American Detective S04E09 The Highway Hunter
A scene straight out of a horror film unfolds outside of a Colorado police station, leaving one woman clinging to life and a second violently abducted; Det. Rick Archer soon uncovers a disturbing pattern that may have started a decade earlier.
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00:00It's February 12th of 1994.
00:29Sir Carter from the Thornton Police Department is arriving for work.
00:34And sitting in front of the Thornton PD is a running car.
00:38It's gone up over the curb and it's sitting in the grass.
00:43All he's trying to do is come to work.
00:46And he discovers that work has come to him.
00:52He didn't know whether this was a drunk driver crash or otherwise.
00:59He goes into police officer mode and bails out of his car to see what's happening.
01:18There is a woman behind the wheel covered in blood.
01:22She has suffered multiple gunshot wounds.
01:30She was able to communicate that a passenger in her car had been abducted by a man.
01:36There's another victim in the hands of the shooter and he's fled off into the early morning
01:41light.
01:42She said, this just happened.
01:45You have to find him.
01:49He's got that woman.
01:54I spent my career closing murder cases, but I'm not the only one who answered the call.
02:04It takes a rare breed to solve the unsolvable, to catch a ruthless killer, to find justice
02:12for the dead.
02:15That's what it takes to be an American detective.
02:32I'm Rick Archer.
02:33I'm a retired Thornton Police Department detective.
02:36I would never introduce myself that way.
02:39I'd introduce myself, hi, I'm Rick.
02:42I was in college at Indiana State University and I had full intent on going to law school.
02:48Just was not the lib to fit my pot.
02:52So I've got this great education, what do I do with it?
02:56I guess I'll become a police officer.
02:59I hit my stride when I was moved into detectives.
03:04I got to use more brain power and ultimately was named as the lead homicide investigator.
03:18I was sound asleep, enjoying rest, which I rarely got.
03:23Then I just got a call from patrol sergeant.
03:26There's not a lot of times you end up with a shooting victim on the front lawn of the
03:29Thornton Police Department.
03:31So just the circumstances were really unique.
03:36Detective Rick Archer is summoned to handle a crime scene at his own police department.
03:42Somewhat odd.
03:43We don't provide curb service, but sometimes we have to.
03:50So I get over there and I take a look around the scene and there it is, a gold Cadillac
04:00in the front lawn of the Thornton Police Department, driver's side door and passenger
04:03side door open.
04:06There was blood throughout the interior.
04:10Archer looks more closely at the car, sees bullet holes in the driver's door and sees
04:15a bullet hole in the seat.
04:20There was also evidence of somebody having been drug from passenger side into the street
04:27And they're telling me that there's a possibly abducted woman as part of this.
04:32And your mind just races trying to figure out, okay, what resources am I going to need?
04:38The only person that knows details is in a Denver hospital.
04:43EMTs are not confident that this woman's going to survive.
04:48From that point, I send a team of two detectives to the hospital so that if Jackie's able to
04:54provide any statements pre-surgery, we have somebody there to get them.
05:08Some people have a very strong will to live and that's obviously the case with this girl.
05:13She has suffered three gunshot wounds, but she's with us and she is conscious.
05:25Testing, 1-2-3, testing 1-2-3.
05:30Can you state your full name for me please?
05:33Jackie Criazzo.
05:34Jackie, can you tell me about the events which occurred yesterday?
05:38I had left my apartment at 5.30 in the morning, was heading to my dad's house.
05:47I was going eastbound on I-76 and as I made the turn coming along, I saw emergency flashes
05:55going and all that.
05:57And she thinks maybe they need some assistance of some kind and she pulls over behind the
06:01car and stops.
06:04Was a small, blue, Geo, Metro.
06:08And all of a sudden, a girl, not wearing a top, runs to her car, jerks the door open.
06:19She jumped in the car.
06:21She was screaming he had been raping her and she needed to get the heck out of there.
06:26And so Jackie took off.
