True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer

Summary

True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer

Podcast: 20/20
Host: David Muir & Elizabeth Vargas
Release Date: March 19, 2025

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Introduction

In this gripping episode of 20/20 True Crime Vault, ABC News hosts David Muir and Elizabeth Vargas delve into the heart-wrenching case of Thomas Bart Whitaker, a man sentenced to death for the tragic murder of his mother and younger brother. Amidst the backdrop of Texas's stringent death penalty laws, the episode explores themes of forgiveness, familial bonds, and the relentless pursuit of justice.

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The Whitaker Family and the Tragic Night

Sugar Land, Texas, known for its affluence and safety, was shattered on December 10, 2003, when a masked gunman brutally murdered Tricia Whitaker and her son Kevin, while Kent Whitaker, the father, and Bart Whitaker, the elder son, survived with injuries. The Whitakers were perceived as the epitome of suburban success, raising questions about the motives behind such a heinous act.

Elizabeth Vargas [03:08]: "I am the single greatest victim in this crime and nobody has to try to convince me of how awful this crime was. The death penalty is the wrong penalty in this case."

The family was celebrating Bart's supposed college graduation at a local Cajun restaurant, a facade that concealed Bart's sinister intentions. As Bart meticulously orchestrated the murders, the family's image of perfection was shattered in mere minutes.

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Initial Investigation and Intriguing Clues

Detective Sergeant Marshall Slott led the investigation, initially perceiving the crime as a conventional burglary gone wrong. However, inconsistencies soon emerged:

• Irregularities at the Crime Scene: Drawers were pulled open without signs of rifling, and the only item missing was Bart's cell phone.

  Elizabeth Vargas [18:35]: "The drawers being pulled out like they were and not rifled through was not typical of a burglary scene."

• Bart's Deception: Bart had lied about his academic status, claiming to be a graduate when he was actually on academic probation.

  Elizabeth Vargas [19:15]: "He had not even been attending the university. He was listed in their records as a freshman on academic probation."

Despite these red flags, concrete evidence linking Bart to the murders remained elusive until a pivotal confession by a former associate exposed the truth.

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Kent Whitaker's Journey of Forgiveness

Kent Whitaker became a beacon of resilience in the aftermath of the tragedy. Struggling with anger and the desire for vengeance, Kent embarked on a decade-long crusade to save his son, Bart, from the death penalty. This quest was not just about legal battles but also about healing and forgiveness.

Kent Whitaker [15:33]: "The death penalty is the wrong penalty in this case."

Kent's unwavering support and love for Bart were tested repeatedly, especially as revelations about Bart's true nature came to light. Faced with overwhelming evidence and his son's admission of guilt, Kent chose the path of forgiveness, a decision that resonated deeply throughout the community.

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Breakthrough in the Case: Unraveling the Truth

The case took a decisive turn when Adam Hipp, a bank teller and former acquaintance of Bart, came forward with crucial information. Hipp revealed that Bart had attempted to recruit him and another individual, Chris Brashear, into a murder plot, mirroring the Whitaker family's actual murders.

Adam Hipp [22:17]: "Bart has contacted me before and asked me about making plans to kill his father's mother and his brother."

This confession, coupled with the recovery of a duffel bag containing damning evidence submerged in Lake Conroe, provided the much-needed link to Bart. DNA analysis confirmed Bart's involvement, sealing his fate.

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Arrest, Trial, and Clemency

Bart Whitaker was arrested in Cerralvo, Mexico, where he had been living under the alias Rudy Rios. The subsequent trial culminated in his conviction and death sentence. However, in a surprising twist, after a decade on death row, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles unanimously recommended clemency.

Elizabeth Vargas [41:20]: "Recommendation for clemency. It's bizarre, it's unreal. And we're just so encouraged that the system worked here."

Governor Greg Abbott's decision to accept this recommendation was unprecedented, marking the first commutation in over a decade. Bart's sentence was reduced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, bringing a bittersweet closure to the Whitaker family's ordeal.

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Conclusion: The Power of Forgiveness

Kent Whitaker's journey underscores the profound impact of forgiveness in the face of unimaginable loss. By choosing to forgive his son, Kent not only found inner peace but also set a powerful example of compassion and resilience.

Kent Whitaker [24:54]: "I love him to death. Forgiveness is absolutely critical if you want to heal from your loss."

The episode highlights the complexities of human emotions and the extraordinary lengths a father will go to save his son, even when confronted with the darkest aspects of human nature.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Elizabeth Vargas [03:08]: "I am the single greatest victim in this crime and nobody has to try to convince me of how awful this crime was. The death penalty is the wrong penalty in this case."
• Elizabeth Vargas [19:15]: "He had not even been attending the university. He was listed in their records as a freshman on academic probation."
• Adam Hipp [22:17]: "Bart has contacted me before and asked me about making plans to kill his father's mother and his brother."
• Kent Whitaker [24:54]: "I love him to death. Forgiveness is absolutely critical if you want to heal from your loss."

