Anatomy of Murder - Sea of Uncertainty (Samira Watkins)

Episode Date: February 20, 2024

A young mom goes missing and after her body is found, police are left with more questions than answers. Disinfectant wipes would prove pivotal in solving the case. For episode information and photos, please visit https://anatomyofmurder.com/Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

So you know the reason why you're here? We had that discussion over the phone about famine going missing. Yeah. What it messing me up. How's it mess you up? Because how is that possible? I mean I didn't do it. I'm not responsible for being missing. That's why we here. You want to know if I'm responsible Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anastasia Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anatomy of Murmur. Every day, police departments across the country get calls to investigate a missing person. More than 600,000 people are reported missing each year.

Fortunately, 99% of them eventually turn up unharmed. But today we're talking about that 1%, those who disappear without a trace and never come back home. Some families are left without answers while others are faced with a horrible truth. Today's guest has seen her fair share of tragic endings. My name is Bridget Myers Jensen. I am an assistant state attorney and I am in the first judicial circuit in Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola, Florida is the westernmost city in the Florida panhandle. Known for its large military presence, more than 14,000 men and women from all branches of the military are stationed there. In the heart of the city is the Pensacola Naval Air Station, nicknamed the Cradle of Aviation because of its famous training squadron. The Pensacola Naval Air Station is home of the Blue Angels.

It was also the home to the Watkins family. Samira Watkins was the oldest of five siblings. They were a close-knit family and not a day went by without her speaking with one of her sisters. According to her siblings, Samira was hardworking, cheerful, and always seemed destined for big things. By the time she was 25, the important thing in her life was raising her four-year-old son. Samira Watkins was a 25-year-old mother of a small child.

She was working at McDonald's. She was going to school, just trying to do what she could to succeed in life. From all indications through her family and even her co-workers, Samira was known to be a very responsible, loving mother. Samira's son was everything to her. When she unexpectedly got pregnant at the age of 20, she embraced motherhood. All she wanted to give her son was the best life she could. Which is why, in addition to working nights, Samira was attending

Pensacola Junior College to pursue her dream of becoming a dental assistant. She was on a path to try to do good work and go to school and do great things so that she could support herself and her small child. But then life threw her a curveball in the form of a handsome Navy officer who introduced himself as Ricky Littleton. Samira met Ricky in June or July of 2009, and they immediately started, I don't know that I'd call it a relationship, but they certainly started seeing each other. Littleton was a military police officer at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. And not only was he a man in uniform, he was polite, affectionate, and everything her ex-boyfriend wasn't. It wasn't long before Samira had fallen head over heels. To a young girl with aspirations

coming out of a bad relationship with the father of her son, she meets this guy that's in the military and has a stable career. I think she probably was very hopeful and excited about this relationship. Their summer romance stretched into the fall and Samira's family shared her hope that Littleton would provide the life she always dreamed for for her and her son. But on the night of October 29, 2009, all her plans seemed to come to a sudden and shocking halt. On that night, Samira had come home after a full day of classes and a night shift at work, just in time to put her son to bed. Shortly afterwards, she left the house, telling her sisters that she would be home in just a couple hours. But when they woke up the next morning,

they realized she had never come home. Her sister tried calling her, but the phone went straight to voicemail. So Samira's family spent the day contacting friends and even going to Ricky's apartment to look for her. But she wasn't there and neither was her car. By the next morning, when Samira still hadn't returned, her family knew they needed help. Samira's sister, Sylvia, reported Samira missing on October 31st because she had not heard from her. Samira was responsible. She was a mother. She was very close to her family. She was in constant contact with them, so for her not to see them or talk to them for a couple days was highly unusual. Not only had Samira missed school and her shift at work, she hadn't even checked in with her young son, who was already asking about his now-missing mom. Her family was convinced that something was terribly wrong.

Detectives at the Pensacola Police Department agreed that something didn't add up and put out a bolo for her, which is be on the lookout. also did it for her Red Ford Taurus. They set out to create a timeline of the day that Samira went missing. We knew that she got off work at about 9.20 p.m. because we could see her on the video surveillance at the McDonald's where she worked. That video showed Samira identified by her signature gold hoops, acting like her normal self with no sign that she was upset about anything or in any sort of danger. And then we had her phone records that showed her last phone call at 10 37 p.m. on that same day. Which was shortly after she left to go out. But when police tracked the number she had called, they were surprised to learn it did not belong to her new boyfriend, Ricky Littleton.

