See No Evil S13E04 The Girl in the Silver Truck
When Laura Pietscher, a 28-year-old resident of Sebring, Florida, turns up dead in a dumpster 90 miles away in Tampa, detectives turn to CCTV footage to trace her fatal journey and identify her murderer.
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00:00♪♪
00:08Champa 911.
00:09I'm looking at police here.
00:11What's the problem?
00:12My boy was doing it with a dead animal.
00:14It's a human person.
00:17They had located what they believed to be a dead female.
00:20Remember when she came into the restaurant?
00:22You know what I know. That was the last time.
00:24One way or the other, I was gonna get answers.
00:28Video will make or break the case.
00:31Everything about his behavior and the facts is suspicious
00:34and establishes him as the prime suspect.
00:36It was shocking.
00:38I was just blown away.
00:40♪♪
00:50♪♪
01:00♪♪
01:08What clothes do you want in here?
01:10Just have them all in there.
01:1428-year-old Laura Pitcher
01:16is helping her friend Angela Crippen move home.
01:20I can't think of a time that I needed help
01:23and she wasn't there.
01:25She was always there for whatever I needed.
01:29I met Laura in first grade.
01:32I was best friends with Laura for about 21 years.
01:36Some of these clothes are older than you.
01:38Yeah.
01:40She was very personable, always funny.
01:43She always kept me laughing from the day I met her.
01:46She was very outgoing.
01:48Even with her disability, it never stopped her.
01:55Laura was born with a deformity in her left arm.
02:01She had no elbow.
02:03Where her elbow would have been,
02:05her thumb and two fingers were.
02:08She progressed through her life
02:10from hating it to accepting it.
02:15I would almost say rejoiced in it.
02:19It was part of her unique persona.
02:23Laura grew up in Michigan.
02:25She moved to Sebring, Florida when she was 26.
02:29She went to Florida because her grandmother
02:32was getting older and couldn't take care of herself.
02:36So Laura, the big heart she has,
02:40quit her job, went down to Florida
02:45to be with her grandmother.
02:47Do you remember this girl?
02:49Oh, my God.
02:51Anytime I needed her for the kids,
02:53she would pick them up and take them shopping
02:55or come over and cook dinner.
02:58Laura was the kindest person you would ever meet.
03:01I'll finish this in the morning.
03:04Thanks for helping.
03:06I never would have guessed
03:08that would be the last time I saw her.
03:22It's the morning of Friday, October 19, 2018.
03:25The Tampa Police Department receives a 911 call.
03:28The location is a Latin food restaurant.
03:35I saw a lot of lights around and I called my boss.
03:39The 911 caller reports a foul odor
03:42coming from underneath a headboard
03:44next to a dumpster in the restaurant parking lot.
03:56They had located what they believed to be
03:59a dead female underneath the headboard.
04:01They're coming, they're coming.
04:03Send the phone to the police station, okay?
04:09Detective Cholmek of Tampa Bay PD arrives at the scene.
04:14The victim was found laying face down.
04:20She was partially nude.
04:25And there had been a plastic bag placed over her
04:28before the headboard had been placed over the body as well.
04:33She was found in a dress.
04:35However, the dress had been pulled down below her breast.
04:38She also had a pair of shorts
04:40that appeared to have been removed from her
04:42and left between her legs.
04:44There's her strap that's tied around her hands
04:47in order to bind her hands behind her back.
04:51Inside the dumpster, they found a clear plastic bag
04:55that contained personal items,
04:57most important of which were pieces of mail
04:59as well as a wallet
05:01that ultimately had a Florida identification card.
05:07The lady was identified as Laura Pitcher.
05:11We established that she's not actually local to the Tampa area
05:14and lives in a town that's about two hours away
05:17called Sebring, Florida.
05:20Why is she here?
05:22It's not a place that you would commonly go back and forth from.
05:26Further investigation reveals that Ms. Pitcher has a pickup truck.
05:30It's a silver Toyota Tundra that she is known to drive.
05:35Laura's pickup is missing from the crime scene.
05:39It's possible that she came to Tampa in that truck.