06:27What was her attitude like?
06:30She was hysterical.
06:33The girl told her her name was Rhonda Maloney.
06:43She got off work and she was driving back home when she got rear-ended by a car.
06:50It just bumped her.
06:52So she stopped to see what the damage was.
06:56And when she got out of the car, she was immediately attacked.
07:13She said that he had raped her for two hours and she said she didn't know who he was or
07:18where he'd come from.
07:19I went through the intersection and knew I could go to the police station at 92nd.
07:25So now they've driven only a short distance.
07:30The car the girl got out of begins to immediately chase them.
07:34He sped up and tried to get alongside of me.
07:36At that time, he just started rapid fire.
07:42The driver of the car continued firing on them all the way up the highway.
07:49Jackie feels herself get hit with a bullet, multiple gunshot wounds, but she continues
07:54to drive.
07:55She's determined to reach the police.
07:57At some point, she realized that her legs weren't working.
08:00And that's when I lost control of my vehicle and I tried to turn it into where I was headed.
08:09And ended up coming to rest on the lawn of the Thornton Police Department.
08:17That's normally when a criminal goes the other way.
08:22Not this guy.
08:24He's not done yet.
08:32This guy looks directly at her, points a gun at her face.
08:41And he screamed at me that I should keep my mouth shut or else he was going to kill me.
08:54Rhonda was curled up in a ball on the passenger side.
08:56The fellow pulled Rhonda out saying something like, you thought you were going to get away.
09:01She was screaming that she couldn't see and that she was in all kinds of pain.
09:13He drags the screaming woman back to his car and they drive off.
09:18I got the impression it was his intention that she was going to die.
09:21Good God, who are we dealing with here?
09:24Is this Jack the Ripper?
09:28When he leaned over in the car, that was the best look I got at him.
09:31He was described as a younger, light-skinned, moon-faced black male.
09:37She says, his face is burned into my mind.
09:41She's a very good witness.
09:42What kind of car was he driving?
09:44A Saturn, a late model Saturn.
09:48The reason that was unique to us was just there weren't a lot of Saturns out.
09:54I don't think most people even knew what a Saturn was in those days.
09:59So at that point in time, the immediate thing is to find Rhonda.
10:07Any time a kidnapping has occurred, the urgency is absolutely extreme.
10:12The only way for a kidnapping to end and for a criminal to ensure his escape is to kill
10:18the victim.
10:24Our focus was trying to find that Saturn.
10:27We had already requested assistance from the Air National Guard to come out with helicopters
10:32and do anything they could for us.
10:36They do a search of the area and they find nothing.
10:41Jackie had told us where Rhonda's car was and we went down there.
10:47Rhonda's vehicle was a small blue Geo and it had some minor damage on it.
10:54There's a fresh dent in the rear of Rhonda Maloney's car.
11:01There was some footprints, there was some tire tracks.
11:05We had nothing else.
11:07Archer is thinking about this case now as the pursuit hopefully begins soon on the Saturn
11:13and he remembers something.
11:16An intelligence report he read several years before about a girl Rhonda murdered in Estes
11:23Park in 1988, 70 miles northwest of the Thornton Police Department.
11:33So at that point in time, I reached out to Larimer County and I got a copy of their case
11:36file.
11:37It had never been solved and reading through the case file, this Jessica Arredondo just
11:44literally vanished.
11:50There are moments in cases where something comes to light and it just strikes you as
11:55like a lightning bolt.
11:57That happens to Archer and he wonders, could this be the same guy?
12:12The search continues for Rhonda Maloney without success, but Archer believes he's dealing
12:17with someone who's a repeat offender.
12:22He then reaches out to the Larimer County Sheriff's Department and asks to speak to
12:26the detective who worked the Jessica Arredondo case in 1988 and he's put in touch with Detective
12:32Toppenburg.
12:33I didn't know Toppenburg, but I hear a lot of really, really, really good things about
12:40John.