In fact, according to Littleton, he hadn't seen Samira in days and claimed they never had plans to meet up. They were able to get in touch with Ricky, my phone, just a very brief conversation. If he knew where Samira was, he said he did not know. So who had Samira been talking to the night she went missing? And did that person have something to do with her disappearance? Samira's family had their suspicions. Samira's ex-boyfriend and her son's father, William Peters. Their turbulent relationship had lasted three years, but it was marred by William's jealousy, drug use, and unacceptable treatment of both Samira and their young son. Samira had been in a pretty

volatile relationship with the father of her child. It was an abusive relationship, and he had actually gone to prison for some time for committing some violence upon Samira. The charges stemmed from an incident in which Peters had broken into Samira's home, attacked her, and kept her from leaving the house for days. Convicted of battery and false imprisonment, he had been sent to prison less than a year before Samira's disappearance. But as of October of 2009, William Peters was a free man. He was certainly a suspect just based on the nature of the violent relationship he had had with Samira previously.

Samira had always worried her violent ex would one day come back for her and their son. Now detectives wondered if Samira's worst fears had come true. What had started as love had ended in violence. Now detectives searching for Samira Watkins are wondering if the estranged father of her four-year-old son had something to do with her disappearance. And you know, Scott, you hate to go first to the new love, or in this case, the ex, but the numbers tell us, unfortunately, and with their history, that's exactly where they need to start. Yeah, there's every reason why our ex would be a strong person of interest here, a past history of violence. He'd be at the top of the list for many, many reasons, outside of the obvious, which is

any former or current love interest that has been with your victim would be on your radar. Let me also add that William could have had a potential motive here. He did go to prison based on her report to the police about past abuse. So yeah, he would definitely be at the top of the list at this moment. And also remember, she's now with someone new. So that means that there's also the potential jealousy factor. And when you add a common child to that, you know, that really can be a tinderbox. And that was something that the police were thinking about too. So they fearing that Samira's life could be in danger,

they wasted no time in tracking Peters down. Peters denied having any recent contact with Samira, claiming that he was too afraid to go back to prison to risk breaking the restraining order Samira had filed. And he even offered police an alibi, claiming he was working for his family's cleaning service on the night that she went missing. Law enforcement was able to determine

that he was in a particular place at a particular time through his employment. Detectives also checked Peter's phone number and confirmed that it wasn't the one who had called Samira that night. Now, he was an abusive ex-boyfriend and ex-con, but after confirming his alibi, detectives basically scratched him off their suspect list. But they were about to learn some new information that would put Samira's disappearance

in a whole new light. It turned out that Samira's new boyfriend had some secrets of his own. He actually had a number of different girlfriends, and he referred to himself as Ricky to all of them. But Ricky Littleton was actually Zachary Littleton. And despite his reputation around the base as a playboy, Zachary Littleton was a married man. His wife and his child were in South Carolina. His wife was actually in the military as well. She had transferred to Pensacola. She just had not yet relocated. She was supposed to be moving to Pensacola with their child within a week of when Samira went missing.

So did the threat of having this affair with Samira being exposed cause Littleton to take drastic and possibly violent measures? I mean, Anastasia, clearly here, the first thing we have to recognize is that he's likely leading a double life. He's leading a double life, and the other part of that life, his wife, is about to get to the base. Let's talk about how it's almost too coincidental. And there's also the fear maybe he would be in trouble with the military. I think it's appropriate to talk about what they call Article 134 of the Uniform Military Code, which makes it a criminal act. A person could be discharged for cheating.

