Dr. Insanity - Police Discover Dead Body Stuffed In Soldier's Bedroom

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

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Hey, how you doing? I'm doing good, bushing yourself. This is U.S. Marine veteran Eric Banks. Moments after this body cam footage, officers would find his horrifying secret stuffed inside his bedroom wall. He might dim on him. What's up?

90 glass. Look in there and sold him. We're laying here on top. Drug him out where he is now. He did look good. Are you good? Eric, who is also an active officer for Baltimore PD, thinks he can use his experience to cover up his vile murder. What follows is amongst the most disturbing collections of criminal case files ever uploaded to YouTube.

Stop, I'm buckling. What do you do? I don't care. Stop! What do you do? Who is this person? Dad. And then he also told me that Daddy made him interesting go on the bathroom and cover their eyes. It's trying to have.

On July 7th in Millersville, Maryland, two officers arrive at the home of Eric Banks Jr. After his wife reported that their 15-year-old son, Dason, was potentially missing. The report was relatively standard for them, but the reality awaiting them is more horrifying than they could have imagined. Son, not morning, just laying out. Officers report hearing loud bangs from the upstairs of the home. However, nobody comes to answer the door. After multiple minutes of waiting, an out-of-breath Eric finally greets the officers. Hey, how you doing?

I'm doing good, boss in yourself. I'm doing good. Uh... I'm out with him. What's going on today, man? You're supposed to be serving pieces of protective order. Supposed to be serving it on you or on... Hostiles.

Okay. The judge just ordered us to stay away from each other. Okay. So now, buddy, simply. Do you all have some sort of like court order agreement on custody or something? My oldest, I know he ran out, the back door somewhere. All his stuff by the back door. He ran out.

What's going on, boss? I know you get... DJ. I know you get tired of seeing us. Where's DJ? She called him and he went out the back door. He's not here. No.

You want to come in? Just let you know you're being in audio. Oh, I know. I know. I see y'all got the body. hand. She said, he was like, so you have a phone? Huh? I took my, I took my phones back. Okay. Yeah. So all the phones are on my plan, um, separating everything. And you have no idea where if you're just on a 15-year-old walk out of your house with all his bags back. No, his

bags at the back door. I would, I literally told him, wait for your mom to get here. She's supposed, the police supposed to come here to serve her a piece of protective order. The judge told her to call you guys before she come to you. I'm not trying to get him trouble. I understand. Eric and his wife, Latrice, had both individually filed a protective order. against each other, making it illegal to speak to one another without a police escort. However, since Eric is not the biological father of Dason, Latrice had custodial rights to him, which is why he was packing his belongings as he and Latrice were preparing to leave the residence. Dason's disappearance on the very day he and his mom were supposed to move out makes the situation

even more unusual. So officers continue speaking with Eric, hoping to understand the family dynamic and gather any clues that might point to where Dason is. But what Eric says next only raises their suspicions even further. So, she supposed to call you to come meet you? You have no idea where a DJ is.

Honestly, bro, no. With no phone or anything. You can check the ADT. It shows when he ran out the door. I believe you, but, I mean... I'm not going to fight. I'm not going to do that. Listen, man, it's a 15-year-old boy. Having a phone probably would have been, if he's walking out of the house, probably would have been a good idea to leave him with.

You can work out there's kings later. See, this is a thing. getting messy, man. Yeah, I tried to tell him. I said, sit here, wait for your mom to get here. I went upstairs. Before I can come downstairs, he's already going out the back door. So she, I guess she coordinated, because she's somewhere in the area, I'm presumed. Yeah. So she's pretty much coordinated with him to come out there. Okay. All right, hang tight. All right. Sitting beside Eric are his two sons, five-year-old Evan Banks and three-year-old Tristan Banks. Officers didn't know it at the time, but these two would play a pivotal role in uncovering

the horrifying scene that just happened inside their home. But for now, Officer Sutton goes back to his patrol vehicle to run a registration. He identifies the suspect as 34-year-old Eric Banks Jr., an officer for the Baltimore Police Department. He's been an active officer since 2018 and also carries 10 years of service in the United States Marine Corps. After speaking with neighbors of Eric, who provided minimal additional information, officers would confront Eric once again, this time, sternly, to figure out what was going on. It's here that Eric would explain his alibi, one he had come up with just minutes ago. He found out about the whole situation.

His mom, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, either here or there at this point, man. This is what I'm trying to tell you, he was, me and him sit at the table, he cried to me yesterday. He said he don't want, he don't want this separation, like, he knows we're separated before. He says he's tired of it. He's tired of it. He's tired of feel like he has to two sides. He's 15, he's a teeny. He knows weird. He don't want to be.

And he's like, I don't want to be in separate homes with that. And we said that until I said, DJ, it's nothing really we could do. I'm not going to change you. I love you, care for you. We had a whole deep heart conversation. Today, we went to court. We judge awarded him, and I called him. I said, DJ, I guess your mom told the judge you wanted to go with her and you're going

everywhere. He's like, what? I was like, well, start packing your bags because you're going with Arizona with your mom. Unfortunately, I guess you're not coming back to here. And that was just that. She called him. He had a conversation. I said, what did your mom say?