05:43The truck is entered into law enforcement databases
05:46reported as a stolen truck
05:48in case any law enforcement officer anywhere should find it.
05:54Investigators interview the restaurant's manager.
05:58The owners of the business had had the parking lot cleaned
06:01two days before on Wednesday.
06:04The body is then found on Friday morning.
06:06We know that this body has to be placed there
06:08somewhere between Wednesday and Friday.
06:11Sweep the area for cameras.
06:12Sure.
06:14They're looking to see if there's video that documents
06:17whatever may have happened.
06:20Surveillance footage will typically make or break a case,
06:23but Tampa police officers were not able to find anything of value
06:26regarding the placement of the body
06:28or who might have been involved.
06:35Meanwhile, the medical examiner performs the autopsy on Laura's body.
06:42She had clear marks in the area of her neck and throat
06:45that showed that she had been strangled
06:47by some sort of thin object like a rope.
06:51And other signs on Laura's body help to pinpoint when she died.
06:56By the time the body had been discovered,
06:58it had entered decomposition,
07:00and that compromised any chance of discovering
07:03whether or not there was any sort of DNA
07:05that would have substantiated some sort of sexual crime.
07:10The skin was discolored,
07:12and it was clear that the body had been on the ground
07:14at least for several hours, if not a couple days.
07:17The medical examiner concludes that Laura died on Wednesday,
07:21two days before she was found.
07:27Police, 1,200 miles away in Michigan,
07:30break the news to Laura's family.
07:34We'll remember that forever.
07:37What's going on?
07:38I knew when an officer comes to your door at 8.30 at night,
07:42something not good was up
07:45when he said that she's a homicide victim.
07:48That's when I kind of lost it.
07:52It was shocking.
07:54I was blown away.
07:57Oh, it was just overwhelming.
07:59I mean, that's something no parent should ever have to hear.
08:05She was so sweet, always smiling.
08:09I loved her so much
08:11that I can't imagine who would want to kill Laura.
08:17I found out from her father
08:20that I don't believe I ever cried harder in my life
08:24than he told me.
08:26I lost my mom when I was a kid,
08:28and I don't think I cried as hard as I did
08:31when I heard the news of Laura.
08:36Laura's parents make the 20-hour drive
08:38from Michigan to Sebring
08:41to grant investigators access to Laura's trailer.
08:45We'd driven all night.
08:47I had opened the doors,
08:49and they were looking to see if it was involved
08:52in any part of the crime.
08:54They came and went through the house
08:57to see if anything was out of the ordinary.
09:03They found nothing there whatsoever.
09:06Nothing had a place here.
09:08They checked to see if the truck was anywhere to be found,
09:12but the truck was not found there.
09:16Investigators piece together
09:18Laura's movements before her murder.
09:21There doesn't appear to be any clear idea
09:23as to why Laura is in town.
09:26Her appearance in Tampa is completely unexpected.
09:29Detective Cholnik secures the records for Laura's cell.
09:34There was phone calls between the hours
09:36of roughly 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock
09:38in the morning on Wednesday.
09:40When she said,
09:42When she stops being active on the cell phone,
09:44that's obviously an indication
09:46of when something may have gone wrong.
09:49The records reveal that Laura called a man
09:51named Vidal Cortez twice on Wednesday morning.
10:01Have you ever heard of the name Vidal Cortez?
10:05Laura's friends reveal that he is Laura's on-off boyfriend.
10:09Do you know how we can get a hold of him?
10:12No.
10:13That's fine.
10:15The four investigators can track down Vidal.
10:18You get a break.
10:23Hey.
10:24The Toyota Tundra is reported as being involved
10:28in an incident here in Tampa.
10:31Laura's truck has been seen
10:33at a convenience store in the city.
10:36We've got a sighting of the pickup.
10:43Detectives race to the store,
10:46three miles from where Laura's body was discovered.
10:50You made a report about a man in a Toyota truck?
10:52Yeah.
10:53We're going to need to see that footage.
10:57Start it when he arrives.
11:06♪♪♪♪
11:16♪♪♪♪
11:22Hold it.
11:26Zoom in there.
11:32That's her truck.
11:33Okay, keep playing.