12:41I'm John Toppenburg, retired deputy with the Larimer County Sheriff's Department.
12:46I retired as a detective working major crimes.
12:50Detective Archer, Toppenburg.
12:53There were obvious similarities between these two cases.
12:58This particular case started with people that were going south out of Rocky Mountain National
13:04Park.
13:18Two tourists are returning from an early morning visit to Rocky Mountain National Park.
13:26They spot another overlook next to the highway, turnouts, where you can go and take photographs.
13:37And then they find something horrible.
13:46They observe the naked body of a female lying in the rocks.
13:54Detective John Toppenburg from the Larimer County Sheriff's Department responds to the
13:59scene.
14:02From examination of the scene, it was obvious that the body was airborne for a short while
14:09and came to rest 26 feet from where she was thrown.
14:19There were tire tracks that indicated a car pulled into the turnout and threw it over
14:24the impingement.
14:30She was without clothes when she was thrown over the edge.
14:35It was obvious that she had sustained significant trauma to major portions of her body.
14:45The body shows signs of sexual assault.
14:48Her face shows evidence of enormous blunt trauma.
14:52She's been kicked.
14:53She's been stomped.
14:54Her teeth are caved in backwards, still in her mouth.
15:00This was perpetrated with purpose, with emotion.
15:06This is someone who is enjoying what he's doing.
15:09He is in a wild rage.
15:11We did not know who the victim was.
15:14It became clear that a missing person case in Denver coordinated with the description
15:22of the victim.
15:23The girl is Jessica Arredondo, who just turned 21 years of age.
15:28She is from a Denver suburb.
15:31We followed up with Joe Arredondo, the victim's father.
15:39I was just so, so sad that that happened.
15:44We were hoping for the best, but no, it just was terrible what happened.
15:49Jessica is very sly and very beautiful.
15:53She was very, very bubbly.
15:55She was a head cheerleader, and she was very popular.
15:58She got along with everybody.
16:01This is just a young girl starting her life, age 21, has her first job.
16:07She works at US West as a telephone operator.
16:10We were really, really proud of Jessica.
16:13She's just a perfect daughter.
16:17The last time I saw her was on that Friday night, and she had plans to go out as a boyfriend.
16:23They were going to go out that night to a nightclub.
16:26And at the last minute, she decided she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to go.
16:36She said, I'll take you down there to the club, and I can leave you off there, and I'll
16:40come back and pick you up.
16:43So that's what she did.
16:44She took him to the club, and that's it.
16:48She drops him at the bar, says she'll be back in an hour, and she never returns.
16:56The father says that the night she disappeared, she was driving a new car she had just purchased.
17:03An 88 Mustang, and she had to have that car.
17:08She loved that car so much, she didn't want any scratches or anything to happen to it.
17:14And the next question is obvious.
17:15Where is that car?
17:19So Toppenberg puts out a bullo to all law enforcement agencies, Denver Metro.
17:24Within hours, the Mustang is found.
17:28The vehicle's proximity to the bar was at least a mile away.
17:34So Toppenberg arrives at this car.
17:38The hazard lights are flashing.
17:44The keys are in the ignition.
17:46Now this is this girl's dream, to own this brand new car.
17:51Is she going to walk away?
17:54No.
17:56It would be speculative, but obviously there would have been a kidnapping, violent kidnapping,
18:05where she was taken.
18:08Toppenberg looks more closely at the car and he notices fresh rear-end damage, as if she's
18:13been tapped from the rear by someone in a car.
18:17What if the driver of that car is the killer, and he is trying to get her to stop?
18:31She puts her four-way flashers on and gets out of her car to check the damage of her
18:37dream machine.
18:39What the hell, man?
18:51He gets out of his car and grabs her by the throat.
18:57And now she's gone and winds up thrown off a cliff on Highway 36.
19:04As that case progressed, we ran into way too many dead ends.
19:09The Arradondo case goes cold, dormant, until February 1994.
