Suspicion in Silver City

Summary

Dateline NBC: “Suspicion in Silver City”

Air Date: August 11, 2026
Host: Lester Holt
Main Reporter: Keith Morrison

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode of Dateline unravels the mysterious and tragic death of Cassie Farrington, a young nurse and mother of two from the quirky mining town of Silver City, New Mexico. What begins as a puzzling scene of a body found in a flooded home spirals into a tale of investigative failures, family perseverance, allegations of police bias, and a relentless quest for justice. The episode follows the twists, setbacks, and emotional toll on Cassie’s family as they refuse to let her murder become another forgotten cold case, ultimately pushing the truth into the light.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing Silver City and Cassie Farrington

[02:20 - 03:44]

• Silver City is described as a quirky old mining town, home to a blend of long-time ranchers, artists, and newcomers.
• Cassie Farrington is remembered as exceptional: academically driven, lettered in five sports, a member of several honor societies (Elizabeth Brooks, [04:05 - 04:20]), and a young mother whose life took a challenging turn after getting pregnant at 16.
• By 22, Cassie is a single mom with two kids, working as a nurse, respected by peers and her landlord, Charnell Lee ([05:29]).

2. Discovery of the Crime Scene

[07:36 - 10:11]

• After Cassie failed to pick up her child from school and respond to friends, landlord Charnell Lee checks on her, entering a home flooded by water running from multiple tubs (Charnell Lee, [08:00]).
• Charnell finds Cassie’s body face down in a bathtub, still in her nursing scrubs, and calls 911 ([09:33-10:08]).
• The scene includes odd details: broken towel rack, black scuff marks in the tub, and no sign of forced entry or theft ([11:01 - 12:09]).

3. Suspicion, Grief, and Early Investigation Missteps

[12:25 - 13:24]; [16:42 - 17:26]

• Cassie’s family is traumatized and confused as investigators quickly float the theory of suicide, which her mother Darlene and sister Elizabeth vehemently reject ([13:18-13:24]).
• Lead detective Sanchez and his supervisor, Lieutenant Tavazon, initially fail to gather key evidence—no fingerprinting, the crime scene is released to the family within hours ([17:03]).
• Family members, acting as "a kind of CSI group" ([18:32]), find physical evidence left behind: scuff marks, her glasses, a hair ribbon ([18:06-18:22]).

“So strange to have the family as a kind of CSI group.”
Interview Host, [18:32]

4. Early Suspects: The Landlord and Boyfriend

[19:02 - 21:27]

• The family and investigators initially suspect Billy Lee, Cassie’s landlord and colleague, especially after he removes Cassie’s bedroom carpet and abruptly leaves for Alaska.
• Detective Sanchez fails to properly check Lee’s alibi but later, Lieutenant Tavazon confirms it is solid ([26:30-27:16]).
• Cassie’s boyfriend, David Berry, has a solid alibi but is not officially cleared, frustrating the family ([24:16-24:38]).

5. The “Blue Code” Allegation and Investigative Shake-Up

[31:01 - 33:00]

• Frustration mounts over the stalled investigation and rumors in Silver City grow: are police protecting one of their own, Cassie’s estranged husband and former officer, Brad Farrington?
• After the family confronts the DA’s office with their concerns, the lead detective Sanchez is removed for “laziness” ([32:56]).
• Sergeant Jess Watkins takes over, determined to approach the case anew.

“We do not protect officers. If an officer makes a mistake or commits a crime, we treat them just as we would any other person.”
Lieutenant Ray Tavazon, [32:44]

6. Spotlight on Brad Farrington

[33:17 - 36:22]

• Watkins discovers that Cassie and Brad were in a contentious custody battle, and family members recount stories of Brad’s controlling and abusive behavior.
• Cassie’s mother, Darlene, witnessed Brad put Cassie in a headlock ([34:12]).
• Cassie and her children expressed fear; daughter even reported Brad threatened to kill her and her boyfriend ([35:34]).

“He had her convinced he was going to kill her.”
Elizabeth Brooks, [34:01]

7. Building the Case

[36:59 - 37:43]

• New evidence emerges from autopsy photos suggesting the killer used police defensive tactics—Brad’s police training becomes circumstantial evidence ([36:59-37:06]).
• Five weeks after Watkins joins, Brad Farrington is arrested and charged—though with no direct evidence placing him at the scene.

8. The Trial

[38:28 - 41:52]

• Prosecution admits a lack of forensic evidence or witnesses but presents a pattern of Brad’s past abuse via hearsay testimony, including details about sexual strangulation.
• The defense calls the former detective Sanchez, who testifies Brad was never his suspect, sowing doubt ([41:52]).