11:36♪♪♪♪♪
11:46♪♪♪♪♪
11:54Who are you?
11:56♪♪♪♪♪
12:02♪♪♪♪♪
12:09Is that the guy you reported?
12:11Yeah, that's him.
12:13A man gets out of the passenger side
12:16of Laura Pitcher's pickup.
12:19Someone else is driving her vehicle.
12:23Okay, keep playing.
12:26♪♪♪♪♪
12:36He's keeping his head low.
12:38He knows he's on camera.
12:40Can you pick him up inside this drawer?
12:43♪♪♪♪♪♪
12:52Punch it on his face.
12:54♪♪♪♪♪♪
13:02Anything clearer?
13:04It's the best I can do.
13:06The image is too grainy to make out his face.
13:11Why'd you report him?
13:13I've had a lot of theft lately,
13:15and this guy was acting kind of weird.
13:17Follow him back out the store.
13:20♪♪♪♪♪♪
13:29The man returns to the passenger side of Laura's truck.
13:34There's still no clear view of the driver on the CCTV.
13:40Did you see the driver?
13:42No.
13:43We're gonna need a copy of this.
13:47♪♪♪♪♪♪♪
13:51Barely an hour later, patrol officers locate Laura's pickup.
13:55It was a pursuit by the Tampa Police Department.
13:58The truck was eventually found on the roadway.
14:01It looked like it had been involved in a minor accident.
14:04The person in the truck identified himself as Calvin Gary,
14:07who's seated in the passenger seat.
14:11There's nobody in the driver's seat.
14:13There's a pair of shoes that are left behind,
14:17and it's obvious that the driver of the truck has fled.
14:21Now they start searching Mr. Gary.
14:25He's wearing an ankle monitor because he's on probation.
14:29The truck is impounded by the Tampa Police Department
14:33and collected as potential evidence.
14:37Calvin Gary sustains minor injuries in the crash.
14:41Investigators question him at the hospital.
14:44We know the truck doesn't belong to you.
14:47What were you doing inside it?
14:48Mr. Gary says that the truck has been in the possession
14:51of somebody he knows by the nickname of Hot.
14:54Hot had recently arrived in the area,
14:56and they were gonna do a beer run, as he calls it,
14:59to try and get a hold of Calvin.
15:02He says he doesn't know anything about Laura,
15:05has no idea about what happened to her.
15:08What's Hot look like?
15:09He's able to provide a sort of general description.
15:12He tells the law enforcement that he's a male,
15:15he's African-American, and that he's relatively shy.
15:18He says that he's a man.
15:20He says that he's a man.
15:22He says that he's a man.
15:24He says that he's a man.
15:26He says that he's a man.
15:28He says that he's a man.
15:30He says that he's a man.
15:33He says that he's a man.
15:35He doesn't know anything.
15:37He says that he's a man.
15:39He says that he's a man.
15:41He says that he's a man.
15:43About 30 minutes later,
15:46Mr. Gary tells the police that they're looking
15:48for a man that looks African-American
15:51and that he's relatively short.
15:54Do you know where we can find him?
15:57in sort of a bushy area, out of view.
16:00Can you come on out here and speak with us, please?
16:02Come on. Let's go.
16:05He had on a shirt, a pair of pants,
16:07didn't have any shoes on.
16:09What's your name?
16:10The suspect is uncooperative.
16:11He won't even identify himself
16:13at the request of law enforcement.
16:15All right, come on over to the vehicle with us, please.
16:17They believe him to be hot
16:18based on the description by Calvin Gary.
16:20This is obviously someone they really want to talk to.
16:24Sit.
16:26Law enforcement uses what's called rapid ID.
16:29They can take, like, a fingerprint off the person
16:31and feed it into the system.
16:36Potts' real name is revealed.
16:39Gary Daniel.
16:43Mr. Daniel had an extensive criminal history.
16:46He'd actually been to prison three times previously.
16:49He'd been there five times.
16:52He'd been there for drug dealing, drug possession,
16:55robbery, and other violent crimes.
16:58He's from Sebring.
17:00Mr. Daniel is from the Sebring area,
17:03which is the same hometown that Laura is from.
