate her.

And at 10.30 at night, he sees a sign on the road that indicates a hospital at the next exit. He pulls off. Emergency medical workers told investigators they instantly knew Kaylee was in bad shape. She was nearly naked, bruised, and had no pulse. You have a paramedic or a nurse who says these bruises were on her when she arrived at the hospital in Luling. Why isn't she responding? Why isn't she responding? Howerton told the police officer Kaylee already had bruises on her legs earlier in the day. She bruises easy. Seriously, she gets drunk and she falls over and she bruises.

Police interviewed Howerton several times, but he was not charged with any crime related to Kaylee's death. Then, three months later, her autopsy report was released. The medical examiner ruled that Kaylee had died from blunt force face and head trauma. It was ruled a homicide. Mark Howerton was charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. There were a large amount of drugs taken over the course of this weekend. Mr. Howerton brought the deceased to a hospital, which is something you don't typically see. Murderers don't usually do that. No.

All rise for the jury. The idea that it was open and shut is a mistake. As the trial begins, John Hunter says he has evidence that will surprise the jury. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the trouble case against Carsley Green, early and ad-free with a 48-hours-plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Hotshot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's

underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus.

Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. In December 2019, two years after Kele Mandati's disturbing demise, Mark Howerton is finally brought to trial for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering her. All rise for the jury. What was it like to see Mark Howerton in the courtroom? Like everybody else, I tried not to look at him too much.

The trial begins with prosecutor Alessandra Cranshaw's opening statement. I think the best way to tell this story is to start where Kaylee Mondotti's life ended. And that's in the car of this defendant. car of this defendant. Prosecutors allege that Howerton forcefully escorted Kaylee from the Malaluna Music Festival to his car. He then drove her to a parking lot where he sexually assaulted and beat her, causing a fatal brain bleed. These photos show Kaylee's condition about 18 hours after she arrived at the hospital. I believe that you will have no reservations about finding this defendant guilty of the offensive murder. Things are not always as they seem. In his opening statement, defense attorney John Hunter attacks the very foundation of the prosecution's case.

Mr. Howerton did not cause Kaylee Mendotti's death. No one saw anything that transpired between Mark Howerton and Kaylee Mendotti that evening on the 29th. There are no eyewitnesses. The state begins its case with paramedic Cheryl Lane, who was driving an ambulance up to the Luling Hospital that night when a vehicle suddenly appeared behind her. There's a black car behind us honking and flashing the lights. Before I even get out, I see a gentleman that's hollering and screaming. I open the door. He's telling me that his girlfriend is not breathing and he needs help.

When Lane looked inside Howerton's car, she saw a disturbing scene. She was exposed. Her pants and clothes were in the floorboard by her feet. She had bruises on her, just multiple bruises that I just remember seeing. That's when i started cpr but hunter says not everyone at the hospital believed kaylee had been attacked the treating

physician at the luling hospital approached this as a drug overdose wasn't that because mark had told them he thought she had overdosed, but the symptoms she was presenting were consistent with that patient history. Was this woman beaten or not? No. Hunter insists the photos showing bruising on Kaylee don't point to foul play. By the time that the sexual assault nurse photographs her,

she has been resuscitated six times, I believe, maybe eight. She's had a chest tube inserted. She's had IVs placed on both arms. She's been worked over by those physicians at the Luling Hospital in a traumatic way. While the medical team fought for Kaylee's life, police interviewed. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. ...and photographed Mark Howerton, police officer Chris Adams. While I was taking photographs, I might notice the tops of both of his hands. They look red to you? Yes, sir.

Unusually red? Yes, sir. Evidence investigators believe that Howerton did hit Kaylee. Those actually do look like the tabs already on. The Mark Howerton arrested after Kaylee's death was an enormously muscled, intimidating figure. Kaylee's friends say

he used steroids. Even in such a confined space, it would have been relatively easy for him to cause that kind of damage to her head. Mark Howerton initially cooperated with investigators, allowing police to search his Mercedes, where they found a gun and marijuana. If he was worried about himself, he would have told the police to get a warrant. Instead, Hunter says, Howerton was much more concerned about Kaylee.

