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Stan Sessions
Focus features in Blumhouse Obsession.
Heather Frank's Friend
When I have a crush on a guy no one knows.
Stan Sessions
Be careful. I wish Nikki loved me more than anyone in the entire world. Who you wish for obsession is 96% fresh on rotten Tomatoes.
Narrator
I love you so, so, so, so much.
Stan Sessions
It's blood soaked nightmare fuel.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Brooke's blood you put on her.
Stan Sessions
You have been warned. Obsession. Rated R under 17. Animated without parent only theaters May 15 with special engagements in Dolby.
Reporter
Step into the 2020 True Crime Vault where each story is unforgettable. I have a dead body. When you did see the body, what was your impression of what had happened to Scott Sessions?
Detective Donnie Robbins
There was rage involved in it. Absolute horror that somebody could be treated that way.
Heather Frank's Friend
The body had been wrapped in plastic sheeting. It was a man. And his head had covered and duct taped as well. And his body had been burned.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
And I was like, what?
Stan Sessions
We found your son. He is deceased.
Scott Sessions' Friend
It was like somebody had punched me in the gut.
Reporter
At this point, police are scrambling for
Stan Sessions
clues,
Reporter
anything that might lead them to Scott Sessions killer.
Detective Donnie Robbins
What about girlfriends?
Stan Sessions
He had a hell of a track record there.
Heather Frank's Friend
He became very jealous, really angry.
Stan Sessions
When they find a guy like him that they fall for, then they gotta start remaking that he was not to be changed.
Scott Sessions' Friend
You meet somebody that you think might be a great person to start dating and then all of a sudden your life is gone.
Reporter
But before it's all over, there'll be a second body.
Narrator
It's hard to hide blood when it's everywh.
Band Member
We had a sold out two night concert at Candlelight Dinner Playhouse. It was February 10, 2020. It was a Monday night. Scott Sessions was in my Elvis tribute band. He was a trumpet player.
Scott Sessions' Friend
I had been promising Scott for months that I would make it to one of his gigs. We bought our tickets the minute they went on sale. And I was gonna get to see Scott play for the first time in forever. It was pretty exciting.
Band Member
As he got closer and closer to start time, you know, Scott wasn't there.
Scott Sessions' Friend
It was weird because Scott had failed to show up for the gig. Something Scott doesn't do.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He was always ridiculously early to the gig and always ready to go, dressed, looking good.
Band Member
When the curtain opened and he wasn't there, we thought, well, maybe he'll show up in a little bit. And if I remember correctly, it was
Scott Sessions' Friend
starting to snow, it was snowy, it was cold. Scott didn't show up.
Band Member
In the back of my mind, I had a bad feeling.
Scott Sessions' Friend
We were all trying to figure out what had happened.
Reporter
Our story begins here. In Greeley, Colorado. It's about an hour north of Denver and it's a community built on catt oil and agriculture, but one that has a thriving blue scene.
Band Member
Greeley, Colorado. We're about 115,000 people, primarily agricultural.
Scott Sessions' Friend
We have been known for our beef in this area forever.
Band Member
People are friendly and it has a small town feel.
Scott Sessions' Friend
We're located in this pristine little valley where we have the best of both worlds.
Reporter
53 year old Scott Sessions grew up here in Greeley. He was part of the local music scene. He played his trumpet at some of the local bars here. But some say that his personality played louder than his horn.
Stan Sessions
He started playing probably eight or nine. There's a picture with a trumpet holding it across his chest. That trumpet's bigger than. His
Forensic Analyst
high school teacher said, hey, you
Reporter
ought to play in the jazz group. And I think at that time he really started getting interested in playing the trumpet.
Scott Sessions' Friend
When he put that trumpet to his lips was whoo. I've known Scott since high school. We've been friends for the last 40 years. He always wanted everybody to be happy and to get along.
Reporter
He was a very caring person. He cared about people, cared about helping others out.
Stan Sessions
Scott was very much a people person. He was just a good guy.
Scott Sessions' Friend
Music made him larger than life.
Stan Sessions
He was always on.
Detective Donnie Robbins
There was no off switch with Scott Sessions. He was a very loud and explosive personality and that's what made him great on stage.
Heather Frank's Friend
He played the trumpet in a Denver based band called the Movers and Shakers.
Reporter
This song is called High Rod Helen. It's incredible when you watch video of Scott performing
Band Member
when he was up on stage, he had the facial expressions, he had the body movement, like when he was really hitting those high notes when they kind of crunched down and got the look on their face, he really got into the music.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Scottish sessions on the Choppa Jones Scott
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
and I met in January of 2018 at a gig of his. He was nice and thin and in shape and, you know, he had this, you know, strong arms and yeah, he was very cute.
Reporter
Scott's former girlfriend agreed to do an interview, but she asked that we not use her name.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
Scott's really good at love and he's good at expressing love. He's really good with his words and he would sing me songs, just all those romantic things. When Scott played up on stage, you know, women would grab his butt or try to kiss him. I always called him fangirls.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Our band, the movers and Shakers, it just exploded out of the gates.
Scott Sessions' Friend
They were competing in competitions and winning them. And they were really beginning to go somewhere.
Band Member
When my band started to do bigger concerts, we added a horn section and Scotty was my trumpet player for many years. Best trumpet player, Mr. Scott Sessions. He loved live performances. Scott loved being up on stage. He loved being part of a group of musicians.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
Scott could lose his left leg and he would still show up to a gig.
Reporter
Scott was always known to be reliable, so it stunned his friends and bandmates when he he didn't show up for his sold out concert.
Stan Sessions
It was Tuesday morning, I get a call from George Gray and I said,
Band Member
hey, Scott didn't make it to the gig last night. And he said, well, that's strange.
Reporter
Turns out that's not the only thing he missed.
Band Member
They had made plans to go see his mom. His mom wasn't doing well with her health.
Stan Sessions
He never came out. And I didn't give it any shit thought. Those guys stayed up late or something
Band Member
and he thought maybe he just slept in. I said I'm going to go over to his house and see if he's okay.
Stan Sessions
Then George said, I'm kind of. I'm really worried about him. I don't know, something might have happened.
Band Member
His father met me there. So I checked in the garage and Scotty's car was not there.
Scott Sessions' Friend
The snow hadn't been shoveled, the cat hadn't been fed.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Scott was very particular about taking care of his cat.
Investigator
It was the one thing that could
Detective Donnie Robbins
get him to leave a party. As if his cat needed attention.
Scott Sessions' Friend
Something was clearly wrong.
Detective Donnie Robbins
There'd been a snowstorm. Maybe he went off the road somewhere
Investigator
while he's going for a drive in the mountains.
Stan Sessions
I went to the police department and filed a missing persons report. And that was about new niche. As that day went on and we were all putting stuff on Facebook and texting his number. Hey man, we're getting worried about you. You know what's going on, you know we're concerned. I got a phone call from the police department. They said, would you be willing to come in? The detective would like to visit with you.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I'm on the Pingree park road and I have a dead body.
Reporter
I'm in Poudre Canyon in the heart of the Colorado Rockies and it was just down there that a snowplow driver sees something smoldering burning up on the hillside.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I'm on the Pingree Park Road at the Monument Gulch exit and I have a dead body.
Heather Frank's Friend
Okay, we'll get help on the way. Are you able to provide any details?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Well, there was a Tree on fire.
Band Member
And I went up to put it
Detective Donnie Robbins
out and he's laying next to it.
Heather Frank's Friend
Okay.
Detective Donnie Robbins
And you believe he's got any help? Yeah, he's definitely passed away.
Forensic Analyst
He thought somebody had been out there camping and had left a campfire. And so he was going to go throw some snow on it and make sure that he put out whatever fire was there. When he got close to the plume of smoke, that's when he realized this was a body.
Heather Frank's Friend
The body had been wrapped in plastic sheeting. It was a man. And his head had been covered and duct taped as well. He was found next to a smoldering log and his body had been burned.
