True Crime with Kimbyr - PART 1 College Student Found Dead on Highway | Latrese Curtis - True Crime Stories

Episode Date: December 29, 2025

How does a young college student end up dead on the side of a highway? In TRUE CRIME WITH KIMBYR, Kimbyrleigha carefully examines the tragic and unsettling case of Latrese Curtis. Through detailed research and compassionate storytelling, this episode explores the relationships, timelines, and unanswered questions surrounding her death. What went wrong and who failed her? True Crime with Kimbyr dives beyond the headlines to honor Latrese’s life while uncovering the chilling clues that continue to haunt this case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Must be 21 to enter. I've been here before. My name is Kimberlea. Nice to finally meet you. Today's case is quite a mysterious one. It's one of those cases that leaves you with so many questions, even after you know what happened. I would like to introduce you to Latrice Matrelle Curtis. Her friends and loved ones called her Trees.

She was born on May 28th in 1986, two parents Sherman Jones and Cynthia Wheeler of Raleigh, North Carolina. Latrice had three brothers, Justin, Marlon, and Jason, and one sister, Shanisha. And Latrice was a daddy's girl. She grew up with her three older brothers and she definitely got away with a lot more than they did growing up. They used to refer to her as daddy's little boy in a dress because Sherman did everything with his little baby girl, Latrice. Things that she would traditionally do with a son, but it didn't matter because she loved spending time with her daddy. They would go fishing together, hunting, and most of all, Sherman taught little Latrice everything he knew about his favorite sport, which was basketball. And they loved spending quality time together.

Basketball equaled quality time. And Sherman was dedicated to teaching Latrice how to dribble, how to shoot, and even do layups. And when they weren't passing the ball on the court or at the park, they were attached at the hip, doing everything and nothing at all. Sherman would joke around about her being like his little shadow because wherever he went, she seemed to follow right behind him even to the point where he would end up stepping on her because she was right under his feet. He loved it and he tried to enjoy it because he knew once his little girl got into her teens, it would most likely be a different story.

And he was right. Junior High rolled around and Latrice was growing up. She was becoming her own person, she had her own hobbies and her own social life. Now, instead of being right by Sherman's side, he had to go looking for her because she was always into something. She had a very active social life. Latrice was beautiful. She was one of the most popular girls at her high school and she was funny and outgoing and everyone loved her. She knew how to make you laugh and put a smile on your face. And she always had guys talking to her, asking her out on dates, but she was interested in school and staying out of trouble more than boys.

Because her daddy, Sherman, was a juvenile corrections officer. So he made sure his kids were staying out of trouble. As she was coming into her own, she enjoyed more girly things, getting her nails done and her hair done. And as Sherman had imagined, that meant Latrice was spending less time with him playing basketball and less time hanging out with him because she didn't want to get her hair and her nails messed up. So that was the end of those type of bonding moments, but they still remained very close. Their relationship evolved as many parent-child relationships do. And in this case, with Latrice's

parents, trying to find other ways to be a part of her life and supportive of her endeavors. One of which was excelling academically. Latrice always had an interest in doing well in school. Her dream was to get married and have a family of her own one day. She made play play. She made plans to go to college and fulfill that dream. After she graduated from high school, she attended Bennett College from 2004 to 2005. When her daddy dropped her off that first day, he cried. And she cried because they knew this was going to be the first time that they would be apart. But he knew how much she wanted this. So it was hard to say goodbye, but he knew he had to let her go. And Latrice did really well at Bennett. She then transferred to Wake Technical Community College

in Greensboro, North Carolina. As LaTrice was growing up, she was known as a cute, petite, bubble young lady with a little unique, kind of high-pitched voice that friends could recognize right away without even seeing her face. She was dedicated to her studies. She would stay up late, studying, working on an exam or a college project, and during the first semester of her freshman year, she ends up meeting someone special. Even though boys were not a priority, this one mattered. His name was Darren Lee Curtis. He was also from Raleigh, and he was a former National Guard soldier. He was also in college, but he was attending the prestigious North Carolina Central University about 30 minutes away in Durham. He was an accounting student, and they just hit