She wanted to come pick you up. He said, yeah, but she's supposed to her. come here I said well we're gonna wait before she come here and there's some type of authentication there needs to be police here they can escort her grab it without she needs to grab and go about this piece next thing you know I went upstairs I come out so do you think he did he leave here actually because he didn't want to go with his mom either that could be he could be like hiding out of the friend's house I mean yes yeah that's yeah in my opinion I think that's that probably is the best because if he told her he's someone else the next message is for

hurries I have food for you okay yeah so it sounds like he wanted to go be with his mom yeah So that's what I'm saying. All right. Perfect. All right, just put the bags inside for now. Okay. We'll try to figure it out. All right, brother.

Yeah. Officers would spend another 15 minutes canvassing the area in hopes of finding Dason, but would again come up clueless. So they decide to try calling Dason's mother, Latrice, but are unable to get a hold of her either. So in a desperate attempt to find a relevant lead, they decide to ask Eric if he'd voluntarily consent to a search inside the home, hoping Dason may be.

hiding inside. No one expected that this simple request would soon alter both their and Eric's lives forever. I'd want to make sure he's out of the house. That's fine. I'll do it with you then since we're here. Hey Buck, I can throw it once I'll make sure he's not hide. Yeah. He had to pull up. If he's about to walk there, if he's a little bit, okay, all right, all right. That's what you're one with the bunk bed right here? This is the kids room. DJ. This is my room ringing.

Oh, gee. He's trouble. He's told him up. An Officer Adams report of the incident, he notes that at this point in their home search, Eric's demeanor had changed. He advised Eric to relax and let them freely search the home. They proceed to make their way to the third. floor of the home, the floor, which stores Eric's chilling secret.

Hi, Dennis. I'll see it yourself. Is this all the way down? No, this is where my safety one does. Yeah. So this is where my does go. Okay. You got your little weight on your side?

Yes, sir. You got my white back? Okay. Am I dim on you? What's up? On your phone. All right. What's up, bro?

All right, God. Inside the hole in Eric's bedroom lies Dason's deceased body. Already cold to the touch. Eric forgot to fully close the hole before meeting with the officers. The gruesome discovery would leave the two officers in shock. They try to keep their composure while transporting Eric to a patrol vehicle. What's that? They came right now.

All right, where we start? All right, we're starting. I have one stuck now. Okay. DJ. What's that? What's up? What happened?

Let's go to the car, all right? Yeah, let's go to the car, all right? Yeah, let's go get the ball. All right, yes. Oh, in the problem, sorry. Here, let me move one thing out of your way. I agree. All right, just see for me.

All right. While Eric is being detained, Officer Voss, attempts life-saving measures on Dason, noting that his condition appeared consistent with an unresponsive individual. He also notes that Dason was shirtless and that his jeans were heavily soaked with moisture from an unknown source. Outside the home, Eric is temporarily placed in the patrol vehicle, but within moments, the situation begins to spiral out of the officer's control. Okay. Okay.

Okay. Yeah. I need to stay seated. Okay. Okay. Okay, that might be right. All right, go ahead. Can I just kiss my boys here quick?

Just let me just... Now, I need this in the car, right? Right? Look, listen. Yeah, I got you, bro. Just let me kiss my boys. Stay in the car. Just let me catch my boys here quick, bro.

All right, I'm coming to talk. I'm going on there. I'm not doing it. I'm not doing it. I'm not going on. Faster. I'm not going on my car. Can you just...

Here. All right. Listen. Turn around, don't, don't do anything. I'm not. Stay in the car, stay in the car. Stay up against the car. All right, no, get back in.

Go, go, go. Hey! Bro, I'm not going to. Stop running! What you doing? I just want to kiss my boy, bro. Just let me kiss my boy, bro. Get back at the car!

All right, come on, come on. Come on. Come on. Stay in there, you're not coming out no matter what. All right, bro. Without additional units on scene, Officer Sutton struggles to keep Eric restrained. Sutton attempts to secure Eric's handcuffs using a double lock, a mechanism that prevents coughs from tightening or being manipulated.

However, Eric uses his police experience to exploit this, and while his previous attempts at evasion have failed, he'd make one more, final, far more violent attempt to get away. Let's do my life away. Just stop. What are you doing? I just threw my life away, bro. Where you stop?

Okay. Stop, I'm buckling. What do you do? I don't care. Hey, listen. Stop. Just choke. Stop.

Stop. Get back a car. Just choke me. Just choke me. Just choke him. Just choke him. Adam Ford. To Adam Boy, can you come back out here, please.

Hey, get up a cut. Look, just stope him. Just open. Just open. Elvore's right to grab a cut! Elvore's right grab a cut! Stop! Get in the car, walker.

Get in the car. Oh yeah. Purn them out. Turn them out. Turn them out. Turn them out. On this round on. I'm up.

Okay. All right. Okay. Okay. Four. Four, four, four. Three times doing out. What is...