19:24It looked like it was a case basically like Rhonda.
19:27If I didn't know better, I'd say the same person who killed her killed Jessica Arradondo.
19:32Our killer's M.O. is the use of a fender bender, all for a simple reason.
19:38It's successful.
19:40The Arradondo case came into sharp focus the moment the Rhonda Maloney case came into view.
19:51And there was no looking back.
19:55Archer and Toppenberger both convinced this is the same fellow.
20:04Using this same technique, this is him.
20:21Archer and Toppenberger are investigating two cases.
20:25The current case of the missing Ms. Maloney, who still hasn't been found, and of course
20:30the death six years earlier of Jessica Arradondo.
20:36These are girls from the Denver suburb.
20:39They were hit from the rear by another vehicle.
20:42I was literally just matching Toppenberger's case to my suspect, who had the exact same
20:47M.O.
20:48I don't recall having any real question about whether that was perpetrated by the same suspect.
20:56It all fit.
20:57This is only the beginning of this case, and there's about to be another murder if we don't
21:02find that girl.
21:05At that point, we were still searching for Rhonda, and that saddened me.
21:09So I start reaching out to Rhonda's family, because that's where we wanted to start.
21:14Where did she come from?
21:15Where was she going?
21:16Where was she?
21:17Where ever she was when she was abducted?
21:19My name is Carrie DeMeinhart.
21:22I'm Rhonda Maloney's sister.
21:25Rhonda was my best friend.
21:26We spent the majority of our time together growing up.
21:30She was always with me.
21:33We pretty much did everything together.
21:35Rhonda was a happy person who was lively and funny and had a great sense of humor and could
21:43live life to the fullest.
21:46At the time that this happened, it was myself, Rhonda, my brother-in-law, Carrie, and my
21:51mom.
21:52We all lived in the house together in Broomfield.
21:56They told us that they had found Rhonda's car on the side of the highway.
22:01You know it's not going to be good at that point.
22:05Rick Archer made quite an impression on me.
22:08He just seemed very focused.
22:10You have to be understanding and patient while professionally pushing for the answers
22:16you need.
22:17It was really established early on that Rhonda had been at work.
22:28She works in a casino in one of the mountain towns close to Denver where gambling is permitted.
22:34Rhonda was a cocktail waitress.
22:35She loved it.
22:36She made great money.
22:37She was really happy up there.
22:44She had to work the later shift, 6 till 2 in the morning because that's when the casinos
22:50closed.
22:52You're looking for a sexual predator and here we have a pretty young woman who works in
22:56a casino as a cocktail waitress.
23:02Has our man been a customer in that casino?
23:06We just had no idea.
23:08It was very important to get into the Central City casinos to review security footage because
23:16as we all know a lot can happen in a corner where somebody else isn't going to see it.
23:28We wanted to know if there was a casual connection with Rhonda and a young black man up there
23:36that could have expanded into something like this.
23:39Maybe somebody was a little handsy or a little bit too interested.
23:44Archer reviews all of that to see to it that yes she was at work that night, normal hours,
23:50no confrontations, no one followed her out the door.
23:54She left work when her shift was over and was headed home.
23:58So that reveals nothing to him.
24:03It's now been 24 hours since Rhonda Maloney was dragged out of the front yard of the Thornton
24:09Police Department and we still have not found her.
24:14The search for the car continues but no result.
24:18So at that point in time we actually returned to the initial scene where Rhonda's car was.
24:25Now the car was already gone because we'd impounded it.
24:29The crime scene is all you've got and when you're not getting anywhere, you go back and
24:35start over, look again, see again, see something new, who knows?
24:41The scene down on I-76, it was dynamic.
24:45It was changing, not even daily, it was changing hourly based on traffic flow and weather conditions.
24:53They spent hours canvassing that scene and a detective walking up towards the abutment
24:59which was some ways away from the car, he saw a black shape that was in the snow.