Reporter
Driving out here, this is as remote as it gets. The nearest store, much less house, is miles and miles away. Everywhere around us is just trees, forest and snow. Detective Justin Atwood took me to the very spot where that snowplow driver made the deadly discovery. So he literally walked up this pretty steep embankment here from down below.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Exactly.
Reporter
Clambers up here to this smoldering log.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Absolutely. And then gets surprised when he realizes that there's a body. It shocked him. It scared him.
Investigator
It had been intentionally burned. It had been wrapped in plastic, and that plastic had been bound in duct tape.
Stan Sessions
I got a phone call from the police department. They said, the detective would like to visit with you. I should have known something was not right. On the Sunday morning when he didn't come to go see his mom, we
Detective Donnie Robbins
wanted to make sure that we made contact with Stan as soon as possible.
Stan Sessions
So it was about 4:35 o' clock
Forensic Analyst
when
Stan Sessions
the detective said, we found your son. He is deceased.
Reporter
Stan immediately broke the news of Scott's death to his ailing wife.
Stan Sessions
She said, who would want to kill my Scotty?
Detective Donnie Robbins
It's a very difficult thing to tell somebody that their loved one's deceased. Emotionally, it's difficult.
Narrator
In Greeley, the music community is mourning the loss of a gifted trumpet player. Sessions was found dead on February 10th
Heather Frank's Friend
by a snowplow driver in Bellevue. Mr. Sessions was ultimately identified with a fingerprint reader during the course of the autopsy.
Narrator
If you've been to a local bar that plays rock or soul recently, there's a good chance you've heard Scott Sessions on trumpet. Sessions body was found alongside a road in Bellevue.
Band Member
He was a person, you know, he had a soul, he had a smile,
Detective Donnie Robbins
he had a laugh. He was real.
Band Member
I mean, it's hard to describe. And now, you know, he's just a body.
Scott Sessions' Friend
George called and said that they had found a body in a remote area of the mountains outside of Fort Collins.
Stan Sessions
And my wife and I looked at each other and thought, no way.
Detective Donnie Robbins
No, that's not Scott.
Stan Sessions
It can't be.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He was found deceased, almost decapitated, and that his body was lit on fire.
Reporter
When you did see the body, what was your impression of what had happened to Scott Sessions?
Detective Donnie Robbins
It was very deliberate. There was rage involved in it. Absolute horror that somebody could be treated that way and then disposed of that way. No one deserves that.
Reporter
You don't get a lot of murders in Larimer county.
Detective Donnie Robbins
No.
Reporter
And here you have a body that's almost decapitated.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yes. This is probably the worst I've ever seen.
Scott Sessions' Friend
It was like somebody had punched me in the gut. There was a lot of regret that I hadn't made it to a gig sooner. A lot of regret that the world had just lost a very amazing man. We didn't know at that time who would. Who would have killed him. Something had to go terribly wrong.
Reporter
Okay, so where are we?
Detective Donnie Robbins
We're out in front of Scott Sessions residence in Greeley, Colorado. This is where he lived prior to his death. We came here to serve a search warrant.
Reporter
What kinds of things were you looking for?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Well, the first thing that we're looking for is a scene of a disturbance. It was your standard bachelor pad, Single guy living in there. It was fairly clean. It had some clutter to it and stuff like that. We were looking for blood. Was his vehicle parked in the garage? We tried to find a cell phone. One of the major things that we were looking for was his trumpet, his instrument that he played in the band, because he never went anywhere with without that trumpet.
Narrator
One theory was that Scott has been robbed and killed for his trumpet.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We were told that it was a very expensive trumpet. We started looking on databases, pawn shops, to try and find if there was a trumpet that was identical to Scott's that would have been sold. We actually found his trumpet in his house. It was in a closet. It ended up turning out to be a dead end.
Reporter
Investigators press on, desperate for clues that could point to a motive or the killer.
Investigator
They were kind of at a loss. They didn't have a suspect.
Narrator
It was important that investigators find out everything they could about their victim, Scott Sessions.
Stan Sessions
I was the last person he talked to before he died, And I get this call on a Saturday evening, and he said, dad, I'm back home, and I have a date tonight.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Are you going to need some water or something?
Stan Sessions
Okay.
Narrator
So obviously, they began questioning his friends and his family, including Scott's father, Stan.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Well, Obviously, this is a difficult time for you and your family, and we want to be as respectful as possible, but we also need to get to the bottom of what's going on.
Stan Sessions
He was an emotional guy, and if he fell in love with a woman, he went clear to the core. There was no holding back. And this was. This is kind of a flaw.
Detective Donnie Robbins
What about girlfriends?
Stan Sessions
He had a hell of a track record there.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He had a difficult relationship with a girlfriend that lived in Greeley. There was documented contacts with law enforcement, and there was a restraining order that was in the system.
Narrator
Scott had several tumultuous past relationships, and detectives wondered if one of them might have a motive to murder the popular musician.
Reporter
One day after Scott's body is found, his car appears out of nowhere. Who is this person driving a dead man's car?
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Investigator
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Detective Donnie Robbins
This was my first assigned homicide. There was a huge team that came together to work in this case. So we kind of prepared to not get any sleep for the next four or five days. In situations like this, there's a lot of stuff that you need to start doing. We started reaching out to his friends. Does he have any new associates? Anybody that nobody knows about? Does he have a secret girlfriend that nobody knows about type thing? There was a lot of things that we needed to do.
Narrator
While interviews with some key witnesses are happening, another set of investigators are busy analyzing data from local cell phone towers. What they're trying to do is pinpoint exactly where Scott Sessions may have spent the final moments of his life.
Forensic Analyst
The cell phone provider was constantly retrieving data from your phone. It's sending data to the cell phone provider as to the location of that phone.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Those records will also tell you last made phone calls, last received phone calls, or last known telephone numbers that you sent a message to. That tower is going to capture specific data.
Reporter
Scott's cell phone last pinged three miles away from his house in Greeley, Colorado.
Forensic Analyst
That was the last location where Scott's cell phone had been prior to his death.
Reporter
At this point, police are scrambling for clues, anything that might lead them to Scott Sessions killer. They have cops canvassing neighborhoods, and they find Scott's car here, right across from that King Supers.
Forensic Analyst
It looked like somebody else had driven Scott's car and potentially left it in the parking lot of the supermarket with the keys in it.
Heather Frank's Friend
One thing that was unusual was one of the floor mats from Scott's vehicle was found underneath the vehicle when the vehicle was originally located. And that floor mat was also processed for potential blood evidence. It tested positive on a screening test for blood. However, we were unable to get a DNA profile on that stain.
Detective Donnie Robbins
It was pretty evident to us that this was a vehicle dump.
Reporter
Police pulled surveillance video from the King's Super Supermarket and surrounding businesses, including an urgent care.
Forensic Analyst
And they were able to see the car pull into the parking lot. They were able to see somebody get out of the driver's side, walk around the car, and then ultimately walk away from the car on foot and leave the car in the parking lot. And that happened after they had already found Scott's body.
Detective Donnie Robbins
That was the first video that we had of our potential suspect. We needed to talk to every single one of his friends and find out who he's been hanging out with.
Reporter
Investigators talked to two of Scott's ex girlfriends.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Obviously, we're here because your dear friend Scott has passed away.
Heather Frank's Friend
Yeah, I like to go out and listen to live music. And he's a trumpet player. And I met him through that, dated for two years, and then I broke up with him.
Detective Donnie Robbins
And so during that relationship, you had indicated that there were some troubles and stuff like that.
Heather Frank's Friend
He became very jealous. We get really angry. So I decided for my own safety, I filed a restraining order. And that was for three months. He's really straightened out. He's the happiest I've ever seen him. That's why this is such a shock.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
A friend of his called me and she said, did you know Scott was missing? And I said, no. And then her next sentence, well, he was murdered. And I was like, what? We were on and off. It was pretty tumultuous. And so we were seeing each other for a little less than two years. When you would go do things with him, he'd hold you and he'd put his arm around you. I felt so safe and loved when I was with him. So this is the last message I ever received from Scott.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Hey, how's it going? I'd love to tell you all about Memphis. It was.
