Anatomy of Murder - Last Shift (Savannah Gold)

Episode Date: May 20, 2025

A young woman disappears as she heads in to work. Unraveling what happened to her would take skilled detectives and an unexpected piece of video.View source material and photos for this episode at: anatomyofmurder.com/last-shiftCan’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

Where did you go with her? Where did you go with her? Lee, be human. You're a human. You're a man. Where did you go with her? I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anna Sega Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murder. Let's talk about confessions.

For detectives, eliciting an admission of guilt from a suspect can be a dramatic and satisfying conclusion to any criminal investigation. As discussed in previous episodes, investigators rely on a diverse toolkit of methods not to coerce a confession, but to create an environment where the suspect feels comfortable sharing information, bringing the investigation even closer to the truth. And of course, there's that classic good cop, bad cop, although honestly, in my experience, I will say that the adversarial approach

is definitely more common in TV and movies than real life. And then there's what my old friend Muhammad Ali would have called the rope-a-dope, where a patient detective just lets a suspect paint themselves into a corner And then there's what my old friend Muhammad Ali would have called the rope-a-dope, where a patient detective just lets a suspect paint themselves into a corner that they just can't get out of. No matter the approach, the goal is always the same. Keep the suspect talking. But to accomplish that, every investigator must lean into his or her particular strengths

and personality traits in order to make a connection with the suspect. Because without that connection, without that feeling of trust, the truth may refuse to surface and that failure can sometimes be a matter of life or death. I grew up watching One Atom 12, so I thought police work was that, quite honestly, and I quickly realized that was not the case. Detective Ray Reeves was not only a combat veteran in the Air Force, but also spent years doing missionary work overseas before joining the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. And this breadth of experience in serving both his country and his community is what he credits for giving him the tools to succeed as a member of law

enforcement. I think with the background working in the church, I just saw so many people just at their worst point. Obviously, they don't call the police when it was time to have a birthday party. They called us when it was the worst moment or one of the worst moments in their lives. And so I just found a way to connect to people on a real level. I was probably less patrol or policeman than most of the guys around me on my squad. I just

found a way to connect to the humanity of people. In his signature bow tie, Ray's approachable demeanor was often a comfort to the victims of crimes. But as a homicide investigator, he was also forced to confront the dark side of some people in his community as well. It was very challenging, but I'd said to myself early on, I'm not going to get jaded. I'm not going to get cynical. I'm going to still believe that people, even if they've done something wrong, a lot of those are choices for sure, and a lot of it's circumstances as well. And so let's still treat people with compassion and kindness until they give you a reason not to. This speaks directly to Ray's particular style and skill set

as a detective, which I think is so spot on. And in some situations, there is a certain light touch that is required, whether you're dealing with a reluctant witness, or when interviewing a potential suspect. And that touch was on full display in this case. In August of 2017, 21 year old Savannah Gold was living with her parents and her older brother in a comfortable home in Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville is just under a million people. We've got our beaches.

We've got, I say, several different communities here. We have the East side at the beach and we've got inner city and a lot of the inner city is growing. The area where Savannah Gold was is on the south side. This area was a very affluent area of town. Smart, compassionate, and creative, Savannah had the ambition and the talent to earn her way into the prestigious and aptly named Savannah College of Arts and Design. But after high school, when her mom was diagnosed with cancer,

Savannah chose to stay close to home to help care for her. Savannah is a very pretty young lady. She's very athletic, does sports. She did lacrosse in school, water skiing, very outgoing personality. Everyone at work loved her. I was at high school friends loved her. For the last two years,

Savannah and her brother had been working as servers at the Bonefish Grill, a popular restaurant in the Mandarin neighborhood south of downtown Jacksonville. And so at about 5.15 on the afternoon of August 2nd, she left her family's home wearing her white chef-style uniform shirt and drove herself to the restaurant to report for work. But a short time later, there was a dramatic change of plans. Because at around 6.30 that night, Savannah's parents received an unusual text message

from her phone announcing that she had fallen in love and she and her new boyfriend were, quote, running away together. But the text said, I wanted to tell you and mom I met a really great guy and we're running away together. I love him and we're leaving right now. I'll call you later when we get to where we're going." Moments later, Savannah's brother received a similar message,

one that was both suspicious and completely out of character. Same basic, a lot of misspelled words, typos. Met a guy, leaving with my boyfriend, I can't deal with this anymore, I've got to get away." And it was choppy English and it didn't make sense. And again, the fact that her family was very close, they knew what was going on. They knew the people that she was hanging out with, her friends, who she dated, and all those things. Now, Savannah had made no prior mention of meeting anyone new. So the question facing investigators, would the girl that postponed college to take care of her sick mom be the kind of person to suddenly run off with someone they didn't know?

