Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Bill Cosby fires lawyers as sex assault sentencing nears & the Tony Drumwright cold case

Episode Date: June 25, 2018

Bill Cosby fired the legal team that unsuccessfully defended him in the recent trial where he was convicted of sexual assault. The comedian hopes news lawyer will convince the judge to let him stay in his home -- and not jail -- after he is sentenced and while he appeals the conviction. Nancy Grace looks at the case with private investigator Vincent Hill and psychologist Caryn Stark. Then Grace explores the cold case mystery of the 1999 shooting death of Tony Drumwright. The victim's mother Becky Drumwright and FOX 17 reporter Dennis Ferrier join Grace for this segment. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Subscribe today at P.I. Magazine dot com. Use this show's promotional code for your special discount at P.I. Magazine dot com. Subscribe today. Use promo code Nancy for your special discount. That's promo code Nancy. Crime stories with Nancy Grace on Sirius XM Triumph, Channel 132. Bombshell, disgraced, funny man, Bill Cosby, once a TV and big screen star known around the world for his comedy acts, found guilty of sex assault, fires his entire legal team. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. fires his entire legal team.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Maybe this has something to do with it. I can't breathe because of Bill Cosby. I can't breathe because I haven't slept in weeks. And, you know, I just, you know, with everything that's going on, I haven't been able to breathe like the whole nation is doing right now, protesting.

I am protesting because of the unresolved issues due to rape from Bill Cosby. Now, veteran trial lawyer, L.A. defense lawyer Troy Slayton, renowned New York psychologist Karen Stark, forensics expert, professor of forensics at Jacksonville State University, Joseph Scott Morgan, and with me, special guest from DailyMail.com, Sean Walsh. With testimony like that, I guess he did fire his whole legal team but what i don't understand sean walsh before we get to him you know firing that whole squad that fleet of lawyers why is he out he's been convicted of rape of sex assault why is he slung up in his multimillion-dollar brownstone mansion with his personal chef making him three meals a day plus snacks? Why is he there and not getting three hots and a cot behind bars? Nancy, I've got to say to you, as we often say, there's one rule for the rich and there's one for everyone else. But going down to the facts.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Maybe in Australia, from whence you hail, but that's not supposed to be the rule here. Nancy, in Australia, he'd be in jail. Here, he's been able to wait it out while he awaits sentencing. But that's why he's sitting at home living the life. He's probably wearing the same old bathrobe and hat that he was wearing when he allegedly attacked all these women.

You know, Troy Slayton, L.A. defense lawyer, I want to follow up on something. Troy, please just try and tell the truth, okay? Now, I know your gut reaction, your natural instinct, is going to be putting perfume on the pig. Don't do that. I want the truth. Isn't it true?

This is a yes-no choice, Leighton. You're on cross-examination. Isn't it true that almost always, if not always, when a man is convicted in court of rape or felony sex assault, once the jury comes back with that conviction, Mr. Mann is then fingerprinted, handcuffed, and taken out of court and put on the transport bus. It's usually an old school bus with now bars or mesh over the windows and taken to jail. Yes, that's usually what happens, but I disagree that Bill Cosby is getting any special treatment here. Okay,

those two things, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, Sean Walsh, but doesn't Troy Slayton just sound like he talked out of two sides of his mouth? If you see him, he apparently only has one mouth, but just then it sounded like two different things. Yes, a convicted rapist always goes straight to jail upon conviction, but Bill Cosby is not getting special treatment. How can that be, Sean Walsh? That's what I'd like to know, so I'd really like to hear it because it just appears like... Go ahead, Troy. Hit me. So the judge here in Pennsylvania is following the law in that jurisdiction by allowing him to remain free on the bond that he has posted.

He does not have a passport. He is not a flight risk. The judge has determined that he's not a current danger to the community, and he has not yet been sentenced for his crime. So it wouldn't be fair to put him behind bars in jail when we don't even know if his sentence is going to include jail time in a jail facility. He may get some sort of home confinement. He may get something else. We don't know that yet. So and also this case is inevitably going to have an appeal he's convicted of drugging and molesting andrea konstad okay so he may very well be that is a felony out pending appeal as you just

mentioned earlier choice leighton that almost never happens in all my years prosecuting, when I would secure a conviction for my jury, the person went to jail on any violent crime. I mean, Troy, just again, let me caution you. Please be honest. Have you ever defended a rape case where the person did not go to immediately to jail? Well, all of my cases, my clients are found not guilty, of course. But no, in all seriousness, in my experience, no, that has not happened. That's what I'm saying. This is all just wrong. And Karen Stark, New York psychologist, what message does that send to all of his victims? How many are there, 50, 60 alleged victims?