it off. They had so much uncommon, and everyone could tell they were in love. And sometimes it's hard to get into a serious relationship in college, but it worked for these two because they were both serious about their studies and they allowed each other that time to sit there with their nose in a book and they understood their priorities. They were also both working part-time in Raleigh. Latrice worked in Human Resources at the Sears Department Store in Triangle Town Center Mall and Darren was a part-time accountant with a firm which was in Raleigh as well. So he had a 30-minute commute from school to work every day. They both valued hard work and being loyal to the company they were working for. They had also chosen to go the business route

in college because they envisioned it would enable them both to get a high paying job. And neither one wanted to worry about the burden of not having the things they needed or they wanted in life, especially because they wanted to be able to support a family one day without worrying too much about where the money was coming from. And they didn't want that to stand in the way of their goals. Though she was focused on her future goals of making a good living, Latrice was not materialistic. She was humble and down to earth. She was the type of friend that you can count on to give you really good advice when you needed it. Many of her friends would come to her when they were having problems.

And she would give them honest and straightforward answers that just made sense. And people who knew Darren said that he was kind and he was down to earth and they seemed to make a perfect couple. After they've been dating for a while, LaTrice finally introduced him to her family. Her father was very protective. So even though they had already been dating for a bit, she waited to introduce Darren to her family because she didn't know how her father was going to take it or what he was going to think. One thing they can tell right away was how much Latrice liked Darren. So of course, they were going to give him a shot.

He was quiet, reserved, ambitious, studious. He seemed like a good kid. All they hoped was that he was good for their daughter. Well, just one year into their relationship, Darren and Latrice knew that. that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. But first, they wanted to spend their days and nights together instead of living apart. So they moved in together to a luxury apartment complex in Raleigh called Aberley Grove. It was nice. It had a little barbecue area with a pool, cute little dog park, and even a park for children, and that would be great when the time came

for them to start a family. And this would be a perfect starter home for them. The rooms, they were nice and spacious and they had a really cozy feel to them even though it was an apartment. There was more exciting news. Latrice was accepted to North Carolina Central University and now both of them would be making the 30-minute commute from Raleigh, but it was such a great school, so it was worth it. Latrice was majoring in business management and administration. The couple couldn't wait. They were determined to share the same last name, ASAP. So on April 27, 2007, one month before LaTrice's 21st birthday, they got married at the courthouse in Wake County. This wasn't exactly the type of wedding that her family had in mind for her.

They actually didn't even know the couple was planning a wedding. And it turns out no one did. Not even Latrice's closest friends. Her work friends, for instance, like her colleague Kimberly Parker Dasher, who had been working with her for the last couple years at this point, they had become really good friends. As a matter of fact, LaTrice surprised everyone. by walking into work one day with a smile from ear to ear, but she was also wearing something else. A wedding ring. And yes, everyone noticed because Latrice was definitely making it obvious.

You know how women can be? That's how she was. She was ecstatic. She was so happy. And they said, oh my God, is that a ring on your finger? She's like, yes, I got married. And they were like, what? Because everyone was shocked. They did not see that coming. Lettrese just seemed very responsible, and not that it was irresponsible to get married out of the blue. They just weren't expecting it. Well, there was one person that wasn't as excited about the matrimony, and that was Sherman, Latrice's dad. He was pretty upset that Darren hadn't even asked him for his daughter's hand in marriage or even gone to know the family. Sherman had no clue that this man was going to make Latrice his bride, and he felt disrespected.

He was mad at La Trice as well, and he let it show. It was the type of emotion where he knew she was an adult, but he would make it known that he wasn't thrilled about her choices. He had a hard time even talking to his daughter. He just held resentment. So even when she would call to check in and see how everyone was doing, he would give her the cold shoulder. He would give her a hard time.

He would say something like, what's wrong with you, girl, what's the rush? Something like that. He knew that LaTrice had purposely kept their intentions from him because she knew how he might react, as protective as he was. But at the end of the day, he knew it was Latrice's choice, and she chose Darren. By the early part of January 2008, Latrice was going into her senior year at NCCU. She was still working part-time at Sears in Raleigh, and she'd been married to Darren for about nine months. However, she began taking her business classes at night instead of during the day. She wanted to use the daytime to work because the couple was coming up on their last years at the university and she had even bigger plans ahead.