“No one saw the defendant strangle her… there just wasn’t anything there that was terribly useful.”
Prosecutor, [38:34; 39:04]

9. Verdict and Aftermath

[43:01 - 44:12]

• After four hours' deliberation, the jury finds Brad Farrington guilty of first degree murder.
• The Brooks family is emotional, grateful for the conviction after years of struggle, though haunted by not being able to see Cassie’s children, now living with Brad’s family ([44:00]).

“Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for pushing. And I said, how could I? It was my little girl.”
Elizabeth Brooks, [43:23]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Cassie’s Family’s Devotion:
  “One of the attorneys says thank you for not giving up. And I said, how could I? It was my little girl.”
  – Elizabeth Brooks, [01:53], [43:23]

• On the Investigation’s Flaws:
  “How can you be done with your investigation that quick?”
  – Elizabeth Brooks, [14:14]

  “Just laziness.”
  – Lieutenant Ray Tavazon on the investigative failures, [32:56]

• Chilling Detail:
  “She would wake up and he'd be in the dark, standing over, watching her.”
  – Elizabeth Brooks, [34:23]; also [29:06]

• On Police Tactics:
  “He said a cop did this. That this had been done by someone who had been trained in police defensive tactics.”
  – Prosecutor, [36:59]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Cassie’s Background: [04:05 - 05:17]
• Crime Scene Discovery: [07:36 - 10:11]
• Investigative Missteps: [17:03 - 17:52]; [18:06 - 18:18]
• Billy Lee’s Suspicion & Innocence: [19:02 - 27:16]
• Family Pushes Investigation Further: [32:02 - 33:00]
• Focus on Brad Farrington: [33:17 - 36:22]
• Shift in Evidence: Police Tactics: [36:59 - 37:06]
• Trial & Verdict: [38:28 - 44:12]

---

Tone & Style Notes

• The episode maintains Dateline’s signature blend of empathy, rigor, and suspense, balancing emotional family interviews with methodical investigative reconstruction.
• Family voices are intimate, raw, and fiercely determined; law enforcement oscillates between defensive and contrite.
• The final mood is bittersweet—justice for Cassie, but no closure for the loved ones barred from her children.

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Conclusion

“Suspicion in Silver City” is a stark examination of a small-town murder—revealing how bungled police work and loyalty can stall justice, but also how the persistence of a grieving family can ultimately force the truth to the surface. With Cassie’s killer finally behind bars, her family’s fight is both a tribute to her memory and a warning of what’s at stake when the system fails.

---

Transcript

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[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

I didn't want to believe it. My sister's dead and I just.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Sorry.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

Just kind of fell apart.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You heard the water running?

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yes, it was just like gushing. I saw her in the bathtub, face down, right?

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

She was badly beaten, lots of bruising.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

We pulled the drain. I saw black scuff marks like from shoes. I was suspect of everyone that had any contact with her.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

She told me that he was following her.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She would wake up and he'd be standing over watching her.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's creepy.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

I was, wow, he's going to Alaska.

[Interviewer/Host]

But that's exactly what people do.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They get in trouble.

[Interviewer/Host]

They take off.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

After a body is found in a bathtub, a case dries up till a family takes matters into their own hands.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

We started looking, looking for what happened.

[Interviewer/Host]

So strange to have the family as a kind of CSI group.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

One of the attorneys says thank you for not giving up. And I said, how could I? It was my little girl.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

I'm Lester Holt and this is Dateline. Here's Keith Morrison with suspicion in Silver City.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Out in the middle of New Mexico, hours of desert highway from better known haunts like Santa Fe is an old mining town called Silver City. And such an unusual place it is. Quirky would be a good word.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Very old West. There's a lot of history in Silver City.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A vast arid desert one way out of town, lush green mountains, the other. Fourth, fifth, sixth generation ranchers and silver miners coexist with artists and hippies and wide eyed newcomers. As we say, quirky.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

It's just lots of different perspectives which is always fascinating.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But of course this is not a travelogue. No, no. This is about what happened here. Or more precisely, what happened in there inside that little house to her.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She was beaten from head to toe. She had bruises from top of her head down to her feet.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Her name was Cassie Farrington, and what was done to her in the bathtub of her own house was dreadful.

[911 Dispatcher]

And she's been in the bathtub and she's. I can't even do seeing her. She's stiff.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was also, for a very long time, an unsolved mystery. Cassie Brooks was her name. Then her mom and dad, Darlene and Chuck.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She was very, very outgoing, driven, motivated.

[Interviewer/Host]

From when she was a little kid?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Yes, from the time she was little. Straight A's all the way through, perfect grades.