It sends the same message, Nancy, that they've been sending all along, that the victims are to blame, not to take this seriously, and that they are not going to get justice that they deserve to have. Take a listen to what one of the jurors in Cosby's sex attack case had to say following the guilty verdict. What was the evidence that made you sure, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he was guilty? I think it was his deposition, really. Ms. Cosby admitted to giving these quaaludes to women, young women, in order to have sex with them. When Andrea was on the stand, did you believe her?

Yes. What about those other five women who testified? If you hadn't heard from the other five and you just had her word, would that have mattered to you? I don't think so because in the deposition, he stated that he gave these drugs to other women. I don't think it really necessarily mattered that these other five women were here because he said it himself that he used these drugs for other women. I don't think it really necessarily mattered that these other five women were here because he said it himself that he used these drugs for other women. So you found it to be his words that were the most damning of all. Yeah.

But when you entered the room for the first time, were you sure that he was guilty? No. So what then made the difference for you once you started deliberating? Hearing everyone's comments about certain pieces of evidence and going through the different counts. So you don't feel even now that it was an open and shut case? No. Some have said that I made the right decision and some people have said that they still think that he's innocent. And I just tell them if you were there, you would say the same thing. You would say that he's guilty. Sitting here today, is there any doubt in your mind that you guys came to the right conclusion? No, I have no doubt at all.

You are hearing 22-year-old Harris Snyder, the youngest juror on the Cosby jury, being questioned by C. Guys, with the juror speaking so firmly in that manner i don't see that there's any way that you're going to see jury misconduct or a juror jumping up now saying oh that really wasn't my decision this is a firm conviction which adds to my concern about cosby still being uh out and about and walking free but in the last days Cosby has fired his entire legal team, led by attorney high profile lawyer Tom Mesereau, who also defended Michael Jackson. So what do we know about that to Sean Walsh with DailyMail.com to fire his fleet of lawyers? Why? I think, Nancy, he's building a new strategy post-sentencing,

because as we know, he's going to be staying at home until he's sentenced. When we move to the sentencing thing, he's obviously going to be sent to jail. I mean, three felony counts of sexual assault, he's going to jail. But I think they'll then put in an appeal to try and keep him out of jail longer, and then they'll fight that and see what they can do from there. Let's not forget he's almost 81. Next month he turns 81. And so this is a man who is very much in his twilight years and will be doing everything he can to stay out from behind bars.

You know, I'm not quite sure why you say, remember, he's 80. You know what? Lady Justice is wearing a blindfold, Seanalsh maybe not in australia but here she wears a blindfold so she does not differentiate between defendants or victims based on their race their gender their socioeconomic level or their age. And let me also remind you that while she holds the skills of justice in one hand, Sean Walsh in our country, in her other hand, she carries a sword. I know that. The sword of justice. And I can think of quite a few things that need to be cut off in this case. He spent many years holding the quaaludes. Now he holds onto someone's arm to say that he's legally blind.

So he'll do anything he can to prevent himself getting behind bars. So don't be surprised if this is all just part of the strategy, using his age, everything, to make sure he does not go to jail. Well, you keep bringing up his age. There's also the allegation that he is blind. With me, forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan, professor of forensics, Jacksonville State University. Joe Scott, wait a minute. I just saw a clip of Bill Cosby coming down one of those extremely narrow, portable staircases that they roll up and secure at your private jet he was coming down that with no problem i mean nobody was leading him down that he only needs those aides helping him when he's

going in and out of the courthouse yeah i've seen the same clip nancy uh up and down up and down he clicks along pretty well when the cameras he doesn't he's not in perception of the cameras or in view. One, I tell you, the group of people I'm really thinking about right now are all the victims and also all of these investigators that have put in so many hours into this thing. Keep in mind, these people are not in the jet set, a lot of these investigators. They're investigating a criminal, an egregious criminal offense here. They've got a conviction. And now I can only imagine, Nancy, they're sitting around.

They're watching this guy who is allegedly America's dad. You know, now he's sitting at home. You mentioned the brownstone, private chef, all these sorts of things sitting there. And they're thinking, oh, my God, all these victims that we went out and tried to tell their story and do this thing. Is he going to get special treatment and not be treated just like any other common criminal on the street would be treated? And I know they're wringing their hands right now. Is there any way we can determine the truth regarding his alleged vision problems? Because you know what I love are those exposés when people are claiming they have some physical impairment.

Then they're like in the backyard jumping on the trampoline with their kids and cutting the grass. I love that. But here you got Cosby walking down this stairwell unattended off of a temporary stairwell loaded up to his private jet but boy when you see him coming in the courthouse he's got people at every elbow and kneecap helping him get in i don't buy that for one minute so is there any medical test to determine that and plus if he is blind he can still go to jail yeah i'm curious the court, if this is what he's putting forward, and I think going forward, if he's going to have to have so-called special needs consideration, is the court going to say at this point in time, okay, you have to be checked out by a board

certified ophthalmologist that's going to give us some kind of official rendering here relative to your ability to see or not see? I would not trust Bill Cosby giving an honest eye exam. I mean, it's got to be something physical that they could look at because you know he's going to totally lie when they go, hey, can you read these letters? And he would write, he would say, let me see, I think it says H-E-L-L-N-O. I think that is going to be the result of his eye exam. But guys, I can tell you this much, he could certainly see during this episode. My name is Janice Baker Kinney. I began living in Reno and working at Harrah's sometime around the summer of 1980.

When the headliners were booked at Harrah's, I recall that they had the option of staying at the hotel in a penthouse suite or a home owned by Harris. I know Mr. Cosby chose to stay at the house because that is where I was sexually assaulted by him in May of 1982. I had been at that house a couple of times previous to that night, invited there for after-show parties. I remember going to one party hosted by Wayne Newton, and it wasn't out of the ordinary. So when a friend said that Bill Cosby invited her to the house for a pizza party, I didn't think it was strange, and I agreed to meet her there. I did, however, think it was strange when I arrived and my friend Judy was ringing the front doorbell holding the pizza. When I joined her at the front door and Bill Cosby opened the door,

it took me a few moments to realize that this was a pizza party for just three. I thought I would have a beer and maybe a slice of pizza and hang out for a little bit and then be on my way. These are the moments that I can remember. Bill Cosby offered me a pill, and I took one from him. He then told me to take two, that it would be fine. And I guess I thought, it must be okay. Bill Cosby said it was.

So I began to play a game of backgammon with Mr. Cosby. We were in the kitchen or dining room area at that time. And I remember telling him, this game isn't fair. And he asked me why. And I said, because I can't see the board anymore, and then I passed out. I woke up sometime later hearing voices, and it was my friend Judy leaving. I was now in the living area on the couch with my jeans unzipped, and my blouse was open. Bill Cosby came and sat down with me on the couch and asked me if I was feeling okay.

He had me leaning against him on the couch while his arm was around me, and it was then he put his hands inside my open blouse. I remember him then helping me up the stairs to a bedroom. I was in no condition to leave, to drive, to say anything. I was so humiliated that I had passed out and I didn't know what had happened. He had assured me that it was okay to take the pills but obviously it was not. I woke up the next morning naked in bed with a naked Bill Cosby. He was touching my belly and on my genital area.

The phone rang and it seemed to be a business call, so I got dressed and went downstairs to leave. I was mortified at what had happened. He came down and met me at the front door, and as he opened the door for me, he stopped it part of the way before I could get out. And he said these exact words, this is between you and me. And he put his finger to his mouth like a shh sign. I told him I, very happy and proud of this result. Beginning in late 2014, the accusers of Mr. Cosby, whom I represented, began to speak out. It took a great deal of courage. In the beginning, many were not believed. We are so happy that finally we can say women are believed and not only on hashtag Me Too, but in a court of law. That is my friend and colleague Gloria Allred, who represented civilly many of Cosby's alleged victims.

Well, they're not alleged anymore because a jury handed down a guilty verdict in the case of Andrea Konstat. Now, what about this? Karen, start with me. New York psychologist Karen. There's now bitter finger pointing. In the last hours, we learned more about Bill Cosby firing his entire fleet of defense attorneys. This is what I see happening in the future. I remember when a rich white guy got bond in the Fulton County Courthouse. And I remember it so well because it was one of my

cases. And I nearly did a backflip when this guy whose wife's dead and he is when the fire trucks show up to his house and he's lounging Romanesque in the yard across the street. They talked to him five minutes before he goes, oh yeah, my wife's in there. All right. And he gets a bond. Long story short, after that perp got a bond, every defendant came up and said, I want what he got. Why shouldn't I have what he got? He's out on bond on a murder charge. That's what's happening here. Every rapist in the country is going to say Cosby's out. He got convicted. I want an appeal bond. Why shouldn't I have an appeal bond? It's a domino effect. But right now we're in the bitter finger pointing stage, Karen, where he fires Mesereau, his renowned defense attorney. But look at this, Karen Stark. This is his M.O. After his first

trial, when he, the lawyer managed to stymie the jury and got a mistrial on this. Cosby threw out that legal team. That team was led by a really well-known Philly area lawyer, Brian McGonigal. And he's a Philadelphia defense lawyer. And Cosby threw him out. Many people argued that if Cosby had had any brains at all, he would have kept McGonagall because McGonagall managed to get him a mistrial the first go around. But my point is, he threw out that legal team, then he hires Mesereau. He gets convicted. Now it's time for the sentencing and the appeal bond. He's thrown out that legal team. What does that say to you, Karen Stark? It sounds like rats jumping off a drowning ship. It's just hubris, Nancy. He's not

going to go down. This guy is going to try anything. It's no different than blaming the victims. Now he's blaming the legal defense team. He's going to keep trying to find a way to get out of this conviction, to find a way to say that this was another mistrial, to defend himself, to look to get out of any kind of sentencing. And it really is a shame that he's allowed to be in his home, be sitting back and waiting for this to happen, especially with the way that this legal team went after the victims. Right. So, Sean Walsh with me from DailyMail.com. Sean Walsh, can we, again, let's focus on the American jurisprudence system and not the Australian, no offense. Okay.

What's going to happen next as Cosby's kicked back, probably in that same bathrobe that he used, that he was wearing when he assaulted a lot of these ladies? What's going to happen next? Or do I just have to look forward to watching more clips of Cosby being led around by his aides as he goes in from one fancy restaurant to the next? Nancy, I think you'll be seeing a lot more of that. But I think what will happen now is his team will focus on sentencing. And then I imagine should he be given a custodial sentence, which I can't see why they wouldn't, the team will then work on ensuring he stays out of jail and lodging an appeal. How does that work, Troy Slayton? I think Sean Walsh is correct. Troy Slayton joining me, a high-profile LA defense lawyer.

It's called an appeals bond. How does that work, Troy? Well, it's really up to the trial judge about whether or not to grant him the ability to have a bond, to put up money to show that he'll come back if he is if the sentence is upheld on appeal. when you said that this is a solid conviction. I think there are some very, very good grounds for appeal here, aside from potential ineffective assistance of counsel. There is the issue that... Oh, wait, wait, wait. Are you actually saying Mesereau did not do a good job? Well, look, Mesereau is a good experienced attorney. You're digging deep, Troy. You're digging deep.

But let me say that I think his best issues for appeal are the deal that he made with the original district attorney when he gave that deposition testimony in the civil case. He was given a promise by the government. The prosecutor said, if you go and testify in that civil case, nothing that you say will be used against you in a criminal case. And a new DA came in and broke that deal. That is a huge. OK, so you're not saying he didn't rape the women. He's saying the district attorney is the bad guy in this scenario because they reneged on a deal to keep his deposition secret. And in that deposition, Sean Walt, what exactly did Bill Cosby admit to?

Okay, look, the deposition really was a bombshell deposition. I think that's why they went ahead and they charged him. He described the sexual encounter. He talked about the Quaaludes. He was very much a man who committed a crime but had used money to get away with it. And so that's why Andrea... Wait a minute, Sean Waltz, you're kind of glossing over it. You said he admitted to the Quaaludes. What do you mean he admitted to the Quaaludes? He did what with the Quaaludes? Well, he provided them to Ms. Kostad. He tricked women into taking Quaaludes, which knocked them out. And again, let's not put perfume on the pig. They would wake up half naked with sticky, gooey stuff between their legs and or on their body with their clothes rearranged half naked. That's what happened with the Quaaludes, Sean Walsh.

Why do I have to say it? I asked you, and you just gloss over it almost as if you're siding with Cosby. Not at all. I'm just providing the facts without the emotion, Nancy. And on top of that, what was even more... I know how to reach your wife, Sean Walsh, and I will tell her that you're siding with Cosby. I have no problem with ratting you out, OK? There is no siding with Mr Cosby here, I can tell you that.

And let me remind you, Nancy, DailyMail.com was the only news publication that was prepared to run with the allegations of his sexual assaults before anybody else. In fact, three weeks it took after our first story, back when we told Barbara Bowman's story, did anyone else other than you, Nancy, follow up on what we were saying about Mr. Cosby? I've been screaming about Cosby since the get-go and inviting his accusers on to tell their stories. I mean, on national TV. I don't know what took so long.

But this is the first of, I believe, to be other criminal trials. Not only is he facing a criminal trial, he's facing civil problems as well. Right now, a federal's appeal court says an insurance company has to pick up bill cosby's tab to fight defamation lawsuits brought by women who accused him of sex misconduct what does that mean choice layton in a nutshell he would come out in public and say all these women were big fat liars all right and now they're suing, claiming that he defamed them because they were not lying. So what does this mean in regular talk, regular speak, Troy Slayton? It means that his likely his homeowner's insurance or his personal liability insurance that has a defamation rider on it is going to have to pick up the defense.

They have a duty to defend him, and he likely has insurance against a defamation lawsuit. So lucky for him, he's not going to have to put up the huge legal bills to defend those cases. Could there be more criminal trials? Is that what it's going to take to finally get Bill Cosby behind bars? The juror is convinced of Cosby's guilt. Listen. I really didn't know a lot. I knew he was an actor. I knew that he did the Cosby show. I never watched the Cosby show or anything. I'm a little too young for that. What did you know about the allegations prior to becoming a juror in the case? I didn't know anything. I don't watch the news ever. So I didn't even know what he was on trial for.

Are you well aware of the MeToo movement? Did that have any factor, would you say, in your decision? No. I really only found out about it after I got home. Then I looked online to see what everything was. I didn't really even know about the Me Too movement. Tashaun Walsh with DailyMail.com. So this year, the youngest one on the jury, 22-year-old Harris Snyder, really didn't understand who Cosby was.

And that, I mean, now people don't just tune in to the Cosby show at 8 o'clock on whatever night it was, Thursday night. Now people are getting their news and their entertainment on their iPads on demand. He didn't even really know who Cosby was. That's a big blow for Cosby because that may reflect less of the celebrity status in sentencing. But this judge is apparently still very impressed with him. That's true, Nancy, and this juror was a young guy, and he probably didn't grow up watching the Cosby show,

and he made very, very clear in that interview that he didn't watch the news or have anything to do with news gathering. So I think that makes it very difficult for Mr. Cosby in any way to claim that the jury pool is tainted because you've got people on there saying, A, I didn't know who he was, B, I don't watch the news. So they've just basically come to a decision based on facts. The judge in this case, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Court Judge Stephen T. O'Neill,

ironically has a wife who is very much involved in this sort of issue. Tashaun Walsh with DailyMail.com, the judge overseeing Cosby's retrial, said his wife's career as a social worker, specifically in sex assault cases, had no bearing on his decisions in the case. And he actually said that in a very emotional court hearing where his stature on the bench was called into issue. What do you make of the judge and why the judge has allowed him to walk free on this sex assault conviction? I said it at the start of this interview, Nancy, and I'll say it again. I think there are two different rules in this country for people who have money and people

who don't. He has a lot of money. He has a lot of fame. He's been able to post a very substantial bond, which has kept him out of jail. So I think the judge had to look at that and go, OK, well, he was able to post the bond, so we'll let him stay out. But also, where he's being prosecuted, it is commonplace for offenders to be able to go home until sentencing.

So this is why we're in the position that we're in. Long story short, I'm just wondering, as a legal maneuver, Troy Slayton, high-profile L.A. defense attorney, if the judge did not allow this appeal bond for him to stay out on bond pending appeal, pending sentencing. Because in the pretrial motions, Troy, if you remember, Bill Cosby's lawyers actually argued that the judge, Judge O'Neill, should throw his own self off the case, that he should be recused, that he should not hear the case because O'Neill's wife position regarding sex assault and domestic assault. All right.

He kept himself on the case and by allowing Cosby out right now as he awaits sentencing could diffuse that argument on appeal. He could say, no, I was not swayed by my wife's anti-sex violence stance. As you can see, I let him be out on a bond, let him stay out on his bond pending sentencing. So it could actually work in the prosecution's favor, Troy Slayton. It could, but there are other things that Cosby's defense team will use against this judge that show bias, specifically his decision to allow even more prior bad acts to be admitted as evidence in the current trial, in the most recent trial. Well, I think the judge showed a lot of restraint because there are like 50 to 60 other women that claim he assaulted them sexually as well. And Sean Walsh, very little similar

transaction evidence came in at trial. So I think the judge showed a lot of restraint. He could have let in dozens of other women testifying. Absolutely, and as you know, there were many women that were prepared to testify, Nancy. Who wanted to testify. Well, no one could disagree with the verdict more than Tom Mesereau. Listen. We are very disappointed by the verdict. We don't think Mr. Cosby's guilty of anything, and the fight is not over. Thank you. Well, long story short, that was before he got fired off the case. That's Michael Jackson's defense lawyer, Tom Mesereau. But as you can see, Bill Cosby not going down without a fight.

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If you are a parent like me and my husband, David, you sink all your love, all your hopes, all your energy, all your money, your plans, your time into your children. And they literally become the loves of your life. You know, love comes in so many different ways. You've got that picture in perfume ads and in movies where the charming knight rides up on a white stallion, and it's your Prince Charming. That is nothing compared to a mother's love.

When that love is dashed by your child's murder, where do you go? What do you do? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. With me now, a warrior for justice. Her name is Becky Drumwright, and she is fighting for justice in the murder of her son, Tony. Becky, thank you so much for being with us. Becky, when you came home from work that day, August 25th, what happened?

I started looking for Tony because he was always in the house. He was always around. We had four-wheelers. He never got on the four-wheeler. I looked for that first and I started calling for him and I didn't. He didn't respond. And I kept looking for him and my husband was upset saying, just let him be. You treat him like a baby. Well, I wasn't going to let him be. I was going to find where he was. And I went to a telephone.

The phone was dead. I couldn't get out. So I went to all the phones, the last one being in the bathroom. And that phone was off the hook. There was glass shards all over the floor. I didn't know what had happened. I was thinking something electrical at first, but I called my husband's name, which it must have been in a concerning voice because he came running.

And whenever he looked at the glass, he starts clenching his fist, and he's hollering, oh, my God, as I'm dancing around him saying, what, what? He knew that a bullet had come through our closet and knocked a picture off the wall. And so he went running out the back door. I went running out the front door calling for Tony. And then my husband called to me in a blood curdling voice, called my name. I'll never forget that. And I went around the side of the house and there's Tony laying on the ground by the air conditioning unit. And my husband hovered over

him. And he told me to come and stay. Tony was alive. He told me to come and stay but Tony was alive he told me to come and come here and stay with him so I did my husband went in called 9-1-1 and then he came out and told me he's going to go down by the road because we were down in the woods our house was and he ran out toward the end of the driveway. A friend of mine that I had worked with at the hospital, he is a paramedic, and he came pulling up in his personal truck. And then here comes my husband running down the driveway and wanting to know who he was. And I told him, I said, honey, that's Mike Bayless. I know him. I know him. He said, honey, that's Mike Bayless. I know him. I know him.

He's a CMT. Anyhow, Mike started working on Tony. And Mike and Henry both told me to leave and go around to the front of the house. I went and sat on my front steps just in disbelief. What had happened? Because there was no apparent bullet. I mean, you couldn't tell what had happened. Tony had two or three drops of blood on his glasses and two or three drops of blood on his shin. But he'd been shot in the back of the head, and they worked on him. They took him to McKinsey Medical Center.

And I remember just standing, and then I couldn't stand anymore. I just slid down the wall in the floor and just sat there, you know, just in disbelief. What's going on? Because they never said what had happened. Then a doctor came out and told me that it was a gunshot wound. And I said, where? Because I didn't get to see any of that at all. And he said, you know, it's in the back of his head.

And he said, it could have been a suicide. I said, what? Becky, I recall distinctly the moment when I realized my fiancé was dead. It's just crystallized in my mind forever, that exact moment. That moment when you realized Tony had passed away, where were you at that moment? I was, a friend of ours took us to Memphis,

drove us, me, Henry, and my daughter. As I'm walking up the incline up the sidewalk, Henry and Mark gathered around me and said, Henry said, Becky, he's gone. I said, gone where? He said, Becky, he's gone. And I said, where did they take him? And he said, Becky, he died.

And I just, I went to the ground, and I took them to the ground with me. And my husband was whispering in my ears, Becky, please don't do this. Please don't do this. They got me up, and we walked to the emergency room, and they took us to a separate room. But that's whenever I found out that he had died. Listen to Becky Drumwright as she sends a warning to her son's killer. My son Tony Drumwright was murdered 15 years ago. I would like to say to the people that did this, they have not gotten away with it. They've gotten away with it for a long time.

They are coming after them. They will be caught. There will be justice for Tony. Let me understand, Becky Drumwright, your son's murder was first classified a suicide. How can that be a shot directly to the back of the head? That's impossible. Okay, let me say this because it's very important. Two years later, I visited the district attorney,

which he's no longer in office. There's a new DA there now. But he read a report to me about the sheriff and how he heard about this. In his report, and I took a friend with me, in his report, he said that the sheriff had gotten a call from McKenzie Hospital, not Memphis, that it was a homicide. Before the helicopter had even left to go to Memphis, I was furious. And I said, why didn't he cordon off the area and treat it like a crime scene right then?

But he didn't. The next morning, they come out. Of course, we'd been up all night in Memphis and came home early in the morning. There were so many friends at the house to take care of us. And also, out in our front yard was sheriff's deputies. And they were unrolling crime scene tape the yellow well I looked at my I went hunting my husband down I said what are they doing he said I thought you knew no I didn't so I went out to him I said what's going on well have you talked to the sheriff

no I haven't talked to the sheriff where is he he's in your backyard I go back to the sheriff where is he he's in your backyard i go back to the sheriff he said i've got some good news and some bad news the good news is tony didn't do this to himself and the bad news is somebody killed him and and then you're putting up crime scene tape a day later after everybody's cleaned up for us you know there were blood spots well let Well, let's talk about the actual scene because cleaning up that crime scene, Vincent Hill with me, renowned private investigator and former Nashville police officer. Vincent, the reality is that this young boy, this teen boy is found dead with a gunshot wound to the back of the head. But there's evidence of a scuffle, a fight in the bathroom, and a bullet hole in the closet. The ruling of a suicide is contrary to all the evidence.

And them cleaning the crime scene was a disaster. Why? Yeah, that baffles me, Nancy. I don't know if these guys were equipped to even know what they were dealing with. Maybe they used the Occam's razor theory, you know? But wait a minute. Listen, Vincent, Becky Drumwright just said right then and there, a lot of people knew this was a murder at the time.

I'm asking you the clear and concise question. When you clean up a crime scene, know what i'll just answer it you lose the forensic evidence you lose you lose the evidence and it's the cops cleaning it up under the theory that this was a suicide becky would your son have ever committed suicide that's what was so shocking to me because I couldn't figure it out. You know, no, I didn't think he would commit suicide at all. Now, the next hurdle, the exhumation of her teen son's body. Listen. We are pleased to announce that we have reopened the unsolved case of Tony Drunkwright's murder from 15 years ago today.

We are very appealing. We feel like we've got some viable leads to pursue. And as we speak, Tony's body has been exhumed and is on its way to the TBI crime lab in Nashville, I'm sorry, in Memphis, to the TBI office in Memphis, where it will be examined by the brightest minds at TBI, run through the latest DNA testing, and have a full autopsy performed on it in an effort to uncover additional evidence that will allow us to resolve this crime. To Becky Drumwright, this teen boy, Tony Drumwright's mom, who has never given up.

How many years did you try and get Tony's murder reopened? Ever since day one. They did not do a proper investigation. You know, there were people who saw who was on the property at that time. But no, it was disqualified by the law enforcement, and he was cleared. And I just, I don't know. There is so much to this story. I mean, it's so hard to go into at one time.

To Dennis Ferrier, special projects reporter at Fox 17. Dennis, do police have any persons of interest? Matt Stowe, that's the new district attorney. Absolutely, he has persons. Matt Stowe, kind of out of town, Harvard Law School, clerk for Judge Rehnquist, brilliant guy, aggressive prosecutor, immediately starts reopening cases. I think Becky's right in saying, you know, there's nothing like a bad start to a case. So even if you have suspects, you know, where's the evidence? Where's the corroboration? You know know the exhumation was not successful for obvious reasons 15 years i think he's definitely got

suspects he might even know who did it but proving it beyond a reasonable doubt is probably out of the question or we'd already have an arrest i don't know that anything is out of the question or we'd already have an arrest. I don't know that anything is out of the question, especially in light of new DNA techniques. Specifically, the murder weapon, the.38 caliber weapon, was found on the scene. Very few perpetrators think to wear gloves to load the bullets into a gun. Very often, fingerprints or partial prints can be found on those bullets. Not only that, when you touch DNA, there are so many alternatives. If he's really reopened the case, what may happen now, take a listen to Becky reacting to the exclamation of her son's body. I am so comforted knowing that it's reopened and it's

being investigated. I can't explain. It's just, it's bittersweet, but there's no way that I can explain how elated I am that somebody finally is listening. Somebody came to our home and put a bullet in the back of my son's head and executed him and murdered him. I don't want this to happen to anybody else's child. It's not about me. It's about our children, our grandchildren, our neighbors, our friends, our family, our loved ones. People shouldn't get by with murder. And thank God, they're not going to anymore.

They're not going to anymore. They're not going to. Because of one mother's determination and courage, her son's murder case has been reopened. Her teen boy found shot in the backyard. The newly elected district attorney, Matt Stowe, weighs in. Listen. Longer be in love. Folks that were scared of someone, that person may have died or been put in prison. Matt Stowe weighs in. Listen. And it's gonna make any case we prosecute easier. We can do a case with forensics alone, but it's gonna be easier if we have some folks

that will help us along the way. And the community's got a stake in this, so I hope that they will rise to the occasion. I can tell you that there have been some concerns over the condition of the casket and the remains, given the amount of time that had passed by. The casket has not been opened yet, but now it does appear to be intact and in good condition. So we have every reason to be optimistic that we're going to be able to pull DNA and anything else that we need out of that casket. Tony Drumlight, teen boy, is described as a sweet boy, a homebody, loved being at home. He is found dying in the backyard from a gunshot wound.

His mother has not rested since her son passed away. Becky, do you believe you know who Tony's killer is? Yes, ma'am, I do. And let me tell you this, please. There were witnesses who saw who was on our property that day. The TBI investigation of that is just incredible. They have never even questioned those witnesses. So I don't think there's a proper investigation. That's the first thing they should have done. They have never even questioned those witnesses. So I don't think there's a proper investigation. That's the first thing they should have done. To Vincent Hill, private investigator and former Nashville PD, Vincent, do you believe that with some time having passed, that witnesses may be more likely to speak now? Absolutely, Nancy, because that fear of retaliation may have gone away or that person that they were scared of may have passed or something that would allow them to speak now versus 15 years ago.

Everyone, please help us solve the mystery surrounding the death of this beautiful teen boy, Tony Drumwright. The tip line, 731-986-5031. Or find his mom, Becky Drumwright, online. Becky, stay strong, friend. Nancy Grace, Crime Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. Did you know a recent law can leave your personal data exposed online for anybody to find? If you've turned on the news lately, you know the internet has created a dangerous new world. It's time you take back the power by using a new website called Truthfinder. Have you been issued a speeding ticket?

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