25:09He heard something in the snow and walked over and found a pager, something that nobody
25:15else had seen.
25:18This is 1994.
25:22People carried pagers, a little box that hooks on your belt tied to a telephone number where
25:32someone can transmit information to you.
25:35They were able to turn the pager on and discovered that it had a message on there that said this
25:42is Belt Harlan, Detective Sergeant, Denver Police Department.
25:47If you found this pager, please return it to me at the Denver Police.
25:56What's a Denver PD pager doing here?
25:59What if our sexual predator killer is a cop?
26:09Archer is shocked to discover this pager belongs to a Denver Police Department detective.
26:17What is it doing at a crime scene of a kidnapping and an attempted murder?
26:24We pretty quickly put together a lot of information on Belt Harlan.
26:29Belt Harlan had a challenging career at the Denver Police Department.
26:35He had got angry at someone in the drive up lane and he tried to climb through the
26:40window of the drive up place to get at this guy.
26:43He was known for having a terrible temper.
26:46If a policeman decides to start committing crimes, he's a dangerous criminal indeed.
26:52He knows the game.
26:54We knew he had a troubled past, but the primary thing was that he didn't even come close to
27:02matching the description of our suspect.
27:06He was older, up in age, darker skinned, nothing at all like the description that Jackie gave.
27:19Around that same time, my partner, through his computer work at DMV, found a Saturn with
27:26the plate number Cha-Ching.
27:30It's really interesting to us because we really felt that that was the sound that a
27:34one armed bandit makes at the casinos is Cha-Ching when it pays out.
27:38He is a gambler, well known.
27:41Miss Maloney is a waitress in a casino.
27:44He does some more checking and he finds that the owner of that car is Robert Harlan.
27:50Robert was a light skinned black man with a moon face and young.
27:54We're not looking at a detective here, we're looking at a detective's son.
27:58It was the craziest thing I've ever seen.
28:02Craziest thing.
28:06So he looks up Mr. Robert Harlan.
28:09What Archer is amazed by is the length and depth of his criminal record.
28:14Robert Harlan was a bad egg.
28:18Robert Harlan had many, many allegations of sexual assault, many, many allegations of
28:25sexual harassment in the workplace.
28:28In addition to that, Archer discovers something else.
28:34He worked at US West, which is where Aaron Dondo worked.
28:39He worked there when she worked there, six years ago.
28:43He is the perfect candidate for who we're looking for.
28:48This is our guy.
28:50So at that point in time, in our world it was called balls to the wall.
28:56This was the most dynamic case I have ever seen in my life.
29:00Things were unfolding so rapidly.
29:05Our focus was trying to find Rhonda.
29:07In a case like this, we always use SWAT.
29:12In the cop world, everything is RFN.
29:16Right now, I need a SWAT team, I need a hundred policemen, I need a helicopter.
29:25Whatever it is you require is going to show up, right now.
29:40We knew he was armed, absolutely knew he wasn't afraid to shoot.
29:48So we use explosive entry and flashbangs.
29:53A flashbang detonates, creating this enormous noise which will deafen anybody for a few
29:59seconds and a brilliant flash of light that will blind you.
30:03You are completely disoriented, you can't hear and you can't see, and that's the point.
30:10A SWAT team made a dynamic entry into the grandmother's house and we found Robert Harlan
30:15in his bedroom.
30:16We woke him out of a sound sleep.
30:19We took him into custody with literally no issues whatsoever.
30:29Here is Robert Harlan.
30:32There is no Miss Maloney.
30:35Where is she?
30:36They've got a K-9 with them.
30:41The K-9 hits on the car.
30:44They can see in the windows, nothing's in the car, but they can't see into the trunk.
30:52Archer is concerned he's going to find something horrible in the trunk of this machine.
31:13Archer opens the trunk and it's empty.
31:21Where is she and what did he do with her?
31:30We transported Robert back to Thornton Police Department.