I'll find out an update on her, please. Is there any way? The only person who could counter Howerton's story was dead. Investigators hoped Kaylee's remains might speak on her behalf. Dr. Susanna Dana performed the autopsy and says the evidence shows Kaylee was beaten to death. She had a number of what I call blunt force injuries to her face and her head.

And what is this that we see behind the ear? That's a bruise. That's a contusion. Defendant's exhibit number one. But during cross-examination, Hunter gets Dr. Dana to admit at least one of Kaylee's injuries was caused by her medical care. So CPR can cause a lot of different injuries, not just simply superficial ones, right? Yes.

In this case, the rib was broken. Is that correct? I believe so, yes. The medical examiner says the cause of death is complications of blunt force face and head trauma. And the manner of death is homicide is the examiner wrong i believe the examiner is definitely wrong whatever the jury thinks about how kaylee died they're about to learn much more about her troubled love life with mark howerton um he had grabbed her and thrown her against the wall. In the agonizing final hours of Kaylee Mandati's life, her friends gathered to say goodbye.

Kaylee's childhood friend Taylor Clement met her college friends for the first time. They bonded talking about Kaylee. Even in that situation, she was bringing people close that would have never met before. Some of those friends now nervously wait to testify in Mark Howerton's murder trial. Do you recognize this person? Who is this individual? Her roommate, Morgan Sampson, told of a stormy history between Kaylee and Mark, including one particularly disturbing incident just a few weeks before Kaylee's death.

She was planning to go to a party and says Mark got upset when she invited Kaylee to come along. Mark and Kaylee were out on the balcony and he had thrown her up against a brick wall. Kaylee ended up going to that party against Howerton's wishes. Soon, neighbors reported hearing loud banging in Kaylee's room. Campus police officer Roderick Lewis was dispatched to investigate. When I arrived at the location, a male subject was exiting the room.

So you're in the room just waiting on her while she's at a party? Exactly. Okay. Do you mind if I take a look in the room? Man, no. Howerton resisted Officer Lewis's request to see inside. I'd like you to step out here with my partner right now. When Officer Lewis did go into Kaylee's room,

he found the glass door to the balcony was cracked, and Kaylee's clothes were scattered in the trees. Friends say Howerton later smashed Kaylee's laptop on the street. The university barred him from campus. Kaylee told her ex-boyfriend, Jet Burcham, that she wanted to get back with him. She was really torn between two different people, and both of whom were vying for her affection. Jett told the jurors it all came to a head at the music festival. She said she wanted to break up with him at Maulana because there would be

plenty of witnesses and people around. Did she seem worried about breaking up with him? Yes. Howerton picked Kaylee up to go to the music festival. But first, he says they pulled into a nearby car wash to take MDMA, or molly. Howerton said they had more once they got to the festival. We're talking about massive doses, well above what would be necessary for it to be effective to gain the experience.

When Kaylee didn't show up on campus that night, her friends started calling her. Howerton answered Kaylee's phone. I was like, have you seen Kaylee? Have you heard from her? Like, are you with her? And he said, she can't talk right now, and then hung up the phone.icked they began searching for kaylee jed

bertram who also attended the festival says he saw mark and kaylee move towards the exit seemingly against kaylee's wishes kaylee looked like she was trying to create space and kind of just get away now what do you seem to uh as she's trying to step space and kind of just get away. Now what do you see him do? As she's trying to step away, I see him reach out his right arm and hook it around her shoulder and pull her in closer and then turn and walk away. This is important testimony. It's important testimony because it's showing that she's being taken someplace against her will. Defense attorney John Hunter hammers him on cross-examination. It immediately falls apart, almost from the very first question. In his questioning, Hunter confronts Jett.