You know, in fact, the punishment is a dishonorable discharge from the military. So I say that it is a strong motive for him not to be found out. And hearing that it is actually against the code and you can be penalized within the military for having this extramarital relationship, it might seem outdated, but let's just think about it. The reason they put those rules on the books is that they want to reduce the distraction, you know, that potential cost of trust and morale, which means everything, especially in the military, right? And also they worry about if you have all these other things going on in your life, that is going to really decline your effectiveness when it comes to any military strategy or in the case of war, even fighting. So that's exactly why those rules

remain on the books today. And let's even talk about the Jekyll and Hyde effect here. He was also a highly regarded Navy sailor with the history in the service as a member of law enforcement. So even detectives began to wonder if they made a mistake by giving him, a member of the military and a member of law enforcement, the benefit of the doubt, especially after Samir's sister revealed a bombshell. Samira was pregnant and Littleton was the father. Samira was of the mindset that she was going to have the child. As a married man with a child of his own, predictably, Littleton was less enthusiastic about the news.

In fact, according to Samira's sister, he had even pressured her into ending the pregnancy. But Samira had refused and their relationship had become strained. Samira had just learned that she was pregnant. She had also learned that he was in fact married and had a child. So I think she started seeing that this was not the individual who she thought she originally met. Now, we've all seen this movie before. The lengths some people would go to protect their secrets and hide their lies. And with Littleton's double life exposed,

a very important aspect of the investigation had emerged. A motive. But when police double-timed it to his apartment to bring him in for questioning, they were in for yet another surprise. When law enforcement went to talk to Ricky, they went to his apartment and realized that he had actually moved out. A hasty move is almost never a good look for a person of interest. And when detectives finally got him into an interview room, they were eager to get an

explanation. What follows is audio from that interview. So we ran into a house. She was stationed in Goose Creek, and I was stationed here. So the Navy decided to put us together. And at the time, while it seemed a little bit suspicious, it was actually a planned move. He had moved into a home because his wife and child were going to be moving to Pensacola within a week or so. The detective then got down to why he was there and asked Littleton about his relationship with Samira, who he knew as Sammy. would you keep it over there but then she started getting like she wanted me to talk to her son and be like a she's like you could be a good person and i was like that's not what i want you know i want with you it was just friends that's what i thought it was so maybe i did some things i said some things that probably made her believe that we was in a relationship but i didn't see it that way

did your wife know that you were talking to this girl? No. Would that be a problem if she knew that? No, because you know I have a lot of friends. Did you have any kind of a relationship with Sammy that was more than just friends? No. Initially, he was kind of trying to downplay what their relationship actually was. You know, basically just that they were friends and that she was getting a little too attached.

So he was trying to separate himself from her. The detective knew that Littleton was lying, but he also knew that it could be because he was afraid of repercussions from the Navy if he admitted to the affair. So he tried to ease his mind to get Littleton to open up about the true nature of his relationship with Samira.

I want you to know that I'm not the military. I'm not really worried about who was with who and what relationship. I don't have any intention of telling anybody else anything that is said in this room. I want to make that clear so that I want you to feel free to tell me everything without you worrying about getting in trouble from your wife or getting in trouble at work. But understand that we're looking into this case and I really need to know the exact extent of y'all's relationship. Okay, we had to say this once or twice. I think what's important to first note here is that the detective is giving him a path to tell the truth and giving him acceptance in a sense that he may not have told the truth before, but now let's have an open

conversation. As the investigator, I won't be judgmental about what may have been an extramarital affair or not. I'm not the military, so you don't have to worry about that with me. But it's really for the investigator, it's a matter of getting to the truth. And here is your opportunity, being Littleton, to set the record straight. And it really all comes down to credibility. So is it that the second you have caught someone in a lie, then aha, they must have done it? Or not so easy. Life is complicated, right? People don't want to be found out for certain things that aren't necessarily nefarious or having to equate abduction and murder. Here we know that

he is having a relationship outside of his marriage and it's against the rules within the military. So there's lots of reasons for him to at least potentially lie initially. And the detective knew that, but they're trying to unpeel the onion, if you will, to get to the crux of why he is lying. Is it to save himself for those two things we just talked about or from something worse? But the detective dove deeper and also then brought up to Littleton