Didn't seem likely. There wasn't a time when they didn't stay in contact with each other. And so I knew there's no way that that Shavana would have sent this text. But the other thing is, Savannah would not have put her mother through something like this. They just would not have happened because she loved her mom and her dad and there's no way that she would have put her mom Through some kind of torturous thing like I'm running away and I'll call you when I can Calls and texts to Savannah's phone went unanswered

And so Savannah's mom decided to drive down to the restaurant and find out herself if anyone knew what was going on so the mom Went up to the bone fish grill, talked to the manager, Savannah, who was always at work when she's supposed to be. She never showed up. But strangely, Savannah's white Kia Spectra was still parked in the parking lot in front of the restaurant.

Savannah's car is there. It has a flat tire. The purse is inside the car. Okay, so maybe she got a flat tire and went for help, leaving her purse behind. And while super unlikely, maybe she left with this mysterious boyfriend in his car. There were still tons of possibilities, but none of them were giving her mother much comfort. So she did what any worried mom would do. She called the police. Jacksonville 911, what's the location of the emergency? I'm at Bonefish Grill.

Savannah's mom did her best to convey her suspicions about her daughter's strange texts and her concern that something was wrong. It's very uncharacteristic. I mean, it's completely strange. I don't know what's going on and I'm really very worried. something was wrong. Uniformed officers from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office responded to the shopping center where the restaurant was located. The first thing they noticed was that her car's tire was not just flat, it had been deliberately

slashed, an ominous sign. And while there were no other clear signs of a struggle or a robbery, the slashed tire, along with the fact that the car was left unlocked, with her purse and her ID still inside, added to the concern that if Savannah had left town, she may not have done it voluntarily. It doesn't make sense. She gets entered into the National Crime Information Center as a missing person and that a detective at the missing persons unit begins researching, going out and talking to the family, friends, looking for video in that area to see what they can

find. This being 2017 at a popular shopping center, the police were pretty optimistic that between the ATM cameras and exterior CCTV, there should be footage capturing Savannah's movements in and out of the parking lot. So still missing persons is trying to pull camera from the shopping center. There's some footage. You can see the car pulling in, but it's at the very back of the shopping center. There's no good visual from that.

There's not quite enough to say, hey, we have a criminal element to this. But between the strange texts and her abandoned car and the slashed tire, there was certainly enough indication that Savannah could potentially be in danger. The missing person sergeant did on the evening of the third knew, hey, this may move outside of our purview, so let's go ahead and seal and tow her car in case that needs to be processed. In case something did occur, they contacted us the next morning and said, hey, look, this is not adding up. This is out of character.

These text messages don't add up. We want to come do a briefing with homicide. Along with his partner, Michelle Selig, Ray knew the best place to start was right at the beginning. It's what you do. Let's go back out to the scene. Let's go talk to the family and let's get a picture. Let's pretend like we don't know anything and let's just start like we got just got this case now. I think it is worth talking about the fact that you know, as we've said Savannah's in our 20s.

So that has to be definitely a factor in some of the initial decisions on how deputies first on the scene would handle it to try to ascertain as we've said so many times, you know, is this normal behavior and the text messages while unusual could be the reason maybe she didn't show up for work. And again, she wouldn't be the first young person or person at all who didn't let their family know about the person that they were romantically involved with for one reason or another and also, you know, maybe she had some sort of lifestyle that she was keeping a secret.

All these things are possibilities, but again, zero outward signs or any clues leading to that conclusion. Because again, Scott, we can look at the other side to see about the things that just didn't add up. But I'm sure within minutes of becoming aware that her car was in the parking lot, and even though it had a flat tire, her purse, as we mentioned, and keys inside, for me, that is definitely a BRF, as you know, a big red flag, and I'm sure it was the same for those initial investigators. And I just think you hit the nail right on the head, Scott,

because again, she never missed work, and if you were going to leave town, why then, when she was supposed to be at work, would she do it? And also, leave your car in front of your job. Nothing added up to any innocent explanation. But if she was in danger, potentially the victim of an assault or kidnapping, investigators knew that time was of the essence, and so they had to act fast.

Investigators zeroed in on Savannah's co-workers at the Bonefish Grill to gather any information that they might have about her relationships, her recent behavior, and any unusual events that may have preceded her disappearance. Several employees described Savannah as well-liked among staff and said nothing unusual had occurred at work that would have raised anyone's suspicions. But when asked if there was anyone she had an especially close or contentious relationship with, several employees mentioned one person in particular, their 29-year-old manager, Lee Rodarte.

I knew that they had been in a dating relationship, they had broken up, and then were back together, so they had an on-again, off-again relationship. And while Savannah had never mentioned the relationship to her parents, it was no secret among the staff at the restaurant. Here's part of a recorded interview with one of Savannah's co-workers. They've been going out, they've been texting, all of a sudden I can think about it, show the first 48 hours. And if anybody knows something or at least can lead you to the right direction, sure, send his phone. Lee wasn't at work the day Savannah went missing, which left investigators wondering if perhaps he was the person

Savannah's texts had claimed she ran off with. But there was one problem with that theory. Lee had been seen at the restaurant the following day. He actually showed up to help with the missing persons, pass out flyers. But that didn't totally clear him of suspicion, especially when Savannah's brother explained that he thinks he may have spotted Lee on the day his sister disappeared. One of the things that Sharon, Ms. Gold told us was that her son, Christopher, worked at the Bonefish Grill as well.