Stan Sessions
It was really fun. It was really cool.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We did really well.
Reporter
So anyways, give me a holler and stuff.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Hope you're having a great day.
Reporter
Talk to you soon.
Detective Donnie Robbins
See ya.
Stan Sessions
Bye.
Narrator
Little did she know that investigators were already eyeing her as a person of interest. They were collecting pieces of chewing gum and a hair sample from the ex girlfriend's trash. And there were a series of text messages and a 30 minute phone call between Scott and his ex just one day before he went missing.
Detective Donnie Robbins
So I'm very sorry that we're here, and this is going to be a very sensitive topic to discuss. We started to identify that there was a recent relationship, There was a restraining order that was in the system, and that they had an argument where the police were called. And we knew that her house was in the central part of Greeley.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
We dated consistently until he got arrested
Heather Frank's Friend
on July 15, 2018. There was a restraining order put on him.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
We had a big fight here at the house. We started yelling at each other. He ended up throwing coffee at me. I told him to get the f out of my house or I was going to call the police and he left. I was pretty agitated when he left, but I didn't think much of it. I started cleaning up, and then the cops showed up at the door. So he had called the police.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He reported himself.
Stan Sessions
He thought, she'll call and I'm going to get picked up. Well, he called and he got picked up. Anyway,
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
I wrote a nice letter to the judge. To me, it really wasn't that big a deal. I said, please help Scott resolve this situation. And so he solved it, and we moved on with it. You're talking to them, they're asking questions. You can tell they started getting distracted.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We were in the middle of that interview, and we get a knock on the door. We got to go right now. It was on Valentine's day, and we were out at the Weld county sheriff's office.
Reporter
Investigators are speaking with Scott Sessions, ex girlfriend.
Detective Donnie Robbins
This is going to be a very sensitive topic to discuss.
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
You know, they'd asked me if I had information on Scott, and then I could tell they started getting distracted. And then all of a sudden, they just cut the interview short. They're like, okay, thank you so much.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We get a knock on the door, and it says, you gotta go. We gotta go right now.
Reporter
After hours of questioning, Scott's exes, police get a new lead, one that would clear his ex girlfriends of involvement.
Investigator
They served a search warrant on 14 February on Scott's apartment. During that investigation, they actually found passwords.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I raced down to 35th Avenue in Greeley because we had broken into Scott's Facebook messenger and found out that at the same time that Scott was talking to his dad on the phone, Scott was having a Facebook messenger conversation with whom we identified as Heather Frank.
Narrator
Just a couple of weeks before his murder, Scott Sessions met a local Greeley woman named Heather Frank.
Investigator
Heather and Scott had exchanged multiple communications via Facebook messenger. They were talking about her attending some of Scott's concerts in particular. She had seen him perform, and she liked him. It was obvious that they had met in the past.
Forensic Analyst
What we discovered to be the beginning of the story, so to speak. January 24th, there was some Facebook communication between Scott and Heather. This seemed to be starting or developing between the two, and it seemed to be romantic in nature.
Reporter
The pair first connected over a shared love of music.
Stan Sessions
I met Heather at a club, and that's when Scott met her as well. It appeared she was very taken with Scott. She was a beautiful woman. I remember the look on her face when she was watching Scott. You know, it was like, you know, puppy dog Eyes, you know?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Now we are trying to understand Heather Frank's life. What is her lifestyle? Where does she work? There's a lot of stuff that we had to figure out at that point.
Reporter
When I met Heather's friends, they described her as a fun, loving, free spirit. Tell me how you knew Heather.
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
I seen her every two months for a haircut and a style, and we took her hair from blonde to red, and it was like four hour appointments. So it's just you and her usually.
Reporter
It's interesting in your line of work, you become kind of a therapist, right?
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
Oh, yeah. That's what my business card says, hair therapist. You put the hair color on and the truth serum comes out. She's very colorful, and she always had the best clothes. She's very friendly, very boisterous. Just a happy girl. Just super fun.
Reporter
Heather was a mom to three boys. Her eldest son, Alex, said the two were inseparable.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
She was pretty much like my best friend, and we did everything together. My mom and my dad got divorced in 2010, and after they separated, it was kind of rough. But us three boys always put a smile on her face.
Heather Frank's Friend
She would be there for me when I had hard times. She would just drag me out to go do fun things and get back in the swing of things.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
She was always blasting music. She loved it every time I'd come over. We'd always do dance parties, like little dance offs. She loved nature. She loved going camping.
Prosecutor
She worked as a server over at Doug's Day Diner. People loved her.
Heather Frank's Friend
I met Heather at Doug's. We worked together every single day for those three years. She didn't waste any time. I had been there for a week when she invited me to go out to a concert with her and have a really fun night. And from that point on, it kind of just grew. Every Thursday, girls night. We always look forward to that. That was our night. We'd start out, we'd go the same place or the same thing and just drink, eat, hang out and have fun. And if we got off work early enough, we'd just go walking around downtown Greeley. Little shops, little hole in the wall bars, just fun times. She did tell me that she had met somebody and he plays in a band and she really enjoyed going to listen to his music because it was jazz. She just said, met somebody, and I've been meeting him at this bar. It definitely just kind of seemed like a innocent little, I met somebody and I'm gonna hang out with them now. I didn't ask too many questions.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I remember Meeting Heather, he had brought her down to one of our gigs in Denver. He'd only met her a few weeks prior to when we'd gotten on this trip to go down to Memphis. He says, oh, there's this new girl
Investigator
that I'm talking to.
Reporter
So in the days leading up to his disappearance and murder, what were they exchanging, what were they saying in those messages?
Detective Donnie Robbins
They were very friendly with each other. They were making plans to hang out with each other. There was a point though, on 8 February where the tone of those messages changed. You could actually see the different tone. It was more of a, hey, let's connect, let's meet, come over to my house. It was a little bit more direct and demanding.
Narrator
At this point in the investigation, police are putting the pieces together and they realized that the date Scott told his father about on February 8th was actually with Heather Frank.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We were seeing that leading up to the last time that Scott had a conversation with his dad Stan, about 5:30 in the evening, almost 6:00 clock in the evening on February 8, was that he said, hey, dad, found the door that I'm going to and I'll talk to you later. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you. Talk to you later. And that was the last conversation that we know Scott to ever have.
Forensic Analyst
By that time, they had pulled the phone records for Scott Sessions and they had started to put those pieces of the puzzle together and realized that Scott Sessions phone had traveled to the area of Heather's apartment.
Investigator
It started pinging in the area of Heather's apartment. And they also knew that his phone had stayed there overnight. But at that time, the fact that his phone eventually dies in her apartment or gets shut off, one or the other, and they never found his phone was very telling.
Reporter
For detectives, police have zeroed in on Heather Frank as the last person to see Scott Sessions alive.
Detective Donnie Robbins
So we had to be very cautious about what our next steps were. We can't just go storming in there and say, hey, Heather, what are you doing? And what happened to Scott? I remember very vividly pulling into this cul de sac. There was a vehicle that was there that had some damage to the front of it, and it looked like it had driven in a snowstorm. It had very, very bright red dirt on the side of it.
Reporter
Authorities discovered this security camera footage.
Forensic Analyst
You can see the the car is driving westbound up the canyon heading towards Pingree Park.
Narrator
Where's this car going and could it lead to the killer?
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Detective Donnie Robbins
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Detective Donnie Robbins
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Narrator
Investigators seem to be on the right path with Heather Frank, and now they
Investigator
need to know more detectives. They can't say for sure that Scott Sessions died at Heather's apartment, but they can start watching behaviors.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We started writing cell phone data record warrants for Heather Frank at the same time we're doing this background check and finding out that she had a very difficult relationship with a subject, Kevin Eastman.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
Usually whenever she got into boyfriend, the first thing she would do is introduce us three to the person she was seeing in the beginning. Kevin. He was always very nice and always interested in our lives. Like, how was your day? How'd work go? You know, just trying to become closer with us.
Investigator
Kevin is an oil field worker. He had worked here in Greeley.