31:34My sergeant informed me that he had selected two other detectives to conduct the interviews
31:42with Robert and that I was supposed to go home to get some rest.
31:49I just explained to him that's not ever going to happen.
32:01Robert Harlan was wrapped in this blanket and speaking very softly.
32:04Of course Rhonda was missing and they were still hopeful to some degree that they might
32:11find her alive.
32:12So where am I going to find her?
32:13I don't know where she is.
32:14I'm telling you the truth.
32:15I don't remember being with her.
32:16None of that.
32:17Deny, deny, deny.
32:18That's what he does.
32:19Jessica Ariana?
32:20Who is she?
32:21She's a co-worker.
32:22I don't know anything about that, man.
32:23I was watching the interview and I was watching Robert just run the entire thing and after
32:39a bit I just walked to the interview room, opened the door and said, you two are done.
32:46Out.
32:47McCarty came in, fresh face and a new sort of approach.
32:51Robert, look at me.
32:52Don't play this chicken routine with me.
32:53Where is she?
32:54First thing, right in the door.
32:55I was like, okay, you're not in charge here.
32:56I am.
32:57I'll find Rhonda and she's dead.
32:58I'm going to come after you with both barrels because you lied to me.
32:59I don't like to be lied to.
33:00Okay?
33:01Up to this point, he's been able to play the victim.
33:10Well, now you have somebody who's gone head to head with him.
33:14What I want is I want you to tell me about Rhonda and I want you to look at her and I
33:19want you to remember how it felt.
33:20Okay, hey, I might have sold her some drugs.
33:21You might have got a f*** up, whatever.
33:26What does he do?
33:27He puts himself with the victim.
33:30He says for the purpose of selling drugs.
33:33We say for the purpose of rape and murder.
33:37But he puts himself with her.
33:40And that is significant.
33:41So, she gets in your car, you get in her car.
33:42How's that work, man?
33:43She got in my car.
33:44She got in your car.
33:45Mm-hmm.
33:46I was starting to get to him.
33:51And this has been part of my training for all those years is to continue down that path.
33:56Obviously, there's something that really pissed you off.
33:59Something happened out there.
34:00And I'd like to know what it was.
34:02Um, the thing is...
34:06And behold, there's a knock at the door because an attorney showed up at our police department.
34:11And it put a stop to everything.
34:14Everything.
34:16What's that feeling like?
34:19It was horrible.
34:22It was absolutely horrible.
34:24Because I knew that he was ready to give me his version of the rape.
34:31So, they're left with no confession.
34:33A few incriminating things, maybe.
34:36But ultimately, the case stands as it is.
34:45But the next day, Archer's in his office.
34:48And gets a call from the front desk that Robert Harlan's father, Detective Belt Harlan, is there to see him.
34:56And he's carrying a cardboard box.
35:01So, Belt told us that he received a call from his other son,
35:05who said that the day before Robert had come by his place,
35:11was fully covered in blood,
35:13um, asked if he could take a shower.
35:18He took his shirt off.
35:22And he took out a gun.
35:25He left his gun there,
35:27borrowed his brother's car,
35:29and went, what we assume, is looking for his patron.
35:36And that's how that evidence was brought into the case.
35:40The gun that shot Rhonda and that had her blood on it.
35:43And the clothing that Robert had been wearing that had her blood on it.
35:48It takes an amazing person and a strength of character
35:51to be able to turn evidence in
35:54and admit that your son the killer.
35:56Now, Archer has hard physical evidence.
35:59Robert is bought and paid for, for this case.
36:02But they still don't know what happened to Miss Maloney.
36:06Three days after taking Robert Harlan into custody,
36:09I received a call.
36:10It was a road out in Adams County called Imboden Road.
36:13And a small bridge over a, um, ditch or creek.
36:18And underneath the bridge was Rhonda's body.
36:25This girl is naked, savagely beaten and tortured.
36:30Shattered jaw, shattered eye sockets,
36:33in addition to a bullet that was fired into her forehead.
36:37I was at that business for 28 years.
36:39And I've seen some horrendous crime scenes.
36:42And this is one of the most horrendous
36:45in terms of the injuries done to Rhonda Maloney.
36:52When they found her, I was with my dad
36:55and I saw the look on his face.
36:58And all I remember is,
37:00I was like, I don't know what to do.
37:03And I saw the look on his face.
37:06And all I remember was screaming at him,
37:08no, don't, don't say anything.
37:10Because I knew as soon as I saw him.
37:13Her family was very much,
37:15all we want is for him to be convicted.
37:17And that, that's all we need.
37:19Robert Harlan goes on trial
37:21for the first degree murder of Rhonda Maloney
37:24and the attempted first degree murder of Jackie Carrazzo.
37:29In the autopsy, the toxicology report
37:33came back negative.
37:35This totally unravels Harlan's statement
37:37about selling this girl drugs.
37:40She doesn't use drugs.
37:42We presented evidence that showed
37:44that Harlan was a sociopath,
37:46that he was a predator.
37:48And it was the way of his life.
37:50The idea of surveilling and selecting a victim
37:53in advance makes it plausible
37:55that Robert Harlan followed Rhonda Maloney's vehicle
37:58after she left work at the casino.
38:03He caused a minor vehicle accident
38:05causing her to stop.
38:07She got out of her car to look for damage.
38:09He was able to get her into his car.
38:13Raping her at gunpoint for two hours.
38:19Jackie came around the corner.
38:21Jackie stops.
38:25And then it's a footrace.
38:29Robert goes running.
38:31Robert goes running towards them
38:33trying to stop them.
38:37Hence, in the process, lost his pager.
38:40Harlan fired at the car as he pursued it
38:43as they tried to escape from him
38:45until they crashed in the front yard
38:47of the Thornton PD.
38:53So he grabbed the victim again
38:55and dragged her out of that car
38:58back into his.
39:00He ended Rhonda's life that night
39:03and put her body in a place
39:05where he thought no one would ever be able to find.
39:09Obviously, the central piece in this case
39:12was Jackie.
39:14She was shot in the spine
39:16that caused her paralysis
39:18and she testified bravely.
39:22Incredibly detailed.
39:24And she testified to the fact
39:26Incredibly detailed.
39:28She's just amazing.
39:30The jury finds him guilty
39:32of first-degree murder
39:34of attempted first-degree murder
39:36first-degree sexual assault
39:38and second-degree kidnapping.
39:40Mr. Robert Harlan
39:42will spend his life behind bars.
39:46Robert Harlan never admitted
39:48to the murder of Jessica Arendando.
39:50There was never enough evidence
39:52found or presented
39:54to move anywhere forward
39:56with charging him with the homicide.
39:58If it had not been for his attorney
40:00we would have certainly
40:02gone and interviewed him.
40:04It left me with a feeling of frustration
40:06feeling of anger.
40:08We think he's involved
40:10but he has never admitted
40:12or even said anything about it.
40:14We keep on hoping
40:16that something will come up
40:18and we'll be able to
40:20know what really happened.
40:24I think this case
40:26was really important.
40:28It left me feeling
40:30really proud
40:32of everything that we had accomplished
40:34proud and sad
40:36because I didn't think Rhonda's family
40:38would ever really
40:40get over it.
40:42Her birthday
40:44I go up to the cemetery
40:46and I'll go sit and talk to her
40:48and I tell her
40:50all the time I love her.
40:53I miss her.
40:55I never want Rhonda
40:57to be forgotten.
40:59Robert Harlan
41:01is exceptionally dangerous.
41:03He is sociopathic.
41:05I don't believe that he sat
41:07still for six years.
41:09This guy is a sexual
41:11predator.
41:13I'm sure he committed other
41:15rapes in that interim
41:17but there's no proof that he did.
41:19You often hear people say
41:21there's good in everyone.
41:23I disagree.
41:25Not everyone.