Chris told her that when he drove into the parking lot, he saw one of Savannah's co-workers who was a manager there, Lee Rodarte, and he saw him sitting in the front driver's seat of his own vehicle. We know that Lee did not go to work that day. He was scheduled off that day, which again was odd that he was in the parking lot. So that became a key piece of information to tip us to, wait a minute, somebody else who works with Savannah

was in that parking lot as well that we need to talk to. And the details of that conversation will turn this missing persons case into something entirely more sinister. In August of 2017, 21-year-old Savannah Gold failed to show up for her shift at a local restaurant and investigators were eager to talk to the man she was rumored to be having a romantic relationship with 29-year-old manager Lee Rodarte. Who we should remind you was also seen parked in front of the restaurant on the day she went missing.

So the first thing that came about maybe around eight o'clock, seven or eight o'clock that Friday we were able to get into and download the city's red light cameras and we were able to confirm some things. The additional video footage confirmed that Savannah arrived at the Bonefish Grill parking lot at 5.31 p.m. and then parked near a black vehicle matching the description of Rodarte's car given by her brother Chris. We could see that there was a person in it. It's a distance away, so I couldn't swear who was who, but I can make out the tags in the cars. So that video was crucial because it gave, while I, again, I could not definitively tell you who was in those cars. I could see that Leroy D'Arte's car was sitting in the parking lot back then right in front

of that bank at that intersection in Savannah's gold car. Just as Chris had told us was in that parking lot as well. We see when Lee's car drives in, we see when Savannah's car drives in, Savannah's car parks right next to Lee's car. The video footage then captured the details of their strange interaction. Then she gets out of her car and walks over to his car

and then he gets out of the front driver's seat of his car, walks over to the rear side of his vehicle. Savannah then comes over in front of that vehicle and gets into the rear passenger seat. So they both get into the rear passenger seat. And then at approximately 5 45 p.m. the video captured something truly frightening. And then what you see is the back passenger seat on her side that she got into and I describe it as violently opening three times. It like is open and then slam shut opens and then slams shut. So our assumption is she's trying to get out of that car and whoever that is, and we know it's Lee's car,

I can't make him out, is preventing her or closing that door. In the video, you can see the car begin to visibly shake, an indication of some kind of violent struggle. And then it stops. There's no more shaking of the car. There's no more violent opening and closing. And then the person that's in Lee's car, that male, then gets out, goes over to her car,

leans down and does something to the tire. They can only assume this would account for the slashed tire on Savannah's car. The man then is seen opening the driver's door of her white Kia and removing a small item before returning to his own car. Then he gets back into his car and is driving out of the parking lot and it passes the red light camera there, goes underneath that, and then you do not see Savannah get out of that car. Nowhere was there any evidence that Savannah had left

the back seat of his car. At that point, my thoughts were either she's unconscious or dead. And when we watched that video, that's what pushed everything into fast motion for us. According to court records, Lee Ridarte had a record of some minor traffic offenses in Duval County, but nothing on his record indicated a history of violence. And while his relationship with Savannah was a known secret at work, there had been no

indications that it was ever volatile or abusive. Part of the reason they were keeping it under wraps, although everyone knew, was that he's a management so he's not supposed to be dating an employee. But that's not to say that there wasn't some suspicion that Lee may have known something about Savannah's whereabouts. Listen to this brief recorded interview with one of their co-workers. In my opinion, there's no way in the world that she did not go with somebody she knew. I really am heartbroken. You'll have to get that phone.

No, we will. Because there is no way in the world he does not know something. We went initially to Bonefish Grill, very much played it off that we were just there to kind of get a feel for Savannah and talk to any coworkers. Of course we wanted to talk to everyone else, but my sights were set on Lee because he was in that parking lot.

I certainly didn't want to tip my hand to him that we knew that. The plan was to confront Lee at the restaurant under the guise of routine questioning. I have an advantage that other people sometimes don't have, and that is I wear a bow tie and it does it throws people off. They do not look at me as the police and so I cover up my gun, my badge. I'm just a guy in a bow tie and I specifically talked to Lee last. I wanted two things. I wanted him to be uncomfortable and even in his own house and I wanted him to think this is no big deal.

Incredibly, we have a recording of that initial conversation between Ray and Lee Rodarte, the man he suspects may have had a hand in Savannah's disappearance. And what's interesting is how you can hear just how agreeable and cooperative Rodarte seems to be. So we're up here about Savannah. Did you know, you know Savannah? Yeah.