Reporter
Kevin was previously married and had a daughter. He'd been dating Heather for more than four, five years.
Heather Frank's Friend
Kevin probably proposed that I know of three or four times. She didn't want to be tied to that forever. But as hard as she tried to get away from him, it just got harder and harder every time. It seemed like.
Forensic Analyst
There were a number of police reports where she had been the victim of domestic violence at the hands of Kevin Eastman.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
She didn't want to continue talking him, but they'd still see each other from time to time. But it was until the end of the year of 2019, when she told us that she had finally told him that she's done.
Reporter
Despite telling friends and family otherwise, Kevin appeared back in heather's life in February 2020.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
My mom called and asked if me and my husband and my two brothers would all like to go out and eat. And I heard someone whispering in the background. Me and my husband, we didn't make it Neither did my brother Christian, my brother Blake and his girlfriend, they ended up going. After Blake came home, he told me that Kevin was back and he was there at dinner with them. This was after they posted on the news that there was a body found up in Peanree Park.
Narrator
So while Heather's family learned that Kevin resurfaced, police learned who owned that mysterious car that had been parked in front of Heather's apartment.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We identified that the vehicle that I had seen that had the mud on the side of it belonged to Kevin Eastman. It registered to him. So all this stuff was starting to come together that we're going down the right path that we need.
Investigator
Detectives decided they are going to now start to surveil them.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We wrote search warrants asking a judge to grant us permission to look at Kevin Eastman's cell phone as well. And when we got those records back, we started putting those records together and trying to look at the last known locations.
Narrator
Investigators realize that Scott, Heather and Kevin's phones are all in the same place at the same time. On February 8th, the night that Scott
Prosecutor
said Scott disappeared, all three cell phones
Detective Donnie Robbins
were in the same location at the same time. And then Scott's cell phone disappears. It's not registering anymore. At this point, Kevin Eastman and Heather Frank are both suspects in the disappearance and death of Scott Sessions. We got a tracker on Heather Frank's vehicle as well as Kevin Eastman's vehicle. We decided instead of having a law enforcement officer put parked on their street 24 hours a day, watching their front door, watching when they leave, we can put a pole camera on there and we can remotely watch.
Reporter
So you actually had a camera that you had the utility companies put up on that pole?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yes, almost to the top. It was attached, facing towards Heather's apartment, that building right there.
Prosecutor
They were hoping to figure out when they were coming and going and being able to follow them and do other things.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We had a tracker on the vehicle, so we were able to see they drove to Loveland, to Best Buy, to Victoria's Secret. Not a lot of information that they're involved in something.
Narrator
Police didn't notice anything suspicious while they're surveilling Heather and Kevin. But more data from their phone starts to come in and police get a big break in the case.
Detective Donnie Robbins
On the morning of the 9th, about 7 o' clock in the morning, we could see that Kevin Eastman's cell phone and Heather Frank's cell phone left her apartment at the same time and traveled the same path. The cell phones stopped pinging at Ted's place. Which is a gas station off of Highway 14 and Highway 287 in Larimer county, about the same time where you would go into the mountain and lose connectivity to your cell phone. Based off of the last known direction of travel of Heather Frank and Kevin Eastman's cell phone, we knew that this vehicle had to pass by the Mishawaka. The Mishawaka Amphitheater had cameras outside and we knew that we could get vehicle traffic traveling eastbound and westbound on Highway 14 going up to Pingree Park.
Forensic Analyst
The way the surveillance camera is positioned, it shows Kevin's Subaru passing the restaurant, going westbound up the canyon. And I think it was 8:37 in the morning.
Reporter
This footage shows Kevin's car driving toward the area. The body was found just three hours after Scott's cell phone dies at Heather Frank's house.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Same damage that I saw on his vehicle parked outside of Heather Frank's apartment was on the camera at the Mishawaka.
Forensic Analyst
Then we see what would appear to be his Subaru traveling the opposite direction. I think it was 11:30 or so later that morning. So there's about a three hour time frame where it looked like Kevin's vehicle was up in the canyon in the area generally of Pingree Park.
Detective Donnie Robbins
That was our third major break to this case. That vehicle passing by the Mishawaka, the cell phone records leading up to P. Pingree park and then going back to her apartment. We started writing warrants for people's arrests for the murder of Scott Sessions. On February 15, about 5:30 in the evening, we saw Heather Frank leaving her apartment with Kevin Eastman walking directly behind her.
Reporter
This is the moment that turned the case upside down. One of these people never be seen again.
Scott Sessions' Friend
It took everything I had to not scream. Why?
Detective Donnie Robbins
And I'm sure that you've seen stuff in the news about somebody disappearing from Greeley.
Scott Sessions' Friend
Our friend Scott was killed in one of the most brutal killings ever.
Reporter
They found him, but now someone else in the area is missing.
Investigator
Her children don't know where she's at. Her boss doesn't know where she's at.
Scott Sessions' Friend
That it had to be some sort of love triangle gone wrong.
Reporter
All they have is this one man to guide them in a six hour police interview unlike anything you've ever seen.
Stan Sessions
My head's gotten all screwed up.
Reporter
This is almost three hours in and he's alone in the room.
Stan Sessions
Please, your father. Let me help this man get to the bottom of this case.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Please.
Reporter
Do you think at this point that Kevin Eastman is dangerous?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Where was the blood at? It's wear it's where I was like,
Reporter
whoa, what really happened to Scott Sessions?
Stan Sessions
Oh, please.
Detective Donnie Robbins
No, it's not detailed. It's not detailed.
Stan Sessions
No, I don't want any of that.
Reporter
Do you think this is all theater? Somewhere among the 110,000 Greeley, Colorado residents, a killer roams free. Cops are on the hunt for Scott Sessions murderer, and they focus their attention on a waitress and a former oil rig worker. And that focus is thanks in large part to a camera pointed right in their direction. It's the day after Valentine's Day, about 5:30pm and Heather, Frank and Kevin Eastman come out of her apartment. They load into his silver Subaru.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Heather is carrying a jacket in her hands. She looks almost unsteady on her feet as she's walking out. They're not having a conversation, and she gets into the passenger side of the vehicle.
Reporter
One of them is never coming back. And this is a key moment in the case because it's being captured by a surveillance camera set up on a light pole across the street.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We have a pole camera up. We have trackers on the vehicle. So we decided that night that we're gonna go home now, our team's gonna power down for a night, get a good night's sleep, and that we were gonna come back to work the next morning at six, seven o' clock in the morning and start this case back up again.
Narrator
The plan is to arrest Frank and Eastman the following morning. But while the investigators are trying to get some rest, Kevin Eastman is not. He's driving far and wide until a rural area, and overnight he'll be making multiple stops. The first stop is to the home of a man named Troy Bunnell.
Investigator
Troy Bunnell runs his own trucking company, essentially. And Troy is always needing help and assistance with that. And that's actually how Troy and Kevin are connected. They used to work together in the past.
Detective Donnie Robbins
So I came to the office and Donnie Robbins called me, and he says some strange stuff happened overnight while we were sleeping. And we had a tracker that was going off on Kevin Ethan's vehicle all throughout the Pawnee Grasslands.
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
That concerned me enough that he is destroying evidence. I wanted to get out here and see what he's doing.
Reporter
Donnie Robbins is a no nonsense lawman who has spent a lifetime walk working Major Crimes. He's running this investigation. Do you think at this point that Kevin Eastman is dangerous?
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
Oh, yeah, for sure. Suspect him being armed, at least with a. With a knife, obviously, because of the way that Scott Sessions was murdered.
Narrator
In the early morning hours, the GPS tracker tells Robbins that Eastman's vehicle has been down by a river crossing. Not a bad place to get rid of evidence. So Robbins heads in that direction, but then he sees smoke. And the veteran investigators experience tells him where there's smoke, there's fire.
Reporter
And then you're thinking, oh, so that's
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
when I decided I probably needed to drive by there to see exactly what was going on with that smoke.
Investigator
Upon his arrest, arrival at Troy Bunnell's, he sees who he positively identifies as Kevin Eastman, wearing a baseball cap and tending this fire.
