48 Hours - The Case Against Enrico Forti

Episode Date: May 5, 2019

A former TV producer and windsurfing champion says he’s in prison for a murder he didn’t commit -- the only physical evidence against him: a teaspoon of sand. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty investigates.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. You want to go back to where your brother was found? Yes. Why? Yes.

I want to go to the beach because that is where it happened. If only the rocks could talk. If only the rocks could talk It's my understanding That your brother was actually found In the underbrush over here Dale Pike was found on a beach in Miami Naked, face down, dead Shot twice in the back of the head.

My name is Joe Tacopina. I'm a lawyer, former prosecutor, criminal defense attorney, who's one of the lawyers for Enrico Forti, an innocent man who's been wrongly convicted and has spent the last 20 years in jail. Mr. Forti? Yes. Did you have anything to do with Dale Pike's death? Absolutely nothing.

Did you ever in your wildest dreams ever think you'd end up in a place like this? Never, never. Enrico Forte, his nickname's Kiko, was a world-class windsurfer from Italy. He was a father. windsurfer from Italy. He was a father. He was a husband. There's no forensic evidence linking Kiko Forti to this crime. None whatsoever. People have made comparisons to this case in a manadox. You don't decide this person is guilty and then look for evidence to back it up. Is that what you think happened to Enrico Forti? There's no doubt, without question. The victim in this case is Dale Pike, the son of Tony Pike,

who owns a famous hotel in Ibiza, Spain. It's a place where partiers go, where people go to do wild things. Spain's version of Las Vegas. She knew you were in this special place. So that attracted all different sorts of people, you know, whether it be Frank Zappa, Julio Iglesias,

wham, George Michael, and of course Freddie Mercury. Did you know that your father was seriously entering into negotiations to sell the hotel to Enrico Forti? Yes, it just didn't feel right. Dale wanted to go and see this guy face to face. Dale Pike was going to Miami and Enrico Forti was the one that was supposed to pick him up. All I knew that my brother was going over there for the deal.

So it's really like it was the deal that created the death. there for the deal. So it's really like it was the deal that created the death. As you're sitting here right now, do you think Enrico Forti either helped kill or actually killed Dale Pike? No, I do not. But you were one of the 12 jurors who convicted him. Yes, I know.

Hot shot 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 Marcia 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. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear.

But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder,

wherever you get your podcasts. The 1998 murder of Dale Pike has always been, and is to this day, a true murder mystery. Always questions. Always questions. Brad Pike is Dale's younger brother. I also don't think I'll ever know the truth. What is known is that someone shot Dale Pike twice in the back of the head with a.22 and left his body on a quiet stretch of beach on Virginia Key, minutes from Key Biscayne. Sean Crowley, a former captain with the NYPD, is now a private investigator. Virginia Key is a common place for wind surface. On February 16, 1998, a beachgoer found Dale's body.

He sees indentation in the sand from the water line into the vegetation. But in that indentation, he sees bloodstains all along. So all the way from here, like from the edge of the water all the way to vegetation? Correct. He's found completely naked? Completely naked, yes. His shirt was a little off to the side, but bloodied. And then some key pieces of evidence were under his body or right next to his body.

Crowley, who works for Joe Tacopina, Enrico Forti's current lawyer, believes the killer or killers staged the crime scene with obvious clues so the body would be quickly identified. A boarding pass with Dale's name on it, a pendant from Pike's Hotel in Ibiza, Spain, and a phone calling card with only one number dialed. That number belonged to Forty, better known as Kiko, an Italian television producer living in Miami. As if to say to the police, just in case you don't know who committed this murder,

it's the guy who picked him up at the airport because he has the boarding pass, and check the calling card because Kiko Forty's number's on it three times. Here you go, police. I was wondering, like, how close were you to Dale? We were close, but I guess we were also quite different. I love very much the outdoors. Dale wasn't really interested in that,

so he was interested more in the clubbing, that sort of thing. Charming man? Yeah, yeah, very much so. Brad was home in Australia when he got the news about Dale from a Miami detective and she said look I'm sorry to inform you that your brother's been found murdered I told him the whole story about what was happening what was happening was that Brad and Dale's father, Anthony Tony Pike, had signed papers to sell his world-famous Pike's Hotel to Enrico Forti. We had our suspicions about it. Dale wanted to just lay it out in line and say, look, I understand you want to do the deal, so what's the game? What are you playing up with now? So, what's the game? What are you playing up with now?