Did you guys have any kind of relationship? We hung out for a while, some months ago. Okay. And then- Like a dating type relationship? I guess. We never really defined it as dating, but we hung out. So he admitted that he had a casual romantic relationship

with Savannah, but he made his first big mistake when he lied about the last time he saw her. Today is Friday and from what we understand what happened was that she was scheduled to work Wednesday and she didn't show up Wednesday night for work. Did you work Wednesday night? No. Okay, you were off Wednesday. And when's the last time you saw her? The last time I saw her? No. Okay, you were off Wednesday. And when's the last time you saw her?

The last time I saw her? Yeah. Um, I think she worked over the weekend. Okay. This past weekend? Yeah. You worked this weekend? Yeah. Okay, so the last time you saw her was here at work? Yeah. Okay. So she and she was supposed to have shown up for work Wednesday. You weren't even in the parking lot? No. Wednesday? Okay. Rodarte had no idea at this moment that police already had the video evidence that he had been spotted with Savannah in the parking lot. He said he was not in that parking lot that day, had not been there to work in several days, hadn't spoken to her via text or cell phone in at least two or three weeks.

And that moment right there, knowing they had caught this person of interest in a blatant lie that had to feel good for detectives. And when I say felt good, meaning they felt like they were getting somewhere towards finding out what happened to Savannah or better yet, just finding her. While it doesn't prove anything just yet, it certainly told them that they were very likely on the right track. Absolutely. And Ray also made some visual observations that were also pretty telling. I saw a scratch about a quarter of an inch to an inch long with some redness on it on the side of his neck.

So I noticed that. I did not ask him about that. I just observed that. Obviously, when you're interviewing, you're looking at everything. I'm looking at his hands. Does he have any defensive wounds? Is there anything, you know, tears broken, you know, all of those things. At that point, Ray and his partner decided to end the interview,

careful not to tip their hand that they were onto him, a move that perfectly demonstrated Ray's deaf touch. You guys have a good night. You too. You know, best of luck. We're all keeping our hands clear. Thanks guys have a good night. You too. You know, best of luck. We're all keeping her in our prayers. Thanks, man. Thank you.

Redarte had provided no new information regarding Savannah's location or her condition, but his lies told police just about everything they wanted to know about who was likely responsible for her disappearance. Now it was time to get to work. We began doing everything we could to see where else that car went, what showed up. Once I talked to him initially and got denials,

then we began tracking his phone as well, search warrant for those things, and see looking, keeping an eye out, putting a Bolo out, and trying to identify any place that that car could have hit. And the priority was to find Savannah, and Ray hoped traces on Lee's cell phone might reveal her location.

The digital forensics were able to place him in the parking lot, just as Savannah's brother had said. And while investigators still didn't have definitive proof that he committed a crime, they did at least have a pretense for getting him into immediate custody. We discover that he had an outstanding capias for driving with a suspended license. So really nothing, a slap on the wrist, you come in and you either get ROR'd or bond out. It

wasn't going to be anything at all. But that was all that we had. The minor charges gave them reason to return to the restaurant and make an arrest. But it was also the perfect ruse to potentially extract more information about his involvement in Savannah's disappearance. We immediately head to Bonefish Grill. We brought a team of people just in case, but my partner and I went in, Michelle and I went

into the Bonefish Grill, put cuffs on Lee Redarte in the back room, asked him to put his knife down that he was pairing with. Once he put the knife down, put cuffs on him and told him he was being arrested for local capias for the driving with a suspended license. All the while, Ray continued to play Mr. Nice Guy, biding his time until he had Rodarte safely in an interview room. He went straight into the back of the police car, I told him. He'd probably be out on this charge probably tonight or tomorrow, no biggie. But I just wanted to finalize a few questions with you. If you don't mind, you said, yeah.

Little did he know that Mr. Nice Guy and his partner were veteran interrogators and experts at rooting out the truth. There are tried and true methods to conducting a successful interview with a criminal suspect. And Ray and his partner, Michelle, had their technique down to an art. My wife always kids that when you get in the interview room, you guys are a married couple. We don't plan it. It's just organic. We feed off of each other.

We kind of know what each other's going to think and say. It wasn't always that way when I first started because she trained me when I first came into homicide. I had bruised shins because she would kick me under the table. Seventy-two hours after 23-year-old Savannah Gold was reported missing, Ray and Michelle were facing off against the man they believed knew where she was, and more ominously, what he might have done to her. We knew a few things. We knew he was our guy, but we were 50-50 whether she was still alive. Like, he had her someplace, and there was some deviant thing going on. Hopefully, that

was our thoughts. I think that was maybe more out of desperation or hope that he just rendered her unconscious, drove her someplace, and he's keeping her or something Arrested on an outstanding charge of driving on a suspended license Lira d'arte was led into an interview room Ray knew he might just have one chance to get him to reveal critical information about what happened to Savannah I'll tell you one thing. here's what I do on my interviews. I sometimes take a gigantic folder of stuff in that's messy. I'll ask another detective when I'm going in,

I would just grab a huge folder and like, hey, can I borrow this? And then like, what are you doing? I'm like, just watch. And I would just pull out stuff that didn't have anything to do with the case. And I would just pull out papers and man, I can't find what I'm looking for. Man, my boss is going to kill me.