Detective Donnie Robbins
It's a very rural area. Some people burn their trash. What was uncomfortable is he couldn't see Heather Frank. He could see Kevin Eastman.
Forensic Analyst
The other thing about Donnie Robbins at that point, though, is he has no backup. He's out there by himself. He's not in a marked car. He's looking at a guy who's got
Stan Sessions
a warrant for murder.
Prosecutor
At that point in time, we don't even have a search warrant for that property.
Reporter
So while the suspect is occupied at the burn pit, Robbins makes a quick detour to survey that river crossing. But when he returns to the Bunnell property, Eastman is driving away, and the
Investigator
two cars actually pass each other. Lt. Robbins actually sees Kevin Eastman driving north on camp Kenner at 45.
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
I turned around and began to follow him, and we ended up going to a small town called Kersey.
Detective Donnie Robbins
And at that point is when Sergeant Robbins decided that he needed to make contact.
Reporter
It's early here@Phillips66. And until now, Sergeant Robbins has been keeping a safe distance as he finds follows Eastman. But earlier that morning, he had seen him burn something in that fire pit. And he's right there at the first gas pump filling a gas canister. And Robbins decides he cannot allow him to burn anything else.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He pulls in behind him at the gas station. Kevin is standing outside of his vehicle, and he's pumping fuel into a portable gas can.
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
Obviously already have burn pit over there that he's been burning something in. Scott Sessions body was burned. So I had, like I said, concerns that he was going to take that gas can and probably use it as an accelerant to destroy evidence of some kind.
Reporter
From the moment Eastman pulled in, security cameras captured it all. So you arrest him, you pull out your pistol.
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
Pull out my pistol.
Reporter
How far away are you from him?
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
10 yards, maybe.
Reporter
What'd he say?
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
He didn't say anything.
Detective Donnie Robbins
What do you say?
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
Sheriff's office. You're under arrest. Get on the ground. Mr. Eastman. I'm pointing my weapon at him. He's. He turns around and looks at me, and he gets on the ground. I go up and I handcuff him. I did search him, and on his person, he had a wallet, a substantial amount of money, and a fixed blade knife in a cargo pocket of his pants.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We later found out that there were shell casings to a.22 caliber rifle or handgun in his pocket.
Reporter
Did you ask him where's. Where's Heather? Where's your alleged accomplice?
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
After I advised him of Miranda, I asked him where she was at, and he wouldn't respond. We executed the search warrant on the Bunnell property. And then first contact we had with Troy Bunnell, we cleared the entire property, which was a garage, the house, and we didn't find Heather Frank, which I was concerned with at that point.
Narrator
Just because investigators can't find Heather Frank on the property doesn't mean. Means she's not there.
Reporter
And if Kevin Eastman knows where she is, he's not saying.
Stan Sessions
Where's Heather? What? Where's Heather? She's probably in Porter. She's not at work.
Investigator
Larimer County Sheriff's Office, they're serving a search warrant at Troy Bunnell's. They're getting a search warrant ready for. For Heather Frank's apartment, and they're also interviewing Kevin Eastman.
Narrator
So there's lots of things happening simultaneously with a bunch of questions that still need to be answered in a hurry. A Grayley man has been arrested in the murder of a northern Colorado musician.
Reporter
Complicating matters more, Heather Frank is not with Eastman at the time that he's picked up.
Investigator
Her children don't know where she's at. Her boss doesn't know where she's at. And in fact, in the investigation, they find out that not even Troy Bunnell has seen Heather Frank.
Reporter
So this is your office?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yes, we're at the Larimer County Sheriff's office. And this is the interview room where we had a conversation with Kevin Eastman
Reporter
for six and a half hours.
Detective Donnie Robbins
For six and a half hours, yeah. Your name?
Stan Sessions
Kevin Eastman.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Nice to meet you.
Reporter
Is he relatively calm at that point?
Detective Donnie Robbins
He's very calm. He's very polite. He's very cooperative.
Stan Sessions
My head's gotten all screwed up, so I had a crush. So, yeah, my memory's not always what it should be.
Narrator
During his interview, Eastman has this story about getting a head injury at work that caused all this memory loss. So much so he just cannot remember being read as right only about one hour earlier.
Reporter
How many times during that interview do you think he said, I don't remember, or I Can't remember.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Oh, I don't know. 30, 40, 50 times.
Stan Sessions
I know you don't believe that. I can't remember.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
I'm sorry.
Stan Sessions
I can't remember because I can't remember.
Narrator
But Eastman's mind is not totally blank. He is able to recall certain dates and times and conversations just as long as they have nothing to do with either Heather Frank or Scott Sessions.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Sunday the 9th. It snowed.
Stan Sessions
I remember it snowing a lot.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
Okay.
Reporter
That's kind of different from the guy who was warning you. I have a head injury and can't remember anything.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He's telling us that he can't remember things that happened two or three days ago, but he's telling me stuff that happened six weeks ago. He's starting to lose credibility with me at this point, the interview. And I'm sure that you've seen stuff in the news about somebody disappearing from Greeley.
Stan Sessions
Musician.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Is it a musician?
Stan Sessions
Yeah, he was a musician, yeah.
Reporter
Did his eyes drop when you mentioned Scott Sessions the first time?
Detective Donnie Robbins
This is a person that is hiding. He really does not want to be present in this conversation because he's very unconscious. He does not want to face me. He's hiding his face. He's hiding his emotions. He's hiding whatever his reactions are going to be.
Narrator
Some of the more interesting moments in this cat and mouse game come when the investigators briefly leave the room. But those cameras are still rolling.
Reporter
This is almost three hours in, and he's alone
Stan Sessions
in the room. Please, your father. Let me help these men get to the bottom of this case, please. My appointment was on the 6th.
Reporter
Do you think this is all theater?
Detective Donnie Robbins
It could be where he's actually feeling the stress of. He's taken a lot of deep breaths because I think he's starting to feel some of the pressure where this conversation is going. We're trying to get him locked into a timeline of events prior to Scott going missing. Up until this point, we have not really been in your face presenting facts that, hey, look, you need to tell us this stuff. We are getting very close to us transitioning from an interview into an interrogation. So you can see that I'm leaning in to apply that emotional pressure. I wanted to see what his emotional reaction would be to asking him to say Scott's name.
Stan Sessions
So you're saying that this musician guy.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Why don't you just say his name? You can say his name. Scott. You're having a hard time saying his name.
Reporter
He cannot utter the name. Scott Sessions.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yeah. He continued to say. Well, I didn't know the guy?
Stan Sessions
Yeah. I never did it to you.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He didn't want to say his name.
Narrator
Eastman appears to have this emotional breakdown when investigating investigators attempt to read him a transcript of the messages between Heather and Scott.
Stan Sessions
Oh, please.
Detective Donnie Robbins
No, it's not detailed.
Stan Sessions
It's not detailed. I don't know. I don't want any of that.
Reporter
Are you thinking that this is someone who is a clever criminal?
Detective Donnie Robbins
I think he's experienced. He knew exactly what he was doing. He had a plan. But we need to be completely honest with each other.
Stan Sessions
Okay, I can investigate.
Reporter
I can't be completely honest with you.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Originally he said that he wasn't there, that he didn't know anything about Scott Sessions. And then he says, I was in the scene and I started dry heaving.
Stan Sessions
You need the trash can.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Where was the big mess at?
Stan Sessions
I said, if you guys necks are any good, they'll be able to find it for sure.
Narrator
Many hours into this, back and forth.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Pick your head up and breathe. Okay?
Narrator
The one word that changes everything. Blood.
Stan Sessions
It had to be someplace serious for that amount of blood.
Detective Donnie Robbins
So there was a lot of blood there. Where was the blood at?
Stan Sessions
Everywhere.
Narrator
What Kevin Eastman is saying inside the interrogation room is shocking enough. But outside the room, another bombshell.