The brothers believe the hotel was worth a lot more money than the sales price of approximately $1.6 million. In the 1980s, the hotel had become a destination resort, after George Michael and Wham! chose it as a setting for the iconic video Club Tropicana. Tony Pike had a cameo role, and he played it to the hilt. That video, and Tony's sex-crazed persona, made Pike's a hedonist hideaway and a haven for celebrities. Pikes a hedonist hideaway and a haven for celebrities. He was a very, very adventurous and very tenacious man. Incredibly charismatic, good looking, very charming, cheeky.

Tony had asked Dale to help run Pikes after Tony became very sick in January 1997. They did tests and immediately diagnosed him with AIDS and said he has full-on AIDS and AIDS dementia. But thanks to medication, in November 1997, Tony was clear-minded enough to travel to Williams Island, an exclusive enclave outside Miami. He was visiting an old friend, Thomas Connaught, a German expat who had a taste for the good life.

His idea of living was to drink champagne instead of water. Chave Mesmer managed a shop on Williams Island and knew Knott well. Everything had to be the best. His shoes had to be Gucci. Everything had to be the best. While visiting Knott, Tony Pike met

Knott's upstairs neighbor, Enrico Forte, and they hit it off. Very successful. Incredible person. He had contracts going with ESPN. World champion since 1982. In Italy, he had won a popular quiz show. Kiko Forti!

Senior Forti, complimenti! And later produced extreme sports videos. He was a mover and a shaker. Buying up properties right around in Williams Island seemed to be the perfect life, if you will. Hi. Hi. My name is your mommy. Forty's wife, Heather, was pregnant.

And the couple had two young daughters. Woo! Oh, my God. The most loving father. And the way he felt about the baby coming, he was on cloud nine. He loved Heather. With all his heart and soul. Then, in late 1997, Tony Pike told Forty he wanted to sell his legendary hotel. And a few months later, the hotel deal came together.

Tony signed papers to sell it to Forty. And that's when Tony's sons got upset. They felt 40 had taken advantage of Tony. The nature of the AIDS dementia, as far as I know, is that he goes in and out of lucidity. I guess Dale and I were just suspicious that because he wasn't mentally together, that any deal that he was doing anyway needed to be checked and

looked at. Brad says Dale then flew to Miami to deal with 40 in person. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights

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There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse

and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely, Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Enrico Forti, once a sports champion who traveled all over the world, today is restricted to a prison cell. But he says only his body is behind bars. I still travel a lot in my mind.

That's my way to survive in here. He's constantly turning over the events that landed him here. Back in 1998, Forty was excited about becoming the owner of the legendary Pikes Hotel in Ibiza, Spain. Sales papers had been signed, but Dale and his brother Brad still had questions.

My brother sort of said, look, one of us needs to go and have a look at the deal and just find out what's happening with this. Forty went to pick Dale up at the Miami airport on Sunday afternoon, February 15, 1998. But Dale's flight was late. I almost left. I waited for him almost two hours. And when I didn't find him, I started paging him. These records show Forty and Dale's attempts to locate each other using the airport intercom. They start playing this game of telephone tag

via the airport intercom system for about an hour and a half. Joe Takapina and Dina Neshwat, Forty's lawyers, say Forty was nervous about the time because he had promised Heather he would pick up her father that night at the Fort Lauderdale airport, about 45 minutes north. And she said to him, don't be late to pick up my father. Forty says that when he and Dale finally did connect, Dale had a request. As soon as he arrived, he asked me for some cigarettes. I don't smoke. I didn't have cigarettes. So we stopped at the first gas station that I could find for him to buy some cigarettes.

Dale Pike went in there, goes into the phone booth, and makes a call. And then Dale said, could you drop me off at... First he said, keep his cane. And Kiko said, no, I can't go that far. You know, I have to go pick up my father-in-law. So he said, no, no, no, not keep his cane. Just take me to the Rusty Pelican restaurant. And Kiko said, okay.

Forty says they never talked about the hotel deal. Instead, Forty says Dale told him he was going to a party with, quote, friends of Thomas Connaught. Sound like something your brother would do? It's not out of the possibility if he'd been promised a good party. At the restaurant, Forty says Dale got out of the car and into a white Lexus in the parking

lot. He says he didn't recognize the driver. The guy inside the car that was waiting for him was an elegant person with a white shirt, a gold chain, gold watch. After dropping off Dale, Forty made a cell phone call to his wife Heather at exactly 7.16 p.m. Forty knew she'd be upset that he had been wasting time with Dale, so Forty lied. And I told her I didn't pick him up. I didn't want to have an argument with her.

I was extremely late. Forty picked up Heather's father at the Fort Lauderdale airport and says he didn't give Dale another thought. The moment that I left him, it was out of my mind. It's not that I was thinking, oh, what's going to happen to him? No, never for a second I came to my mind that something bad or terrible could happen. Dale's body was found nearly 24 hours later on Monday evening on that windsurfing beach on Virginia Key, about two miles from the Rusty Pelican. about two miles from the Rusty Pelican.

Forty says he heard the news about Dale's murder on Wednesday and that Tony was flying to Miami. I was confused and I was still under shock. I spent all night trying to locate where Tony Pike was. Nobody knew where he was. And that's because the Miami police had spirited him away. They wanted to know more about Dale's trip and that hotel deal. They certainly were convinced that the deal with the hotel and the purchase of the hotel was, let's say, the impetus for the killing.

Forty says he knew none of this when he reached out to the police on Thursday. I thought it was the right thing to do. Unwittingly, Forty was walking into the lion's den and police were ready to pounce. Suspicious of Forty and the hotel deal,

detectives tried to trick him, suggesting that Tony might also be dead. The police lied intentionally to Kiko, and what Kiko thought was, oh my God, I was in Miami. I picked up Dale Pike, he's dead. These guys think I killed both of them. And he panicked. Forty then made what he says was the biggest mistake of his life. He repeated the lie he had told his wife. He told cops he had not picked up Dale at the airport.

But if you were going to try to help the police, why didn't you tell them you had picked Dale Pike up? Because when I arrived there, that moment, I realized it was a suspect. Of course, I was confused, and I do believe there is no logic on the way that I behaved that night. Forty returned to the police station the next day and says he had made up his mind to tell the truth. When did you tell them you had, in fact, picked up Dale Pike? As soon as I had the opportunity. I don't remember exactly the time, but... But detectives say Forty only admitted picking up Dale after they confronted him with those airport paging records proving that he and Dale had made contact.

That's a lie. They are lies from these policemen. They are way bigger than the lie that I did. Forty insists he came clean about everything, telling cops all he knew about the Pike family. And Forty pointed investigators to that longtime friend of Anthony Pike, Thomas Connaught. And Thomas Connaught was stealing money left and right from Anthony Pike. The police went to find Connaught, but by them, Thomas Connaught had vanished. The man was just the happiest person I ever met. Chave Mesmer knew Enrico Forti even before Thomas Connaught arrived on the scene. He was one of the kindest, nicest, most appealing people on the island. But his downstairs neighbor, Thomas Connaught, she said, well, he was a different story.

When did you start to realize this is a con man? Right after I married him. It turned out Thomas Connaught moved to Williams Island straight out of a German prison. Connaught was convicted of 14 counts of fraud, stealing millions. But when he turned up on Williams Island, the high-flying Connaught told everyone he was a tennis pro. So this guy who told you he was a tennis player and was making money from playing tennis. He wore a lot of tennis clothes.. He wore a lot of tennis clothes. He just wore a lot of tennis clothes.

Chave says Connaught was charming and she eventually married him to help him get a green card. But the sham Nutscholes were quickly annulled when she said she saw his fits of anger. Thomas had a really bad temper. She wasn't surprised that Connaught vanished when Dale Pike's body was found. I thought they got him for the murder. With 100% certainty, there was not any motive for Kiko Ford to want Dale Pike dead. Zero. There was plenty of motive for Thomas Kinnott. Turns out for months, Thomas Kinnott had been illegally running up exorbitant charges on Tony Pike's credit cards. And Dale Pike knew it. Forty and Takapina believed that was a motive for murder. Cops caught up with Kinnott days later in downtown Miami, but Knott told police Forty

had his own motive — that Dale's concerns about the hotel sale could ruin Forty's deal. Knott made a very compelling case that Kiko must have killed him. Kiko was trying to swindle him from the hotel. Police had enough to charge both men with fraud. Knott for running up $90,000 on Tony Pike's credit cards. Forty for allegedly trying to swindle Tony out of his hotel. But for the Miami police, Forty was still the prime murder suspect. The police had determined early on that it was Kiko. That it was Kiko. It was Kiko. The police had determined early on that it was Kiko, that it was Kiko, it was Kiko.

After all, Forty was the last known person to see Dale Pike alive, and he had lied about it to the police. And Knott had something Forty did not, an alibi. He was hosting a dinner that night. At a dinner party in his little apartment, because he had a lot of people in there at this particular time to give him enough witness for an alibi. But Takapino says if that alibi clears Thomas Kinnott, then the timeline should clear 40. There isn't enough time for 40 to pick up Dale, murder him, and then meet his father-in-law in 90 minutes. Prosecutors agreed that he might not be the trigger man. They don't accuse Kiko of being the gunman, the trigger man, the shooter. They don't accuse him of that. They said he was acting accomplice with someone else. With who? They have no idea, but with someone else. Even if Forty wasn't the trigger man,

prosecutors decided they could prove he had a role in Dale's murder. Prosecutors cut a deal with Connaught to testify against Forty, even though the convicted con man had failed three polygraph tests. And in October of 1999, they announced they had critical physical evidence linking Forty to the crime scene.

What's the crucial evidence against Forty? Grains of sand. Less than a teaspoon. Prosecutors say they recovered that much from Forty's car and that it matches the sand here on this beach where Dale Pike's body was found. Now let's focus on the evidence of the sand. The first two times they searched that vehicle, they came back with an insufficient amount of sand for the forensic technician to determine where that sand would have come from.

The third time, they recovered some sand in the trailer hitch. They removed the trailer hitch. This wouldn't be allowed in a traffic court let alone a murder trial this would be allowed in a food course but it was and at 40's murder trial in 2000 prosecutors poured over blowups of microscopic images of sand particles, with their experts saying the grains definitely came from Virginia Key. And he lives in that area, and he's got kids, and he's a windsurfer. Why wouldn't he have this sand on his vehicle? Veronica Lee had just turned 20 when she was picked for the jury.

She had her doubts. Were you troubled at all about the fact that there was no DNA that connected the defendant? No fingerprints? Right. But the state pathologist did provide damning testimony. Based on undigested food that Dale Pike likely ate on the airplane, the pathologist said the time of death was consistent with some time between 6 p.m. and 7.16 p.m., when Dale Pike was with 40, and when Knott was home at his dinner party. How big a mistake was it for the defense not to call their own pathologist? It was an enormous mistake by the defense not to call their own pathologist? It was an enormous mistake by the defense not to call their own pathologist.

48 Hours asked pathologist Dr. Gregory Davis from the University of Kentucky to review the Miami pathologist's report. I'm shocked that this got entered into evidence. Is there like one word that sums up this affidavit? How would you sum it up? Irresponsible. Dr. Davis says pathologists have known for decades that people simply digest food at different rates. Can you pinpoint the time of death to a minute the way this is, 7-16, as opposed to 7-17?

Absolutely not. 716 as opposed to 717? Absolutely not. In fact, Dr. Davis believes the lack of animal or bug bites on the body and the state of decomposition indicates that Dale Pike could have died later, even the following day, when 40 would have an alibi of his own. Prosecutors stuck to their timeline. They highlighted that 7.16 p.m. phone call Forty made to his wife

when he was supposedly heading north to pick up her father. A cell phone tower instead places Forty going in the opposite direction. And prosecutors, without any proof, speculated that Forty was on his way to get rid of evidence. The defense countered that there were too many variables, including the weather, to

determine why one tower picked up a call and not another. And they tried to offer Connaught as a better suspect. Did you want to know more about Thomas Knott? Yes, I did. Every time they tried to bring him up, oh, he's not the one that's on trial here. Prosecutors ultimately decided against calling the convicted con man, and on June 15, 2000,

the case went to the jury. I tried to voice my opinion and tell them, look, there is no smoking gun. How can you put this man away, you know, for life? There was a point where I locked myself in the bathroom and started crying. Nobody would listen to me. They said, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm just a little girl, you know, and it was really hard. Veronica felt forced to vote guilty.

He looked right at me. I mean, I couldn't even look at him in the eyes. I felt like I let him down so much. But I tried so hard. Some jurors did not like the fact that Forty initially lied. That's the only thing they have against me. They lie to my wife and their life, and they lie to the police. Nothing else.

And that was a mistake? That was a mistake. Of course it was a mistake. But is a mistake they need to be punished with a life sentence? Forty was sentenced to life without parole. I felt like he was done wrong. I don't think it was a fair trial. So if Enrico Forty did not kill Dale Pike, was it Thomas Connaught?