I don't even know. It works being stupid and the interview really works well for me. It's disarming. It lets you think you're in control and you're the boss. And as you will hear, it also creates that all-important human connection between suspect and investigator, one that can pay surprising dividends, like when Rodarte admitted he lied in his initial interview about the last time he saw Savannah.

When was the last time you saw her? I didn't tell you the truth when we talked about the fish. Okay. Last time I saw her was Wednesday afternoon. He went on to explain that his relationship with Savannah had soured when he began to fear that rumors of their fling would jeopardize his job. Not to mention the other relationship with another girlfriend. So on that Wednesday afternoon he had made a plan to break it off for good. So I was a little

upset. I met her in the parking lot at Bonefish. When's this? Wednesday afternoon. Okay. Well, then you know what time or about? It was about 530. The timeline and the details of his arrival matched the video evidence investigators had already collected, which was a good start. So I drove up there and I was hoping to get a chance to talk to her. Okay. I pulled in the parking lot. She pulled in a little bit after me. I parked. I said, hey, can I talk to you for a second? And then she comes and gets in

the car with you? Yeah. Does she get in the front seat or the back seat? She gets in the back and I asked why she got in the back. Okay. She was like, I just don't want anybody to see me, you know. And where did you get into? She said, you can come back here and we can talk. Okay. And so I got out and I got in the back. Okay, so you guys are both in the backseat. Security video of the parking lot showed what looked like a struggle in the backseat of the car. But this is where the evidence and road darte story began to diverge. My god said we agreed to go our separate ways.

At that point, she had her phone in her hand. She got out of the car and walked towards the main entrance from San Jose. Rodarte claims Savannah got out of the car and walked alone towards the parking lot exit. Details contradicted by the video. But as the old saying goes, never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake. And she got out and it looked like she was either texting or calling somebody because as she started walking towards the there's an entrance to the plaza.

Okay yeah it's closer towards 295. Yeah okay. I wouldn't say she was walking along the edge of the plaza, but she was walking maybe towards this way. And I was saying older model Ford pickup, green, drove past me and around and she got in. So it seemed like she knew the person? I mean, she got right in. Had you ever seen that truck before?

No. Never. Have you seen that truck before? No. Never? Have you seen it since then? No. Rodarte claimed Savannah got into a green Ford pickup, but he couldn't give police a plate number or a description of the driver. And the reason was simple.

No such vehicle existed. How long do you think it was between the time that she got out and started using her phone till that green truck pulled up? Maybe five minutes. Okay. So, wow. So if she called somebody, they got there in five minutes to pick her up?

The fact was the video proved Savannah had never left the backseat of his car, but Ray and Michelle were content to let Rodarte dig himself a deeper and deeper hole. And many of you out there will know that Ray and I think very similarly when it comes to certain statements by what he told Scott next. And so I love denials. I just I love them. And so all the things I let Lee, I think we, Michelle and I let Lee build this phenomenal house of denials and put himself into a corner. And then even when we chipped away at those, we didn't do it in an aggressive way. Because the last thing I wanted him to do was lawyer up.

Lee, why didn't you mention this before, since we've been looking for this girl? I mean, don't you think that information? No, I was the last one to see her. So I was a little bit scared at that. You just said you weren't the last one to see her. You just said somebody in a truck. Let him talk and let him build this story, this house of cards. When he told me that I wasn't there, that was the initial one, and then proved to him,

well, actually, we have some videos that shows you were there. I mean, I'm not saying you did anything, but but you're there. And then he came off of that and built another story that she got in the car with some other people and drove away and let him build that all out, talk as long as he wanted to, and then chipped away at that and told him, well, no, she got in your car and you drove away. His lies were showing. And so was that telling injury on his neck.

What happened to your neck? That was self-insicted actually. Why? I just have been having kind of a hard time. To your neck? I couldn't. Yeah I did. And what did you use? A knife. When did you do that? What did you use? A knife. When did you do that? Sometime in July. You did that in July and it's still bloody? Yeah. When I catch him in the first lie,

I began seeing there was a difference in how he spoke, how he moved, tiny little bit of sweat on his brow, pupils dilating, hands were starting to move more. So all of those things that you know, okay, that's an indicator. I don't know what I did, but I hit something here that he doesn't like, that his body just involuntarily doesn't like. So let's let him come up for air a little bit and get back to a normal and let's poke and prod at some of those again to see if we can get that same reaction again.

I'm going to be honest with you. Your feelings in it. I don't really care about your feelings What I care about is finding her. So where is she? I don't know where she is. Where is Savannah? I don't know. I need to know where Savannah is. I don't know where she is You don't know because you had something done with her and you weren't involved in that part. I don't know Tell me something. What can I work with? I don't know, tell me something. What can I work with? I told you the last time I saw her. That's not true because we have proof.