Troy Bunnell
According to the investigators, there was personal items half burnt in the pit. Something that was Heather's.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
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Reporter
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Heather Frank's Son Alex
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Heather Frank's Friend
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Narrator
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Heather Frank's Friend
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Narrator
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Detective Donnie Robbins
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Reporter
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Detective Donnie Robbins
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Heather Frank's Son Alex
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Detective Donnie Robbins
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Narrator
As Kevin Eastman continues to bend but not break in his interrogation.
Stan Sessions
I don't know, man. This is just crazy.
Narrator
Investigators are still hunting for Heather Frank. They don't know where she she is, but they do know where she is not. And that's her apartment. So they get a Warrant to search her property.
Heather Frank's Friend
Our job is solving puzzles using physical evidence. In the living room of the residence, there were some shopping bags near the sofa, which contained some paper towels, some cleaning products, and the box for a cell phone. I did observe a black commercial style rug in the entryway, and that did appear odd and out of place. Underneath that black commercial rug, I did see a large reddish brown stain that was consistent with the appearance of a blood stain. It did look like the blood stains were trying to be hidden from view of someone entering the apartment. That blood, as well as other blood stains located around that area of her living room were tested, and those blood stains came back to Scott Sessions.
Narrator
It's hard to hide blood when it's everywhere.
Stan Sessions
Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.
Reporter
And at some point during this background and forth with Kevin, the interview changes drastically.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yes, it does. You can see in some of these clips that Ryan had his cell phone out and he was getting text messages from other investigators as to, hey, we found out this information.
Reporter
So the first time you heard that Heather is dead is from hearing Ryan talk about it to Kevin?
Detective Donnie Robbins
That is correct. We found Heather, and Heather is in the same condition that Scott is. This.
Stan Sessions
It's time to start talk.
Detective Donnie Robbins
The information came in that Heather Frank was found deceased at Troy Bonnell's property. And it was like a baseball bat to my gut. I was like, whoa. And I was expecting something, but I wasn't expecting that.
Reporter
And that makes the actions or the inaction of investigators somewhat controversial when it comes to that video of Heather Frank leaving apartment. At the time it surfaces, Investigators are still piecing things together, trying to determine what is going on so they do not move in for an arrest. How'd you feel when you saw it?
Detective Donnie Robbins
To this day, I'm still conflicted. You're watching somebody drive away to their death. Could we have changed it or done anything differently? I don't think so. This is a very unfortunate, sad story. And I feel horrible for her kids, the fact that this happened to Heather. The unfortunate thing is that decisions that she made played into this situation and how it unfolded, and she did not deserve to die. It's very powerful image that you're seeing right now.
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
It was just so shocking because I was like, what? And I was just so confused. First she's wanted on murder, and then she ends up dead.
Reporter
Heather Frank had been shot to death. An autopsy would later conclude she was killed at close range with her body pressed up against a hard surface.
Investigator
I got a phone call from my boss telling me that they needed help at the scene. At that point, they had found a body on that property.
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
She had been wrapped up in plastic. She had felling wire around her.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Her body was found, and it was near the fire pit, and he had placed her underneath a piece of wood that looked like a big door.
Investigator
With the body being wrapped up, it made it even more suspicious. The fact that it was wrapped in plastic made it pretty comparable to the first murder that was involved in this case, and that was that of Scott Sessions.
Stan Sessions
Happy New Year.
Investigator
I assisted in the delivery of the notice for Heather's boys. They were all living together, and. And we all went with the coroner's office to deliver that crushing news.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
It was the morning of February 16th. The detectives came to the house, and they told us that they had found my mom.
Heather Frank's Friend
I answered the phone, I said, alex, are you okay? He said, yeah, I'm okay, but Mom's not. And I just started bawling. I said, please tell me she's still alive. And he said, I wish. I wish I could, or something like that. He says, it's so bad.
Narrator
Now, there are also some questions for the man who owns this property where Heather Frank's body was found and where Kevin Eastman was seen just hours earlier. So Troy Bunnell is brought in for
Detective Donnie Robbins
questioning that they found a body out on your property. They believe it's a female. So obviously, you know what we're thinking, that's Heather.
Troy Bunnell
Jesus Christ.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yeah, Yeah.
Troy Bunnell
I got nothing to do with this.
Stan Sessions
Okay.
Reporter
Bunnell says he was sleeping at the time Eastman was at the burn pit, had no idea what he was doing on his property. But investigators cannot take Bunnell at his word, especially after they learn about a missing gun from his garage. A.22 caliber.
Troy Bunnell
Well, they're saying that she was shot by a small caliber pistol. And it's, you know, that's what I had.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He's admitting that there's a gun on the tool chest, and we're searching the property. We served a search warrant in his house, and we're not finding this gun. Where is this gun?
Reporter
Whale also acknowledges Heather didn't care for him.
Troy Bunnell
She didn't like me for whatever reason. I think it's because I kind of have some words with.
Narrator
With Kevin, you know, back in his interrogation room. Kevin Eastman is implying that Troy knows more than he's letting on.
Detective Donnie Robbins
No more games, Kevin. Tell us what happened, okay? Tell us. You can tell us. Troy's gonna start talking.
Stan Sessions
That's okay. You guys go talk to him. He probably knows more than I do who's in the burn pit.
Narrator
But according to investigators, there are clues in the burn pit, clues that point to Kevin Eastman.
Troy Bunnell
There was some personal items that they found half burnt in the pit that appeared to be something that was Heather's, possibly. You know, they had asked me, you know, days later when they were doing their investigation if I had disposed of, you know, lipstick and makeup. And I think there was a hairbrush and something else. But of course, I don't throw that stuff away. I'm pretty much solo, you know, at the rants.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We need the truth. The truth needs to be told.
Stan Sessions
Out of respect for Heather, respect for her boys. I'm TikTok, guys, I'm sorry.
Narrator
After a marathon interrogation, Kevin Eastman is finally arrested.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Kevin, you're under arrest, okay? Fix the wall for me, please.
Narrator
But he's got a plan. He's going to point the finger at Troy Bonnell.
Troy Bunnell
Well, I'm angry with Kevin because I feel like, you know, I was taken advantage of. If I could have words with him again, I'd like to ask him why. Why wouldn't you do this to me?
Narrator
And Heather Frank's voice will finally be heard when this dramatic video surfaces.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Who did this to you?
Stan Sessions
Kevin Eastwood.
Reporter
I'm here at the Weld County Courthouse where after two and a half years, Kevin Eastman finally goes on trial.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Eastman is charged in the murders of
Reporter
Heather Frank and Scott Sessions.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Sessions, a well known trumpet player here in northern Colorado.
Scott Sessions' Friend
To be sitting in that courtroom and watch that man be brought in to sit at a table with his attorneys was the first time that I had seen Kevin Eastman in the flesh in front of me as a human being. It took everything I had to sit there and not want to scream at him.
Prosecutor
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. At its very core, this case is about domestic violence. The defendant, Kevin Eastman, he didn't want to lose Heather Grant.
Forensic Analyst
Kevin Eastman was the only one that had a motive to kill Scott Sessions.
Prosecutor
These hands, these hands brought danger, destruction and death. These hands killed Scott Sessions and Heather Frank. These hands are the hands of the murderer. These are the hands of the defendant, Kevin Eastwood.
Reporter
What really happened to Scott Sessions and Heather Frank? That's what everyone is hoping to hear
Forensic Analyst
from the prosecution on February 8th. Scott Sessions never saw it coming. Literally ambushed from behind by a man with an anger fueled by jealousy and a large, sharp knife.
Detective Donnie Robbins
And do you solemnly swear or affirm
Reporter
under penalties of law to prove its case that Kevin Eastman ambushed Scott Sessions in a fit of jealous fury. Prosecution calls more than 40 witnesses.
Forensic Analyst
It's obvious that it's a very large, sharp knife that went from the front to the back that nearly decapitated Scott Sessions. People's Exhibit 126.
Reporter
The prosecution also presented DNA evidence they argued linked Kevin Eastman to the murder of Scott Sessions.
Investigator
The biggest thing that we have was a pair of pants that was found amongst Kevin Eastman's clothing actually had blood on them.