I want you to take a look at that. Revealing how he initially misled investigators about what he had seen. And you advised the police that you saw Marvis pick her up and place her in his car. Isn't that correct? Yes, sir. And it differs from the testimony that you gave today, right? Yes, sir. I did not see him put her in the car.

Bertram admits he exaggerated to police. But why? Prosecutors say he was worried about Kaylee's safety and wanted to convince cops to search for her. Hunter then challenges Jett regarding inconsistencies in his testimony to the grand jury about the timeline at the music festival. Would it surprise you to learn that the phone call you placed to Kaylee Venditti's phone was made at 7 o'clock? No, sir. In an effort to undermine Jett's credibility, he is asked about an unrelated drug charge. You were on probation at the time, were you not, Mr. Burcham? Correct.

In 47 minutes of brutal questioning. Money and marijuana. It was on your phone, correct? Burcham takes the Fifth 30 times. That's his lawyer by his side. The damage is done. Tell me the impact of him saying over and over that he's taken the Fifth. The impact, I think, can't be understated. It's a huge thing to see somebody do that.

Hunter has a star witness of his own. Dr. William Anderson, a forensic pathologist and former medical examiner who reviewed Cayley's autopsy and records for the defense. So you look at the autopsy, you're going to see what look like bruises. Anderson presents the crux of Hunter's case, that Kaylee's bruising was caused in part by resuscitation efforts and the organ donation process. He goes one step further, pointing to a thin line in a photo of Kaylee's skull. Starting here, we have this jagged line. It's like I said, it's like a crack in the neck shell. That was a skull fracture.

A skull fracture which Hunter says could indicate that Kaylee's brain bleed was caused by a fall. She was in a car. She was in a car for portions of that day. Hematomas don't kill people instantaneously. Thank you, doctor. I don't think that you can overstate the importance of his testimony from a defense perspective. It creates the impression that all of these injuries occurred by every other means but Mark Howerton. Once the defense rests, prosecutors bring the medical examiner back

to challenge Dr. Anderson's testimony. Is that a skull fracture? No, it's not. The faint line that Dr. Anderson was referring to came from a picture. I didn't believe it. I thought it was reckless for him to have that opinion so definitively with only a picture. The jurors must now make a momentous decision. Did Mark Howerton kill Kaylee? As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman.

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Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. After just 10 hours of deliberating, the jury in the Mark Howerton murder trial sends a note to the judge. All rise, jury. There will be no verdict. After careful deliberation and discussion, unfortunately, we cannot come to an honest decision. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

I'm declaring a mistrial. Mistrial. Are you happy? Is that, in a way, a victory for you? Any time that your client doesn't go to prison, it's a victory. It was a little bit disheartening, but at the same time, I was mentally prepared for that outcome.

Prosecutors David Lunin and Alessandra Crenshaw were disheartened, too. Did you feel as though you'd let the family down? Well, sure. Yeah. Absolutely. But it doesn't end there. The prosecutors plan to retry the case and get busy preparing for round two, starting with the defense star witness, medical examiner Dr. William Anderson. I was not prepared for Dr. Anderson to testify to what he testified to. They'd been stunned by his claims that Kaylee had a skull fracture

and her bruising was caused in part by the organ donation process. So do you find that this notion that organ harvesting caused these bruises to be absurd? Absurd. Absurd. In this instance, it's absurd. While the prosecutors work to address those claims, defense attorney John Hunter files a motion to get the whole case dismissed, based in part on what he says were Jet Burcham's lies. The knowing use of false evidence by the prosecution undermines our entire faith and confidence in the judicial system. If that can happen, then there's no point in even having a trial. Caylee's mom, Allison Steele, and stepdad, Lawrence Bateland, sat through the first trial

and concluded jurors needed more information about what happened inside Mark Howerton's car. You became investigators. We did. I knew we needed to show what happened in that car. The jury needed to know how it happened. She's a scientist. He's a NASA engineer. They got to work.

I spent hours and hours studying autopsy photos, and I really fixated on one of the autopsy photos that showed an impact on Kaylee's head, you know, right in front of her ear. This photo of a small dot above Kaylee's right ear. Other photos show deep bruising above Kaylee's left ear, like this one, described by the medical examiner in the first trial. And what is this that we see behind the ear? That's a bruise. That's a contusion. Kaylee's parents believe that when taken together, the photos tell a story. We believe that of all of the injuries, the blows that he landed on her, the fatal one occurred when he reached from his driver's seat,

hit her in the left ear and drove her head into the window and onto the lock button of the car. In fact, in a recorded audio interview with police the day Kaylee died, Howerton admitted he had previously done just that. Did you ever push Kaylee's head up against the window? I pushed her and she hit the window one time. That was over a week ago, yes. So in many respects, it was like same song, second verse. They'd need proof to convince a jury.

Kaylee's parents headed to a used car lot, where Allison posed in a car similar to the Mercedes Howerton drove that night. And I photographed her head in different positions while I'm holding the autopsy images, trying to see if they match up with the door. And it's a near perfect match. Lawrence decided to go a step further.

So then I loaded this 3D modeling program. Building a 3D model of Kaylee's head. The first thing you can do is you can create a solid out of that 3D mesh and then and you can project an image onto it. And bringing them closer to having actual proof. So this gave me the confidence to go to the next step, which was to seek out the killer's car. Mark Howerton sold the car in 2018. Lawrence tracked down the new owner and bought the car.

What'd you think of that? Well, this is new. This is not something I've been accustomed to hearing in other cases. Show me what you believe went down. Let's go up here to the passenger side. The car Kaylee was fatally injured in is sitting in her parents' driveway. Lawrence says driving it home was a haunting experience. It's torturous, but it's also, you know, she was showing us what happened. You know, she was guiding us to this car.

And you believe that he struck her. When he did, she came over to this knob. Her head hit it. Now, you notice when you push it down, it doesn't go flush. It doesn't go flat. Right. This will not retract fully, no matter how hard you hit it. Kaylee's parents decided to make a video to demonstrate their theory in court. They went and found two actors, a male and a female, to dress the parts. They were similar size, similar weight. If we did the reconstruction ourselves,

it would be considered biased and probably thrown out or at least discredited. So they hired a private investigator to produce the demonstration. They didn't even look at it in case they were called to testify about it. The video is simple, showing three angles of what Kaylee's parents and their experts believe happened. Would showing a jury a video like this potentially help the prosecution's case if it's allowed? Jurors are very visual. It makes it easier for them. It shows how it can happen. And it answers a number of

the questions that the jury had in the first trial. John Hunter says however Kaylee got that dot above her ear, it's all speculation. It could be from something at the hospital. It could have been from something before she got in Mark's car. Could it be that that is from a locking thing on the door? I mean, sure. It could also be that a space alien came and put a little, you know, mark on her. I almost feel like it's not worth discussing because it's so unscientific. Years go by. I am not law enforcement. That's not my background.ison worked to pass the texas clear alert bill it enables law enforcement to quickly initiate searches when people aged 18 to 64 go missing in 2021 a district court in texas denied john hunter's motion to dismiss the case ruling there was no evidence of prosecutorial misconduct relating to Jed

Burcham's testimony. Hunter appealed that ruling. It was horrible just waiting and not knowing what was going to happen. Hunter filed appeals all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case. We lost in every court we could take it to. And so, more than five years after Kaylee's death, a date for a second trial is set. May 23rd, 2023. What's at stake here? Are feelings running high? Emotions running high? I don't think the stakes could be any higher. running high. I don't think the stakes could be any higher. What do you make of Kaylee's parents' investigation?

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discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. In May of 2023, Mark Howerton is about to go on trial for the second time for the murder of Kaylee Mandotti. I felt confident that this was her time.