the baby that Samira had claimed was his. And once again, Littleton tried to deflect. Was she pregnant? I don't know. She was like, my spirit advisor told me that he felt a fever in my eye when he touched my hand. I was like, that's when I started thinking she was kind of cuckoo. Did you know if she had gone to a doctor? She had told me one time that she was going to the doctor and I was like, okay, well, you know, good luck. And she asked me why I was coming. I was like, I don't be a word. Why do you need me to come? Was she saying that it was your baby? She had never said it was my baby. I don't know what kind of relationship she was having with other guys. He told law enforcement that Samira never told him that it was his baby, but that she was going

to need some help. And he just said, I can't help you. I don't have room in my finances. And he acknowledged to law enforcement that she was asking for, you know, help with diapers and food and things like that. And he said he wasn't interested in helping her. Littleton insisted he was telling the truth when he said he never saw Samira on October 29th. He told the detective that he knew that date for a fact because he moved to his new home on the 30th and on the 29th he spent all night packing boxes for

his move. He said the last time he saw Samira was on the 28th when she had showed up to his home unexpectedly. He said someone dropped her off at his house on the 28th, and then he took her back home because she was getting too attached and he was trying to distance himself from her. And then he said he never spoke to her again. On the surface, his answer seemed plausible, but as Littleton spoke, he didn't seem concerned that Samira, his new love, or at least the woman he was in a relationship with, was still missing.

He clearly seemed more worried about himself, and that raised suspicion. That's kind of crazy, but it is what it is. They're messing me up. How did they mess you up? Because how is that possible? I mean, I didn't do it. I'm not responsible for her being missed. That's why we get, you want to know if I'm responsible for her being missed. And if investigators weren't suspicious enough, the next thing Zachary Littleton said, set off alarm bells. So for me, Anasiga, this was a very big

turn in the investigation. You know, in the interrogation, he's referring to her in past tense. She was a good person. She had good tendencies. And at this point in the investigation, she's only missing. Big BRF for me. It's something that I would call a subconscious admission. It makes sense to you when you're saying it because you know what's really going on. It's sometimes as little as one word that can make all the difference when later analyzing what that person of interest or suspect had said. After his interview was over, Littleton was free to go. Police got a search warrant for the apartment where he had still been living on October 29th, as well as for his car. But they didn't find anything at all. There was no blood or evidence that would even suggest a crime took place. Littleton was cooperative and gave police another cell phone number in addition

to the one they already had. Neither was the number that called Samira that night. I believe at that point they were really just trying to figure out who that number belonged to and who Samira would have been communicating with. For four days, Samira's whereabouts remained a mystery. Then on the morning of November 3rd, a large duffel bag washed up on the shore near the Pensacola Naval Air Base. And of course, they're thinking that this is going to be, you know, this big bag of money, you know, just chock full of cash. And so they went over to the bag and then they noticed that there was some blood. There were some gentlemen that were out jet skiing in a bayou that is right in front of Pensacola Naval Air Station near the front gate. And they actually saw a black duffel bag that had washed up on the shore and they noticed it had a padlock on it.

But they also noticed that it looked like it had some blood and it was, I believe, kind of had an odor. The men immediately called 911 and detectives investigating Samira's disappearance responded to the scene. So once they just kind of take a cursory view, obviously they don't want to affect too much because it's evidence, but once they kind of just get the padlock off and take a look inside, they could see that there was a human body inside. The body was in a fetal position, had no clothing on whatsoever, but was obviously a female and she had a bra on. Now let's just talk a little bit more about what was found at the crime scene. A black duffel bag, insect activity, even blood was visible at the

corner of the bag where the zipper would close. So right there, where the body was found, detectives had brought Samira's fingerprint sample to confirm, and they did confirm, that it was her right away. But at that point, they didn't know exactly what had happened to her. There weren't any obvious injuries. She had clearly been in the water

maybe for a couple of days because her skin looked bloated and looked like it was starting to kind of slough off. But she did have duct tape wrapped around her face. The duct tape was completely over her nose and her mouth. So the majority of the front of her face, except for her eyes. The disappearance of Samira Watkins was no longer about a missing persons case. It was now a homicide investigation. Her body was taken to the ME's office for autopsy. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation.