Heather Frank's Friend
The DNA profile that was developed from the cutting of the jeans indicated a mixture of two contributors. That's a mixture of Mr. Eastman and Mr. Sessions. A speck of luck. If anything, that's consistent with helping after the fact.
Forensic Analyst
Those genes become important because that connects Kevin Eastman to Scott Sestrin's murder.
Reporter
At the heart of the prosecution's case was the abuse they say Heather Frank suffered at the hands of Kevin Eastman.
Sergeant Donnie Robbins
Thanks.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Why don't you have a seat?
Scott Sessions' Friend
The only thing that we really knew of Heather is what came out through her son.
Heather Frank's Friend
Can you tell the jury about the
Prosecutor
first time you knew the defendant had physically harmed your mother?
Heather Frank's Son Alex
It was In February of 2014 when I seen her. She had a slash in her throat, like a knife, like a, you know, a cut in her throat. Her, I believe it was. Her right side of her face was really beaten up, like, really bad. It was black and blue. Her wrist had been broken.
Scott Sessions' Friend
So testimony came out that Kevin was not a nice man. His pattern of behavior included breaking the arm of Heather's son, slitting Heather in the throat at one other time, throwing her into walls.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
They were at a bar, they came home and he started fighting with her, and she told him to leave and that he got pissed and he grabbed her arm and basically broke her arm, grabbed a dull kitchen knife and slit her throat and then beat her right side of her face up.
Narrator
That alleged throat slashing incident was never reported to police, but in 2015, Eastman pled guilty to misdemeanor assault against Heather for a separate altercation.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Please have you raise your right hand. And do you solemnly swear or affirm
Stan Sessions
under her hairdresser testified that she come in to get her hair fixed and there'd be big chunks of hair missing out of her scalp.
Forensic Analyst
Do you recall an appointment with Heather in that September of 2019 timeframe?
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
Yes, I do. She had a bald spot about the diameter of a golf ball on the
Detective Donnie Robbins
top of her head.
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
She came in for that appointment. I was parting out her hair, and she was missing a golf ball size amount of hair on the top of
Reporter
her head, like a piece of her scalp. What does that mean?
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
So the hair was completely gone. There was no. There was no hair there. And I told Her. I was like, heather, what is going on in this section? Are you having some problems with alopecia? She's like, no, that's from Kevin. And she said he. He grabbed ahold of her and yanked her as hard as he could by the top of her head.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Can we turn the lights on?
Reporter
10 months before her death, police responded to another domestic violence incident between Heather and Kevin, speaking to her at a Denver hospital. We shared this video with the family's permission.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I just got assigned this call. You want to tell me what happened?
Stan Sessions
Just argument in the hotel room, punches to the left side of my ribs. And I had to get out of
Detective Donnie Robbins
there because it was gonna hurt me
Heather Frank's Friend
worse, so I left.
Reporter
Who did this to you?
Stan Sessions
Kevin Eastwood.
Narrator
You look at this video, and you see her lying in that hospital bed. She's barely able to talk.
Reporter
How many times did he punch you?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Three times.
Reporter
A warrant was issued for assault in the third degree, but Kevin was not arrested until after the murders.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Just, like, get away like he always does.
Narrator
This is the first I've done this during trial. The defense acknowledged that the relationship between Heather and Kevin was tumultuous, but they did not directly respond to the claims that Kevin was abusive.
Prosecutor
This. The case was about domestic violence, and we wanted to make sure that the jury understood that power and control ultimately was what killed Heather Frank and Scott Sessions.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I think that Kevin Eastman murdered Scott Sessions.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
Kevin attacked, you know, Scott Sessions and murdered him. I couldn't even imagine what my mom was going through that time.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I don't think that she could have left. And I think Kevin started to believe that Heather was going to go to the police or Heather was going to go tell somebody to somebody, and Kevin was going to get caught, and he had to eliminate the last witness.
Forensic Analyst
Every piece of credible evidence in this case points to one reasonable conclusion. Kevin Eastman killed two people between February 8th and February 16th.
Heather Frank's Friend
You saw no physical evidence that proves at all, let alone beyond reasonable doubt, that Mr. Eastman murdered Mr.
Narrator
Sessions in jailhouse phone calls with his sister. To hear Eastman tell it, the evidence against him is slim.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I don't think they really got anything for evidence. I'm going to be a very unpopular
Prosecutor
witness because I am very anti Heather.
Reporter
As the trial enters its second week, attorneys for Kevin Eastman lay out a much different version of events than prosecutors. They allege it was Heather Frank who killed Scott Sessions and then Troy Bunnell who killed Heather Frank. Kevin Eastman. They claim he was simply left to clean up the mess.
Heather Frank's Friend
Mr. Eastman made an easy target for an accusation built on assumptions but he did not kill Mr.
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
Sessions.
Heather Frank's Friend
Ms. Frank killed Mr. Sessions, and Mr. Eastman helped in the aftermath.
Reporter
Eastman's lawyers claim the motor for. For the attack on Sessions would be revenge.
Scott Sessions' Friend
The defense team would like you to believe that Scott raped Heather. Heather was so mad about the rape that Scott wouldn't leave her alone that she lured him to her apartment so that she could kill him. And Kevin may or may not have helped her dispose of the body.
Heather Frank's Friend
Ms. Frank planned for Mr. Sessions to come to her residence that evening. Ms. Frank initiated Mr. Sessions to hurry up and come over. Who was it that wrapped Mr.
Prosecutor
Sessions head in duct tape before his body was burned?
Heather Frank's Friend
And the DNA on that duct tape was Ms. Frights.
Narrator
Although there's no evidence a rape occurred.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Hi, sir. How are you?
Narrator
This defense strategy comes from an unlikely source.
Heather Frank's Hairdresser
Source?
Narrator
The investigators who interviewed Eastman.
Detective Donnie Robbins
She's saying that this guy raped her.
Stan Sessions
If he actually did, or just as she's saying it, I think that's.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I mean, that's like splitting hairs. I mean, how does that make you feel? She says that this guy raped her.
Forensic Analyst
That was an investigative interviewing technique to get him to continue to. To talk. And so they threw that out as a potential theory of what might have happened. And he took it and ran with it and adopted it and turned that into his version of events.
Detective Donnie Robbins
I feel like she had no way out and that she had to help Kevin clean up that mess. I don't think that she lured him.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
That was rough. And I feel like with the lawyers, you know, on Kevin's side, they tried the. Put it all on her, which really hurt me.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Can you please raise your right hand?
Reporter
Shelly Brinklow was character witness for her brother Kevin.
Heather Frank's Friend
Is your brother an angel?
Scott Sessions' Ex-Girlfriend
No, he's not.
Heather Frank's Friend
At some point, did the relationship between Mr. Eastman and Ms. Frank essentially deteriorate?
Narrator
Yes, it did.
Scott Sessions' Friend
I was so mad at her testimony because she was again blaming Heather. She blamed Heather for everything that happened.
Forensic Analyst
You didn't like him?
Reporter
Fair to say I did like Heather
Detective Donnie Robbins
in the beginning, yes.
Heather Frank's Friend
I did like Heather.
Forensic Analyst
In January 2020, you were not a fan?
Detective Donnie Robbins
Oh, probably not, no.
Scott Sessions' Friend
So Heather killed Scott. Troy Bonnell killed Heather. That was their theory.
Narrator
Mr. Bonnell panicked.
Heather Frank's Friend
He took matters into his own hands, and he killed Ms. Frank.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Please, have you raised your left hand?
Troy Bunnell
I felt like the whole world was watching. I had TV cameras panning in on me, and I could hear shutters of the cameras going. And the courtroom was full. Yes.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
Sorry.
Reporter
Bennell testified for the prosecution, and they seemed convinced he wasn't involved in any way. But to try to make their alternative suspect theory plausible to the jury, the defense would throw everything they had at Troy Bunnell.
Forensic Analyst
The day that Troy Bunnell testified, I mean, he was cross examined at length about everything, and he took a beating.
Heather Frank's Friend
You told Detective Schell, quote, that you did not even know people. Referring to Mr. Eastman and Ms. Frank, you said, and I quote, I don't even know these people.
Troy Bunnell
Correct. That means I don't even know the. I don't even know who this guy is, you know? Stop right there. Hold, stop, stop. I've never once, ever, ever said that I did not know Kevin Eastman. I mean, they asked me if I knew Heather. I mean, I'd see her.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Troy Bonnell does tell us that him and Heather had a very difficult relationship, that they did not like each other, that Heather was very vocal about not liking Bonnell.
Heather Frank's Friend
Your DNA was found in a pack of cigarettes on her deceased body. Explain how that could be, how your DNA could be on Ms. Frank's DNA.
Troy Bunnell
I have no explanation.
Investigator
It was odd that his DNA would be there. But touch DNA can be on items for lots of different reasons. If that cigarette pack had been in his house and he picked it up and moved it, that would mean that Heather was in fact there at his house.
Forensic Analyst
So certainly that caused problems and it raised suspicion and turned him into an alternate suspect for the defense that was viable for them. Gave them an argument at trial that had he been honest about everything, I don't think would have carried much weight.
Detective Donnie Robbins
What we knew at that point was that the night before, Troy was with another woman and that the other woman had confirmed his. His location and what he was doing. He had an alibi. Yeah, he had an alibi.
Troy Bunnell
The defense was ridiculous. I could not believe that that was their only defense, was, what about Troy? Well, what about Troy? Did Troy drop everything he was doing on his ranch to go. To go. You know what, Kevin? I'll go ahead and take care of that murder for you. I got you, buddy. No, so it's just. It's ridiculous to even think about that.
Heather Frank's Friend
Two years have passed since both deaths, and the government will still not be able to show you any murder weapon. They will not be able to tell you where Ms. Frank was killed.
Prosecutor
I would be lying to you if I told you that every time I got a case that I sat there and said, ah, I got this one in the bag. Get 12 people to agree on what pizza to order.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Good luck.
Reporter
Until now, the only man who truly knows what happened has remained silent. Will Kevin Eastman finally tell all Mr. Eastman.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Is there anything he would like to say?
Reporter
July 20, 4:52pm Please rise. After 10 days of testimony and less than 10 hours of deliberation, the jury has reached a verdict.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We, the jury, find the defendant, Kevin Dean Eastman, guilty of murder of the first degree.
Forensic Analyst
I think when you hear a guilty verdict in a homicide, my initial thought is gratitude that the injustice of the death itself wasn't compounded by the system not working. As the court has heard repeatedly, Scott Sessions was a gifted musician.
Scott Sessions' Friend
At the sentencing, the district attorney played a video of Scott playing Taps. It was so timely. It was like he was playing Taps for himself. Kevin got two consecutive life terms, as well as an additional 27 on some of the other charges.
Reporter
Kevin Eastman was offered the chance to speak at his sentencing, but he declined.
Heather Frank's Friend
Mr. Eastman does not wish to make
Scott Sessions' Friend
a statement at this time.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Thank you.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
There was a relief knowing that he's not going to get out.
Prosecutor
In my head, I danced a jig. But the thing about guilty verdicts is this. Nobody wins in a homicide. Their family, families are devastated. People still feel unsafe.
Stan Sessions
I will not let him or anyone else determine my happiness for the rest of my life. So, Mr. Eastman, I have no quarrel with you. I basically turned to him and said, you know, I forgive you.
Scott Sessions' Friend
I wish I was able to forgive him the way Scott Sessions, dad had, has forgiven him. I'm not there. I can't.
Reporter
As for Troy Brunell, the Colorado rancher who says he was unjustly dragged into Kevin Eastman's murder trial, for him, closure has been hard to come by.
Troy Bunnell
I've never been charged with anything. I've pretty much been alienated from everywhere. I'm still the one here trying to make sense of all this. I lost a quarter million dollar a year profession. I've been forced to seek employment, and I'm planting corn. Who'd have thought? It's not as easy as everybody thinks.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
I miss talking to her. I miss her laugh. She was a great woman. She was a beautiful mother, and she loved all of us and loved all of her friends. She just ended up being a part of something that she didn't ask for. She was a victim.
Reporter
Can you come show me what this is?
Detective Donnie Robbins
It looks like it's a very small memorial.
Reporter
You got a little bit emotional when you first saw it.
Detective Donnie Robbins
Yeah. When you get so involved in the last moments of somebody's life, you become connected to them.
Reporter
Scott's family hopes his spirit will live on through his trumpet. What we want to do is find a good home for this somebody that plays trumpet.
Detective Donnie Robbins
That's not as fortunate.
Stan Sessions
Maybe a young child.
Detective Donnie Robbins
A young child or somebody that we
Forensic Analyst
could give that to.
Detective Donnie Robbins
We should point out tonight that Kevin
Investigator
Eastman maintains his innocence and is appealing his murder convictions.
Detective Donnie Robbins
He declined to speak with us. That is our program for tonight. Thanks so much for watching.
Investigator
I'm David Muir. And from all of us here at 2020 and ABC News, good night.
Narrator
And you can find all new broadcast
Reporter
episodes of 2020 Friday nights at 9 on ABC.
Stan Sessions
Foreign.
Detective Donnie Robbins
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Make another smart choice with Auto Quote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once.
Heather Frank's Son Alex
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Detective Donnie Robbins
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Podcast Host: ABC News
This gripping episode of 20/20's True Crime Vault delves into the chilling double homicide of Scott Sessions, a beloved trumpet player in the Greeley, Colorado, music scene, and Heather Frank, a waitress and mother of three. The episode unravels their interconnected fates, exposes the web of abusive relationships, and follows the dogged investigation leading to the arrest and conviction of Kevin Eastman. With first-hand accounts, emotional interviews, and police insights, the episode explores the impact of domestic violence, jealousy, and the tragic consequences of obsession.
Scott Sessions' Background:
Events Leading Up to Disappearance:
Discovery of the Body:
Initial Theories and Search for Clues:
The Role of Cell Phone & Video Evidence:
"She just said, met somebody, and I've been meeting him at this bar... it definitely just kind of seemed like an innocent little, I met somebody and I'm gonna hang out with them now." — Heather Frank's Friend [29:38].
Relationship Dynamics:
“Her right side of her face was really beaten up, like, really bad. It was black and blue. Her wrist had been broken.” — Heather Frank's Son, Alex, about a 2014 incident [68:37].
Police Surveillance & Breakthroughs:
The Turn:
Emotional Impact:
Eastman’s Demeanor:
Physical & Forensic Evidence:
Domestic Violence at the Core:
Defense Strategy:
Conviction:
Reflections and Closure:
On the violence of the crime:
"There was rage involved in it. Absolute horror that somebody could be treated that way." — Detective Donnie Robbins [00:51]
On Greeley’s small-town nature:
"People are friendly and it has a small town feel." — Scott Sessions' Friend [03:56]
On Heather and Kevin's toxic history:
"Her right side of her face was really beaten up, like, really bad. It was black and blue. Her wrist had been broken." — Heather Frank's Son, Alex [68:37]
"He grabbed ahold of her and yanked her as hard as he could by the top of her head." — Heather Frank's Hairdresser [70:22]
On the investigation’s emotional toll:
"You’re watching somebody drive away to their death. Could we have changed it or done anything differently? I don't think so." — Detective Donnie Robbins [59:40]
On forgiveness:
"I will not let him or anyone else determine my happiness for the rest of my life. So, Mr. Eastman, I have no quarrel with you. I basically turned to him and said, you know, I forgive you." — Stan Sessions [81:50]
On Heather as a victim:
"She just ended up being a part of something that she didn't ask for. She was a victim." — Heather Frank's Son Alex [82:52]
"Dying to Meet You" is a tragic exploration of obsession, domestic violence, and the horror inflicted by unchecked jealousy. Through relentless investigation and community effort, justice was ultimately served. Yet, as the families and community attempt to heal, the episode reminds listeners of the lasting scars left by violent crime, and the importance of recognizing the warning signs in toxic relationships.
For those affected by domestic violence, resources and support are available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.