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Final Thoughts

True Crime Vault: Forgiving A Killer offers a deep dive into a family's tragedy, the complexities of forgiveness, and the relentless pursuit of justice. Through meticulous storytelling and poignant interviews, David Muir and Elizabeth Vargas present a narrative that challenges listeners to ponder the true meaning of forgiveness and the enduring strength of familial bonds.

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Listen to the full episode of 20/20 for an in-depth exploration of this unforgettable true crime mystery.

Transcript

[David Muir]

This episode is brought to you by Enterprise Mobility. From fleet management to flexible truck rentals to technology solutions, Enterprise Mobility helps businesses find the right mobility solutions so they can find new opportunities. Because if your business is on the road, they want to make sure it's on the road to success. Enterprise Mobility moving you moves the world. Find your [e-mail] welcome to the 2020 True Crime Vault, where heart stopping headlines come to Life now on 2020 as a father begs for his son's life. Stunning news just last night.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

The death row fight for life for.

[David Muir]

That very son who plotted the murder of his entire family.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

One subject right now is shot in the arm. Apparently the whole family's been that son.

[David Muir]

On death row for over 10 years.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

You were raised by a loving family. Yes, ma'am. But you still decided to kill them. I did these last 48 hours, a literal countdown to see if he lives or dies. Can we stop for a second? That's right here tonight, the long and twisting journey to accepting the unbelievable bang. And the next thing I realized is I am lying down like this. Kent's response to me was, you guys are either way wrong or my son's a monster.

[David Muir]

How could a son do that? But why Bart? I mean, this is the question that everybody wants to know. Why? And how could a father do the nearly impossible? Forgive him.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I don't understand it. I look at it as a miracle. Desire for revenge had gone now that father's decade long crusade to save his son no matter what. Having these fantasies of murdering your family, he had to go to that length to feel alive. If we could all live twice.

[David Muir]

I'm David Muir. And I'm Elizabeth Vargas. And this is 2020.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Death row is ominous. Cold, it is a place. You look at it from the outside and you know what happens inside.

[David Muir]

In a race against time, 38 year old Thomas Bart Whitaker's final days are ticking down. On death row now, he awaits a destiny that seems all but assured. Execution by lethal inj. His father, Kent spends these final days in a desperate hunt for mercy. On this day, savoring what may be his last visit with his son in prison.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

As we were leaving, we put our hands up to the glass and he puts his hand up on the other side and we smile and we say we love you. And then we. Then we left.

[David Muir]

In Texas, a state that executes more prisoners than any other in America, Kent's is a fierce battle against the odds. His love tested by a terrible twist of fate, the son he is defending plotted the Murders of his wife and his other son.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Police say a masked gunman shot the Whitaker family as they returned home from dinner. Mother Patricia and son Kevin were killed. Father Kent and son Bart were shot but survived. I am the single greatest victim in this crime and nobody has to try to convince me of how awful this crime was. The death penalty is the wrong penalty in this case.

[David Muir]

The Whitaker story began here in Sugarland, Texas, where the sweet smell of success brought them everything they desired. It was the sugar industry that transformed this suburban backwater into one of the wealthiest towns in Texas.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Sugarland is an affluent suburb of Houston, All American town in which kids play in the street in their front yards. It's a place where you want to raise your children. Get back in line, you little nerd.

[David Muir]

The Whitaker family videos paint a warm picture of a loving, prosperous home.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Wave to daddy on the table.

[David Muir]

Trisha is a former teacher turned full time mom.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Who's ready for Christmas? Yes. Yes.

[David Muir]

Yes. Yes.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Happy birthday, dear Kevin.

[David Muir]

Every moment seems picture perfect. Happy birthday, brothers. Inseparable since birth.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He looked up to me and wanted to be me. And I thought that was so ironic because I wanted to be him. They played with each other from the time that Kevin was old enough to do it up until the end, they did stuff together. Kevin, look what you got.

[David Muir]

But who could imagine that inside that adorable little boy was a ticking time bomb of rage?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

What was your relationship like with your parents? It was a good relationship.

[David Muir]

We first met bart Whitaker in 2009 when Bart spoke to former ABC News correspondent Mary Fulginitti about his strange and violent journey.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Your family tried to love you. It was idyllic. Yeah. Hey, Bart, Drive down the street to the stop sign for me.

[David Muir]

Bart's bond with his father, Kent, was especially close. From the moment Bart learned to ride a two wheeler, he and his father shared a passion for biking.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We tried to figure it out one time and ended up with about 15,000 miles that we've ridden together.

[David Muir]

So how did the son of this loving family end up here on death row?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I was always an independent child and I think somewhere along in there. Can we stop for a second? That's what's bothering you right now? No, just it's all a lot. Thinking back on all those days, we had a pretty close family. In terms of what was going on inside of me, that was a little different. Never really fit in very well with anybody, to be honest with you. I think everybody knows horrible things can happen, but you just don't expect it.

[David Muir]

December 10, 2003 A time for celebration at the Whitaker residence, where Bart receives an extravagant college graduation gift. A Rolex watch.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We thought we were celebrating the upcoming graduation of our son. He was supposed to be going to graduate school, going into law enforcement. We got ready for dinner and went to dinner. Lots of laughter. Yeah, we were happy and we were teasing each other. But then we did that whenever we were together.

[David Muir]

As they celebrate his graduation, only Bart knows that an intruder has quietly entered their home. His deadly plot is about to begin.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Enter the house with the key and the alarm code.

[David Muir]

As Kent snaps photos of his happy family. Bart poses with his favorite dessert, bread pudding, decorated to mark the occasion. Trisha smiling with her sons.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

That was after we finished eating. I bet you I took that no more than five or 10 minutes before we left the restaurant, which is five minutes from our house.

[David Muir]

Bart smiles. And yet he knows that if everything goes as planned, in less than 30 minutes, his brother, his mother and his father will all be dead.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I don't really know a better term for how I was feeling other than I was in autopilot. I wasn't even aware of myself. We left the restaurant and drove back to the house. And when we came back, Kevin led the way to the front door and Trisha was behind him. And when he stepped in, that's when the shootings happened. I went out to my car to get my cell phone and I was walking back from the car when the first shots happened. I had been at church with my family, eating dinner and had just gotten home and my pager went off telling me to call the police department.

[David Muir]

Sergeant Marshall Slott is a homicide detective. On any ordinary day, not much business for him in this town.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Sugar Land for years has been known as one of the safest cities in America. For the police, this is not something the likes of which they had ever seen before. The dispatcher told me that four people had been shot. I initially thought she was joking with me and I said, you're kidding, right? And she said, no. I need you to respond to Sugar Lakes. A family of four has been shot.

[David Muir]

But why would a kid who had it all try to kill both of his parents?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Someone just shot her. Nervous?

[David Muir]

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[Elizabeth Vargas]

That means you don't have to put.

[David Muir]

Your life on hold to pursue your professional goals. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn your degree without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn [e-mail] 2020 continues. Once again, Elizabeth Vargas, Texas Death Row on the surface, Bart Whitaker seems intelligent and well mannered, the son of an affluent family. So it seems inexplicable why this quiet young man awaits execution for an unthink crime. You were raised by a loving family.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Your mother loved you. Your father loved you. Your brother loved you. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, but you still decided to kill them. I did.

[David Muir]

A heinous crime committed on a whim, says prosecutor Fred Felchman. With Bart Whitaker, there's no reason why.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He just wanted to. And that's what's scary about it.

[David Muir]

He didn't need their money. He didn't need their love. They had never done anything to him.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He just wanted to do it.

[David Muir]

On the night of his graduation dinner, Bart charmed his family, playing the role of the gracious man of the hour. Or was he?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

You're smiling in the photo.

[David Muir]

This is like a half hour before your family's gonna get gunned down. What were you feeling?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I was about as close to numb as a human being can get.

[David Muir]

I think it was just after 8 when the Whitaker family leaves the restaurant, and Bart's secret murder plot is unfolding as he expects. Just as he and his unwitting family arrive home, the Whitaker family suspects nothing. But as they enter the house, Bart hangs back.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I'm on the front porch. I hear a shot. Trish is saying, oh no. And then another loud noise. I didn't recognize them as gunshots. I didn't really understand what was happening at the time.

[David Muir]

What were you feeling?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Nothing. Nothing at first. And then the gunshots went off and shock. I walked up to the door. All the lights in the house were out, but the street light showed a single figure in a ski mask maybe six, eight feet away. My reaction was, I wonder which one of Kevin's goofball friends is playing a trick on us with the paintball gun. And I just stood there. But a moment later, I was shot, too. Before I could call out to see how if Bart was safe, there was a fourth shot from inside the house. My God. He shot all of us. Why?

[David Muir]

As shots ring out, a neighbor calls 911.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Someone who just shot our neighbors. Get over here. I know I ran into the house. They say I ran my dad, but I don't even remember seeing him. Do remember getting shot. I do vaguely remember making the 911 call. Okay, where have you been shot at, sir? In my arm. Okay, Bart, who shot you? I don't know that. He went out the back door. I think I said that. I pulled up about three houses down and I pulled my weapon and I started running through the yards to get to the Whitaker house.

[David Muir]

First on the scene, Sugarland police officer Phil Prevost finds 19 year old Kevin Whittaker dead where he fell, a sing bullet in his chest. Tricia Whitaker also dies of a single gunshot wound. Soon after, she's airlifted to the hospital. Incredibly, Kent Whitaker survives the attack. Shot in the chest, also wounded, Bart makes for a convincing fourth victim.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Where are you in the house right now? In the living room. Okay. Do you see the officers, Bart? Yeah. I asked, who are you?

[David Muir]

And he said, I'm Bart.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He said, I live here, this is my house. So I figured, you know, he belonged there. And I said, where's the bad guy? Can you tell me anything about him at all, Bart? Did he sound black, white, Hispanic? No, you're black.

[David Muir]

You had yourself shot as part of this plan. Was that your idea?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Yeah, it was. It was to distance me from the guilt. So you were trying to throw the cops off in your mind?

[David Muir]

Yeah, and it works like a charm.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

The crime scene that I was investigating was a burglary gone bad where the victims were shot by the suspect and the suspect fled the scene.

[David Muir]

Homicide Sergeant Marshall Slott thinks he's looking for a burglar. With bad timing.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We called out tracking dogs that night in an attempt to track the shooter.

[David Muir]

The dogs pick up a scent in the house and follow it outside to a dead end. Sergeant Slott scans the crime scene for anything that might lead him to the killer. He finds drawers pulled open as if by a burglar, a gun Safe pried open, four spent shell casings, and on the kitchen floor, a 9 millimeter handgun with four bullets missing from its clip. Investigators find no suspect fingerprints at the scene. They take the gun back to the crime lab for a closer look.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Initially it was processed for latent fingerprints.

[David Muir]

Investigator Max Hunter carefully tests the weapon and makes a hopeful discovery.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Partial latent fingerprint was developed on the upper part of the left side of the slide. It was a partial palm print. But that palm print did not have enough information in it. We couldn't identify it to any one particular person.

[David Muir]

Tracking dogs identify the shooter's scent on the gun, but DNA analysis comes back negative. It seems the killer made a clean getaway.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

It seemed like every piece of evidence that we collected, we ran into dead ends left and right.

[David Muir]

Back to square one. Sergeant Slott and his partner, Detective Billy Baugh, go to the hospital to interview the survivors, Kent and Bart Whitaker.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

They were in separate rooms, so we first went to Kent Whitaker. Kent seemed somewhat at peace. He was obviously upset, but not crying. But he very much demanded that we catch who was responsible for committing this crime.

[David Muir]

Lying in his hospital bed, Kent Whitaker is torn between emotional extremes. He wants revenge, but he also prays, asking God to give him the strength to do the impossible. Forgive whoever was responsible.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

And the moment that I did ask him to help me forgive, the strangest thing happened. This warm glow flowed over me just instantly. And I looked at my heart, and I realized that that desire for revenge had gone.

[David Muir]

The thought that it might be his own son he would need to forgive was the furthest thing from Kent Whitaker's mind.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

When he told me that he had forgiven the shooter, of course, I didn't have the courage to say anything at the time, but how do you face that? I don't know how to face that. Hiding it all from everybody else was sort of like hiding it from myself. Also. There was also the fear of this place.

[David Muir]

All of Sugarland seems stricken with grief and outrage. More than 1,000 mourners, including Kent and Bart, attend the funeral for Tricia and Kevin at the Whitaker home. It's a media circus.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Golly.

[David Muir]

With the investigation hitting dead ends, Bart has good reason to believe he'd gotten away with murder. But when we come back, the huge secret he couldn't allow his family to discover.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

How could he be so stupid? I just read him the riot act about how if he had been telling the truth, he would not be a suspect. Meghan Trainor, laundry retrainer.

[David Muir]

Meghan Trainor. You're tossing out my gunky laundry detergent bottle. It's got that booty, that juicy boom.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Boom that gonna hide alive.

[David Muir]

Arm and hammer power sheets toss like this.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Cause I toss like this. I wash like this. It's a no mess.

[David Muir]

Laundry blitz Arm and hammer Power sheets. More power to you still getting around.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

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[David Muir]

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[Elizabeth Vargas]

Rep or your first time swapping your windshield wipers.

[David Muir]

Ebay has that part you need ready.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

To click perfectly into place for changes big and small, loud or quiet.

[David Muir]

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[Elizabeth Vargas]

Guaranteed to fit every time.

[David Muir]

But you already know that. Ebay things people love.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Eligible items only Exclusion supply.

[David Muir]

Sugar Land, one of the safest cities in America, has just been the scene of a horrific crime.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Apparently the whole family's been shot.

[David Muir]

Two dead, two wounded. It looks like a horrific burglary gone bad. Or is it?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

There are some things that stuck out in our minds as being odd, but nothing that we could really hang our hat on to say.

[David Muir]

This is not what it appears to Sergeant Marshall Slot. The signs of burglary didn't quite seem right.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

The drawers being pulled out like they were and not rifled through was not typical of a burglary scene.

[David Muir]

Nor was the fact that the only thing missing from the house was Bart's cell phone.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

And the burglar leaves the gun, leaves all of the electronics, but takes a cell phone that we couldn't find in the scene. That was a real oddity that stuck out in everybody's mind.

[David Muir]

It's the little details that can be the undoing of one who would devise the perfect crime. The first clues for police arise out of the Whitakers last supper. It was a celebration of Bart's announcement that he had just graduated from Sam Houston State University.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

But Bart Whitaker had not graduated from Sam Houston State.

[David Muir]

A tiny imperfection in Bart's plot that became a big crack.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He had not even been attending the university. He was listed in their records as a freshman on academic probation.

[David Muir]

In Sergeant Slott's mind, Bart is now a person of interest.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

At the time that you're celebrating this, are you enrolled in college? I don't even remember. I don't think so. You weren't graduating from college? Certainly not. No.

[David Muir]

Bart lying to his parents about attending school when in fact he was hanging out in a townhouse that they had given him as a present.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We took that information immediately and went to Kent Whitaker first with it.

[David Muir]

Kent is blindsided by his son's lie.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I realized how could he be so stupid? I was so mad at him. I got in a wheelchair and I wheeled down to his room and I just read him the riot act about how? If he had been telling the truth, he would not be a suspect.

[David Muir]

He may be proven a liar, but there's still no proof that Bart is a scheming killer. But then a police officer raises a big red flag when he remembers a call to this house two years earlier.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Trish and I were awakened by a phone call from the Sugar Land Police Department telling us that Waco police had contacted them that Bart was on his way down here to kill us. It was something that a friend overheard Bart talking to his roommate about and they concluded that it was a misunderstanding.

[David Muir]

Misunderstanding or not, in light of the murders, it is significant to Sergeant Slott.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We've got the burglary scene. It just doesn't look just right. We now know that the son is not graduating from Sam Houston.

[David Muir]

And now a prior instance of an alleged plot by Bart Whitaker to kill his family.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

All those little pieces sent off bells and whistles in our heads just thinking we need to start looking at the son.

[David Muir]

They warn Bart's father, who refuses to believe that his son might be involved.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I didn't believe it for a minute. No.

[David Muir]

7:54Pm Indeed, Sergeant Slott has little more than a hunch about Bart and a lot of questions.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

How might he have orchestrated this? Who might he have talked to to get this? And was this something where he was planning for a big jackpot? A payout? Somehow Officer Dubose is going to be playing the part of the suspect.

[David Muir]

So Sergeant Slott returns to the Whitakers home for a video reenactment of the murders with the two survivors in identical arm slings.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I hear it. Bang. And the next thing I realize is I am lying down like this.

[David Muir]

First with Kent and then Bart.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I got shot. I fell back into the couch and on the floor. There were no other witnesses. So my only two sources of information, one of them is the father of the primary suspect. One of them is the primary suspect. So that was a juggling act.

[David Muir]

Then a huge break from a mystery man who walks into the police station one night. Adam Hipp, a bank teller who once went to height school with Bart.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

And then he dropped some bombs on me as far as, hey, Bart has contacted me before and asked me about making plans to kill his father's mother and his brother.

[David Muir]

Adam Hipp claims Bart tried to recruit him as a shooter in an earlier murder plot.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

One of the plans that he laid out to me that he and Bart had discussed was an exact mirror image of the actual crime scene.

[David Muir]

Sergeant Slott decides to hatch a plot of his own. He enlists Adam Hipp to trick his friend Bart on a tapped phone line. He told me how your mom and your brother were killed and how your.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Dad and you were shot. All that was very similar to what one of our plans was. I'm not saying our plan.

[David Muir]

Okay, Stop saying it. All right?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I was very, very, very afraid of what he had to say.

[David Muir]

On the phone tap, Bart agrees to pay Adam $20,000 in hush money.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

You say at least 20,000? Yeah.

[David Muir]

All right, well, we'll work out the details. Using a courier service, he sends hip a $250 down payment. But then he does something brazen, signing the way Bill with the name of a murderer borrowed from a Hollywood movie.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Anybody could have worked for Soze. You never knew that was his power.

[David Muir]

Keyser Soze, played by Kevin Spacey, is the criminal mastermind in the hit film the Usual Suspects.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

And Kaiser says they will get you latent fingerprints. That's what all those markers are. But every one of them on the package that was identified came back to Bart Whitaker.

[David Muir]

Now, the police know they must warn Kent about his son.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We feel wholeheartedly that he is responsible for this and that you are living with a murderer.

[David Muir]

But to protect the investigation, Sergeant Slott gives no details to Kent Whitaker.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I knew they couldn't show their whole deck of cards, but they could at least tell me something if they wanted me to believe them. Kent's response to me was, you guys are either way wrong or my son's a monster.

[David Muir]

Despite the warning, Kent lets Bart move back home. And for the next several months, Bart spends every free moment with his father playing the perfect son, studying the Bible.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He appeared as if he was really listening. And I told him, bart, I can't read your heart. You're either 0% responsible or 100% responsible. The point is that I love you. God has allowed me to forgive everyone involved. He truly forgave the person that did this. I mean, he was the first real Christian that I'd ever met that really did what Jesus Christ told him to do.

[David Muir]

He asked you point blank, did you do it, Bart?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Yeah. And you said no, dad. Yeah, I did. Even knowing he was gonna forgive you? Yeah, but it's not that simple. I didn't want to cause that pain on me primarily and on anyone else secondarily. So I just was a weak. I was a coward. He was lying to everybody. He was fooling everybody. He did not move out of the home. And it was very soon after that Bart went missing.

[David Muir]

Seven months after the murders, Bart's abandoned SUV is Found engine running outside a huge Houston apartment complex.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

And it was crushing me, because up until then, there was at least one member of my family that was still here. And now he's gone.

[David Muir]

But then a mystery man appears with evidence that would crack the case. Stay with us. Cerralvo, Mexico. A tough little town about 50 miles south of the border. Legend has it mobster Al Capone once hid out here. And if it was good enough for Scarface, it was good enough for another American stranger who suddenly showed up here looking for work and a new identity.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He caught my attention because he was different. He was a white guy. It was a very unusual thing because you don't see American workers right here in a little town of Mexico.

[David Muir]

Osvaldo Beniveres and his close friend Ubaldo Salinas quickly accept the likable man who says his name is Rudy Rios.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He told me his name was Rudy. He was a nice person. So this guy Rudy, of course, is made up. He was a person. An identity concocted by Bart Whitaker. He told us he was a soldier. That was my legend down there. I was a soldier that was AWOL because I had been shot up and didn't want to go back. That was something that was told from the very first minute I was down there. In order to cover me, posing as.

[David Muir]

Rudy Rios, Bart begins turning up a church and turning on the charm for a guitarist he meets there. Cindy Lou Salinas.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He will bring me flowers. Look, I brought you flowers. I thought he was so handsome and.

[David Muir]

I don't know, mysterious.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Mysterious.

[David Muir]

She brings her new boyfriend home to meet her parents. He's an immediate hit. Her father, Omero, even hires him to work at the family's furniture store.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I ended up loving him like a son. Very, very much.

[David Muir]

Cindy Lou knows nothing of her boyfriend's true identity. Identity. But one night, she gets a terrifying glimpse. It's what he says while consoling her after she smashes her guitar during an argument with her mother. He said, no, Relax. Let's fix things.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He said, don't be angry at your parents.

[David Muir]

If you want, we can kill them. So I told him, no, it's not a big deal. And that's when I felt a bit of. But I know maybe he said that so I will calm down or to get me to laugh. But no one was laughing. Certainly not back in Texas, where even Kent Whitaker was now beginning to believe the worst.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

When he ran away, it kind of kicked the third leg out of the stool. That he must actually have been involved by that point in time. I'm thinking it's pretty hard for me to extend any potential arguments against it.

[David Muir]

But investigators still had no physical evidence, no clue who fired the murder weapon, no idea what happened to Bart Whitaker.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I had nowhere to look for him and no leads to follow up on to try and find him. So that was disappointing at times.

[David Muir]

The investigation is cold until a big break from two men who knew Bart while he was pretending to be a college student.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Almost two years after the crime occurred. Steven Champagne called me. Stephen Champagne was a Marine in 2005. But back in 2003, when the murders occurred, he was a bartender. He worked with Bart Whitaker at the country club up near Lake Conroe.

[David Muir]

Now, Champagne was pouring out secrets about himself and Bart's roommate back then named Chris Brashear. Two aimless guys at the time who were ripe for a payday. Bart promised them if they would pull off an outrageous scheme.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

When they came in the house, Chris.

[David Muir]

Was to shoot them all.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

That was absolutely the break we needed.

[David Muir]

Champagne gives up the entire story of what happened on the night of December 10, 2003.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

What was Bart's part in the Plant? Pretty much set it all up. How did you know which restaurant? Bart had told me before they left.

[David Muir]

As the Whitakers unknowingly celebrate Bart's bogus college graduation at a popular Cajun restaurant, Steve Champagne watches from the parking lot. Meanwhile, Bart's roommate, Chris Brashear, hides in Bart's SUV outside the Whitaker home.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

At that point, Chris got out of the vehicle and entered the house with the key and the alarm code. Did you see them leave? Papa Do. So then I pretty much followed him home. They pulled in the driveway, and I just kept going. And then within a minute, Chris came walking out to the car and got in the backseat. He said that Bart's brother had walked in first, and when Chris shot him, he said before he shot him, he thought he smiled. Then Chris shot his mom and then shot Bart's dad in the shoulder. And then he acted like he wrestled around with Bart and shut part in the shoulder. You could characterize that interview as chilling. I don't think there's anybody who could watch that and not wonder how a person could be so cold.

[David Muir]

Unaware of Champagne's confession, Chris Brashear agrees to an interview, but quickly becomes very uncomfortable.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I'm just gonna go. Is that.

[David Muir]

Yes, there's the door to Sergeant Slot. Steve Champagne's confession yields the one thing that links this trio to the crime. He mentions a key piece of evidence that only the police knew about. A single glove dropped by the shooter found beside Bart's suv.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He knew about the missing glove. And obviously we had this glove in evidence already. So everything fit together just based on one small piece of evidence.

[David Muir]

But Sergeant Slott still has no physical evidence to link Bart to the murder. Until now.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Stephen Champagne explained to me that he and Chris Brashear had thrown items from the crime scene into a bag and thrown that off a bridge that runs over Lake Conroe near Bart's townhome in Willis.

[David Muir]

Down below, a dive team discovers a duffel bag in the soggy bag. A treasure trove of decomposing evidence. It's a windfall for crime lab investigator Max Hunter, beginning with an innocuous looking plastic water bottle.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

You just go around the rim of the bottle.

[David Muir]

And even after two years at the bottom of a lake, they were able.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

To obtain a DNA profile from that swab. And that DNA profile matched the DNA profile from Crispr Shear.

[David Muir]

Among the other items in the bag, a rare brand of ammunition identical to the fatal bullets. A glove that matches the one found at the crime scene. A pry tool that matches the marks on the Whitaker safe. A badly damaged cell phone. A lab in England identifies Bart Whitaker as its owner. Finally, Sergeant Slott has the physical evidence he needs to link Bart to the murders.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

This was definitely when we said we've got it.

[David Muir]

But where is Bart Whitaker? Sergeant Slott obtains an arrest warrant, but he doesn't know that Bart, now known as Rudy Rios, is hiding in Mexico. And then the biggest break of all, a phone call from the real Rudy Rios. When we come back. Did you know that parents rank financial literacy as the number one most difficult life skill to teach? Meet Greenlight, the debit card and money app for families. With Greenlight, you can send money to kids quickly, set up chores, automate allowance, and keep an eye on your kids spending with real time notifications, kids learn to earn, save and spend wisely. And parents can rest easy knowing their kids are learning about money. With guardrails in place, try Greenlight risk free [e-mail] Spotify.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

This episode is brought to you by Shopify.

[David Muir]

Upgrade your business with Shopify, home of the number one checkout on the planet. Shop pay boosts conversions up to 50%, meaning fewer carts going abandoned and more sales going cha ching. So if you're into growing your business, get a commerce platform that's ready to sell wherever your customers are. Visit shopify.com to upgrade your selling today. How does a seemingly normal, fun loving boy raised in a beautiful home by caring parents.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

What is that?

[David Muir]

Whoa. Turn into a murderer who would ambush his own family and even take a bullet in the arm to make himself look like a victim.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

That whole plot was sort of like a game of chicken between me and the other guys. Who flinches. I never really expected Chris to pull that trigger.

[David Muir]

Did you feel any guilt? Did you feel any shame?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I wasn't feeling much of anything, but, yeah, it was there. It was just on a level that I wasn't paying any attention to. He seems singularly without remorse and without even the beginnings of remorse.

[David Muir]

A classic sociopath, says psychiatrist Dr. Edward Hallowell of the Hallowell centers in New York and Boston. I was struck in the interview that.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He showed almost no emotion. Here's this young man who's done about the worst thing a person can do, and it's as if he's talking about the weather.

[David Muir]

That observation is confirmed in the confession of getaway driver Steve Champagne.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Did you ever see any signs of remorse in bar? No.

[David Muir]

And it gets worse. Champagne says Bart also talked about wanting to finish the job and kill his father.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I'd love to have an outside perspective about why I think certain things.

[David Muir]

You know, what if the diagnosis is.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

You are a sociopath? Well, then I am what I am.

[David Muir]

Dr. Hallowell has never examined Bart Whitaker, but also sees a narcissistic personality.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

It's an extremely dangerous combination because you have no guide, you have no internal breaks, and you have this tremendous feeling of emptiness. So you want stimulation. I hate myself. I can't imagine that. I'm a narcissist. You want to somehow feel alive. And the normal things that make people feel alive, love, attachment, bonding, that's all gone. I mean, having these fantasies of murdering your family. He had to go to that length to feel alive.

[David Muir]

Finally, in September 2005, the climax in a long string of unsolicited witnesses and hard police work, there is some good luck that comes in the form of a phone call.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

The real Rudy Rios comes forward. This is the guy that Art Whitaker had been impersonating. I know where he's at because it's my family. That's taken care of.

[David Muir]

A busboy at the country club where Bart worked. Rudy Rios tells police he sold his identity to Bart and helped him escape to Mexico for a couple of thousand dollars. Now he's prepared to sell out his friend for a $10,000 reward from police.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

But if there's a reward, you know, I don't care. I turn his head in. I'm thinking, this is the break we need. When Rudy Rios gave me this information and it seemed to check out, I was ecstatic.

[David Muir]

Bart Whitaker is arrested in Mexico and on the road back to Sugar Land. Sergeant Slott has only one unanswered question for his prisoner.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

How did you get all of these people to do such horrible things for you? And Bart responded to me that it was easy. All he had to do was was give them what they wanted. What was Yalls benefit for doing this? Like I said, Bart said his family was worth a lot of money. Were you and Chris gonna gain anything from this? He said he would give us a bunch of money. I mean, millions of dollars. That was motivation for them. It was never about that for me. I didn't care about money. I had plenty of it. He had this amazing ability to inspire, persuade, cajole to do something absolutely in their. Not in their self interest. I mean, to do something crazy. You plan to have your family killed? Not once, is that right? I believe there were three separate occasions.

[David Muir]

Why Bart? I mean, this is the question that.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Everybody wants to know.

[David Muir]

Why?

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I wanted revenge for being alive, and I blame them for that. I blamed them for who I was. Instead of blaming me, you blamed them.

[David Muir]

Even though they really loved you and.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Nurtured you and tried to give you everything that they could possibly give you? Yeah, but we didn't really connect on that level. I think he really believed that who we were loving was someone that didn't exist and that he was hiding behind a mask so that we would never find that out.

[David Muir]

Next. As the last 40 minutes of Bart's life tick down, yet another twist of fate. Stay with us.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

What can I do for you? Nothing.

[David Muir]

With father and son both back in Texas, jailhouse phone calls confirm Kent's unwavering support of Bart as he awaits trial.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Well, just hang in there. Keep calling. Love you. I love you too, guy. So I walk in this room, that little room with bulletproof glass between us, and he said, dad, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. And it was at that point I realized he was saying, I did it. I'm sorry. I want to confess.

[David Muir]

He believes his son has truly changed and repented and now feels genuine remorse.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He's an amazing man. And whether or not I'm a person incapable of love, I am a person incapable. Capable of feeling a very deep respect for that man. I love him to death. Forgiveness is absolutely critical if you want to heal from your loss. If you don't forgive, you're basically shackling yourself to the event that you want to grow past Bart. How do you feel about your mother? I wish I could talk to her now. I'd like to tell her I'm sorry. I'd like to redo that whole relationship from start to finish and be able to really appreciate what she was sending me. So, yeah, I'd like to. If we could all live twice.

[David Muir]

Two years after his arrest, we the.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Jury, do hereby find the defendant Thomas Bartlett Whitaker, guilty.

[David Muir]

A jury convicts Bart Whitaker of the murders of his mother, Tricia, and his younger brother Kevin, and sentences him to death.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

If victims rights means anything at all, it should mean something, even when the victim is requesting mercy. And not just when the victim is requesting vengeance.

[David Muir]

Earlier this week, Kent took his fight to its final round. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. The prosecutor unmoved.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

The father didn't want us to seek the death penalty. And he's the victim.

[David Muir]

However, I don't represent the victims per se.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I represent the state of Texas.

[David Muir]

Kent, who has now spent more than a decade making the weekly drive to death row, asked his son be given a life sentence with no chance of parole. The odds were stacked against him. Since 1982, there have been only three commutations so close to an execution. But then.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Now to our other top story tonight.

[David Muir]

A phone call to Kent's lawyer with news beyond his best hopes. A unanimous vote to recommend clemency.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Recommendation for clemency. It's bizarre, it's unreal. And we're just so encouraged that the system worked here.

[David Muir]

But that controversial decision isn't the final word. Would Governor Greg Abbott accept the board's recommendation? Kent goes to the governor's office but isn't able to meet anyone in person.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

He is a very law and order kind of guy and believes in the death penalty. There's a lot of speculation here, and I don't think anybody knows what the governor's going to do.

[David Muir]

For the longest time, Governor Abbott did nothing. Bart is a dead man walking. He is taken to the death house, prepped for execution. Bart speaks to a chaplain. A last meal is served. Chicken enchiladas. And then this just coming into our ears right now.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

We understand that Governor Abbott has commuted.

[David Muir]

The sentence of Bart whitaker with barely 40 minutes to spare. For the first time in more than a decade, a condemned man gets clemency.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

It was overpowering. And so grateful. So grateful he will spend the rest of his life in prison with no possibility of parole.

[David Muir]

For this father who has endured so much, the long, bittersweet journey has come to a close.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I may actually have an opportunity to be in the same room with him, touch him, shake his hand, hug him.

[David Muir]

The smallest gesture promising to turn their past into a future together. You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. You can find all new broadcast episodes of 2020 Friday nights at 9 on ABC.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Rapper Sean Diddy Combs was a king maker. He had wealth, fame and power.

[David Muir]

Until.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

It all came crashing down. Federal investigators raiding two homes owned by.

[David Muir]

Hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

I'm Brian Buckmire, an ABC News legal contributor.

[David Muir]

As Diddy heads to trial, we trace.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

His remarkable rise and fall. And what could be next?

[David Muir]

Listen to Bad Rap the Case Against.

[Elizabeth Vargas]

Diddy, a new series from ABC Audio, coming March 25th. Wherever you get your podcasts.