In the five plus years since Kaylee's death, Howerton was active on social media, posting things like, come at me legally, I'll beat you, showing little remorse. Wow, 75% of people think I'm guilty. That just means 75% of people in the world are going to have to suck. He was living large and bragging about having beaten the state of Texas in a court of law. Howerton's attorneys, John Hunter and Haley Pease, say acting out on social media was his way of coping with the pressure of being falsely accused of murder. He was using social media as an outlet to relieve some of that tension.

During the first trial, jurors had only one charge to consider, felony murder. This time around, lawyers add more charges, including aggravated assault and criminally negligent homicide. Then came time to consider the video Kaylee's parents had made. Did you want the jurors to see that video? I did initially. Presenting the video came with risks, including the risk that Hunter's cross-examination about it might undermine the whole case. The judge said, I'm going to let it in, but if so, then the parents are now witnesses and they will

no longer be allowed to sit in the trial. And the prosecution went and talked to the parents and they decided to withdraw the exhibit. On May 23rd, trial two begins. This one without television cameras. Alessandra Cranshaw's opening statement is nearly the same. I basically told the jury that the best way to explain this case is to start where Kaylee Mondiotti's life ended, and that's in the car with this defendant. But there is a big change to the witness list. No Jet Burcham. There was nothing to be gained. And prosecutors add a witness, an expert on domestic violence, who told jurors Howerton was a textbook abuser who isolated and manipulated Kaylee and ultimately became enraged and lost control, a pattern particularly difficult to handle at just 19 years of age. I think she had no idea the dangerous predicament

she was in. John Hunter wants jurors to give Howerton the benefit of the doubt. The presentation of how Kaylee looks in the hospital and how she looked at the autopsy does not mean that she was beaten his case this time around relies heavily on the testimony of a pharmacologist who said the high levels of MDMA or ecstasy in Kaylee's system could have caused her brain bleed I have always felt that that was the major precipitating reason for her death. But prosecutors and Cayley's family say Hunter grossly exaggerated the danger of MDMA. There's never been a single documented case anywhere of MDMA causing a subdural hematoma. What do you say to that? Well, first of all, they haven't done much research on this at all.

Hunter plans one final witness. The former medical examiner whose testimony about organ donation and a possible skull fracture caused so much damage to the prosecution in the first trial, Dr. William Anderson. This time, prosecutors are ready for him with a new witness, a respected medical examiner who told them Anderson's claims in the first trial were irresponsible. They realized that we were going to be more than prepared

to shoot down all those claims that he had made in the first trial. I didn't need to have a fight about the skull fracture. So the defense rests without Dr. Anderson. It was a shock. You could hear a gasp in the courtroom. Now, a second set of 12 people will determine Mark Howerton's fate. It's an agonizing second weight for kaylee's parents this is the moment of truth will their daughter get justice agonizing for john hunter too he'd spent nearly six years working to keep howerton free so the jury comes back in what do you hear

the two most beautiful words in the English language, not guilty. Not guilty of murder. My heart sank when we heard not guilty on the murder. They're thinking, dear God, this is the final nightmare. He's going to walk out of the courtroom. But there was more. Howerton was convicted of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Everyone was hugging each other and expressing their relief that Mark Howerton was going to prison.

I turned to my left and eight sheriff's officers had assembled to take him to jail. Eight. had assembled to take him to jail, eight. So that was their way of saying, we're here for you. So that was a nice moment to see that. Howerton was sentenced to the maximum, 20 years in prison. To Caylee's family, not nearly enough. Mark Howerton's a monster, and he does what a monster does. For Kaylee's friend Taylor, the wound remains raw. I miss my best friend.

Lawrence and Allison say they have no regrets about spending time and money on a video the jury never got to see. It helped us learn what happened. We would do it over again if we had to. We showed Allison that video for the very first time. It's hard to see it because that's most likely the blow that killed her. Kaylee's mom, who prayed something good would come from her daughter's death, continues her fight to help other victims of violence.

What I would like is for her sacrifice to help other people. That's what she would want. I have absolutely no doubt about that. Join me Tuesday for Postmortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.