We went to find him. The only truth that I know for sure is that Kiko would definitely not kill a person. Like all of Kiko Forti's friends, Francesco Guidetti, who attended the trial, will never accept Forti's guilty verdict. The trial was tragic. And what's more, lawyer Joe Takapina says the police botched a key aspect of Forty's story that might have revealed another suspect. Forty told authorities that after he picked up Dale, they stopped at a gas station where Dale used a pay phone. They went and pulled the phone records from that telephone booth, and they came back saying,

man, he lied. There's absolutely no record of a call that was made from that phone booth on that day at that time. And what was wrong with that? The problem was they subpoenaed the wrong year. By the time the police subpoenaed the correct year, the records were no longer available. So because of police incompetence, we will never know who was on the other end of that phone call.

It's mind-blowing to me that he was convicted. Forti's friends and family agree and have kept a drumbeat over the years, insisting he's innocent. In 2013, Forti's case came to the attention of Italian journalist Manuela Moreno. I was in U.S. and I'm looking for a big story. I start to study Kiko Forti's story and I said, this is my story. Manuela visited Forti and he told her he was desperate for legal help. At his suggestion, Manuela contacted Joe Tacopina.

She said, you have to take this case. She asked me to meet with the family. Few Americans have ever heard the name Enrico Forti, but 5,000 miles away from his Miami prison cell, it's a very different story. Here in Trento, Italy, he's the hometown hero. We met some of Forti's closest friends, including Luisa Mancastropa, Forti's first wife, who remembered the days she and Kiko would ski and snowboard. Where are we exactly?

It's the place where we used to come with Kiko. You said he always had to be moving. Yeah. Ski, snowboard, jumping with the skis, everything. Everything with the snow. Have you stayed in touch with his family, Kiko's family? Oh, yes, they love me. And their mother loves me.

She's 91 years old and she's still a young chicken. She's my rock. You talk to her? Yeah, yeah, I talk to her. She's great. AMY GOODMAN- Does she speak English? GIOVANNI INNELLA- No. AMY GOODMAN- She doesn't know how to bring an interpreter?

GIOVANNI INNELLA- But she's very smart. Italians communicate with their hands, so she will be able to communicate with you. She will give you a big hug and a kiss. AMY GOODMAN- We also visited 40's Uncle Gianni, who is the keeper of all things Chico. Italian magazines compare Forti to Amanda Knox. How often do you think about Chico? It's not that I think of him. I have nightmares. I have spent 20 years looking at all the evidence to see if there was any basis.

It's my life. After 20 years, we must say and prove that Kiko Forte is not guilty, and he never was. Gianni's relentless campaign to keep his nephew's case in the public eye paid off. case in the public eye paid off when a witness came forward with an intriguing story after seeing a television program about Forti's case. I met Thomas Connaught by chance on a yacht in Monte Carlo. We found Fabrizio Pandolfi in the small town of Lucca. He's restricted to his hometown because of his own financial crimes. Telling his story publicly for the first time,

he says that in 2011, he met Thomas Connaught at a party in Monte Carlo on a yacht called the Goldfinger. The true reason why I'm here is what I was able to hear and understand, that there is a person who was in prison who was innocent. I heard Thomas Connaught brag of things that he had done, serious things, grave things. And he managed to get away with it.

And others paid for him. He also used to mind the use of a revolver, of a gun, like this. He used to say, I did things that I didn't pay for. Pandolfi says, Knott never said he was the trigger man, nor did he use the names Dale Pike or Enrico Forti. But Knott did refer to his friend Anthony, who had a hotel in Ibiza.

Eventually, Pandolfi provided this information to an Italian investigator, and she gave it to Joe Tacopina. And what is your hope by giving her this information, by giving Kikoforte's attorney this kind of information? What's your hope? That the investigation would be reopened so that one could show that Kikoforte most likely, maybe for sure, had nothing to do at all with the murder. Knott has always insisted he had nothing to do with Dale's murder.

And after he served three years in Florida prisons for stealing $90,000 from Tony Pike, he was deported to Germany. They let him walk out the door and let him take a plane and go to Germany and live the rest of his life. We wanted to ask Thomas Connaught about Pandolfi's story, so we left Italy and headed north on the Autobahn. The trail then led us here, to Munich, Germany. This is where Thomas Connaat says he now lives.