17:06They believe that he's the driver of Laura's truck,
17:09given the fact that he is suspiciously
17:11not wearing any shoes,
17:13when shoes are left inside the truck.
17:16So all of those things raise
17:18a tremendous amount of red flags for him as a suspect.
17:23There isn't a sufficient amount of evidence
17:25to charge him with this homicide,
17:27so he's released, but he remains a person of interest.
17:31You're free to go. Come on.
17:43Investigators switch their focus to Calvin Gary,
17:47the man that Gary Daniel drove in Laura's truck
17:50on a beer run.
17:53Because Calvin Gary was wearing an ankle monitor,
17:56it's possible for law enforcement
17:58to go back and track his movement.
18:01I've got Calvin Gary's GPS.
18:03It confirms that he's never in Sebring, Florida,
18:06and also that he's not at the scene of the dumpster
18:08where Laura's body is ultimately found.
18:13He's not our guy.
18:15Calvin Gary is removed as a possible suspect.
18:18He has pretty much an airtight alibi
18:20thanks to the ankle monitor.
18:23Meanwhile, detectives trace
18:25Laura's on-off boyfriend, Vidal Cortez.
18:29I'm a detective with Tampa PD.
18:31When did you last hear from Laura Pichero?
18:34Vidal explains he was working in another county
18:37at the time of Laura's murder.
18:40That rules him out as a suspect.
18:44But he does know that Laura visited the Wild Hog Bar
18:47in Sebring on the evening of Tuesday, October 16th.
18:52Okay, great. That's a big help.
19:02Investigators head over to talk to the bar's manager,
19:05Joel Crosby.
19:06I'm a detective from Tampa. This is my partner.
19:10Do you recognize this woman?
19:13Yes. That's Laura.
19:16Laura and I were friends through the neighborhood,
19:18and she came here for a bite to eat all the time.
19:20I heard what happened.
19:22She felt like part of the family to me,
19:24but I took this one personal.
19:27I wanted to know. I wanted answers.
19:29And I was damned. I was going to get some answers
19:31one way or the other. I was going to get answers.
19:33When's the last time Laura was in?
19:35Tuesday night, 16th.
19:37She came into the restaurant dressed to the nines.
19:39She looked great coming in.
19:41She had that smile and her makeup on.
19:43Little did I know that was the last time.
19:47Do the cameras work?
19:49Yeah.
19:50The detectives were able to discover that the business
19:53had surveillance cameras inside
19:55that record what's transpiring inside the bar.
19:58We need to see the footage from those.
20:00The detectives wanted to get the video,
20:02and we just rolled back from the night that she came in.
20:11That's her.
20:42Zoom in.
20:49Laura's wearing the same dress that she's ultimately found in
20:52when her body is discovered.
20:54Show me the angle from behind the bar.
21:02She sat there. She didn't have any alcohol or anything like that.
21:05The waitress that was working at the time gave her her beverage
21:08and brought her dinner to her,
21:10and the two of them were chatting away.
21:14There's nobody bothering her or anything that aroused suspicion.
21:18She only talks to the waitress?
21:20No.
21:22No patrons?
21:24She was sitting at the bar alone,
21:26and the only conversation she had was with the waitress
21:28until it was time to go.
21:30What time did she leave?
21:32She probably stayed there, I'd say, a matter of hours.
21:35And then she left probably close to 11 p.m. at night.
21:40Any idea where she went?
21:42She was going downtown to meet the other girlfriends
21:45and whoever else might be going.
21:48A patron later revealed to Joel
21:50that he'd seen Laura with a man
21:52four hours after she left the Wild Hog.
21:57He said, I saw her with Shorty.
22:01I said, Shorty?
22:04I said, Shorty? Who's Shorty?
22:06He says, you know, little dude.
22:08What time was that at?
22:10About 2.45 in the morning.
22:12He saw her at the convenience store gas station
22:14on the other side of town
22:16and happened to see Laura sitting in her pickup truck.
22:20So this was Wednesday morning?
22:22Okay.
22:23She stayed in the truck.
22:25He had the conversation with Shorty inside the store,
22:27and he said Laura and Shorty left together.