We have, we have proof. When Ray and Michelle finally confronted Rodarte with the existence of the video footage that contradicted his story, he continued to insist that she had left his car. But in the video recording of that interview, you can really almost see in his body language that his grip on his weak alibi was starting to slip.

I didn't do anything. Okay, you didn't do anything, but she was in your car. She never got out of your car. Well, we can prove that you left with her in the car. So please, do everybody a favor and just tell us. I never said I wasn't going to charge him with murder. I just said, my goal is to find her. My goal was always to him is let's find Savannah.

Help me. You said you care for her. Help me find Savannah. I can't push him off that cliff. I need to get him there and I need him to think he wants to go there. And I need to do that while watching for all of those signs and chopping away at the lies in a non-confrontational way. Again, I'm toast if the guy lawyers up, then I really have nothing and I have to let a

killer go. Ray knew that even with what he had, it was likely not enough to secure a murder charge, let alone a conviction. He couldn't afford to let the interview end here. And you can hear the emotion rising in their voices, especially that of Ray's partner Michelle. It was likely that they saw a chink in their suspect's armor and they knew that this was the time to try their best to get him to take off his armor and finally come clean.

Okay, let me ask you, Lee, then tell us now if you're being an honest man. Are you being honest? Yes. Okay, well then, let's start being honest. She never got out of your backseat, Lee. Video cameras don't lie. How do you think I know this information, Lee?

I wasn't there, but a video camera taught it. After that passenger door comes open and shuts, comes open and shuts, she never gets out of that car. And you drive off, she never gets out of that car. There is no green truck. What was going on in the backseat? What was going on in the backseat? For the doors to be kicked open.

She kicked open that door three times, Lee. She kicked it. We saw it. I wanted him to tell me my hopes were she was still alive. Even in the part where we're pleading with him, where Michelle is pleading, it hit a nerve with her. And those tears that she had, those are real, because she thought of her daughter.

There was a connection. And so she tapped into that part so that there's a section in there where she's pleading and she has tears. Those are real. So I've got a mom replacing Savannah's mom pleading for her daughter back. Where did you go with her? Leave. Be human. You're a human. You're a man. The interview had reached a tipping point with the fate of Savannah Gold possibly in the balance. If she's alive, I need him to tell me where she is. If she's not, I need him to tell me where she is. If she's not, I need him to tell me where she is.

So the goal is you got to tell me because honestly, in the back of my mind, the whole time is if I can keep a conversation going with a guy who doesn't feel threatened by me, then maybe we can get to maybe now not everyone we talk, we interview in the box has a conscience, but maybe if he had a relationship with her, maybe he had something inside of him that we could tap into. After several hours of questioning, Ray and Michelle sensed it was now or never to,

within the bounds of the law, press for a confession. Because, let's be honest, this little misdemeanor capious, I mean, he's leaving, he's walking, either tonight or in the morning. I'm not holding, I have nothing else to hold him out. I don't have, I have reasonable suspicion, but I don't have probable cause, and I certainly don't have proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is what I need to charge him with murder. I know you're not that cruel inside. Seriously, where did you go with her? I'm begging you, Lee, please. Please tell us. Please don't make us waste any more of our time. Just tell us. Ray and Michelle listened and watched

as Rodarte began to soften. And after hours of patience and persistence, he finally admitted that his argument with Savannah had escalated and then got physical. That door kicked over three times. Obviously something went on in that backseat. What happened in the backseat? Did she get mad at you? I mean, she was upset. She tried to slap me. I slapped her. She went to get out. I grabbed her around her waist and said, where are you going? Where are you hitting me?

And she tried to slap me again. Their suspect was nearing the point of no return. Would he double down on the lie or would he confess and finally tell the truth? And he vacillated. I mean, you can see it in there. He's warring with himself to tell us. And then finally he did. She was hitting me.

She wouldn't stop and I'd squeeze back. She started hitting me. You know, after I, you know, slashed her tire. And it went back and forth and I just squeezed her. You squeezed her around her neck or around her neck with your hands? She had her hands around mine. Then I turned and went and pushed her down onto the seat. But my hands were on her neck. I thought I had her right here.

You thought you had her up here? Yeah, I thought I had her like right here. And I ended up coming down. I just heard a pop. Okay, you heard a pop sound? You heard the pop. What happened at that point? Do you remember?