He even gave us his phone number. But when it came to sitting down with him for an on-camera interview or just meeting with him, you could see for yourself what happened. Can we just meet with you? I mean, all I'll do is no camera and just meet with you for coffee. We told Canat about the story Fabrizio Pandolfi told us. Have you ever been on a yacht called the Goldfinger? So you have been. He confirmed that much. And so we have somebody who has come forward who said that he heard you

actually say that you had been involved in a murder. You say he's a crook, but to be honest, Mr. Connaught, you have quite the criminal history as well. Connaught said Pandolfi had no credibility. One con man pointing the finger at another. All right, thank you, sir. What did he say? He's not going to meet with us. He got very, very agitated.

He does not say Enrico Forti is the killer. He just says, you want to know who killed Dale Pike? Ask Enrico Forti. Back in the United States, we decided to fly Brad Pike, the brother of murder victim Dale Pike, in from Australia. He brought along family files, where we found something written by the homicide commander that was extraordinary. That's the first I'm hearing of that, Erin. My reaction is to want to pound this table right now and say, are you kidding me?

That's, that's disgusting. It's been 21 years since Brad Pike's brother Dale was murdered on this Miami beach. And Brad is here from Australia to finally see what it looks like for himself. Does coming here in some way just raise more questions in your head rather than answering them? It does, but then it also answers a lot of questions because now I know what the scenario looks like. I could think of a lot worse places to die. In Miami, Brad had a private meeting with the prosecutor who tried the murder case against Enrico Forti,

stopped by the Rusty Pelican, and visited Williams Island, where his father Tony spent time with Forty and Thomas Connaught. It remains now no longer an imagination, but a reality. Brad brought with him a stack of papers he had collected about the case, including this email. This is an email that was sent to Tony Pike after the trial. In the lengthy email sent to Brad's father after the trial, Lieutenant John Campbell, the homicide squad's commander, writes, the prosecutors were very uncertain about proceeding,

and we almost had to threaten them to get 40 charged. I get a little scared. I get a little scared that that's how the system of justice works down there. Lieutenant Campbell also wrote, I was really nervous that the jury would find him not guilty because we just didn't have a lot of proof. Thankfully, they recognized that truth when they saw it. We showed that email to 40. From the beginning, they wanted to crucify me, and they were just waiting to see how

they could do it. And that fax that you have in your hand, it's just another evidence. Is that hard to read? Yes, it's hard to read. I wish I knew about these things when I could see a fight on the legal way. Your lawyer has this now. I hope he can do something about that. Campbell, now retired, admits he had a contentious relationship with an administrator in the prosecutor's office, but that he and other detectives all believed Forty was guilty and that they, quote, had sufficient weight of evidence to meet our legal burden.

Prosecutors refused our request for an interview, but wrote that they stand behind Forti's conviction. There's so many doors closed. Getting a sit-down with the prosecutors is impossible. We've asked, they said, no thanks. We're not interested. We need somebody to listen. Enrico Forti hopes that someone will come forward

with new evidence, like the identity of the man who Forti says picked up Dale Pike at the Rusty Pelican. We arranged this sketch to be made based on Forti's description. That's very accurate. The only thing is missing is a gold chain, but otherwise it's a very accurate drawing of the person.

And how do you just keep going every day? I'm looking forward. You know, I do that for my kids. I do that for my friends. I do that for my family. Forty's wife, Heather, was 25 years old and pregnant when he was first arrested, and his only son was born while 40 was out on bail. The couple also had two older daughters. When you were convicted, you said something to your wife. What did you tell Heather? I told her that it was time for her to get her own life, because it would have been a long battle.

Eventually, Heather moved back to her native Hawaii with their three children. After divorcing Forty, she married an old friend and raised a blended family. Forty's daughter Jenna once appeared on the CBS program Hawaii Five-O. I'm adding new sweats to this. And Forty's son, barely two years old when his father was convicted, asked his mother for a special present for his 16th birthday, to visit his father in prison. Do you think someday you'll have the life you had back then?

I do believe so. I don't want to use the word hope. I believe in that. I'm very positive. My mind's still pretty much free. Remember, prosecutors conceded a trial that Forty may not have been the trigger man. No one else was ever arrested in connection with Dale's murder, which means the shooter is likely at large.

Tony Pike died in February 2019. As for Brad Pike, he believes Forti has spent enough time in prison. And what do you want to say to Enrico Forti? I forgive him. It's just a terrible, terrible, terrible situation, whether he killed Dale or not. Had they met, Brad says he would have told Forty

that he supports the calls to free him. And I don't think anyone will really know what the absolute truth is. There's only two people that know and one of them is dead. And the other one pulled the trigger. It's those unsolved mysteries that we have to learn to live with. 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.