She wanted to start a family. No surprise. We already know that's one of her goals. And she shared this goal with her friends before the holidays. She confided in one friend in particular, Anisha Baldwin. Anisha had worked with her for at least three years at Sears. and LaTrice actually said she wanted to try for a baby right after Christmas, but that Darren wasn't ready.

Darren was 26 and the trace was 21. So was LaTrice ready? And it could have been that there was some added pressure, considering that one of her closest friends was pregnant and due right after the holidays. Latrice had time. And right now she was focused on school and work. And speaking of which, after a long day of work and classes, she would usually arrive home around 8 o'clock in the evening at night.

After class got out, she would make that 30-minute commute. And Darren would usually get home like 15 to 30 minutes after her. So their schedules worked out perfectly, and they had stuck to this routine for some time now. Nothing was different on the evening of January 29th. Latrice had class and Darren was at work. What was an ordinary was the next morning, January 30th, 2008. It wasn't ordinary at all, especially not for David Jones, who is on his morning commute on his way to a meeting.

It was approximately 7.30 a.m. on a cold winter morning in Raleigh. David is driving down Interstate 540, and as traffic is slowing down, David passes time by looking out the window. He looks to the right, and something catches his eye. So he does a double take. He's like, what is that? The side of the road this summer year wasn't green and full of life. It was brown from the snow melting. It was dry golden brown brush lining both sides of the road. He saw something lying up in embankment and it didn't blend in to the foliage.

It stood out. David can't leave. He pulls off the shoulder a little bit so that he can take a closer look without his car moving along the road. And he thinks that he knows what he's looking at. so he calls 911. He said he was going westbound on I-540 just past the Buffalo Road exit, and he thinks he sees a body on the side of the road. Now to picture what David was looking at, I want to describe what this highway is like and what the terrain looks like on both sides. This will help you envision what David was seeing. By this time, it was light outside. He was going

westbound just past that Buffalo exit. The ground next of the highway is a golden brown color. It's short and dry, dead grass. There wasn't tall green grass or bushes. It was less dense where anything on the ground would stand out. What David saw was something lying on the embankment, like I said. It was a little of an incline up toward more of a wooded area. And after that call, he knew.

He was 100% certain that he knew what he was looking at. There was no mistaking it for anything else. He won't ever forget that moment, and I don't think you will either when you find out exactly what he was looking at. The 911 dispatcher sent officers to the location, and sure enough, it didn't take more than a few glances for officers to know that they were dealing with a deceased human being. As they approached, they could ascertain that it was a black female in her 20s.

She was on her back with both arms, spread out above her head, and her legs spread very far apart, probably as far as they could go. She was wearing blue jeans, a white long-sleeved top covered in blood. There was no mistaken what David saw. With the way the body was positioned, it would have almost been facing the road on a slant instead of being flat. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine how shocking it would be? I was able to find pictures of this crime scene

and I'm doing my very best to describe this because it has stuck with me. Can you imagine you're driving by and when you look over instead of something being completely flat on the ground, you're seeing a person with their arms outstretched and they're on an incline.

So instead of being back, they're up a little bit. So it's almost as though they're just facing the road like that. And the stark contrast of her dark skin and the white shirt, the bright white shirt and the blood on the blue jeans and the white shirt, it was haunting. And initially, the first responders that got there, they thought this was probably a pedestrian that was struck by a vehicle because it's common. When people are walking on the side of the road, a driver's eyes can catch a glimpse of them and be drawn.

Like the steering wheel can swerve and be drawn in that direction. It's an auto response. It's very dangerous to be on the shoulder of a busy highway. And it's absolutely terrible when this happens. But when they get closer, they realize that is not what happened here. This is not an accident at all. Someone did this to this poor girl. And officers get to work quickly to secure the scene.

They don't want to pass her by. glancing over and seeing this horrific scene in front of them. They put up a tent around the body, they had a blue tarp over her, and then they put out something you can't miss at a crime scene, the yellow tape around the perimeter of the scene. Homicide detectors are called out along with Jennifer Raymer, who was the assistant district attorney of Wake County at the time. And as Jennifer walked up, she could tell this was brutal. It was as though all the blood had been drained because she was so pale, powdery blue in color. It was clear that a stabbing had occurred, and I shouldn't even refer to it as a stabbing because this was repeated. Repeated impacts

again and again, open wounds, large ones, specifically on the face, the neck, the chest, Jennifer knew this was more than someone that just wanted this woman to die. It was as though they were sending a message and it was a personal one. So the first thing they want to do is identify who the body belongs to. But she doesn't have anything on her and there's no vehicle in sight. So who was there Jane Doe on the side of I-540? Investigators don't have much to go on. This is a very busy section of highway.

cars are rushing by hundreds hundreds of cars every hour they don't know how long that she's been lying there but they estimate from the condition of her body that it has been hours at this point they're thinking can we even find any eyewitnesses that would have seen anything as they're passing by at a high rate of speed in addition to peering out through a blanket of darkness a night there's a slim chance so they rely on clues that may be nearby at the scene Some investigators begin walking on foot down the highway in both directions, while others get into their vehicles to canvas the entire area. They do end up locating Latrice's phone. It was found several hundred feet from her body, turned off and exposed to rain and other environmental elements.

But not even half a mile from where the woman's body was found, investigators see two cars parked on the side of the road, a white Honda Civic and a white Nissan Centra. And there's a man standing by the Nissan peering inside with the door wide open. What's going on here and are these cars connected to their Jane Doe? Wait until you find out who this man is. It was a shock to detectives, that's for sure, because they're questioning him right away asking, better identify yourself. And he explains that he's the husband of LaTrice Curtis. And guess what? He reported her missing just about an hour earlier. He says he just found her car, the white Nissan on the side of the road, so he stopped to see what was going on.

It's plain to see the Nissan has been involved in a crime, a bloody one. It doesn't even take a search of it to see evidence that there has been a struggle and it's apparent just by looking at the driver's seat, there's blood all over it. And Darren, is standing right next to it. So clearly, investigators need to get Darren away from the vehicle and run the license plate number to match the car to its registered owner. And sure enough, the search comes back to LaTrice Curtis. They pull up the ID and they see her picture and they were able to do a preliminary match to the woman's body they found. And that's really sad. Now they have a name to match to their victim.

And it's time to get LaTrice transported to the coroner's office so that they can do a full autopsy and a 100% DNA confirmation of her identity. And you probably already made this connection considering we are here today and we wouldn't be

if something bad hadn't happened to poor LaTrice. But I have to backtrack so that you can get all the facts as they're playing out that fateful morning. Investigators bring Darren to the station and they're asking him, how did you end up at LaTrice's car just minutes

before detectives arrived and less than an hour after you reported her missing? So he begins his version of the story. Darren explains he gets a call from LaTrice around 10 p.m. the night before. It's a normal call. Nothing seemed like it was out of the ordinary. She said that she was running late from class. She'd been in the library studying and whatnot and now she's on her way home. but she may stop and get a bite to eat first. She tells him to expect her home around 11.30 p.m. The thing is, Latrice never makes it home. And you'd think that her husband would think it's just a little bit odd, right?

Because investigators are kind of puzzled when they ask him about that. Darren said he was so tired that he just fell asleep. I mean, I personally couldn't sleep if my loved one wasn't home, but that's me and I get it. Everybody's different. And this was an ordinary night, according to Darren. nothing to think twice about. However, this was not an ordinary night. Not at all. They want to know when did you realize your wife hadn't come home the night before? And Darren explained, he woke up at his usual time around six or seven o'clock in the morning and they're like, wait a minute,

you went to sleep. You never woke up once. You never checked if your wife came home and he's like, I was asleep. But when I woke up, yes, I realized Latrice is not. in bed with me. So he says that he calls her to make sure that everything's okay. And it goes straight to her voicemail. So he leaves a message telling her, hey, I'm just calling to make sure you're all right and just give me a call back whenever you can. Darren assumes that Latrice may have gone to her parents' house and slept over there. She may still be asleep. So he tells investigators he proceeded to get ready for work, showering, eating his whole morning routine. Then he leaves their apartment to head to work around 7.30 in the morning. But here's where things get weird. Darren says he takes I-540 to work

every single morning. And as he's driving, he glances over and he thinks he spots a car on the side of the road that looks like the one his wife drives, the white Nissan. But he's on the highway. He's driving by. It's just a split second glance. However, a little further down, the traffic starts to get into a standstill. Now he's passing slowly and he spots yellow crime scene tape. And it was off to the side of the road. And of course that that catches his eye. That's not something he's used to seeing on his morning commute. Even worse, as his eyes adjust, he sees the blue tarp. And that's when he says he gets a knot in his stomach. And according to him, he decides to turn off the highway and go back home to check on his wife. It was the fact that

she didn't make it home coupled with the side of the tarp. It just hit him. He couldn't help but think, what if something happened to my wife? Where is she? So he goes all the way back to their apartment. Her car isn't there. And when he goes inside, she's nowhere to be found. So he's feeling even worse at this point. But investigators can't help to be a little bit skeptical of all this. But of course, they keep listening and asking him what happened next. He tells them. He begins calling up which is his mom, dad, other family members, and no one has seen her. No one's heard from her since the night before. She did not spend the night at her parents' house.

So according to Darren, he gets a really bad feeling and he reports her missing to the police. Okay. So they still want to understand how he ends up at her car at basically the same time that the detectives are out there. He explains that as he's on the phone with police, he's also retracing his wife's path. he remembers the white car. He wants to check on that white car that he saw on the side of the road on Interstate 540. So he gets back on the highway to find it. And sure enough, when he pulls off to check, he's able to identify that it's hers within seconds.

And that's when he tells detectives he got out of his car, went to the driver's side, opened the door. Perfect, his fingerprints are now on it. I mean, not that they wouldn't have been. They probably both drove the car at some point. They live together. But just wait. And as soon as he opens the door, he looks inside. He notices there's a broken console, there's blood on the door.

He also spots a picture of the trees from Christmas that's lying on the back seat crumbled up. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and all birds continue to trust and use them.

With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your $1 per month trial at Shopify.com slash special offer. Then, that's when the law enforcement officers arrived Alatrice's car meeting up with Darren after they had just come from the nearby homicide scene. I don't know about you, but it sounded a little too... coincidental and that's what detectives were thinking as well. Darren somehow arrives at his wife's car, his deceased wife's car, his murdered wife's car before detectives. The car is also considered a crime scene. So he's at the scene of a crime with a story like this one. That would be pretty convenient

if he were the one who did this, wouldn't it? Oh no, it wasn't me? I just got here. Like I'm just checking up on my wife. Why didn't you do that last night? They follow the normal procedure. They asked Darren to allow them to examine his clothing as well as his body, his arms, hands, etc. to see if there's a sign that any kind of altercation had happened and there are no marks on him. His clothes are clean. They take photos of him and he's completely willing to allow them to take a DNA simple, but they are pressing him even harder after that. They want to put pressure on him. They want to know what was your relationship like with your wife. And by the way, that morning, while all this is going on, the Tresa's father, Sherman,

is also about to find out what happened to his daughter. His morning started out differently than Darren's. The first thing that Sherman does when he wakes up is he turns on the news to see what's going on. And that day, the first thing he sees is a breaking news report. And then, he sees that scene. The stretch of highway right near Wake Tech Community College. He sees the exit sign and he sees the yellow crime scene tape with the technicians kneeling next to a blue tarp. And there's text on the screen and it reads, Body Found on I-540. But this doesn't face Sherman because these things happen. There was no reason he would have ever expected this to be his own daughter underneath that tarp, but sadly, it was. And Sherman gets a call from Darren asking if he knew where she was.

And Sherman's thinking, she's your wife. You are her husband. You live with her. Shouldn't you be the one that knows where your wife is? Darren's like, uh, no. And he told him about the night before. Sherman is stunned. He cannot fathom going to sleep and not even thinking about waiting up to make sure that your wife makes it home safely. He thinks it's really odd and it makes him angry. So Sherman calls the university and he gets transferred to a security guard who tells him you should probably get in touch with the sheriff's department. And Sherman is confused. He's like, what for? Why the sheriff's office? The first thing that usually comes to mind is that your child has gotten themselves into trouble. And remember, Sherman was a former juvenile detention

So it's in his instinct, and he was likely to assume LaTrice had done something wrong. When he calls the sheriff, the sheriff says, you need to come down to the station. So Sherman and his wife jump in the car and they are speechless, the entire drive. They didn't say one single word to each other. And they arrived there around 11 o'clock in the morning. Someone from the station greets them, and then they put them into a room. And then finally, after quite some time, an officer comes in. and tells them the horrible news about their daughter.

They said the body that was found on the side of I-540 and was identified this morning was your daughter, Latrice Curtis. Worse yet, her parents find out, Darren had already been there to visually identify their daughter, and he didn't say one single word. They didn't hear one single word from that man, nothing. Sherman is pissed. And rightfully so, the police wouldn't even let Lettrice's parents see her body because they were not listed as her next of kin.

Her husband was. So it's devastating. And Sherman thinks that Darren just nonchalantly goes to sleep, not caring about Latrice at all. And that was his biggest fear that this man wasn't the right one, that he wasn't going to be there to protect his daughter. They didn't get to see Darren that day. And Sherman wanted to see him for sure. And I think you might know why. because he wanted to give him more than a peace of his mind.

Darren never got in touch with Latrice's family and just wait. You'll understand him more later, but it didn't matter. They wanted nothing to do with Darren because Sherman, his mind was set. That man didn't protect his daughter. That man hurt her. He's about to go off at the police station. He's like, let me get my hands on that man. And it makes sense that a lot of emotions would be running high.

He just found out his daughter has been murdered. However, even though investigators don't have a solid alibi for Darren, considering he says he was asleep the night before, and the only person that would have been able to confirm that is dead. But they also don't have anything to hold him on. They can't arrest him, so they have to let him go. He complied with their wishes. He consented to a search of the department. He gave his DNA and fingerprints, and they sent him on his way. But he had to have known that he was a suspect. We come on.

It's obvious that the person who's closest to the victim is going to be the most likely suspect. Nevertheless, investigators have to gather more evidence no matter what. At this point, the crime scene had become a media frenzy. Beautiful young college student found dead on the side of the highway. It made for a very good headline for newspapers and TV. But sometimes that is a necessary evil to get people's eyes. on a case to get at the attention it needs in order to be solved. The search of the apartment that LaTrice shared with Darren didn't show any signs of a struggle.

They also conducted a search of Darren's white Honda Civic and there was no physical evidence that a crime had been committed or a struggle had ensued. At this point, there's nothing linking Darren to the crime scene or the murder of his wife. He said that they were happy. They were in love. They didn't have any marital issues whatsoever. Well, there's about to be a discovery during Littreus' autopsy that may change that perception. For now, Darren is left to grieve the death of his wife.

And investigators move on to the next lead. While they're in the apartment complex, investigators go door to door to interview neighbors. They want to get an outside perspective on the newlyweds. one neighbor, 29-year-old Tiona Washington. She said that the Trees was quiet and she mostly kept to herself. However, they had talked on several occasions, just casual hellos, you know, how neighbors do, like how are you, what's new, that kind of thing. Tiona said she's a counselor at Wilson Community College and she had never seen Darren at the apartment complex, ever. Even on her way coming and going to and from work, never saw him once.

But another neighbor, Tanya Shields, she said she saw Darren almost every day. Both neighbors say that Latrice usually arrived home around 8 p.m. But Tanya was in the parking lot the night before working on her car until about 9 p.m. And Latrice never pulled in. Darren, however, did return. It was about 8.15 or 8.30 p.m. and Tanya said he was carrying a leather briefcase and a shoulder bag that was the size of a laptop. Neither one of the immediate neighbors said that they had ever heard the couple arguing,

but it didn't appear that they were that happy either. It didn't seem like they were in love or anything like that because Tanya said she never saw them smiling. This is interesting information from the people who see them on a regular basis. But to be fair, these neighbors were not friends with the couple. It's still valuable information, especially the part about Tanya seeing Darren come home that night. Still, this doesn't move the investigation forward, so they start to interview people close to Latrice, one of which is her friend Kimberly. She considered herself Latrice's best friend.

She had just found out that Latrice was dead. Her mother told her, and it was shocking. Kimberly had already heard about the body that they found, on the side of the highway. But it being La Trice, somebody she knew, it never crossed her mind. But when she got home from work, her mother rushes over and she says,

Kimberly, that body that they found, it was the trees. And she can't believe it. She kind of thought it. She said, no, it's not. It can't be. And her mom kept saying, yes. So Kimberly just broke down.

She just kept saying, I don't think it's her because she'd just call me last night. That's right. Latrice made another phone call that night and it was after the one to Darren. So what was it about? Well, Kimberly goes down to the police station to give investigators the information that she has about Latrice. Isn't it interesting that both people who were closest to Latrice get a phone call around 2 a.m.?

Isn't that kind of weird? Think about it for a second. Who do you think used her phone to make those calls? Because Latrice was most likely deceased at this time. Kimberly tells them that something very eerie occurred the night before, and she thinks it may be connected to the murder. She says that she was asleep, and she heard her phone ringing in the middle of the night. It could have been somewhere around 2 o'clock in the morning or so, and it woke her up.

She was surprised to see the number that was calling because it was Latrice, and LaTrice never calls that late, so she was worried and she quickly answered it. She says, hello, Latrice, but nobody says anything. And as quiet as her room was that night, Kimberly could hear noises on the other end. She could hear wind and a distinct sound of cars rushing by a road. It sounded like she was near the highway or something, and she could hear what sounded like footsteps on gravel, but no one was saying anything. and it was odd.

She was confused. She just sat there and listened for a bit and she just got this gut feeling inside that she shouldn't hang up. At this point, she's calling out to LaTrice just repeating her name over and over again, almost yelling into the phone. Latrice, La Trace, just over and over again

and no response. So finally, she hung up. But she doesn't feel right. It scared her. It felt wrong and she tried to call back, but this time the call went straight to voicemail. Kimberly wanted so badly to call Darren, but she didn't know his number.

Now that she knows what happened to Latrice, Kimberly wished that she would have stayed on the phone and listened. That could have been the killer's footsteps that she was hearing, and so many things were going on in her mind. She said that she was trying to piece together what the call was about. Was it before the murder? Was it during it? was it after when and what were the noises it was just haunting to think that she could have been listening

at the moment her friend was killed and there was nothing that she could do i told you that the media was getting on this case very quickly they knew it was going to be something big so they go ahead and release darren's 911 call and the rumor starts to fly in cases like this it is usually the husband and there were many people that think it's very unusual that Darren would make the 911 call to report LaTrice missing around the same exact time the body was found. Was this some kind of way to create an alibi? He sounds pretty calm in my opinion for someone who thinks his wife is actually missing and the public thinks so too. Darren definitely felt the pressure. You go from being a nobody nobody at all, nobody knows you, nobody knows what you look like, knows your name to everyone recognizing

you pointing fingers, bombarding you at your apartment and not for something good. And that was what was happening to him within just a day of this crime occurring because everyone wants answers. Surprisingly, Darren calls investigators with something that he says he dug up after being released from the police station the day before. He says as soon as he got home, he started doing some research of his own. He pulled up Latrice's phone records, specifically looking for a few things. A number of a friend who was expecting a baby because he wanted to gather some more information from anyone that he knew his wife was talking to on a regular basis. He also wants to know who LaTrice was calling the night before. And he tells investigators that he stumbled upon a phone

number that LaTrice had called a couple of times. It was a number that he figured out she called and texted a lot. The number wasn't familiar to him, so he tells us. He told us. He told us. investigators that he called it and he was surprised when a man picked up. Darren was like, who is this? How do you know Latrice? And he tells the man, she didn't come home last night. And instead of this guy explaining himself, the guy on the other end just says, is she okay? Let me know if she's okay. And he says this several times, according to Darren, who says he was too shocked and confused to say anything more. So clearly there was another man in LaTrice's life. But who was he?

Investigators aren't sure how accurate the story is. Darren could be trying to take the focus off himself, but they take down the information and get a copy of Latrice's phone records so they can analyze them. This man could be anyone. It could be a coworker, a friend. It doesn't have to be sinister. But the way he asked if Latrice was okay,

it does raise a red flag if it's true. Because why was he so concerned? So they run this unknown male's phone number. it comes back to a Stephen Randolph. That name means nothing to them at this point, but it's another lead, and that was important. This Stephen guy could provide them with more information about their victim. So they set out to track him down. Meanwhile, the autopsy report comes back.

It's bad. Horrific, actually. Just the sheer, brutal manner in which LaTrice was injured. The report revealed that she sustained. blunt force trauma to her head, specifically behind her right ear. But what was completely unbelievable and devastating was that they discovered an upward of 40 wounds. On her face, her neck, her chest, her torso had been stabbed. It was extreme. The wounds went through her carotid artery, her jugular vein, even her vocal cords were cut. One wound started on one side of her neck and went

across to the other side in an attempt to completely remove her head. There was also a struggle between Latrice and the perpetrator because her fingernails were damaged. This wasn't a robbery. She still had her personal belongings and she had a pair of expensive earrings that were still in her ears. It's estimated that she was killed between the hours of 1 and 2 a.m. Also, the fact that her car was far away from her body, that meant to detectives that someone else drove her car. So they decide to take swabs from the inside from the steering wheel, the console, other areas and tested for DNA evidence along with her body and anything on her fingernails and whatnot.

When investigators find all of this out, though, it's really hard for them to look past Darren being the one that did this. But the fact that he's just introduced another man into the situation leads them to believe that he might be tipping his hat, that he might, like I said, be trying to force them in another direction. Did Darren find out what was going on with Latrice and another guy? They're about to get answers due to something else that the medical examiner found during the autopsy. A condom. They find a condom stuck inside of Latrice's body. So it's up inside there. It's stuck inside. And that's interesting. This is unusual. This is something they need to question Darren about

and he comes back and says, I don't use condoms with my wife. So things are getting very complicated and confusing. If this wasn't a condom from Darren and Latrice having sex, who was it from and why was it still there? This is all happening at the same time that they find out who Stephen Randolph is. It turns out he's pretty popular. He's a good looking basketball player. He's a good looking basketball player. at North Carolina Central University. Stephen was actually trying to become a professional NBA basketball player. He took his college basketball career very seriously. They don't exactly know what the connection would be between Latrice and Stephen, though.

However, when they go back and interview some of Latrice's friends, a few of them say they do know about Stephen and that he and LaTrice were close. And in the last few months, they had grown even closer. But what does that mean exactly? Why doesn't Darren seem to know about Stephen or who he is? Was this Stephen's condom that they found during the autopsy? Investigators don't have to wonder very much longer. Because just two days after Latrice's body was discovered, Stephen walks into the Wake County Sheriff's Office and he wants to speak to detectives and he's not alone. He is with a local pastor, named Robert Reeves. This looks interesting. You've got your pastor escorting you to the police station. There's got to be something going on here. Sometimes people don't answer to God first and confess their sin straight to the Lord. Sometimes they go to their pastor first. So investigators are very interested about what is going on here. They take Stephen into one room and they take Pastor Reeves into another. Investigators don't waste a second of their time. They immediately after

Steven, who are you, and what business do you have with our victim, Latrice Curtis? A married woman. He says, well, I attend North Carolina Central with Latrice. I play basketball. We had a few classes together. We met back in September. We're just friends. Friends.

We see each other here and there, and we're friends. Emphasis on friends four times. So detectives were like, okay, let me get this straight. You're just friends for the record. your friends with Latrice Curtis, right? Nothing more. You just see each other during classes. You don't ever see each other anywhere else.

And that's when he said, well, we do sometimes study together at the library. Now he's lying. And they know that not because of what he said, but it's how he said it. These detectives are not stupid. They're seasoned detectives. They have dealt with men like Stephen before. and they have an inkling that that condom they found is his. That's when they take those phone records and they push them right in front of him and they say,

Stephen, we know you're not being honest with us. She talked to you the night she was killed. As a matter of fact, you might be one of the last people to talk to Latrice. There is a phone call between Stephen and LaTrice after 10 p.m. That was following the phone call to. her husband. And not only that, detectives show that a phone call came into his phone from LaTrice around 2 o'clock in the morning. So what does he have to say about all that? Were those just friendly phone calls right before LaTrice was killed? That is when he starts to come up with a different

version of him and LaTrice's relationship, one that is more than just friends, which is what detectives already assumed was the truth. Now he says, okay, you know what? We're more than friends. But it just started happening. We were friends. This was the first time that we were intimate. She came over my house and things progressed into sex.

That's when they confront him about what they found during the autopsy, the condom. And he doesn't hesitate on that one because they're probably going to somehow find DNA or something on the condom. So there's no backing down at this point. He admits it, yes, that was my condom. So was there a reason why Ms. Curtis still had a condom inside of her? That's what they want to know. Why was it there? This is when Stephen explains, while they were having sex, somehow the condom fell off.

After they were done, they noticed it was missing. They couldn't find it anywhere. So naturally, they assumed it was inside Latrice.