[Interviewer/Host]

Wow.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She worked hard.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Cassie seemed to be good at pretty much everything.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She lettered in five sports her senior year, too, and she was in the National Honor Society, Future Business Leaders of America.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She aced high school in just three years. Announced to her family that she was going to be a doctor. And then she was 16 years old. She tried to hide what happened, but of course, couldn't. She was pregnant. Med school was not going to happen then, said Cassie's siblings, Elizabeth and Bo. Events kind of whizzed by.

[Bo Brooks (Cassie's Brother)]

She had a baby, got out of the hospital, graduated high school, got married, and moved out in one month.

[Billy Lee]

Wow.

[Bo Brooks (Cassie's Brother)]

Super fast.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the marriage didn't last. By 22, Cassie, now Cassie Farrington, was on her own in Silver City with two small kids, working as a nurse. In fact, she moved into a house owned by one of her nursing professors, this woman, Charnell Lee.

[Interviewer/Host]

Was she a good tenant?

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Oh, yes. Like the best spit spot all the time, Always. Yeah, she was awesome.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Just around that time, Charnel was heading toward a breakup with her husband, Billy. Billy was also a nurse, maybe a mentor of sorts to Cassie, and he seemed to be very fond of her, saw her a lot at work, around the house. Then pretty soon, a serious boyfriend came along for Cassie. David Berry.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

He was wonderful with the children, and that was something that she really liked about him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Cassie's friend and co worker, Mary Flores.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

They had a relationship that was fun. They were just building a life together.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Especially on the morning of March 24, 2014, something Billie Lee had been trying to arrange for her came through.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She had just been notified by Billy Lee that she was getting off of the med surg floor, going to the er, the job she wanted.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Cassie had just finished her graveyard shift at the Silver City Hospital when she called her mom to tell her the news.

[Interviewer/Host]

That was the plum job, the one she always wanted.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then she went home to get the kids off to school and have a nap before meeting her friend Mary again later.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

I had heard that the shift was particularly difficult. So I texted her and told her to go home and get some rest. And then when she got up to get the kids from school, we could all. They could come by, we go get ice cream or something.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The afternoon came. No, Cassie, I understand.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

You have kids. And who knows? I mean, a million things could have come up.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And when Cassie's parents got a call from their grandson's school to say she didn't show to pick him up, they weren't really worried.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I was hoping that she'd just slept through her phone because she'd worked graveyards the night before at the hospital.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But eventually a request to Charnel, the landlord, could she check on Cassie, please?

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

So I drove down from my house

[Interviewer/Host]

up at the hill up there.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Down. Down this way and up here to go in and check on her through

[Narrator/Reporter]

the back door, which is where she noticed the strangest thing.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

I looked through the door and there was water. You could see through the door that there was just water rolling out. And I knocked.

[Interviewer/Host]

Was it coming out under the door?

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

No, it was just rolling out into the kitchen right there.

[Interviewer/Host]

Weird. That would be very strange.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yeah, it was very strange. And then as soon as I saw that and I knocked and I called for Cassie and nothing happened. And then. So I had to go back up to the other house to get the key.

[Interviewer/Host]

And then just came right back here.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yeah. And then I unlocked the door.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Dread gripped her then. Something bad is in there. And where was Cassie

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

coming up? A home full of water. An ominous sight, but nothing compared to what came next.

[Interviewer/Host]

You're a nurse, you've seen lots of things. Yeah, but that can't have been easy.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

No.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Something was clearly wrong inside this small home on the outskirts of Silver City, New Mexico.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Very strange.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Charnell Lee, checking on her tenant, Cassie Farrington, opened the back door and was confronted by water everywhere. And you heard the water running?

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yes, it was just like gushing coming from the bathtub.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So she ran to the master bedroom, intending to turn off the water, and there she was.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

I saw her in the bathtub. Was like. I've never seen anything like it. It was heaped up and the waves were just like.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's a deep, cresting bathtub.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yeah, it was like cresting. And she was on the top.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Oh, and she was in the water.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yeah, she was upside down and it was face down. Right.

[Interviewer/Host]

I mean, you're a nurse, you've seen lots of things. Yeah, but that can't have been easy.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

No. Well, at the time, you know, you're just in, like, emergency mode, you know, you just. You don't even stop to think. And so I just went and grabbed her and pulled her over to here and turned her over to see if there was something I could do to help her. I mean, it was kind of horrifying because she was still in her nursing scrubs. And then I checked to see if she had a pulse, and she didn't.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Nothing to do now but call 911.