The medical examiner also noticed something else as he examined her body. One of Samira's gold signature hoop earrings seemed to be missing. Once her body was removed from the duffel bag at autopsy and the duct tape was removed, she did have a gold hoop earring in her left ear. Samir's family let us know that these earrings were very sentimental to her. She wore them all the time, every day. I don't even know that she really ever took them out. But when we looked at the video footage of her at her place of employment, she had both earrings in at the time that we last knew that she was at work. When the autopsy was done, there was only one earring found in her left ear. As investigators searched the duffel bag,

they realized that whoever had done this was sloppy and had left some physical evidence behind. Once her body was removed, there were some, looked like maybe some like cleaning wipes and some paper towels. The paper towel inside had a kind of unique design on it. It was a patterned pictorial kind of paper towel, not just a plain paper towel. Now a murder investigation, all eyes turned back to Zachary Littleton. So they've gone, Scott, from Samira's ex now to her new love that even though a military police officer, he clearly has been what can be best described as sketchy about what was going on in his life and with who. And different pieces are seeming to say that it's more than just to hide the extramarital relationship as to the why he was lying. So we do know that search warrants that were conducted at his apartment and his car came up with no forensic evidence connecting him to Samir Watkins, but certainly that far from eliminates him.

So they kept digging specifically into a full set of Samir's cell phone records, wanting to see if the connection could be made there. And with that, they really were focusing on that phone number that had called Samira that didn't match the two numbers that Littleton had. But when they really dug and Samira's full phone records came back, police noticed that that same unknown number had appeared dozens of times in the week leading up to her disappearance and murder. During the time frame of October 20th to October 29th, there were 49 phone calls, 48 of which were to and from Samira's either her cell phone or her house phone. The mystery number turned out to be a prepaid cell phone, sometimes referred to as a burner or a track phone.

So a track phone is sometimes known as a throwaway phone or a toss phone. It's just a phone that you can buy, you know, at a store. It doesn't require subscriber information, so it doesn't necessarily have a name that you have to register with it. But the person who had activated this number had given the store his contact information. It was determined that that was a third phone number that Zachary Littleton had and was using to communicate with Samira. So Anastasia, clearly here we have established a connection. Investigators now know that the last person who called Samira was in fact Zachary Littleton.

And we're now talking about three cell phone numbers. Again, sometimes people have more than one. It can be for personal use. It could be for work use. But here, again, is it just because this guy is a bit of a philanderer? Or is he trying to hide his identity for other reasons? You know, we just don't know. But as you said, Scott, it is clear that he is now the prime suspect in the murder of Samira Watkins.

But investigators still don't have enough against him to make an arrest. The case became big news in the area and tips started to come in to the police department. The day after Samira's body was discovered, a neighbor who lived in the apartment complex called to report something that she saw. Law enforcement interviewed one of Zachary Littleton's neighbors, and she made mention that she remembered seeing a female and a male arguing outside near a red car. She remembered that it happened on October 29th, the same night Samira disappeared. The woman had kept telling the man to calm down. Detectives believe that the description of the car matched the one for Samira's Red Ford Taurus, which still hadn't been found. But with all of

the media coverage, the next day, somebody remembered seeing the car 10 miles from Littleton's apartment complex. Her car was basically found in the driveway of some abandoned like warehouse type thing. And there was a lady who would drive that route every day. And she just happened to notice that this car was there and had never been there before. So she contacted law enforcement. Detectives searched the car, but it didn't appear that they were finding anything of evidentiary value inside. But then they found a letter in the glove box from a doctor congratulating Samira on her pregnancy. As investigators continued to try to find solid evidence in the case,

they stumbled upon something that they were never expecting to find. It was really kind of an aha moment at 4.30 in the morning, on the morning that Samara went missing. Here's this guy in a Waffle House on video surveillance with Clorox wipes. On November 6, 2009, detectives decided it was time to see if Zachary Littleton was hiding anything in his home. They'd already searched his old apartment and his car with really no big results, but this time they decided to go to his new place. They got a search warrant for Zachary Littleton's home. And at that point, they were able to find some paper towels that had the same pattern that were consistent with the paper towel found in the duffel bag with Samira's body, as well as some Clorox wipes that he had that also appeared consistent with one of the other materials that was in the bag. But that wasn't all they discovered. Once they were going through

a plastic bed comforter type container, they found Samira's earring. I mean, that really sealed the suspicion that he was the one that had done something to her. But the case was still entirely circumstantial. With one of its own being the prime suspect in a murder, NCIS investigators stepped in to help with the investigation. And Scott, you know, people when they hear NCIS, besides maybe having watched the television show, people might wonder, you know, how often do these military investigative organizations get involved? And it really isn't that uncommon when it has to do with military personnel or something that happens on military property. That's true. I mean, we've talked to agents of NCIS before in other episodes of AOM, and they're fantastic investigators. They bring great resources. And remember, the prime suspect in this murder is a member of their branch of service.

So they want answers as well. And with their advanced technology, NCIS was able to map out both Samira and Littleton's cell phone movements the night she vanished. Through the cell phone records, we were able to show that when Samira's last phone call at 10.37 p.m. on October 29th, she was in the area of Creighton Road, which was near the apartment where Zachary Littleton lived. And then we were also able to show that Zachary Littleton got off work at 10.06 p.m. and then his cell phone records showed him leaving the base and then moving in the area of Pensacola Junior College, which is again in the area where his apartment was. So it looked from the records, obviously, that she was in the area of his apartment at the same time he was,

on the last night that we know that she was alive. NCIS tracking didn't stop there. Littleton's phone showed he was away from his apartment at 4.36 a.m. when he missed a call from a friend in the Navy. He then called a friend back at 4.37 a.m. His phone hit a tower close to the apartment, which meant he was coming home from somewhere. It also meant that he lied to police when he said he had never left his home on the 29th into the 30th because he was busy apparently packing for his move. Here's more of Littleton's interview with police. Thursday I worked, and then night I was boxing up and cleaning up stuff. Well, I didn't really clean up. I was just boxing up my belongings and stuff. I did my kitchen. I did all my pots and pans, took pictures off the wall. That was Thursday.

Now that investigators knew he hadn't been honest about his whereabouts Thursday into Friday, they tracked down the friend who helped him move to his new home. The friend completely destroyed the alibi Littleton had given to police. When his friend was interviewed, who actually went over to the apartment to help him move, when that friend got there, he said there was absolutely nothing packed, nothing had been done. He basically just helped Zachary throw everything in boxes to get moved out of the apartment. It definitely was odd because Zachary made it sound like he had been doing nothing but getting this apartment packed up

and getting all of his belongings ready to move. So when his friend got there and nothing had been done, it was definitely odd. Detectives theorized that it was Littleton who drove Samira's car to a location he thought it would never be discovered and that when he got that call, he was on his way back home. But the question still remained. How did he get back to his apartment?

Once Samira's car was found, it was just kind of a hunch that obviously someone had driven her car to that location and then was going to need to get a ride or was going to call a cab. So they just looked for cab records on that particular night of October 29th, the night that she went missing into the morning of the 30th. And they found taxi cab records that showed that someone by the name of Zach had called for a pickup at a Waffle House that was about a mile from where her car was located. Investigators headed to the Waffle House to see if they could

find a witness who could ID Zachary Littleton. Instead, they found something even better. It turned out the restaurant had surveillance cameras. Once they looked at the time frame for when the cab picked Zach up, they looked at the video surveillance in the restaurant. They were able to see Zachary Littleton on the video surveillance inside the restaurant. It was really kind of an aha moment because his alibi was that he was in his apartment packing all night.

So here we had proof and evidence, you know, at 4.30 in the morning, on the morning that Samir went missing. Here's this guy in a Waffle House on video surveillance with Clorox wipes. Some absolutely fantastic, good detective work is what made them find this Waffle House. And this is potentially that knockout punch piece of evidence because now you have him in a place where he claimed never to have been. Besides, he's in a Waffle House with Clorox wipes in his hand. How common would that be, especially coupled with the circumstance of what else is uncovered in the duffel bag with Samira's body? That's really well put, Anasiga. Video evidence, when it's confirmed you have an ID, is powerful not only for investigators,

but as you clearly know, a great potential tool for jurors in a murder trial. It really obliterates his alibi. Talking about not being somewhere when you have physical evidence, like video showing you're somewhere else, that's really powerful. It's such a cliche term, the smoking gun, but I have to say that those Clorox wipes are pretty close. And when all taken together now, investigators believe that they knew what now had happened to Samira Watkins. She was alive on October 29th and was on the way to his apartment complex about 10 30 that night.

Then we know that her earring was found inside of her apartment. So I believe that once she made it to his apartment, he actually killed her inside the apartment, put her in a duffel bag, put her in the back or in the front, wherever in her own car, drove her to some area where he could dump her body into the bayou, and then he dumped her car off, went to the Wafa house, called a cab, and then went back home. The evidence combined left investigators confident enough to make an arrest. Three weeks after Samira's body was discovered, Littleton was taken into police custody. At that point in time, I believe Zachary Littleton was placed under arrest for the murder of Samira Watkins. And because she was so early in her pregnancy, prosecutors could not charge him with murder of an unborn child. You know, I can't tell you how many times I've seen people and certainly jurors sit up all the more straight and appear very surprised when they hear that. And it really is because legally, that is something that is not on the books in most

states, because the definition, part of the definition of murder is that the person must be a human being who has been, and I quote, born alive. So that doesn't include the definition, legally at least, of an unborn fetus. But we have begun to see more and more legislation which is encapsulating charges for that scenario. On June 27, 2011, almost two years after Samira Watkins was murdered, the case went to trial. State Attorney Bridget Jensen knew it wasn't going to be a slam dunk. One of the biggest challenges was that this was completely circumstantial. It was something that I was going to have to put together from beginning to end. And then what also made it difficult was obviously this is, you know, an upstanding member of our military in a military based town where we love our military. So this is a guy in the Navy, a military police officer

with a wife and a child who doesn't look like, you know, your typical suspect in a murder case. So motive, while not required legally, was going to be important from the start. I did talk to the jury about what the motive was because I believed it to be the fact that Samira was pregnant and he did not want to have this baby with her. He was already married. He already had a child. His wife and his child were moving to Pensacola within a week. And his only way out was to murder her and her unborn child. The prosecution presented all the evidence police had gathered during the investigation,

plus something new at trial that had been found on Zachary Littleton's own computer. During the execution of the search warrant at his home, they did seize his computer. And once they were able to get into it and look at some of the searches, they found that pretty early on when Samira found out she was pregnant, he was searching about abortion clinics and how to cause a miscarriage. And then those searches turned to Lyme and dead bodies, what speeds up human decomposition.

And then after he was interviewed on November 2nd, he was searching how to pass a polygraph. Searches on his computer. I mean, once again, this is the type of evidence that juries can quickly comprehend because it shows a pattern of preparation and intent to kill, carrying it out and the cover up afterwards. The evidence was overwhelming and it only took a jury just three hours to reach its verdict. The jury came back with a verdict of guilty as

charged of first-degree murder. Zachary Littleton was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Bridget will never forget Samira's sister's reaction to the guilty verdict. Sylvia was the one that I had the most contact with. She was always just so helpful and so supportive. And I remember seeing her face when I turned around when the verdict came back and she just broke down in tears. And, you know, it was probably just so happy, but so sad all at the same time. This murder seemed to be based on a selfish fear of getting caught. Littleton was afraid of his extramarital affair and a pregnant girlfriend, which he thought could ruin his marriage and perhaps face a dishonorable discharge from the Navy. Instead, taking the easy and evil way out, the evidence was clear and convincing that he suffocated her with his own child in her womb.

He folded her up like laundry and placed her in a duffel bag and threw her into the bay, just in time to return to what he thought was a perfect life. Littleton made many bad choices along the way. Rather than be held accountable by his wife, family, and Navy for the choices he made, he chose instead to take a life and ruin the lives of so many. Samira's life revolved around her son. She was working to better both of their lives by going to school and working hard. She was excited to bring another child into this world with a man she thought just might be the person of her dreams.

Instead of making her dreams come true, his deceit, selfishness, and violence took all of her dreams away and also ended her life. Our thoughts and support go out to her son for healing and strength while he now walks life's path without his mom. 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 researched by Kate Cooper,

edited by Ali Sirwa, Megan Hayward, and Philjean Grande. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?