Stop, stop, stop. I can't stop. Yes, you can't. You can't. You can't. You're gonna stop? Yeah, I can't. My hand is going to stop.

Alright, stop. Hold on. I told you you you broke. It's numb. All right. Stay where you're at. Stay here. I am coming here, but I told them you broke.

All right. Take a deep breath. I have. Listen, if we're going around last, it's going to make it worse. I know. All right? Well, I watch you, we're not there. I want you.

We're not, then. We're going to take you the hospital. All right. All right. Uh-huh. Well, it's just not wrestling anymore. It's just too kind of shit today. I know.

You slight and I'm sweating. Can we be done? I want to be . All right. We don't need to wrestle on the ground. Is that helping anything? No, exactly. All right.

All right. Okay. Eric attempts to unholster Officer Sutton's service weapon, eventually managing to loosen it and nearly knocking it to the ground. Fortunately, Eric's handcuffs prevented him from from causing any further harm. As the chaotic scene finally settles, officers briefly discuss the frantic events

that just unfolded. I go up the subway to meet her, go in to make sure he didn't go to subway they missed indication. Come back here, I said, let me just check the house. They started getting real weird. I'm like, well, if you just stay back, he's a dog in our city crime.

Started to get real weird, I'm like, no, I can check the house, you stay back, you stay back, stay back, stay back, stay back. I go up and wait off. He was he wouldn't be up here. There's an attic thing. I'm done the screw in it. Look in there,

I saw the boy lame in their arms pot to drug him out where he is now and deal what could. Not immediately soon I saw the boy's leg with 95 minutes. Get him out here and ask for more units to start a CPR drugging down he's sort of CPC. Okay. All right. Are you good? What? How is that?

You're good. You're not hurt. No, I'm not hurt. I should have just did that first. You're laying out of good enough. I'm going to take the whole block, bro. Big C. Hey.

Hey, Kim. Hello. Let's go out of him. Just do a CPR. Sorry, Korn. There's a 107. What's the 148? Inside.

Yeah, like, apparently, well, we went upstairs. I'll check the house. Got sleep area. What's up? There's like a gun seat area. And my partner looked in there, 995. I'm going on.

And then when we took it to my car, yeah. I gave him an opportunity because I need to double lock his stuff and then he un-luckled himself going out of crap. EMS attempted to perform CPR on Dason, but it was too late. Dason was declared deceased shortly after by EMS. What officers uncovered with Dason was only the beginning. As the investigation deepens, Eric's children would reveal further secrets, painting an even darker picture of the reality behind closed doors.

For now, the decision. is made to take Eric, his children, and his ex-wife Latrice to the police station. Police reports state that while Eric is being transported, he struck his head multiple times against the cage window bar, causing a well to his head and damage to the patrol vehicle. Despite this, everyone would eventually make it to the station, each separated into their own individual rooms awaiting intense interrogation. Eric would be left alone to hopefully calm down and collect his thoughts. Meanwhile, detectives speak with both Latrice and her child Evan, hoping to collect more information

that can be used when speaking with their main suspect. They start with Latrice, asking her what kind of person Dason was. At this point, detectives are considering the possibility that he and Eric may have gotten into a fight that somehow escalated into tragedy. But what Latrice describes denies that theory completely, and makes Deson's case even more heartbreaking. Can you sit a little bit closer over here? Yeah.

There's a lot of specific questions that I wanted to talk to you about. Can you describe DJ? Was he an argumented person? Was he a quiet person? So Deshaun was more of a quiet person, until he got to know you, but he was always mattered. He talked to a lot of adults, but he never was disrespectful or any other. full or any of that i had teachers from his elementary the principal middle school they all showed

out for my son he was that type of child you know when teachers come would you say he was a sweet boy he was very sweet and always willing to help that was one of the things across the board always willing to help in the loft in the crawl space in the loft what was normally kept in there Nothing. Uh, safes? Nothing. Was that ever left open? No.

It was always screwed. It was always close. Okay. Because I don't like it. Like, it freaked me out. There is a light switch in there. Okay. So I was like, where is that light coming from?

And I turned the light switch off. But, I don't know, maybe it was him. So let's talk about that. You called me and you said that you saw him, you viewed him at the funeral. Are you okay? Yeah. Okay. And it was before he was involved because I wanted to see him.

Right. And you saw new bruises. Yes. Where did you see new bruises? On his nose. Like that circular dark mark on his upper nose. His look busted also. Like that wasn't there.

And then his eyes were like purple. I don't like. They were puffy and purple. Yeah. It looked to me like he was in a fight. And my son doesn't fight. Dacin's autopsy report ruled his cause of death as asphyxiation, which in combination with the bruises and marks on his face implied he was likely strangled to death.

I knew it. He was my baby, so I knew it. I still have those feelings that, no, I'm not happy with it. To me, it doesn't say I did it, but it says there's enough evidence to say I did it. So, you know, just say you did it then. Latrice makes it clear she believes Eric is responsible, even though she didn't witness the incident herself. But her son Evan, seated just three doors down in his own interview room, has information that could take the investigation even further. How are you? Good.