She just stopped moving. She just stopped moving. She just stopped moving. Rodarte had admitted to putting his hands around Savannah's neck and squeezing until she was unconscious and not breathing. So do you think you broke her neck? I think she broke it. Because you said when you were squeezing her,

that's when you heard the pop. And then after that she didn't move anymore. It was an unbelievably tragic, but not wholly unexpected, turn in what was until that point a missing persons case. Savannah Gold had been murdered. Well, Darte went on to explain that after he strangled Savannah, he exited the car, slashed her tire, and retrieved her makeup bag from her car in a

half-baked effort to cover up his crime. But most critically, there was what he didn't do. He didn't call 911. He didn't drive her to a hospital. He didn't do anything to try and save her life, which means this was no accident. This was a deliberate and intentional act of homicide. And then evidenced by the way he so calmly got out of his car and slashed her tires, accident. This was a deliberate and intentional act of homicide and then evidence by the way he so calmly got out of his car and slashed her tires, proof

that it was also a crime that he was determined to get away with. By using her phone to text her parents, he hoped to convince them that she had simply run away. But then came some of the most disturbing parts of his confession as Rodarte detailed what he did next and we do want to warn you that what he says is quite graphic. I go home and I don't know what to do so I have a fire pit in front of my car and I put it there. Was she just put in the fire pit? Or did you burn her or what? I dug a hole.

Okay. I put her there. Okay. And then, I don't know why I thought it would help. Mm-hmm. You know, starting a bonfire. Rodarte described how he drove Savannah's body to his house and then dragged her into his backyard, where

he attempted to burn her body in a makeshift fire pit. Was there already a fire pit? Okay, so is it like bricks or was it just a very... It's the little makeshift one with like garden bricks and stuff. Okay, yeah, yeah. And you put her in that? Okay, so it had already been dug out. Okay, you put her in that. Did, so it had already been dug out. Okay, you

put her in that. Did you cover up with anything? There was some wood already in there. There was wood and you just put the wood on her and tried to burn it. Savannah's body stayed in his backyard until the next morning when he wrapped her in a plastic sheet and blanket and drove to a nearby pond where Rodarte had been fishing. He finally moved her body and took her out to that pond at the end of Club Du Clay Road.

He had wrapped her up and put her in the pond. Did you throw her in the water later on the banks of the water? She's pretty close to the banks. The details of Savannah's fate are almost too hard to imagine. But as horrible as they are, for the detectives, there also must have been a sense of solace. Finally, they at least had the answers now that they'd been looking for. It's everything at the same time. It's relief. It's joy.

It's anger. I don't know if he's telling me the truth I got to get a team out there and a dive team out there to go find her Members of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office were immediately dispatched to the location So the dive team went out and they found her or they found what they believed to be her we got missing persons some of our team, and also the dive team out, and they conducted a search exactly where he told us, and they located a person, or it appeared to be, because she was wrapped up in not only the comforter,

the plastic, the blanket, and duct tape, it appeared to be later on identified as Savannah at the medical examiner's office. The medical examiner concluded that Savannah had sustained severe injury to her neck, which indicated strangulation, as well as burns to over 75% of her body. The cause of death was ultimately classified as a violent homicide, though the specific fatal injury could not be identified due to the condition of her remains.

When detectives executed a search warrant over D'Arti's house, they found more items that verified the details of his confession, including gasoline, the fire pit, and pillows that matched the blanket used to wrap Savannah's body. Then we also began the search on the vehicle. K-9 alerts to de-cop in the trunk of his car where he admitted to putting her. We found soil matching and soot that matched his residence. One of Savannah's shoes, blood in the backseat on paperwork that DNA tested, which was Savannah's as well.

Lee Rodarte was charged with second degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a dead human body following the recovery of Savannah's remains. A lot of people think, okay, well you got your confession, that's the end of it. Well, that's certainly not the end of it. The majority of the investigation is really post arrest if you're gonna be good at the job.

In homicide, we say about that, part of your job is to solve it, but the bigger part is to resolve it. So I needed to set into motion things that were sustainable for trial. Prior to Rodarte's trial, his legal team filed what's called a stand your ground motion, claiming that Savannah had attacked him in the backseat of his car and that he grabbed her neck in an effort to defend himself resulting in her death. So despite his confession, Rodarty did not take full responsibility for his actions when he got to court. There's still a reservation that this isn't my fault or I'm not completely culpable and so I think he tries to give a quote self

defense claim and you know and the courts looked at that. And the judge said, that's not accurate. The fact that the video captured her repeated attempts to escape the car proved that Savannah was not the aggressor. For sure. And there were also other things that pointed to this self-defense claim being completely untrue. But I think that the best evidence that this wasn't an accident was what he did in

the immediate aftermath of her death. He didn't call for help or attempt to resuscitate her. Instead, he attempted to cover up his crime by slashing her tires to make it look like she may have been abducted. And then he disposed of her body in one of the cruelest ways imaginable. and then he disposed of her body in one of the cruelest ways imaginable. After he kills Savannah, he takes her home and throws her in the fire pit in his backyard,

and Kelsey, this new girl, comes over that night, and they have pizza and they watch movies while Savannah's body is just sitting in the backyard. The cruelty and callousness of Rodarte's actions are staggering, especially from someone who had admitted having a romantic relationship with his victim. Someone who was kind and trusting and beloved. I believe that he was jealous. He wanted to be with Savannah. They had an off-again, on-again relationship. Eventually she was done with him and knew what kind of person he was. And he got angry and he has an angry streak.