22:30And she was okay at that point?
22:32Yeah.
22:33Did he say anything else?
22:37The eyewitness doesn't describe Laura
22:39as in distress or crying or injured
22:42or anything at that point.
22:44You've been a great help.
22:46Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
22:55Hi there.
22:56We need to take a look at your security footage.
22:59Yeah.
23:02Cue up last Wednesday morning.
23:05Start at 2.30.
23:09Show me the camera that covers the cash register.
23:29Stop there.
23:35I know you.
23:42It becomes fairly clear
23:44that Gary Danielle is inside the gas station.
23:51The eyewitness is there with him.
23:59They're clearly having some sort of pleasant conversation.
24:07Gary Danielle buys some tobacco
24:10then leaves the store.
24:15Now switch to the camera that covers the outside.
24:30That's the witness walking to his car.
24:37There's Laura's pickup.
24:38It's up in the left-hand corner there.
24:40Okay, punch in and play it again.
24:55The footage shows Laura's truck
24:57reversing out of the parking spot
24:59before it pulls onto the highway.
25:04There it goes.
25:06The truck is there but you can't specifically tell
25:09whether or not she's inside of it
25:11and what she's doing inside of it.
25:14So all you can see is the truck.
25:16But all of this corroborates the story told by the eyewitness
25:20who said he specifically saw Mr. Danielle
25:23and Ms. Pitcher together at that gas station
25:25in the Sebring area on the early morning of Wednesday.
25:34Mr. Danielle is now certainly the suspect
25:37confirmed by the fact that just two days
25:39after Laura's body turns up,
25:41Mr. Danielle is now driving the truck in Tampa.
25:47Meantime, Laura's parents lay their daughter to rest.
25:52We had had her body cremated.
25:55And then we took her ashes
25:58and went to the Peace River.
26:02Laura had put Grandma's ashes into the river.
26:07Of course, we thought Laura would be someday
26:10putting our ashes there in the Peace River.
26:12We sure didn't think we'd be putting them in.
26:15And Art asked me to step up and do the honors.
26:17And I took off the boots, rolled up the pants,
26:19and I walked into the water.
26:21And I put some of the ashes under a little raft
26:23and let the ashes go in the stream.
26:26It's always talked about swimming with the dolphins.
26:32So the Peace River empties into the ocean.
26:37That's a place where the dolphins swim up in there.
26:40And we always said, there you go, Laura.
26:44You're going to swim with the dolphins.
26:49And I whispered to her,
26:53we're going to get them.
26:54I said, we're going to get them.
26:56I vowed to make sure we got them.
27:04Investigators analyzed the items recovered from the dumpster
27:08for evidence that connects Gary Daniell to Laura's murder.
27:13There was an ATM receipt that was partially torn.
27:16But that ATM receipt had information contained on it
27:19that allowed law enforcement to pinpoint
27:21to one particular ATM at a gas station
27:24in Hillsborough County near Tampa.
27:27A tag reader near to the gas station
27:29captures Laura's truck at 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday,
27:3312 hours after she was last seen in Seabury.
27:38I think I brought something. Let's go.
27:48And so law enforcement go to a Circle K
27:50where the ATM is located.
27:53The gas station CCTV could reveal
27:56who dumped Laura's body in Tampa.
28:01We need to take a look at your security footage
28:03from last Wednesday.
28:07Okay, start it from 3 p.m.
28:14We're looking for a silver Toyota pickup truck.
28:20Okay.
28:29Hold it.
28:35That's Laura's pickup.
28:37Okay, keep playing.
28:39Have you got any other angles on this truck?
28:54Okay, keep playing.
28:57I need to see who gets out.
29:02Okay, keep playing.
29:08Keep playing.
29:09Keep playing.
29:37That's Gary Danielle.
29:40Okay, switch to the interior.
29:56Danielle withdraws cash from the ATM.
30:05He then buys a soda.
30:09Okay.
30:16And leaves the store.
30:20Switch back to the exterior.
30:30Stop there and punch in.
30:35Can you see anyone in there with Gary?
30:39No.
30:46I can't see her.
30:48What's not seen is Miss Pitcher.
30:50She's not seen inside the store.
30:52She's not seen outside the store.
30:54She's not seen in the truck.
30:56No point is Miss Pitcher anywhere to be seen.
31:00By this point, we're thinking that Laura Pitcher
31:02is already dead.
31:06He has her in the back of the truck
31:08and that he's just on the way ultimately
31:09to the place where he's going to dump the body.
31:18Investigators are building their case against Gary Danielle
31:22when he makes a surprise visit to the police department.
31:28Mr. Danielle chooses to show up
31:29at Tampa Police Headquarters on his own,
31:32unexpectedly saying he wants to talk to Detective Cholnik,
31:35not because he wants to talk about the homicide
31:38or about Miss Pitcher.
31:39Mr. Danielle is worried that he's going to be charged
31:41for maybe fleeing from law enforcement.
31:54Who does it belong to?
31:55I don't have any idea.
31:57Was there anything strange about the truck when you found it?
32:00Nope, everything was totally fine.
32:05And we was like riding around and we got pulled over.
32:10How long have you been in that truck?
32:11Like how many days?
32:13I can't, I can't even say.
32:16You're not sure how many days?
32:17No, ma'am.
32:18Okay.
32:19Trained detectives know to work into the matter slowly.
32:22They don't just jump out and say,
32:23do you know Laura Pitcher?
32:25Did you kill her?
32:27They establish little facts piece by piece.
32:30Have you left at all from Tampa when she came here?
32:33No.
32:34Haven't gone anywhere?
32:36Not back to Sebring, nowhere else?
32:38All right.
32:39Let me show you a picture.
32:41Does this girl look familiar to you?
32:44No, ma'am.
32:46What are we getting at?
32:48We're getting at the fact that that truck
32:50actually belongs to a girl from Sebring,
32:53right where you're from.
32:54He says, no, I don't know her.
32:56They ask him, did you ever encounter her
32:59while you were in Sebring?
33:00No, he doesn't know her from Sebring.
33:02Okay, I got you on video
33:04at the Shell station in Sebring last week.
33:06Not in Tampa.
33:08Okay, in her truck.
33:10With her.
33:12And ultimately I find her like this in Tampa.
33:15How do we go from she's alive with you in Sebring
33:18to she's not alive here in Tampa?
33:20I don't know where we're going with this
33:23and I don't want to say nothing
33:24to get myself in trouble.
33:26I've been truthful.
33:28Ultimately, he decides he doesn't want to say anything further
33:31and that's the end of that.
33:33Everything about his behavior and the facts is suspicious
33:36and establishes him as the prime suspect.
33:40But detectives lack the physical evidence
33:42that will prove to a jury that Danielle murdered Laura.
33:46There is a set period of time
33:48in which a person must go to trial.
33:50That clock starts ticking when the arrest is conducted.
33:53As law enforcement in this case
33:55is still waiting for forensic evidence to come in,
33:58they're going to sit and they're going to wait
34:00for those results to come in
34:02before an arrest is ultimately conducted.
34:05Prosecutors can't risk going to trial
34:07with a weakened case.
34:09So they decide to let Gary Danielle go.
34:13We don't want to give dangerous people
34:14the opportunity to escape and avoid prosecution.
34:17Sure, it's something that we worry about
34:19but in this case, it's the choice that we had to make.
34:22The forensics tests reveal drops of Laura's blood
34:25on the back seat of her pickup.
34:36And so based on that, Laura's body is likely
34:38in the back seat of the truck at some point
34:40after she's been killed and would have been bleeding,
34:43leaving her body in the back seat of the pickup.
34:47Investigators receive a forensics report
34:49on the items recovered from Laura's body.
34:55Look at this.
34:57We get DNA off of the strap on the back of the truck.
35:01It's a DNA sample.
35:03It's a DNA sample of the body.
35:06And we get a DNA sample of the body.
35:08We get a DNA sample of the body.
35:10We get a DNA sample of the body.
35:12And we get a DNA sample of the body.
35:14We get DNA off of the strap that is used
35:17to bind the victim's hands when the body is recovered.
35:21And that DNA is matched to Gary Daniel.
35:30The forensic evidence is building against Gary Daniel.
35:35What is also found is Gary Daniel's DNA
35:37underneath Laura's fingernails.
35:40We got him.
35:45With the DNA, the surveillance video,
35:47there is more than enough at this point
35:49to go ahead and proceed with charges.
36:01U.S. Marshals swoop on an empty apartment in Tampa.
36:08They break down the door to arrest their suspect.
36:12The defendant didn't say anything at that point.
36:15He's just exercising his right to remain silent.
36:17He's not saying anything.
36:20I was just glad that he was captured.
36:27Justice was going to be served.
36:32How wonderful.
36:34Gary Daniel is charged with first-degree murder,
36:37tampering with evidence, and theft of a motor vehicle.
36:42Once those charges have been filed, he proceeds to court.
36:46Prosecutors build a timeline of Laura's last hours.
36:51Based on the evidence, we believe that Laura Pitcher
36:53was in Sebring, Florida, on the night of Tuesday.
36:58She had been at the Wild Hog.
37:00And at some point, she had left that location.
37:09Just after 11 p.m., Laura heads to downtown Sebring.
37:14There, she parties at a bar with her girlfriends.
37:19In the early hours of Wednesday morning,
37:21she came into contact with Gary Daniel.
37:25Investigators believe Laura is still in Sebring.
37:28Investigators believe Laura agreed to give Daniel a ride,
37:31possibly in exchange for cash.
37:38Gary Daniel has never opened his mouth to tell us
37:40what really transpired that night.
37:43We don't have a clear picture on exactly why
37:45he was hanging out with Ms. Pitcher,
37:47where they were going, what they were doing.
37:51What we do know is that they ended up at a gas station,
37:54where the eyewitness specifically observed Ms. Pitcher
37:56still alive on Wednesday morning in the pickup truck,
38:01uninjured and unharmed.
38:04Within hours, Daniel attacks Laura in the back of her pickup.
38:10Laura Pitcher was killed by ligature strangulation.
38:14Pressure was applied until she chokes to death.
38:18Where that truck was at the moment
38:19that the life went out of her is uncertain.
38:24Prosecutors find no evidence of a sexual motive
38:26for Laura's murder.
38:31Twelve hours after Laura's truck was last seen in Sebring,
38:36CCTV captures it at a gas station 25 miles outside Tampa.
38:47Mr. Daniel goes into a gas station
38:50out in the Plant City area near the county line
38:52where he uses the ATM,
38:54creating the receipt that is ultimately found.
39:01Daniel drives on to Tampa.
39:04He hides Laura's body next to a dumpster
39:07in a restaurant parking lot.
39:11She's found two days later.
39:14Surveillance footage is very important
39:16because it undercuts the story that he tells.
39:19He says he had nothing to do with this.
39:22The fact that we could put Miss Pitcher
39:24and put the defendant together,
39:26he was driving around in Laura's truck
39:28hours before she is dead
39:30is a huge part of showing that Gary Daniel
39:33and only Gary Daniel is to answer for this crime.
39:41On August 24th, 2021,
39:44Gary Daniel accepts a plea deal
39:46with Florida prosecutors.
39:50He entered a plea of guilty to murder in the second degree.
39:53He was ultimately sentenced to 30 years in prison.
39:57He got 30 years,
39:59which isn't enough as far as I'm concerned.
40:03He killed a 28-year-old woman,
40:07so that's not fair.
40:13I am sure we could all agree it wasn't enough,
40:16but hopefully,
40:17he won't see life outside of bars again.
40:23It's had a great impact.
40:26Losing a child
40:31is not an easy thing to do.
40:34I miss her laugh.
40:36I miss her,
40:38Dad!
40:41I miss her.
40:42I miss her.
40:46Oh, so many things.
40:49Life's not fair.
40:51That's one thing we learned.
40:53Why such a beautiful person
40:57had to meet with that end
41:01is beyond my comprehension.
41:04Next time on CINO EVIL...
41:08The victim, he was not putting up any fight.
41:12I mean, what a heinous crime for a couple hundred dollars.
41:15There's no regard for human life.
41:17The video was critical.
41:19Oh!