You say your name is Evan Zucker? Do you know how to spell your name? You can go ahead and write it up. Seven. Okay, nice handwriting. And how old are you? Seven. Seven? You want to write seven for me? So I don't forget. Sometimes I forget. Notice the harsh contrast between interview rooms. Evan is sitting in the department's safety room, a space created to provide comfort and reduce stress for victims and young children involved in sensitive cases.

His interviewer, Miwa, is a forensic interviewer for Maryland, trained specifically to speak with children and family members connected to a criminal investigation. And because Evan is only seven years old, you'll notice a drastic difference in how his interview is conducted. My job is to talk to kids and families all the time, and today I get to talk to you. And we talk about a lot of different things in this room. And this is called the safe room, because anything we talk about is always safe and not in any trouble. I'm just here to listen to you and talk to you. Okay.

Miwa explains to Evan that everything is being recorded and that he is not in trouble, but rather just there to help him out. She spends 15 minutes talking about movies and more of Evan's interests to help him get more comfortable before discussing the day of Dason's murder. And Evan, who do you live with? My mom. Your mom? Interesting. Mm-hmm. Anyone else?

I live with teaching. Mm-hmm. And then my dad. Okay. Okay. And do you know what you're here to talk about today? Uh-uh. No?

So, um, tell me a little bit about your family. Um, Tristan. Tristan, he likes the fight and plays and steal toys from others. I like the color, and then I also like Kets Bob and Tristan. And you said you also live with the DJ, is that right? Uh-huh. And my mom and Tristan. So DJ, how old is DJ?

Uh, 15. 15? Um, tell me about DJ. DJ like going in the water, tickling me. Can't really remember all this stuff. He used to this, but he loved playing roadblocks, games. Tell me about the last time you saw DJ. Hmm.

My mom wasn't at the house. Tell me who was at the house? Dad, and then DJ. And then me. DJ was going to Arizona with Mommy. And then Daddy was waiting at the door with DJ. DJ put his bags in the basement, and then I don't remember what happened next. That's all I remember.

Okay. Miwa would tell Evan to draw the last time he saw Dason, and he'd draw the staircase leading to the home's loft. The same staircase Eric has dragged Dason's body up. So who is this person? That was D.J. That was D.J.? Where was Dad?

Right here. Oh, okay. So Dad was up here and then D.J. was right there? Okay. Where did they go after? They never went anywhere. They were just looking at the steps. Oh, they were waiting at the steps. Who was he waiting for? Or what was he waiting for? He was bringing to Mom King.

The Dadeon. Did that happen? Um, not. Not yet. Was there anything that you worried about on that day? No. I wonder if there's anything that you were scared about that day. I wasn't scared.

Evan struggles to reveal the details of the events he saw that day, likely due to the discomfort of speaking with a stranger and a police station. But the information he gave his mother on the day of the incident provides far clearer insight into the disturbing events he saw. You said that one of your children said something to you? Evan. And what did Evan say? That he saw Daddy bringing DJ upstairs.

And I said, where were you when he said he was in the living room? I just didn't want to pry too much, but then I said, oh, was DJ sleeping? He said, no, he wasn't snoring. And then I said, was he moving? And he was just like, no. And then he also told me that Daddy made him interesting. go in the bathroom and cover their eyes. Okay.

But this was before, this was when the police first knocked at the door. Okay. Evan didn't say anything about the knock because he told him to go in the bathroom first, so I'm a little confused of like the order, so I don't know if that's maybe when he was going to let the police in, but Evan did say he saw that, and he was in the living room because they told me he was watching Loki. In addition to these grim details, Latrice would go on to explain how Eric's life had begun to collapse all in synchrony. Due to the protective peace order, Latrice had filed, Eric was suspended from the Baltimore Police Department, the very same day of Dason's death.

He had just separated from his wife, was about to lose his children, and was now left without a job. Latrice also explained that the peace order she filed was not her first attempt to separate herself. from Eric. Months prior, Latrice filed her first peace protective order, writing, I am in fear for my life and well-being because Eric Banks keeps trying to control, follow, and emotionally abused myself and my sons. The order was denied, however, and it wasn't until months later that her second attempt was granted. It was clear Eric's life was falling apart leading up to Dason's death. Eric had hidden his body, lied to officers regarding his whereabouts and had a violent outburst once the body was discovered. It'd be hard to assume

that he wasn't directly implicated in Dason's death. But evidence alone wouldn't be nearly enough to get him to confess. After all, he was a police officer of 10 years and knew how the criminal justice system worked just as well as any interrogator working against him. But unfortunately for Eric, the interrogation he was about to undergo would crack even the most well-trained of suspects. Eric is placed into an Arndell County interview room to be. This room was designed for priority matters, exclusive to high profile cases. Because Eric had attempted to attack an officer earlier in the day, he's been handcuffed to the table to restrict movement. Eric is left alone for multiple hours as the detectives prepare for his interrogation. While waiting, he can be seen

glancing around the room multiple times, likely searching for a camera. What Eric is left, didn't know, his interview room 2B, has a small camera placed in an unusual location, which Eric never managed to spot. The primary investigator assigned to this case is Detective Louis Adrian. His prior service in the United States military likely factored into the department's strategic choice to have him conduct the interview. This shared background enables Adrian to establish rapport with Eric a key component in the upcoming interaction. You know all we're here, we want to talk about what happened, why it happened, and anything surrounding that whole situation.

But you know as well as all of us that we have to go through Miranda with you. So what I'm going to do is we're just going to go through Miranda first of all. And then I'll start getting all the other information, okay? After reading Eric his rights, the detectives would spend nearly an hour connecting with Eric and bonding over their shared military experience. He's like, now you come in, you're in front. Okay, we go back in a, we're about to go on the building like, you're in front. She's like, right, do you say, you're like, uh-uh.

Some people were made, you know, to do certain things, and I've said, I'm not made to be a front person. Yeah, but, so I'm running a block then. And I remember, so I was like, hey, whoever that office is right there running, just keep going, keep going, because you're about to run right into him. And I don't know where these two guys just come out, pop out. And I'm like, okay, I got him. And he just folded over and he was like, yeah, he was like, yeah, he was like, yeah, well, that was running.

He was moving, and you just ran. And it was like, he was like, don't, because I was. slowing down like trying to look he's like no keep going but I'm running like okay you're gonna tell me when this friendly conversation appeared to take Eric out of the tense mental state it appeared that Eric sharing his favorite moments from the military gave him a sense of importance like he had an identity he was proud of or at least used to be but that moment is short-lived as he's quickly brought back to the reality of why he's sitting inside a police interrogation room so you you spend three years and you're still

active in the Baltimore City Police Department. So from where I hear, you're suspended? No, no, suspended, yes. Okay, why? Can you tell me what's going on with that? May 8th, I got a peace and protect for him against my wife. Okay. You got one against her?

Yeah, I got her against her. Same day, she took the firearms out the house. She took the safe out at home, you know, and County did press charges. Was it a, they pressed charges against her? For taking the safe with the firearms. Yes, sir. And were they your duty firearms?

Duty firearm. My whole duty belt was in there. Okay. Firearm, taser, magazine, pouches, everything was in there. She turned around and went out, piece on me, saying that I was following her. But once she got it, that's when pretty much... They have to suspend. Yeah, I have to get suspended.

Her mom sent, my mom something talking about. I was following her. This and I'm like, how, I'm here at work. How are you saying I was following? I was like, there's no way. That's when we both ended up at the... the courthouse and i was and i was like because i have like i'm just putting stop to this so i let the clerk you know i was like i don't know what's going on but every time that and my wife's trying to leave

or something something's trying to happen secretly there's a piece order for me to get kicked out the house and i was like that shouldn't he and that's when they brought us both in so he both got seen by the judge and he granted us a piece of the football to stay away from each other okay yeah what was that that was just was it two days ago okay was it no monday no yesterday it was So Tuesday, yeah. So you all met with the judge? Choose that. And you still suspended up until this point, or?

Yeah, I'm still suspiceman. So when, maybe it's the way Baltimore works and how slow they are and stuff. So you have the peace order, she gets one on you, and then it gets... Denied. Denied. It has to do that full. They have to do that. Yeah.

So you're still suspended even though it's been clear enough? Yes. Gotcha, okay. At this point, the detectives had no reason to assume Eric was lying. He'd been open and honest with them the entire time, and, see, seemed rather friendly. It isn't until they begin discussing the day of the incident that investigators realize Eric's perceived honesty had all been a calculated act. So yesterday we go, yesterday we go to court at the piece of protective orders, they grant

the whole motion, I mean, for us to stay away from each other, the two youngest boys supposed to stay with me. The oldest, he's going to Arizona, but his mother. And she's like, she tells the judge, like, that's what you want to do, but oh, something. So right after that, you know, calling us like, hey, start packing your bags, you know, you're going to be going with your mom. He's like, what? why i'm like your mom said you wanted this you're supposed to do you know i guess i don't know i didn't have that conversation previously to that me and him had literally just sat down on the table because i could tell that my son was like depressed and he was going through so like that's

really without trip to on the first was like just to try to get him away me him out we sat down at the table and i'm like what's going on with you how are you feeling about this where are you up with this and he's like um honestly i don't know he's like i don't feel like i don't want to feel like i'm choosing sides. I just want to be left alone with everybody because then it's like they call me telling me this and this and that and it's like I gotta keep certain things for you. Like I don't want to keep, I don't want to be a part of this. He's like I'm tired. So I say just go and start packing your bags and he's like, okay, we wait, I get my paperwork, I come home and on my way home, just like I just felt like I was done.

Like you know what, today's going to be the day. I'm going to do it. Two, too. Okay. I feel like my family's part in part. I'm suspended from work. Possibly going to leave my job. So it was like situation. Just building. Buildings.

Just keep going to like vendetta. And I even sent to Texas and say, I don't know why you feel like we have to be at war. Like we shouldn't have to be at war. It's like if you, I'm going to lie into these guys. So like, what are you trying to move in with them? You know, tell them that you're living in hotels where you're not. You're staying with your mom.

Like, what are you doing? So at this point it's like, you know what? I'm just tired. Yeah, you're tired of it. it's a way out to get peace i get yeah a lot of people go through that man yeah and it was just like nothing i felt like everything was just coming to that yeah and i feel like that man like honestly um everything was coming to him i was like you know what you're just gonna do it it is it is um so when you got home yesterday um was there anyone in the house yes it was um the song was in the

house okay everyone was in the house interesting's an house so you go in there and you're doing all this stuff right i go in there um i see him upstairs like he got his bags packed like i get to go and take your stuff downstairs, when your mom's come, and she called him. It's like, mom's calling. And he was like, what I say to her? I was like, you know, tell her, you know, just talk to him. Like, she called me, whatever. And he answers the phone and they have a conversation.

And that's when I'm like, okay, what she said to you? She said, he said, she says she's going to be in the area, just bring my stuff downstairs. I said, okay, cool. I said, so the police should be coming. And when he come, everything goes smoothly. This is the moment where Eric's act begins. Notice how he begins looking blankly into the ceiling as he recounts critical moments. For the last hour, Eric hardly looked up to the ceiling once.

I go downstairs and I'm in the kitchen. I just made a big bowl of, who was it? Gatorade. Not a big bowl, but a big picture of Gatorade is blue. It's probably, I believe it was still on the counter. But like I said, you say, you never went to the back of crushed up hills that I had was right there. The song came upstairs. He asked me something and he was like um what did he say he came upstairs he came upstairs he asked me something and i can't remember that's that first he just like asked me uh was it about i think it was i think it was a leave with something like i said to son just wait this step we're not going to like because he was like i don't want to go he was just telling me that he didn't want to go and

shit like just wait we're not going to talk about shit because i like i'm going to take your brothers to your mom's house and i was coming back i said if your mom gets here with the police before i get back unfortunately you got to go with her that's just the way it is he's He's upstairs, I told Tristan, I told Tristan, and said, Tristan, go get your shoes. Tristan said, okay, so Tristan goes, he goes upstairs, he gets his shoes. And he comes, he's like, Daddy, what's wrong,

called him, DJ. And like, huh? So then I go upstairs, and DJ's in the, he's in the bathroom, and he's in the tub. And that's when, I seen him. And I was like, look the fuck. I'm, I pulled him out the tub, and as I'm pulling him out the tub,

I laid him flat on his back on the floor. Mm-hmm. And, was it, uh, at that time, I'm not sure I think it was ever at Tristan. He was like, Daddy something at the door. And I'm just looking at my feet. I'm like, what the fuck is it? I'm like, what the fuck? Eric makes his story clear.

He had planned to end his life. But coincidentally, Dason had the same plan and did it first. That's an extremely complex alibi and only becomes more. unlikely after Eric explains why Jason's body ended up hidden inside his bedroom. So I go downstairs, I go to the front door, the office is there. Okay. And I panicked, I was like, I don't know what the fuck to say. So he asked me, he was like, hey, um, what's going on?

I start talking to him, telling him what's going on? He was it, what do you say? He said, so what's the situation? And I tell him what's the situation. I was like, you know, my wife, she's supposed to wait on y'all to come. you know y'all slowly serving her with a piece of protective order and when i was like she like yeah supposedly she's a little bit like yeah she's pulling up outside and he was like uh is she here and at the time he was still he was upstairs in the floor okay in the bathroom when he said was she

here my mind i was like enough okay yeah you panicked yeah um because it already looked bad i already moving him and i was like yeah you got a lot of bathroom yeah um was it and when was it uh when i got on the bathtub, I asked the office, and it's the most body, one came to zone. You can see, I ask him, like, can I go in the house, you know, use the bathroom real quick? I remember I'm asking that. He was like, no, no, just wait, just wait, just wait, okay.

Then the other officer show up. And then when he show up, he's asking, he's like to, is this on here? Still the same thing, 10, no, okay? I should have said yes. You know, I mean, I knew the perfect world. I knew my state of mind. My state of mind was true, Eric.

Okay. Now, let me ask you this. Is that why? Because I did watch some of the footage. When they went to loose in your handcuffs, you kind of got a little silly on. Do you remember that? Yeah.

What was your, I mean, you went for the officer's gun. What was up with that? Well, when I first, before we get to that, when I first went back in the house, when the officer told me, the toll officer, he told me, he said, go get the serge's phone. I ran upstairs.

His phone was in the bathroom on the counter. Okay. So I run upstairs, and I get the phone. Because I went back up. Before I did it, I asked him, I said, can I go upstairs? He can I go on to use the bathroom? So I initially wanted to shut the door.

He said, he said, no, no, just wait. And in the other office, he was like, well, go on. I need you go grab this on phone. I ran up, grab it. And I'm still, and I'm still, and I'm still, never. Which bathroom was it? Was it the one of the master or the small? No, the small one.

The small one in the hall name. And I'm still shaking around. And then when I come back downstairs, I go, I go out of the door. I give him the phone. I'm still shaking him. And everything's in my head, I'm still shaking him. Eric, just say what you saw. But then in my other part of me, it was like, my son just did this.

Objectively, Eric's story hits all the points. He has an excuse for almost every suspicious detail, even finding a way to explain why blood was found all over his house. The issue is that these details are simply too coincidental to ever sound believable. And even Eric knows this. I don't know why this was like, I got to move. I did the pick them up, did the fireman carry, took him out of the bathroom, into the massive room, up the stairs.

And I was like, because I know they're going to want to come back in the house and search it. I was like, I'm going to be cool. I'm fine with that. I was going to let him search it. And I talked them in, excuse me. I talked to him in the area, and I left the thing over it. So when you say in the area, you talk about a little crawl space. Yeah, all right.

But getting back to when they came in, they searched the house, they went upstairs. And he seen the thing open us from the officer when he asked. I panicked and I was like, yeah, this is where I keep my safe, blah, whatever. But just so I'm saying, it, man. Just so I was in there. And they put the handcuffs on me. I went back downstairs. When they went downstairs, I was like, life is over because it looks different.

It's no matter what I say from this point, it looks like I'm a lie. It looks like I lied because I already lied twice. You asked me with this on the house, I said, no. You asked him, did I know where he went? I said, no, I think he brought on the back door or something. And, you know, so it always looked bad. because I'm already didn't told you a lie, even though in my head it's like,

you probably should just said the truth. He probably only should have left from where he was at. Call police or don't, fire department or whatever. Yeah, call police. But I was already in, I was, I mean, I wasn't in, I was already in the mind, I said, Eric's gonna die there. I was in, seeing that he was there,

that he was in the tub and he was like, tub was full, full water. I was like, my son did this. No, I have. Okay. The detectives decide to take a break and discuss what their next plans would be. At this point, they both know Eric is lying to their faces, so the goal for the rest of the interrogation will be to get Eric to admit to his lies and ultimately confess

to the murder. To do this, they decide on Detective Adrian conducting the rest of the interrogation alone. Since one-on-one confrontation is generally considered to be more effective, Adrian would return with a clearly different demeanor from earlier. stern and wastes no time in asserting that his nice cop act is over. Are you good? Do you need anything before we start it again? No, I'm good.

Are you sure? All right. So Detective Depetre had to step aside just for a second. But what I wanted to do, like I told you, I wanted to come back and go back over some things with you. I actually want to go back and... When the weather cools down, Golden Nugget Online Casino turns up the heat. This winter, make any moment. Make any moment golden and play thousands of games like her new slot Wolf It Up and all the fan favorite Huff and Puff games.

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Eligibility restrictions apply. See Golden Nuggettcasino.com for details. Please play responsibly. In detail, just go through some of these steps. Eric would recount his story exactly the same as before, claiming he simply found Dason dead and had nothing to do with it. And it seemed as though Detective Adrian had nothing concrete to combat Eric's lives. That was, until he brought out Dason's autopsy report. I'm going to tell you this.

I know that you spent 10 years in the military, and you were in the Marines, weren't you? Yes. What's their whole thing in the Marines? Like, what do they always teach? Honored. integrity on the correction amendment yeah and to be honestly i don't see that from you right now based on what you're telling me okay i think you tell me something different okay but i know you a marine okay i know a lot of people that's marines man and and that's one thing that they like integrity

honor no you don't mess with that if you're a marine yes i know you want to tell me the truth and you sitting here like giving me a story you give me you give me what i want to hear just to sound good but it's not it. That's not it. Trust me, I'm not trying to sound good to you. And I'm gonna tell you that, I'm gonna tell you the other thing. Uh-huh. And I'm gonna be straight up with you. Yeah. You keep talking about the autopsy.

The autopsy said he was strangled. I don't know. How? Autossey said he was strangled. Hell no. No. No. How to the no.

DJ was no strangled. Hell to know. I'm gonna just let it sink in. to sink in and let you decide what you're going to explain that to. His, no, DJ wasn't strangled. What happened? Tell his what happened. There's no, no, DJ was not strangled.

DJ, like I told you, DJ went downstairs. He came up upstairs, and DJ was, he was in that tub. Like I said, when I came in that room, he was in the tub. When I grabbed him out, I grabbed him like this, and I pretty much put him in a fire mask card. When they left, I could drag them up. I could drag them up to my room. If that's the case, I would have left him in there,

and I would say, or had them come in there to be like, but DJ wasn't no strangle. There was no way, no, there was no way he was, DJ wasn't on strangle. That's your boy, you had pride in him. Yeah, but he wasn't, you had a pride in him. You were trying to help him out with his grades. You were getting him in STEM classes, and then this happened.

But you're saying DJ was strangled. No. But they didn't tell me what? This didn't happen. This didn't happen. I'm going to tell you that right now. This didn't happen. You saying he wasn't in the club?

So, no, no, I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. I believe that part, but I believe something else happened. Note Eric's lack of emotion when hearing this information. No tears are shed, but rather an array of defensive rage. This, alongside the other countless red flags Eric is portraying, is a telltale sign for detectives that a suspect is lying. You need to tell me the whole story.

Like I said, DJ, when we came, when I came in there, DJ was literally in that tub, there was no way I'm going to sit there and strangle DJ. Not long, I'm trusting. Why would I, I only have no, I'm, and I'm going to strangle this boy. I have no nothing against him to want to strangle him. Nothing. Okay. No anger in my heart, no nothing. Because then, like I said, if I was going to do that, why would I leave my other two boys?

If I was going to do that, I would take all of us out. DJ was not no strangled. So then what happened? Tell me the story. You didn't start for scratch. Tell me a story. DJ was not no stronger. Well, didn't tell me what happened.

You're not telling me the truth. Tell me what happened. I'm right here, standing right now. I'm giving you a chance right now. You asked me to tell you that I struggled myself. No, I didn't. Eric understands the legal system well, well enough to avoid offering a direct confession when confronted,

From investigators' perspective, he knows that admitting involvement is the worst thing he can possibly do. Well, besides not asking for an attorney. Regardless, it's going to take more than just a heated confrontation to make Eric crack. So Detective Adrian resorts to a completely different approach. Empathy. I'm going to tell you right now, the way, this is going to be something you ought to live with for the rest of your life. Yes, sir. This is something you are going to have to think about.

every night before you close your eyes and when you close your eyes you're gonna think about what you did to him that's what you gonna think about that's gonna think about what you did to him and it's gonna haunt you for the rest of your life or what you can do is you can talk to me you can tell you can tell you can tell me what really happened and at least that load will be off your chest see you're I'm telling you right now there's no like you're telling me to say I strangled my son I did not strangle my son that's what you asked me I understand you're trying to align with me and you

know and show the compassion trying to like but there's no there's no there's no me and strangling DJ at all okay so let's take strangle out there's no me strangling okay you take a strangle out of the equation now okay what happened I told you what happened we taking strangle out what happened he was upstairs in that tub DJ was literally in that tub you didn't put him there I did not put him there no DJ was physically in that tub already. When I came to that bathroom, DJ was in there. Did you assist him at all? No. I didn't assist him at all, but nothing. Nothing. I did not assist him getting in that

bathroom. Did not sit from going in that bathroom. He was upstairs already. Like I said, when he went downstairs, he was downstairs for a good period of time. He was upstairs and the Woodson was down. Tristan was trying to go with his shoe. I told him and that's when Tristan said out of his mouth, Daddy was wrong with DJ. Tristan literally said that out of his mouth. one up there to check on. I didn't see, I don't recall seeing him, don't recall removing a belt.

I don't recall removing anything that could have been around his neck. I don't recall moving. So, so here's the thing. And I hate to frustrate you and I hate to, but I also have a job redo.

And I also have to get down to the bottom of this. And when I walk through the door, and when I hear everything that happened, things don't add up. Things don't make sense. Okay. They don't make sense at all.

If you would have done things different, if you would have been like, yes, my son, I just found my son in a tub. I helped him out and told an officer, you know this. If you would have done it that way, it would have been different. But the fact that you didn't, now you're sitting here trying to explain yourself. I'm sitting here because the whole situation moves. I'm sitting here because I lied and said he wasn't in the house. I'm sitting here because I didn't tell the officer, like you say, it's straightforward what was going on. That's two lines right here.

How, like you said earlier, how are we supposed to believe in that? Yeah, and like I said, so you tell you telling me how am I supposed to strangle? How did I not assist him in getting in the tub and I don't know possibly drowning him? I don't know. But all the way, even if you're going to be here's the thing. All I know is that you keep lying. No, bro. You lied initially twice.

How do I know you're not lying right now? Because like I told you straightforward. I'll say, I didn't ask me straightforward, but that's why I say, bro, because that's why I say in the beginning, I say it straightforward. there's nothing I can say I say I already know y'all and done your own homework laid it all out on the table I say because there's nothing I can say that's because I already lied it twice

I say he wasn't in home I identified that I messed that up because then I see my son is dead okay all right do you um I'm gonna leave you alone for a little bit to think about things but do you want anything else to drink or anything to eat?

I'm gonna go with the water and the chips okay Give me just a second, alright. Do you need anything else? No, sir. All right. As the detective leaves, Eric scans the room thoroughly and finally notices the camera hidden inside room 2B. Moments after making eye contact with the camera, he lets out one last desperate act.

Strangful, how no. Unfortunately, it'd be too late to act his way out of the murder. Eric's testimony was flimsy at best, and Detective Adrian decided he'd gotten enough to wrap the nearly five-hour interview up. Shortly thereafter, Eric was booked into the Anne Arundel County Detention Center under charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and child abuse resulting in death. At trial, Eric would quickly accept a plea deal to second-degree murder as well as attempting to disarm a police officer, and on October 4th, 2022, he was sentenced to 42 years in prison.

If Eric serves his full sentence, he'll be released in 2004.