And so in that car, he went to go confront her. He had no business being there. He wasn't at work that day. I mean, he certainly can go in the parking lot if he wants to, but he confronted her. She was not afraid of him. Savannah defended herself against a bully, even leaving the marks of her efforts on his neck. But in the end, the 29-year-old man overpowered her.

She tried to get out of that car. She's a little girl. He outweighed her and physically much stronger than she was, strangled her. And then he panicked and he didn't know what to do instead of calling the police and saying, Hey, this is what happened. He panicked and he took her home and then he tried to get rid of her body by burning it, which doesn't work. Then after that, he panicked again when we came to talk to him the first time. And so he wrapped her up and when the burning didn't work

and he took her to a place that he used to live and so he dumped her hoping that no one would ever find her body because it's a dead end down there for sure in a swampy nasty pond. in a swampy, nasty pond. In February of 2021, Rodarte agreed to a deal in which he pleaded guilty at a second degree murder in exchange for a 40 year prison sentence. Mrs. Gold was battling with her own health issues at that time and bless her heart, she was at everything.

She was there at the end for the plea. And this was all something that the family, we get family buy-in, the prosecutors get buy-in from the family. Florida prosecutors had a strong case to seek the death penalty. But in the end, Savannah's own family demonstrated mercy, mercy never afforded to their young daughter. The family agreed that, you know, we'd like closure. It's been long enough. He admits it. He's willing to admit that, you know, in court,

this isn't just a plea deal. This is him admitting, and there's an appropriate sentence to what the second-degree murder can hold in the state of Florida. And so they didn't bring Savannah back. It didn't fix all of the things. But this chapter was finalized with that. During the sentencing, Savannah's mother, father and brother gave emotional victim impact statements describing their grief and the lasting impact of her loss.

Today's not a happy day for us. This crime cost my daughter her life. It destroyed another life and it's impacted many other lives negatively. We are very grateful to all the professionals involved in bringing Savannah home and to those whom have assured her assailant is held accountable. These are hard. We work here in Duval County. We work, I think we had close to 200 murders that year. I mean, we run a lot.

We're busy, we run, and that's not a complaint. I mean, we signed up for this and we had the privilege of doing this job and with all of the death that you see, and this is a kid and it doesn't matter how old someone is, but this is a child and it just weighs on you. All of these cases and all of the the bodies that you see and all of the autopsies that you go to and all of the victims families, those that love you and those that hate you, It's tiring and it takes a physical and mental toll on you. The murder of a loved one is a life-changing event that can cause, of course, lasting trauma.

But it's also important to know the effect they can have on the members of law enforcement and prosecutors that dedicate themselves to seeking justice for these victims. My wife and I have been married for 35 years now this summer, and she's been through two wars in the military with me. She's been through deployments, she's been through me leaving on mission trips, but this job, she'll tell you, is just, I'm just, some days when I come home, I just, I don't, I can't talk. I don't have anything to say.

There's times that you just, you have tears in your eyes and you don't know why. So unless you've done it, you wouldn't understand. I'm glad to do it even today. I'm glad to be here and I'm glad for our next on call. And I hope for the privilege of working another case where we can help families. And eventually I'll get to pass it on to the news guys coming up but for right now I'm not leaving until they force me out. I'm staying.

I'm not leaving. For a good number of people the most common interaction you'll have with police is that traffic stop, obviously not always pleasant, but common. And then there's those families in the most unfortunate of circumstances who find themselves relying on the expertise, the compassion of a member of law enforcement to unravel these tragic events and hopefully bring them some sort of justice. And those are the families of the victims of homicides. Those interactions turn out to be much more intense, could last months, even years.

And while the focus is where it should always be with the families, for the investigator, you'll never walk away unscathed. Each face, each fragment of evidence, every what-if still bounces around in your thoughts, which are all parts of your experience to serve. For Detective Raymond Reeves, he's still elbow deep in the hunt on that next case, and as we speak, chasing the truth one lead at a time. What happened to Savannah is yet another reminder of how very precious every day of life can truly be. She went to work one evening

thinking it would be like any other night, but it would prove to be her last night alive. Taken from this earth forever by violence, leaving her family and I'm sure so many other people left to mourn the loss and be forever impacted and changed. Savannah fought her attacker and part of that fight was captured on video, so she herself very much helped law enforcement catch her killer. At 21, her adult life should have been just getting started. After her death, her family held a vigil at a local park that Savannah loved. It was a place she had spent many happy hours climbing its trees,

riding her bicycle along its windy paths, and simply enjoying its peacefulness and beauty. And that imagery of Savannah Gold is now hopefully how this AOM community will forever remember her. Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an AudioChuck original. Produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media. Ashley Flowers is executive producer.

This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond, researched by Kate Cooper, edited by Ali Sirwa and Philjohn Grande. So, what do you think Chuck? Do you approve? edited by Ali Sirwa and Philjohn Grande. So, what do you think Chuck? Do you approve? Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo