Dateline NBC - Wreckage

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

While investigating the rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman in Texas, detectives uncover a trail of sexual assault crimes pointing to a repeat offender. Josh Mankiewicz reports.Josh Mankiewicz catches up with Tracy Matheson to talk about how she has channeled her grief into action to support sexual assault survivors after her daughter’s murder in 2017, and how she and her family are coping with their immense loss.“After the Verdict” is available exclusively to Dateline Premium subscribers: https://dateline.supportingcast.fm/listen/dateline-nbc-premium/after-the-verdict-wreckage

Tonight on Dateline. My daughter is in the bottom of a shower. She's not moving. I am very frantic. I'm screaming at this point. There was a monster who murdered Molly. Are you worried to have him out there running around free? I was worried. We needed to get him off the streets as quick as possible. They find a body in the lake.

They said, we found Megan, and she's dead. Now he's apparently killed somebody else. This person had a past history. His hands were on my throat. I just felt his grip getting tighter. He started to strangle me. I just put my hand over my mouth so he couldn't hear me, like, crying. These young women did everything they could to stop the guy.

If he'd been prosecuted, two other women would still be alive. Absolutely. We should have had him in jail years ago. A killer was out there targeting women. And the question that's going to haunt you, why wasn't he stopped? I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Josh Mankiewicz with Wreckage. Will you say your name and spell it for us?

It's Katie Coates. K-A-T-I-E-C-O-A-T-S. I am sorry to be making you relive this. I'm sorry it's hard reliving the worst day of your life would be hard for anyone so know this Katie Coates wanted to tell us her story about when she was 20

about when she was raped by a man she met on vacation. When he was strangling me, I put up some fight, but I just, I got so scared. And what came next after Katie summoned her courage and reported her assault to police was almost worse. Her story, this story, is about the people who listened and believed and those who did not. I'll never understand that part of it

just because if he was prosecuted, then two lives would still be with us today. In that feeling, she's not alone. And it would turn out, Katie wasn't her attacker's first victim, or his last. We begin our story with Molly Matheson, a parent's dream, kind, funny, independent. She had a special bond with her dad, David, and her mom, Tracy. I called her my best friend, and she called me her best friend, and we hung out a lot together. It helped that Molly lived only 10 minutes from her parents in Fort Worth, Texas.

It was 2017. Molly was studying social work in college and working part-time at a lingerie store where she was the model employee. Molly, her late was 15 minutes early. She always came into work to make sure, you know, she looked presentable. Molly's boss, Carissa Vera. She had such a cute personality and you could tell she was just a great girl. It was on Monday, April 10th, 2017, that something seemed wrong. She was supposed to be there at 1 o'clock, and it was 12.45, and I looked, and I'm like, she's not here. So I'm like, well, that's weird. And then I come 1 o'clock when she's supposed to be there. I'm like, okay's not here. So I'm like, well, that's weird. And then I come one o'clock

when she's supposed to be there. I'm like, okay, this is really not normal. The hours ticked by and still no sign of Molly. And I remember exactly at the time, at four o'clock, I, you know, because that's when we got a little downtime. I said, I'm going to, you know, call her emergency contact. I was at home and the phone rings and it's Molly's boss, Carissa. And she was calling to say that Molly had not shown up for work. And I knew Molly was supposed to be at work because she had told us the night before. This wasn't like her. She wouldn't. No. So I was like, well, I'll just hop in the car and drive over to Molly's house. Molly's mom drove the 10 minutes to her daughter's apartment. I pull up and at this point I'm feeling a little frantic. I raced down the driveway. The garage apartment is, you know,

at the back of the driveway and I knocked on the door and knocked and there was no answer. And so I thought, well, I'll try the doorknob. I did, and it was unlocked. I went inside, and there was no sign of Molly. I went back out, and I thought, wait, I didn't go in the bathroom. I should go back inside. And so I went back inside and around the corner to the bathroom, and that's where I found her body on the floor of the shower. Molly was crumpled over. She wasn't moving. What is your first name? My name is Chris.

What had happened to Molly Matheson? When we come back. I am very frantic and out of my mind. Just got over there as fast as I could. Oh, my God! We walked in and something just didn't feel right. Literally, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The afternoon of April 10th, 2017 was cloudy in Fort Worth, Texas. For Tracy Matheson, a storm was already raging.

She'd just entered her daughter's apartment and found her unresponsive. My daughter is in the bottom of a shower. She's not moving. I can't help you. She's breathing. The paramedics are coming, okay? Okay. I am very frantic and out of my mind. And at this point, I have concluded that Molly is dead. And I think I'm screaming to the operator, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead. We were a unit that was available. They dispatched us to it. Fort Worth Police Officer Taylor Rogers was on his way to the scene.

It was actually a very vague call details, an investigation call where I think it said something to do with a female. Her mom had found her deceased. When we pulled up, there were several people outside. There were fire trucks, ambulances. And Molly's mom. Police body cams recorded the scene. Oh my God, she's dead. She was frantic.

She was, I mean, absolutely freaking out. There was no calming her down for a while. We had to give her some space. She somehow managed to call her husband. Dude, where were you? I was at work. So I just got over there as fast as I could. When's the last time anybody saw her?

Last night. About what time? Police tried to find out all they could about Molly from her family. She was the best 22 years of my life. She had a certain light to her. Molly's older brother, Nick. She was such a personality that was so great to be around.

She was funny and outgoing and wasn't scared to make fun of herself and wasn't scared to be herself. And in a family of three boys and one girl, Molly stood out. She took huge advantage of being the only girl in the family. She was pretty convinced that she was the favorite child and would leave notes in the house. And we still have notes on our chalkboard in the kitchen. Molly is my favorite, and it's signed Dad. She loved them. I would take her shopping because it was whatever you want, let's get two of those. You were a soft touch.

Very much so, and she knew it. After high school, Molly headed to the University of Arkansas and met her soon-to-be best friend, Sutton Ray. She was just funny, witty. She was different. She just had me laughing all the time, and it was great. And did what she wanted. She had a bunch of tattoos, and of course she hid them from her parents. Not from her older brother. We were out there paddle boarding, and I kind of saw on her

rib cage, I thought it was her bathing suit or something. I was like, Molly, is that a tattoo? And she very quickly kind of was like, what are you talking about? And just, and I was like, Molly, that's a tattoo. And then, you know, obviously we found out later that she had multiple. One tattoo was to remind her of her younger brothers. Another was just one word, beloved. It just, yeah, it's great for her. It's very fitting for her. Just before what would have been her senior year in 2015, Molly decided to take some time off, and she went back to Texas. Molly had had a difficult year at Arkansas, and so it was decided to, you know, come home, take a year off,

kind of reground, rebase. She had returned home to Fort Worth, rented that apartment, and had gotten that part-time job. It was in the middle of that safe suburban routine that Molly ended up dead. Now police officers were looking through her belongings. Everything looked pretty undisturbed. It looked lived in. There were, you know, there was food out or the TV was still there. They found Molly's cell phone charging next to her bed. This didn't look like a robbery and no indication of a struggle. And there were parts of the scene that weren't adding up.

Like how Molly's body looked when it was found in the bathroom. She still had a shirt on. The shower was already off. He asked Molly's mom about that. Did you turn the shower off when you got here? And she said, no, it was already off. He asked Molly's mom about that. Did you turn the shower off when you got here? And she said, no, it was already off. That was weird. They tell you as you're becoming a police officer, there's going to be calls that stick with you forever.

You're going to walk in and something's just not going to feel right. And that's how it was. We walked in and something just didn't feel right. Literally, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. The officer called his sergeant. And soon, homicide detectives were on their way. Coming up... We weren't sure if we were looking at some type of medical issue, maybe a possible overdose.

Clues were everywhere. In the apartment. The shower was dry. And on her phone. When an individual said that I'm outside, Molly texted this individual back and said, I'll come outside and get you. When Dateline continues. Molly Matheson was dead. Homicide detectives Matt Anderson and Kyle Sullivan were assigned to the case. And right away, the same things that had bothered responding officers jumped out at them. I noticed that the shower was dry, indicating that it had been drying for a long period of time.

What's your best guess as to how long Molly had been dead? I was thinking somewhere between 8 to 12 hours, if not longer. So the night before, probably. The night before, probably. So then what had happened? Molly had no obvious wounds. To cops, this looked like an accident, possibly even a drug overdose. At that point, it just seemed we weren't sure if we were looking at some type of medical issue.

Were we looking at maybe a possible overdose? When the cops say to you, you know, you should get ready for this being some kind of medical event or an accidental overdose, did that make any sense to you at all? Not at all. They told police Molly didn't do any hard drugs, and none were found in her house. Her parents told police Molly seemed completely normal the night before. She came over Sunday afternoon, hung out with us most of the afternoon and evening, had dinner, and left the house about 8 o'clock.

And not only, she was fine, and she was in good spirits, and she wasn't worried about anything or anyone. Oh, gosh, no. And that's what we were struggling with. I mean, it didn't add up. It wasn't adding up for the detectives either until the medical examiner arrived at the scene. She was able to remove Molly's hair from her face. We noticed what we call petechia,

or where the blood vessels break in your face. That was very weird. We haven't seen that. It's very rare to see that. It's usually an indication of strangulation. They'd have to wait for the autopsy the next day to make sure. Police sealed the house and put an officer at the door overnight. I spent the time waiting, trying to figure out what's going to be the better way for her to die.

Am I going to prefer that she had a medical condition we didn't know about, or is it going to be better that she overdosed on something? I mean, that's what's going through my head. What's going to be better? What's going to be better? But a murder wasn't... That wasn't on the radar. That never entered our mind. I mean, that was not, it wasn't even a thought. It was for detectives. They knew the autopsy would determine their next move. I arrived at the medical examiner's office for the autopsy. The medical examiner instantly told me she was murdered due to strangulation. And given the way Molly was found, naked from the waist down, Detective Sullivan had wondered if she'd been raped.

They collected a sexual assault examination for Molly, but there was no evidence at that time that we could prove that she was actually sexually assaulted. We were going to have to wait for the DNA to come back. Now that they knew this was a murder, crime scene investigators returned to Molly's apartment and right away found clues. They found some clothing items in the washing machine, some men's underwear, female clothing, towels, and a washcloth. All the clothes were still stuck to the basin, and it was wet. That suggested the washer might have been started close to when Molly was killed.

And inside, along with the clothes, was a fitted bed sheet. When we looked over at the bed, we noticed it was also missing the fitted sheet. So somebody took the fitted sheet. So somebody took the fitted sheet off and put it in the washing machine. Exactly. Once we saw this and a pair of men's underwear, because Molly lived by herself, no other men's clothing was found in there, we believed at that time that the killer was trying to cover his tracks by getting rid of the evidence through the washing machine. Did that underwear belong to Molly's killer? Had he made a mistake while cleaning up the crime scene?

Who was she talking and texting with that night? We were able to unlock the cell phone and have a forensic analysis conducted on the phone. Tell me about the messages. So I saw that Molly was communicating with a number in her cell phone that was not saved. The messages consisted of Molly asking this individual to come over to the house. An individual said, yes, I'll come over, send me your address. Because that phone number wasn't in Molly's contacts, they couldn't even tell who it belonged to. When an individual arrived,

said that I'm outside, Molly texted this individual back and said, I'll come outside and get you. That was about 10 30 p.m. An hour or so later, Molly responded to a group text. The last time she looked at a chat was around 11 37 p.m. on April 9, 2017. She responded to a chat from one of her friends. So Molly was probably still alive just after 11.30. Then came one final text from that same unknown person who'd been at her house. Later, in around 3.30, I believe, in the morning, this same number texted Molly back, but the message was unread. And it was a message about, hit me up in the morning,

I'm glad we got to talk, and hope to see you in the future. Conceivable that that person who texts her and comes over isn't the killer? That person leaves and somebody else shows up or realizes that she's been seeing that person instead of them? Absolutely. If anybody knew who Molly was texting with, it was her friends. And that's who police turn to next. Coming up. She was with this guy's David. I guess they had been dating. David Walton. Was he Molly's late night visitor? We'll be in here hanging out on Sunday. I'm just going to come out and ask, did you harm her? This is the face so many are missing tonight, 22-year-old Molly Matheson. The story of Molly Matheson's murder made local news on NBC station KXAS. Crime scene investigators spent all day here processing the scene while those who knew Molly tried to process her loss.

Detectives were on the hunt for Molly's killer. Her friends and family pitched in. Everyone was kind of, you know, trying to get into her Facebook, you know, looking at messages, you know, who was she talking to? Her friends put their heads together and, you know, just try, okay, who do we think? Because, you know, they knew, okay, who do we think? Because, you know, they knew a Molly that we didn't know. And so they were aware of... They knew her differently than we know her. Well, right. I mean, just as all 22-year-old people, you know,

no parent knows the same 22-year-old that their 22-year-old friends know. I began receiving numerous calls from friends indicating that they may have information on people that Molly was in contact with the last few days. This is Peyton. Hey, Peyton, this is Detective Sullivan again. I'm sorry, man.

Friends like Peyton Bailey. How do you know Molly? I, like, grew up with her, going to youth group and stuff. Who was she with? So what we have now figured out from, like, a group of five. Who was she with? So what we have now figured out from like a group of five of us that she was with this guy, his name's David. I guess they had been dating.

We had never met him. I started receiving phone calls from her friends indicating that Molly was possibly in a relationship by a male named David Walton. All they were able to determine is that she had been seeing David, I guess in a dating relationship, and that Molly would frequently visit David and David would also visit Molly. You run his name to see whether he has any kind of criminal record? Yes, sir. And? David checked out clean.

You call David Walton and he comes in? Yes. Without a lawyer? Without a lawyer. I appreciate you really coming down. David freely admitted he was with Molly on the day she was murdered. Well, me and her hung out on Sunday. When you say her, who do you mean?

Molly. Uh-huh. She came over at like probably 12, 12.15 p.m. They went to Kroger. They went to play pool at some place. He had to go to work. He left to go to work. Molly went home. I changed,

and then she left. And then all the way to work, she texted me and everything. Have a good day at work. Love you. Sullivan wanted to know more about David's relationship with Molly. You got a boyfriend, girlfriend? It was complicated. We were kind of just talking, but we've been best friends for like six, seven years. He said they'd been seeing each other three or four times a week. And police were able to verify part of his story. Here's video of Molly and David coming out of that Kroger grocery store at about 12.45 p.m. After that, David said he went to his job as a restaurant cook.

And what time did you get to work? Four. And what time did you get to work? What time did you get off? About 10, 30, 11. What did you do after you got to work? I was coming home and I played Xbox Live with my buddy, my co-worker. Did you ever leave the apartment again? No, sir. On Sunday, how was her mood?

Was everything good? Everything was perfect. Was she talking about going someplace that night, having people over, anything? Nothing. David let the cops take a DNA sample and also agreed to a polygraph. I'm just going to come out and ask because my boss is going to want me to know, did you harm her? Do you know who harmed her?

No, I do not. And when they checked his phone, he wasn't that unnamed person Molly had been texting. David did tell police about someone else. He'd heard about another man in Molly's life. She was telling me about how this dude in Texarkana started calling her again. Did she mention names? She said it was like Ryan Peacock. Ryan Peacock, a friend of Molly's.

David thought he might have wanted to be more than that. David said that he understood that Molly was having issues with him as far as he always wanted to call her and stuff like that, and Molly wasn't so interested in Ryan as much as Ryan was interested in her. Even though Ryan lived 200 miles away, Detective Sullivan learned he'd been in the Dallas-Fort Worth area the weekend Molly was murdered. I went and checked Molly's cell phone, and sure enough, there had been some communications with Ryan Peacock the night prior to when this unknown individual came over. Are there texts back and forth between the two of them? Yes, I think he called her several times.

She didn't answer. May have sent a text. And then April 8th of 2017 into April 9th of 2017, they had like a 50-second phone call. April 9th was a Sunday, the day Molly was probably killed. It was time for police to have a conversation with Ryan Peacock. Coming up. I phoned Ryan.

Could he come and talk to me? And he said, yes, I can do this in probably two months. Hang on a second. In two months, he's going to help you out on a murder investigation? Yes. I didn't like the fact that he wasn't beating down my door to come down and talk to me. When Dateline Continues. Fort Worth police were looking into a promising lead, Ryan Peacock, a guy from Molly's past. Did Molly ever say anything to either of you about this guy, Ryan Peacock? No.

I didn't know that name at all. Detectives confirmed Ryan had been talking with Molly in the days before her murder. I phoned Ryan. I informed him that Molly was murdered. Could he come and talk to me? And he said, yes, I can do this in probably two months. Hang on a second. In two months, he's going to help you out on a murder investigation? Yes. In two months. When you tell Ryan Peacock Molly's dead, you're listening pretty closely to see whether this is somebody hearing that information for the first time. Absolutely. You don't know what to expect.

What did you think? I really didn't know. I didn't like the fact that he wasn't beating down my door to come down and talk to me. I didn't like that at all. Ryan did have an explanation. He said he couldn't come in person because he was busy training for a new position as a restaurant manager. I'm thinking very quickly made the point to Ryan Peacock that two months wasn't going to do it.

You need to talk to him right now, unless he wants an alert out for his arrest. Didn't say it quite like that, but I just told Ryan the best I could do then if he wouldn't come in is can we just do a phone interview. How long have you known Molly? About, I'd say four months. Four months. Have you all had any kind of relationship in that four months? Yes, sir.

Ryan said they'd been out a few times, but it was nothing serious. He said he hasn't been over to Molly's residence in a couple of months, and he hadn't seen her. Did you go to Molly's house on Sunday evening? No, absolutely not. He did verify the phone conversation he had with her, but that he had not physically been with Molly for several months. Detective Sullivan also learned Ryan had no criminal record, and his number was in Molly's phone. So he was not the last person to text her.

So David Walton and Ryan Peacock are still potential persons of interest. Yes. At the very least. Yes. I never believe anybody. Trust but verify. So I didn't know if David or Ryan had done it at that time, but I'm inching closer to trying to investigate, trying to eliminate them or include them. The person police really wanted to track down was whoever belonged to those mystery digits in Molly's phone. A reverse search on that number was one of the first things Detective Sullivan had done. I actually used a local database. I typed in the number, and the number came back to a person by the name of Reginald Kimbrough.

Was this the mystery man police had been searching for? Now Detective Sullivan made the call. I introduced myself and said that I'd like to talk to him about Molly Matheson. He said that, yes, he was with her the night before she was murdered. He seemed eager to come and want to talk to me. Kimbrough said he was out of town, so while detectives waited, they dug into his past. Sullivan found out Kimbrough grew up in Plano, a well-to-do suburb near Dallas. Once Kimbrough graduated high school, he joined the Navy. And after being discharged, he ended up in Arkansas, where he met Molly.

Molly and Reginald met on Tinder, and subsequently Molly and Reginald had broken up. You know, what's unusual is that Molly had known Reginald Kimbrough for a long time, and yet his number wasn't in her phone under his name. Yes, that is unusual. It's probably, I assume, because they must have had some falling out at some point. And she deleted him from her contacts. But then months later, she initiates a conversation, which ends up with him coming over. Yes.

And after his breakup with Molly, Reggie had started dating this woman, Molly's former college roommate, Megan Lewis. Hello. Is this Megan? This is Detective Sullivan? This is. Megan reached out to police in the days after Molly's murder. She told them how she first started dating Reggie. Eventually, Reggie and I got into a relationship in the fall of 2015.

He was fun and seemed to be different than every other guy that you meet in college. Molly's former roommate seemed to really like Reggie. Reggie was charming. He knew what to say, when to say it. He was the life of the party. He knew everybody. Megan and Reggie's romantic relationship was long over, but they were still friends. She was able to help police track Reggie's activities the night of Molly's murder. We talked on the phone. Everything was fine. He told me he was at his sister's house working on her car. And he says, I'm going to go ahead and let you go.

I have to run by a friend's house. And I said, okay, good night. I was going to go to sleep. That was it. Two days later, on Tuesday, Megan got the news about Molly. She called Reggie that afternoon in case he hadn't heard. I said, Molly's gone. And he goes, what are you talking about? I said, Molly's dead. Molly's passed away. And then that's when he told me I was just with her. That's when I told him, you need to go to the police. I was like, if you touched a doorknob, if you touched the counter,

you touched the trash can, you know, they're going to have something that shows that you were there. Police didn't have to wait long to meet the man of the hour. All right, go. Have a seat, man. Coming up. I came over. I got there about like 10.30. Reggie tells his story. Will it add up? What time did you leave?

I left there before 1.30. Cue the security cameras. I know exactly what time you got there. I know exactly what time you left. Reggie, what's going on, man? I'm sorry. I had kid problems this morning. Three days after he spoke with detectives by phone, Reggie Kimbrough showed up at the Fort Worth Police Department. I know that we needed to talk for a little while,

and I appreciate you driving yourself down here and stuff. Yeah, that's my pleasure. This is my partner, Detective Anderson. I don't know if we can introduce you to him. He's cooperating. He's cooperating. He's giving us everything that we kind of want at that time. How do you know Molly?

I met Molly in Arkansas. Reggie confirmed what detectives had already heard in other interviews. Reginald said that he had met Molly at the University of Arkansas. They were in a dating relationship at the time. She eventually moved back home to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and they had lost touch since around 2015. And they had recently, within the past several months, had reconnected again. So on the night of her murder, Molly texted Reggie

and invited him over. I had to text. Okay. I was like, did you need something? And she's like, I just wanted to see if you want to hang out. So I came over, I got there about like 1030. Reggie said they smoked some weed, watched Netflix and chatted. What are y'all talking about? Basically just catching up. She was telling me about her new boyfriend. She was telling me about how her brother got her old car and she got a new car. She was talking about like her mom. He said they started making out.

Did y'all have sex that night? No. Like we got to the point to where we were going to, but she was just like, I don't feel comfortable. And she was just like, wait, stop. I was like, what's wrong? And she's like, I don't feel right. You know, David wouldn't like this. David, as in David Walton. I was like, okay. And that's when I got up. I went to the bathroom. I guess it just kind of got awkward there. When I come back out, she's like, well, I'm going to go to sleep because I have class tomorrow. And I was like, okay, well,

just hit me up after class. Okay. And she walked me out. I don't think I asked this. What time did you leave our house? I left there before 1.30. Reggie told them he drove straight from Molly's house up to Oklahoma, a three-hour drive, then stayed with a friend. When do you find out about Molly's death? Tuesday.

Tell me about that. Megan had called me, and she left a voicemail. He's referring to Megan, Molly's old roommate and Reggie's former girlfriend. He recounted that conversation. And she's like, did you hear? And I was like, hear about what? And she's like, Molly. I was like, okay, what's wrong with Molly? And she's like, she's gone. And when she told me, I'm like, no, I literally just saw Molly. And she's like, no, she's dead. I just kind of dropped in disbelief because I was just there. You know what I mean? And I was just bawling and crying.

He said Megan and the friend he was staying with urged him to reach out to police. So he's like, you need to go talk to them. He's like, you can help some way. The cops beat him to it by calling him first. And Reggie was indeed helpful. He gave us access to his phone, provided me his passcode to his phone. Down. Sweet. I'll write it up there, Tom. You asked him for a DNA sample?

Yes. And he gives it to you? He gives me the DNA sample. Show me your mouth. So this is just a block north of where Molly Matheson was killed. By the time Reggie sat down with detectives, they had already confirmed part of his story. Detective Anderson had pulled hours of video from cameras in Molly's neighborhood the night of the murder. And they showed a 2004 Buick Park Avenue that turned out to be Reggie's.

And video surveillance from the neighborhood did show from different houses that he was showing up at 1025 and driving from the north to the south towards where Molly lived. They did notice a gap in Reggie's timeline. And then as we further reviewed the cameras at 2 o'clock that morning, we see him leaving again out of the neighborhood, leaving northbound the same way that he came. Remember, Reggie told detectives he'd left Molly's at 1.30 a.m. That puts a 30-minute hole in his story. Back in the interview room, Detective Sullivan used that to turn up the heat.

I know exactly what time you got there. I know exactly what time you got there. I know exactly what time you leave. Okay. And at that time, the interview changed directions. How does it change? He immediately knows now that I'm trying to confront him. The only reason I'm talking to you now, Reggie, is because I think some s*** got wrong in there.

Well, I was there. Absolutely. Oh, no. Then, no. Absolutely, Reggie. No, sir. I. Oh, no. Then, no. Absolutely, Reggie. No, sir. I'm telling you no. Sullivan asked Reggie if he'd take a polygraph. That's the moment where the detective's mood changes.

And you can see Reggie's does too. I mean, we'll go right now and do it. I got a guy already waiting for us. I don't do it. No. All right, man. No, I'm... Yeah, I'm done.

We'll get to them all. We'll get out of your f***ing minds, man. Reggie, I promise you this, is what I'm looking at you. I will see you again. That's fine. But next time I see you, it's going to be...

You're going to be in custody. Okay. Okay. Detectives let him digest that as they decided what to do. Hey, Reggie. You don't want to take the polygraph? No, I don't want to take it. We're going to confiscate your phone, too.

Why not arrest him right then? The only thing I could prove out of that interview was that he did lie about his time frame, but he could also have been mistaken. It was only a 30-minute discrepancy. Not a huge deal. Except, police knew something else about Reggie's past. Something that suggested he was violent and capable of assaulting Molly. I was suspicious of sexual assault.

I was suspicious of him murdering her, but I still had to prove it. Suspicion in the state of Texas doesn't equate to the charge of murder. Detectives didn't have DNA results back yet, and at that point, they were not even sure if Molly had been sexually assaulted. Ultimately, they say, they had no choice but to let Reggie go. They did hang on to his cell phone, but they could not hang on to Reggie Kimbrough. Coming up.

I just, I got so scared. A young woman's horrifying story becomes a heartbreaking link to Molly's case. My detective said, do you want this to happen to another girl? And I said, no. He said, then let's get this guy. When Dateline continues. Police investigating the murder of Molly Matheson were deeply suspicious of Reggie Kimbrough, but he was one of three persons of interest, like that guy Molly had been seeing. What'd you learn about David Walton? I mean, he, whenever we called him, answered all the questions that we had.

And we pulled his cell phone records and were later able to determine that, you know, he wasn't around Molly's house, you know, when this happened. What about Ryan Peacock? Ryan Peacock wasn't quite as cooperative. I know Detective Sullivan talked to him two or three times, and we tried making it where we would come meet with him, or he could come meet with us, whatever's easiest. And that interview just never happened.

Police were able to clear Peacock as well. The one person who couldn't be cleared was Reggie Kimbrough. And it wasn't just because he'd been at Molly's the night she was killed. Police had learned something else about him. When I ran a criminal history with Reginald, I'd seen that he'd been arrested for a sexual assault out of South Padre Island, Texas. You call that department? I actually had to call a detective down there. He said that Reginald Kimbrough was arrested for a sexual assault around spring break 2014. And if that sounds familiar, it's because the victim in that case was someone you've already met, Katie Coates.

It was spring break, three years before the murder of Molly Matheson. It was a double celebration for Katie. My birthday always falls on spring break, so I had just recently turned 20. We decided to go to South Padre Island. It's a strip of white sand and clear water on the Texas Gulf Coast. Peaceful, quiet, except for three weeks in March when these beaches team with thousands of college kids, all intent on having the time of their lives. During spring break, of course, everyone, you know, goes out and has a good time. We're on the beach. There's music. There's, of course, you know, drinks and everything. It's sun, sand, surf, and a tsunami of alcohol, plus a chance to meet other kids, including a guy Katie kept running into, Reggie Kimbrough. I just remember, you know, he was very popular. Everyone kind of gathered around him.

Seemed like a nice guy? Yeah. He seemed like he just wanted to have fun. One night they went out to a club. As closing time approached... We all went down to the hot tub. At some point, I was ready to leave. Reggie offered to walk Katie back to her room.

Here they are on a hotel security camera. We had kissed. There's no denying that. I wanted to use the restroom. Kimbrough walked her to the hotel ladies room I'm going into the bathroom and I'm still not thinking anything's really wrong at that point until I turned around to shut the stall door and I see him coming my direction You didn't invite him in? No

When Katie looked into his eyes, she panicked. I knew by the look, when I saw him coming into the stall, I knew there was something that was wrong. It all happened both very fast and in slow motion. He shuts the door and locks it And at that point That's when He started to strangle me I just

I got so scared And so I kind of just did whatever he wanted me to do. He attacked her, raped her. Katie says all she could do was try to survive. I just put my hand over my mouth so he couldn't hear me, like, crying. This had to be terrifying. Yeah. The way it felt, it felt like I was in there for hours.

The reality was about 15 minutes. Katie got away and ran out. Reggie Kimbrough strolled out about 30 seconds later. Katie found a hotel worker who walked her to her room. And one of my friends had said, Katie, like, tell us what's wrong. And one of them pointed out, they were like, what is on your neck? There were bruises on her neck. Her friends insisted Katie go to a hospital, where a nurse did a sexual assault exam. And that backed up her story. You didn't want to report this at first?

No. No. Because that makes it real? Because you think, what, you're going to be able to forget about it? Or you don't want to ruin the weekend for everybody else? I think my initial thought at first was, yeah, I just wanted to go home and kind of try to forget about it. But I felt sorry for him. And I can't explain that.

I don't know whether you did, but a lot of people blame themselves when, in fact, the blame lies elsewhere. Yeah. I'm sorry. Well, I'm sorry. You just never imagine, you know, it's going to be you. Katie summoned willpower and courage to report her rape. Soon she was answering detectives' questions at the South Padre Island Police Department. He started choking me.

And I remember at one point he, like, slammed me to the ground. I'm just having sex with him. When did you tell him that? The whole time. The whole time? I said I don't have to leave. I don't want out. I'm not gonna let me out. Do you wanna follow charges?

I'm just scared. I said, I just wanna go home. And my detective just looked at me and he said, do you want this to happen to another girl? And I said, no. He said, then let's get this guy. So that's when I went through with pressing charges. Reggie Kimbrough was arrested. The story he told back then is a familiar one in sexual assault cases.

He said this was just sex, not rape. You're saying that you all had consensual sex? Yeah. Like I said, she stopped me twice. And I was like, okay, what's wrong? And she's like, nothing. And then we go back at it. Police didn't believe his story

and found Katie credible. Except, as detectives soon found out, the district attorney apparently did not. Your testimony, you're bruised, the rape kit, and they don't prosecute. Nope.

He admits he was there he had sex with you but it was consensual despite the fact that it left you terrified crying with bruises. Right. And there's no prosecution. No.

So why was that? Well, we don't know. Because the South Padre Island District Attorney declined our request to have that question answered. It turned out Katie Coates wasn't alone in her suffering. There was another woman

whose case never made it to a courtroom. Coming up. The next thing I know is like, snap, like I'm just on the ground. His hands are around my throat and that's when my brain just froze. You're lucky to still be here. Absolutely. As they investigated Reggie Kimbrough, homicide detectives in Fort Worth contacted their counterparts 500 miles away

on South Padre Island, Texas. That's where Kimbrough had been arrested but not prosecuted for assaulting Katie Coates three years earlier. And what the South Padre Island cop disclosed put this case in a whole new category. He actually said that there was a CODIS hit to a Plano case that occurred about a year and a half prior. And Reginald was a suspect in the Plano case, as well as a suspect in their case. Plano, remember, is Reggie Kimbrough's hometown. It was 2012, five years before Molly Matheson's murder. So a friend of mine and I had gone to the mall. It was a Friday night.

Melissa Winton was 18 and just starting her senior year of high school. We had walked into this one store. It was a surf shop, and he was employed there. He was a 19-year-old Reggie Kimbrough. We were just kind of like flirting back with each other and whatnot. We ended up exchanging numbers in the store. Sounds like he was interested, and it sounds like you were too. Right.

Late that night, Kimbrough texted Melissa and invited her to his house. He told her to come in through his bedroom window because his parents were asleep. They talked, and then when he made a few moves, she said no. And that's when he was like, okay, well, can I get oral sex for $200? And immediately I was like, okay, it's time for me to get out of here. And as he's walking me out to my car, he was like being kind of like apologetic in a sense. She says they took a walk in a nearby park and talked. Things are in a better place. Right.

And I, like, lean in to give him a hug, and then the next thing I know is, like, snap. Like, I'm just on the ground. My pants are down. He's on top of me, and his hands are around my throat. And I became kind of lightheaded, and that's when my brain just froze

and I just I laid there and I just sat there while he continued to attack me. She says Kimbrough violently raped her. He would tell me like shut up shut up shut up. When he did that he then like muffed my, like over my nose and my mouth. You're lucky to still be here. Absolutely. I remember thinking I'm never going to see my family again. I'm never going to see sunlight. Like this is it. Afterward, he forced her back into her car and they drove for hours. Finally, he got out of the car and she went home. And I run straight to my parents' room and I, all I can say is like, I was raped. I was raped. I was raped. Her parents took her to the ER where a nurse did a rape kit. And then they went to police. Melissa told her story multiple times to Plano PD Detective John Hoffman.

She quickly realized the detective seemed to have his doubts right from the start. You heard that right. He asked a senior in high school if perhaps her attacker thought she enjoyed it. Police then spoke with Reggie Kimbrough, and you might be able to guess what he said. He claimed the sex with Melissa was consensual, just as he would about Katie Coates two years later. We had sex for about three minutes. We were just laying down afterwards, and I was like, I'm pretty tired. I just wanted to go home. And she was like, okay, let's go.

He said Melissa was just angry that she couldn't spend the night at his house. She was like, no, you're not turning around. I want home. Reggie consented to a polygraph. Did you use any physical force to get Melissa to have sex? No. Did you choke Melissa like she claimed?

No. And according to the examiner, Reggie Kimbrough was telling the truth. He passed the polygraph. Okay, Reggie, your polygraph results show no deception indicated. So I can tell Detective Hoffman that in my opinion that that didn't happen and that it takes care of being a sexual assault. With that, Detective Hoffman, apparently persuaded by the results of that polygraph, or perhaps by his own skepticism, decided there was no winnable case here. I have to ask you, is what you said to me about the report, everything that you said, true?

Yes. Like, this is stupid. Like, nobody's believing me. I know. I know. It's hard. It's not that I'm not believing you. I'm just seeing things that don't make sense. All of that drove Melissa to a breaking point. I don't even want to do this anymore because, like, honestly, like, I mean, I know what happened. Y'all probably don't. I don't want to talk to anybody about this anymore. Like, I just want it to be over with. Nobody's believing me, and I'm starting to realize, like, I can't trust anybody. Like, it's just hard.

Here's how the detective explained it to Melissa's father. If I'm sitting on a jury, here see what was happening and what was not. She dropped the case. Are you wanting this case presented to the grand jury? Yeah. Are you wanting the investigation on this case to stop? Yes. What's that like to have gone through this and done the right thing,

the difficult thing, the painful thing, report it, get a rape kit done, go through a lot of meetings with police, and essentially have it lead nowhere because they didn't believe you? It's hard. And it's just lonely. I mean, it sucks. There's just no words I mean, it sucks. There's just no words for it. It sucks. It just sucks. Now, five years later, Fort Worth detectives were learning about Melissa's story and Katie's story and putting it all together.

Both victims described being choked. Both victims described the sexual assault portion of their cases were very similar. And both talk about a sort of hair-trigger moment in which he turns from acquaintance, friend, maybe possible boyfriend, to rapist. Yes. So those are some similarities that I immediately recognized as happening to Molly as well. Fort Worth detectives saw Reggie Kimbrough as a murder suspect and maybe also a serial rapist. Sullivan had looked at Melissa Winton's case from five years earlier and thought there was probable cause

to arrest Kimbrough on that old charge. You don't want to take the polygraph? No, I don't want to take it. F*** you. So when Kimbrough walked out of their interview, Sullivan's first call was to Plano detective John Hoffman. I asked at that time, is there any way we could obtain an arrest warrant

for the rape case back in 2012? And I was told that we could not. So Plano's sticking by their guns. They didn't go anywhere in 2012, and they didn't want to do anything now. Correct. A little more interdepartmental cooperation would have been helpful at that point. Instead, Reggie Kimbrough was once again back in a familiar place. A world without consequences.

Coming up... We believe that the killer was getting rid of the evidence through the washing machine. Could the washer help solve Molly's murder? Detectives are about to take that theory for a spin. When Dateline continues. Fort Worth detectives wanted Reggie Kimbrough off the streets of Texas. Except, they lacked the evidence to arrest him. Fort Worth detectives wanted Reggie Kimbrough off the streets of Texas, except they lacked the evidence to arrest him.

After Plano police declined to issue an arrest warrant for Kimbrough, Detectives Sullivan and Anderson knew it was now up to them. From neighborhood security cameras, they knew he'd left Molly's house about 2 a.m. the night of her murder. That's a little different from what he told police. He said he left at 1.30, is that right? Correct. He says about 1.30 he leaves and then he just starts driving up towards Oklahoma. That half hour is significant? At that point, initially, we weren't sure if it was significant or not,

but it wasn't until later on that it became very significant. Crime scene techs had found that bed sheet and clothing in the washing machine. We believed at that time that the killer was trying to cover his tracks by getting rid of the evidence through the washing machine. We knew we had to prove somehow that Reggie was the last person that came and went from Molly's house. And during the interview with Reggie, one of the things that kind of stuck into our head was him talking about what Molly was wearing that day whenever he was over there. Okay, what was she wearing? What the f*** was she wearing?

She was wearing a t-shirt, some, uh, like those Nike shorts. They come like right here. They were yellow and black. And that sounded very identical to a pair of shorts that was found in the washing machine that was still wet from actually being in the spin cycle from when we arrived. And remember, they'd also found a pair of men's underwear in the machine. So you guys start thinking, when did that washing machine start? Exactly. If we could prove exactly when that washing machine started, then we might be able to prove whether Reggie was there when it started or whether he wasn't there.

Okay. How do you do that? So Detective Sullivan thought of the water usage. He contacted the city and asked them about how they monitor water usage, and they basically informed us. They check it from the meter out at the street about once a month and that's it. There's no way to tell when it's used throughout the day or what day it is. Then Sullivan thought, what about electricity? Washing machines use a ton of power. That's a pretty good idea. Yeah, I don't know where it came from. Yeah, because that turned out to be a pretty good hunch because that was a big piece of the puzzle. That was a humongous piece of the puzzle.

They contacted the electric company, Encore. And they informed us that they actually have smart meters that monitor the electricity usage every 15 minutes, which was perfect for us. They were able to send us an electricity usage report for Molly's house for that entire time span. And what does that reveal? So it reveals, Darren, from midnight to about 1.30, electricity usage is pretty steady, pretty normal. But then at 1.45, it almost doubles to almost triple. And you ran the washing machine to see what that does to the electricity monitoring. Correct. So after we got that report, we wanted to try to mimic it. So we met with Encore out at Molly's house. I had them

set the meters back up to monitor it, and we waited, turned the washing machine back to the normal cycle that it was on whenever we found it, and watched the electricity basically replicate exactly what we saw previously. And it doubled and tripled and then came back down to a normal state. Just as it had at 1 45 a.m. on the night of Molly's murder. So Reggie Kimbrough is there when the washing machine starts. Exactly. We know without a doubt that he was there when the washing machine started at 1.45 because we definitely know he didn't leave the area until 2 that morning. That's pretty smart. That's pretty smart thinking.

It was brilliant. Detective Sullivan, he could come up with something out of his hat pretty good. On that day, it had only been a week since Molly's murder, and police still didn't have the results of the sexual assault kit. No toxicology, no DNA results. Still not enough to make a case. Are you worried to have him out there running around free? At this point, I was worried based on the way he left, because I knew after being confronted for a capital murder, you may become desperate. And the last time they saw it, Reggie Kimbrough was agitated. You've looked back at that moment a bunch of times, I'm guessing. Yes, sir.

Because of what happened next. Yes, sir. Coming up, another young woman, another heartbreaking crime. I remember sitting down and my husband and I saying, this is not going to end well. And you don't dare voice that that bad thing could be going on. Because saying it makes it true. Because saying it makes it true. The last time Fort Worth police saw Reggie Kimbrough, he was leaving their station.

Minus his cell phone, but otherwise a free man. So he walks out. Yes. And you think to yourself, there goes a murderer. Very suspicious of it. We knew that we needed to do something to get him off the streets as quick as possible. Yeah, not quick enough. No, sir. Unfortunately not. Just hours after Kimbrough stormed out of the Fort Worth Police Department on Friday, April 14th, 36-year-old Megan Getram went for her usual after-work hike at this nature preserve in Plano. As she walked these trails, she texted with her

mom, Diane, about a restaurant they'd been to. It was about 8.45 p.m. And she texted back, yes, that's really neat. We should go back there. And that was the end of the text. Sounds like everything's normal as of Friday night. Absolutely. Everything's normal. For Megan, normal didn't mean sitting around. She was a whiz at computer coding who also loved getting away from the digital world. Her brother, Jeff. Megan was the kind of person who'd just go somewhere cool and see everything that wasn't seen

and come back and show everybody your pictures of it. She also took a lot of pictures of her cats. So she was a cat mother and everything her cats did was cute and she photographed everything her cats did. So there she was Friday evening, hiking in a local park and texting her mom. No one in her family thought anything was wrong until Sunday, when Megan didn't show at her brother's birthday party. On Monday, she didn't go to work. That's when her brother went to her apartment.

Lights were on. There was a pile of probably clean laundry waiting to be folded on the floor. And it just looked like she'd stepped out for a bit and hadn't made it back yet. And it's like, surely she's just busy. So I woke up at like 5 a.m. and drove back to her apartment. And it was in the exact same state as when I left it the night before. And then about noon, we decided that we just needed to call the police and start the actual process of trying to find her instead of just wandering around on our own. They didn't believe us in the beginning. I remember it wasn't until I told the policeman that the cats have not been fed and she wouldn't go away and leave her cats alone. So after that, our police really worked

hard for us, I felt. Plano detective Aaron Benzik got the case. You're kind of behind the eight ball at that point because this person's missing for a while. Right. And in this case, we got the call on Tuesday, which was four days since Megan had last been talked to. I'm guessing as time goes on, you're getting increasingly frantic. I remember sitting down and my husband and I saying, this is not going to end well. And you don't dare voice that that bad thing could be going on. Because saying it makes it true sometimes. Because saying it makes it true. And I didn't want it to be true.

In her heart, Megan's mom probably knew her daughter was not on some exotic adventure. And once he got a look at Megan's apartment, Benzik saw the same things her family had. We found her wallet and keys were on the kitchen counter. Her laptop was there, no indication that she was traveling. And we found her vehicle parked outside of her building. And nothing unusual there?

Nothing unusual. Benzik looked at video from complex security. And we find that around 7, a little after 7. 30 p.m. on Friday night, we can see Megan walking towards the nature preserve. And it doesn't seem like anything's wrong. No, she seems comfortable. She's dressed in a kind of a red and orange floral shirt. And nobody's with her. Nobody's with her. She's alone. He called in search teams. And we started by bringing in the canine dogs. We had them search. Couldn't find any signs of Megan. We also brought in helicopters. They used their thermal cameras, covered the whole park,

tried to see if there were any signs of life. They found none. At that point, we're feeling comfortable that she's not in the park anymore, but we don't know where she is. The next morning, Benzik heard news that stopped him cold. That Wednesday morning, I got a call from one of our intel detectives said, hey, there's a bulletin out from Dallas Police Homicide Unit that they have an unidentified female that got found in Lake Ray Hubbard, which is over 20 miles away from where we are.

What made you think that might be Megan? So they had a descriptor of the clothing being worn, and it was kind of that same, you know, red, yellow, flowery shirt. Did you go over there to see her, identify her? Yeah, so next we go to the medical examiner's office for Dallas County, and from visually looking at her, I could tell that it was Megan. A fingerprint comparison with her driver's license confirmed it, and the medical examiner said Megan's cause of death was readily apparent. They're able to determine from the blunt force trauma,

from the compression on the neck, that this is in fact a homicide. Coming up, who murdered Megan? You don't see how this could have happened to someone you love. And who murdered Molly? At last, the evidence is in, and detectives say it's a slam dunk when Dateline continues. Five days after Megan Getram disappeared, Plano, Texas police broke some awful news to her family. They said, we found Megan and she's dead. I must have asked several times, are you sure? How can you be sure? It's not her.

From her prints, detectives were sure. You don't see how this could have happened to someone you love. It's not her. From her prints, detectives were sure. You don't see how this could have happened to someone you love. And it was just the most painful experience of my life, just knowing that I'd never see that stupid grin again. And a whole hole opened up in my heart that still wasn't filled. Now, Detective Erin Benzek was trying to find her killer. We really started trying to get the word out there, do media releases, and then that's when I got a break from one of our own officers.

They were doing a curfew check at the nature preserve that night. Police dash cams rolled as officers saw a group of teenagers. This is from the night Megan went missing. What story did they tell? They noticed that a vehicle was kind of circling around them. Someone got out of the vehicle and started approaching them. And that's when he says, hey, did you guys find a phone? I'm looking for my cell phone in this area. And I was here in the park earlier in the day and lost it. He was described as a black male in his early 20s. And they just hear that he's looking for a phone, a lost phone. So it doesn't immediately cause any kind of major concern. On their way out, the officers drove by the car, a blue Buick Park Avenue.

Anything suspicious or unusual about the car? No. They ran the tag, nothing popped up. Benzik ran the plate again. Who's that come back to? I ran the paper tag, and it came back to a Reginald Kembro, spelled K-E-M-B-R-O. And I checked that individual, and it comes back to an older black male that doesn't match the description of the suspicious person that was reported in the park.

However, it did match the owner's son, Reginald Kimbrough, K-I-M-B-R-O. And Benzik soon found out that Reggie Kimbrough was not only seen driving that Buick, he was also a person of interest in a homicide over in Fort Worth. So now you've connected that car to Reggie Kimbrough, who is a suspect in Molly Matheson's murder. Right. It's at that moment when we kind of have this eureka moment when I realized Reginald Kimbrough had killed Megan Getram. They were searching for Megan Getram.

The 36-year-old was at the park the night of April 14th, then vanished. Megan Getram's murder made the news for a few days, and Fort Worth Detective Kyle Sullivan had seen the reports. It didn't seem connected to anything in his world until the phone rang. I have received a call from another Plano detective who asked me if I had heard about the body found in the lake. I told him that I had, and he informed me that Reginald Kimbrough's vehicle was seen in the park the night she went missing.

And that's when alarm bells went off. And you get a bad feeling in your stomach, don't you? Oh, yes. I know almost with 100% certainty he was probably responsible for it. He walked out of that interview with you and committed a murder? Yes. That's not a good feeling? No, it's not. It had been 13 days since Reggie Kimbrough stormed out of the Fort Worth Police Department. Detectives still didn't have any forensic results back on Molly.

Just those electricity records suggesting Kimbrough had started her washing machine that night. Now, with news of another murder, detectives realized law enforcement had waited too long. I went ahead and issued a murder warrant for the murder of Molly. He was taken into custody by the Plano SWAT team. Reggie Kimbrough was arrested as he left his father's home in Plano and brought back to that same Fort Worth interrogation room. You've been arrested for murder, the murder of Molly Matheson, okay?

I wrote that warrant just today. This was the moment when the formerly loquacious Reggie Kimbrough clammed up. With these rights in mind, would you like to talk to me about it? No. You request your attorney? Yeah. One question troubled those Fort Worth detectives back then and today. Could Kimbrough have been arrested sooner, preventing the death of Megan Getram?

Tarrant County prosecutors Paige Simpson and Elena Bang say, absolutely not. At that point, they hadn't developed enough probable cause. They didn't have the cell phone information. They didn't have the DNA. So there's nothing Fort Worth could have done to hold him? The thing that Fort Worth did that could have worked out is they called the detective on the original Plano case and said, you have probable cause to arrest him on that aggravated sexual assault. And Plano wouldn't do it? They did not do it. Can you explain to me why would Plano refuse to arrest Reggie Kimbrough with Fort Worth saying, we want you to take this guy?

If your question for me is, was there probable cause to make an arrest for a sexual assault, there absolutely was. I have to ask you, is what you said to me about the report and everything that you said true? Yes. Like. Okay. If you look at the final interview with our victim in Plano and the detective, he clearly did not believe her. Only after Kimbrough's arrest did forensic evidence seal the deal. Molly had indeed been sexually assaulted. By him? By him.

They also found Kimbrough's DNA on that underwear in the washing machine and in the shower where they found Molly's body. And then the toxicology came back. Well, it showed that Molly had the date rape drug or GHB in her system. So she invites him over. He comes over. And then at some point, he gives her GHB and rapes her. Yes. And I guess during that, kills her. Yes. DNA evidence also showed Megan Getram's body had been in the trunk of Kimbrough's Buick and that he had sexually assaulted her. For years, Reggie Kimbrough had evaded prosecution. Now two women were dead.

And some law enforcement agencies had questions they needed to answer. Coming up. What it looks like is that your detective did not believe the victim in this case and sent this guy back out onto the street where he committed two murders. What he has to go by is what does the evidence show. You have DNA, you have strangulation marks, there is certainly probable cause. Reggie Kimbrough was in the Tarrant County Jail, charged with the capital murder of Molly Matheson. Detectives were also convinced he'd killed Megan Getram less than a week later.

Now, remember those sexual assault allegations against him that were never prosecuted? The minute that Detective Sullivan writes a warrant for Reggie, we get him arrested. Then all of a sudden, all these cases just start bombarding, you know, being filed. All of a sudden, with no additional information that was ever obtained besides Molly's death and Megan's death. Victory has a thousand fathers.

Exactly. South Padre Island and Plano suddenly both indicted Kimbrough for sexual assault. And a third sexual assault case against him that had lingered for years in nearby Allen, Texas, also now made it to a prosecutor's desk. Kimbrough was staring at the death penalty for Molly's murder. Then in March of 2022, just before trial, Kimbrough perhaps saw the writing on the wall. In one whirlwind session, he pled guilty to everything. These prosecutors made sure he would never walk the streets again. Life without parole to our case, the murder of Molly Matheson. It is life without parole to the murder of Megan Getram. It is a life sentence for the sexual assault of Caitlin Coates.

And then 20 years for the sexual assault of Melissa Winton, and then 20 years on two other cases in Collin County, one for the Allen case and one for a victim who called in to police after Molly's murder was on the news. Were the two of you okay with that? Very much so. He's not going to occupy any space in my head. I'm not going to think about him again. Basically, his voice has been silenced, and when I realized that, I think that sort of was like, yes, the plea deal. This is the best ending that we could have to this whole ordeal.

For Megan's mom, it helped a little. It did help to have Mr. Kimbrough say that he was guilty. It did help. And I'm content that he'll spend the rest of his life in jail. You have three different jurisdictions. In some cases, police were responsible for not going forward, and in other cases, were responsible for not going forward. And in other cases, prosecutors responsible for not going forward. It's not fair to say that your daughter's death was at their hand because it wasn't, but it might kind of be at

their feet because if they'd done something, we might not be here today. They had a lot of opportunities to make that choice and each of them, for whatever reason, chose not to. Normally at Dateline, we don't have a lot of trouble persuading law enforcement to sit down with us. But that wasn't the case on this story. We did speak with Fort Worth PD, which was the agency primarily responsible for locking up Reggie Kimbrough. Everyone else, particularly the departments that examined the rape and sexual assault allegations against him, were considerably more reluctant. The district attorney in South Padre Island who didn't prosecute Katie Coates' case in 2014 would not do an interview.

Neither would South Padre Island Police. The Allen Police Department also declined our invitation, but in a statement said they are now better equipped to investigate assault cases. We asked to speak with Plano Detective John Hoffman about his investigation into the 2012 assault of Melissa Winton. We were told no, but Plano Police Chief Ed Drain did agree to an interview. Back in 2012, he was assistant chief in charge of all criminal investigations. I appreciate you sitting down and talking with us. A lot of other people in this case did not want to do that. I understand.

What it looks like is that your detective did not believe the victim in this case and sent this guy back out onto the street where he committed additional assaults and two murders. Well, it's not a matter in his mind of whether he believed her or not. What he has to go by is what does the evidence show. And he has to have evidence to support moving forward with an arrest. The chief also said Melissa went and stopped cooperating. The case did not go forward because the victim said she did not want him to present the case to the grand jury. Well, but the victim said that

according to her, because she could tell your detective didn't believe her. Right. And, you know, at one point asked her if she, if she enjoyed some part of the assault, which made her feel like I can tell which way this is going and where it's going is not in the direction of the assault, which made her feel like, I can tell which way this is going, and where it's going is not in the direction of believing me. Where it's going is in the direction of believing the guy that I'm accusing. We did not have the evidence to support the probable cause to get an arrest to arrest Kimbrough. That's just the fact. Prosecutor Elena Bangs in neighboring Tarrant County disagrees. You have an acute outcry. You have a sane exam. You have grass in the hair, physical bruising injuries, and then you have DNA. You have strangulation marks.

You have somebody who is consistent interview after interview. There is certainly probable cause within that sexual assault. And again, fast forward, he pled guilty to it. We spoke with Tarrant County prosecutors who said you absolutely did have enough probable cause to arrest Reggie Kimbrough. Well, you know, I certainly respect ADA Baines's opinion, but you know, on my staff, I have an attorney who worked grand jury for many, many years in our county. And she said it is not that clearcut that we had the probable cause to do that. I have to ask you, is what you said to me about the report, I mean, everything that you said, true?

Yes. Like, this is stupid. I think Melissa did pick up on the fact that he may not have believed her, but he does have an obligation to let her know these are the problems that we have with this case. I know you're not telling me that you guys wouldn't do anything different here, because I think you would if you had this to do over again. The thing that we need to do different in the 2012 case is how the detective talked to the victim. Now remember, five years later, Fort Worth police asked that same detective to arrest Kimbrough after he walked out of that

interview. They call your department and say, can you hold him on the Melissa Winton case? And your department says, no, we can't. Well, I disagree with that decision not to get a warrant at that point, for sure. I think that we should have moved forward to try to get a warrant because we do have all that other background information. Chief Drain says his detectives are now better trained and would do things differently today. After Kimbrough was arrested for the two murders, Melissa called Detective Hoffman to say she wanted to press charges.

And his tone seemed to have changed considerably. And let me tell you, I will be your advocate on this. He admitted Reggie Kimbrough had fooled him. I'll just be completely 100% honest with you. The way he lied was convincing. You should see some of the people who are positive this young man couldn't do anything wrong. I know better. Detective Hoffman is still on the force at Plano PD.

By choice, he is no longer investigating sex crimes. Reggie Kimbrough did not want to talk with us any more than some of the law enforcement agencies that failed to pursue him. Even so, we may not have heard the last of him. Police and prosecutors are looking into his past to see if there are other victims. This isn't just happening in Texas. Across the country, rape and sexual assault are significantly underreported crimes, in part because women often feel that the process of filing charges is difficult, unpleasant, or humiliating. And they're afraid they won't be believed. And this story seems to fit that perfectly.

There's only one thing that causes rape, and that's a rapist. It's not what you wear. It's not where you are. It's not if you drank. All those things are irrelevant. The next step is working with prosecutors to successfully prosecute these cases, but that starts with educating the jury pool. The jurors have to understand that if a girl's not able to consent, that is rape. Reggie Kimbrough will spend the rest of his life in prison. Now families are dealing with the wreckage he left behind,

as well as the sense that those who were supposed to protect their children did the opposite, putting a rapist and murderer back on the street again and again. That's all for this edition of Dateline. We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 central. And of course, I'll see you each weeknight for NBC Nightly News. I'm Lester Holt for all of us at NBC News. Good night.