[911 Dispatcher]

And she's been in the bathtub, and she's. I can't even do anything here. She's stiff. Okay, so she's unresponsive right now. She's dead.

[Narrator/Reporter]

As Charnell Talked to the 911 dispatcher, she turned off the faucet and.

[911 Dispatcher]

Oh, my God. Why is the water running everywhere? It's weird.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

I heard water running in the extra

[Narrator/Reporter]

bathroom at the other end of the house.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So Charnell ran back there and discovered water running in the other bathtub, too. No flooding. That drain was unplugged. When she turned off the water, Charnel noticed that the towel rack was broken.

[Interviewer/Host]

This bit right up here was just yanked off the wall.

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Totally yanked off the wall, huh?

[Interviewer/Host]

And then that's leaving a gaping hole or something?

[Charnell Lee (Landlord)]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

By then, the Grant County Sheriff's deputies were arriving, and they asked Charnel to leave.

[Interviewer/Host]

What'd you see?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

I saw water on the ground on the north side that had been coming out of the trailer. It was still dripping.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In fact, Lieutenant Ray Tavazon was the supervising chief deputy. And while his lead detective, Jose Sanchez, took charge of the scene on the investigation, Tavazon had a look around.

[Interviewer/Host]

Any sign of forced entry anymore?

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

No.

[Billy Lee]

No.

[Interviewer/Host]

No sort of footprints or tire marks or anything?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

No. The way the ground is, the gravel and stuff, there wasn't any.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And inside the house, we saw that

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

there had been what looked like maybe a scuffle in that bathroom.

[Interviewer/Host]

What told you that?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Well, there was a broken towel rack laying on the floor. There was a pair of glasses laying on the floor. And then from there, we went to the north end of the trailer. Her bed was made. Hadn't been slept in. Her lunchbox, her backpack and her purse were all on the foot of the bed.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In other words, this was not a robbery?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Apparently not, no.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Didn't look like it.

[Interviewer/Host]

They would have taken that stuff.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Correct. There was a laptop in the bathroom, and then she was laying on the floor. And at that point, I went out and called my superiors to inform them what we had.

[Narrator/Reporter]

There is no getting over the phone call. Cassie's Parents got them

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

all.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I remember she started screaming. No. And then she told me they found Cassie dead in her home. And I just grabbed my car keys and we were out the door and gone. Headed to Silver.

[Interviewer/Host]

What was that drive like?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Seemed like it took forever, but it was the fastest I'd ever made that trip.

[Interviewer/Host]

What goes through your minds?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

We're just hoping that they're wrong.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Yeah. Hoping they were wrong.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But they arrived in time to watch Cassie being carried away in a body bag. And then, traumatic as that was, as they stood there, Lieutenant Tavazon approached them and seemed to say it looked like she'd taken her own life.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Lt. Tavisone mentioned to you how many times?

[Billy Lee]

Three times.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Three times. Three times in that evening, he brought up suicide. And I said, she wasn't suicidal.

[Interviewer/Host]

As if what he's trying to persuade you, that's.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Yes.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

It wasn't a suggestion that was made. It was a question that was asked.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But sitting here all this time later, Lt. Tavazon told us they must have misunderstood him.

[Interviewer/Host]

You heard that they eventually decided that what you had done was suggest that it was suicide?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Well, yeah. They were upset because I asked a question.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did you think so at the time?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

No.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So what did the lieutenant think?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Young lady just doesn't die, you know, just out of the blue. We consider it a homicide till we're proven otherwise.

[Interviewer/Host]

Sure.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Of course, there was that other matter that needed proving. Who did this.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

Coming up, after just a few hours at the house, detectives leave the scene.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

How can you be done with your investigation that quick?

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

So the family decides to do a little detecting of its own.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

There was still water in the tub. We pulled the drain and we saw black scuff marks.

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[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

It's a terrible thing to encounter. Cop or not so young, just 23 and a mother of two. But there she was. And what happened to her, as the deputies could clearly see, was close up and intense. And murder.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did you see any obvious injuries on her body?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Well, there was some bruising on her arms. There was some bruising around her neck.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What was less clear, however, was exactly how her death was caused.

[Interviewer/Host]

Although did it leap out at you though, and say somebody beat this girl or strangled her?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

It was suspicious, very suspicious.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Sort of thing. Could keep crime scene investigators busy all night, swiping for DNA, taking fingerprints, collecting all the bits of evidence. And yet, and this was very strange, after just a few hours during which they didn't do those things, the deputies left and told Cassie's family, go on in if you want.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Yeah, they released the house, you can go in.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

And they put their hand at the door. You can all go in now.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

How can you be done with your investigation that quick?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Odd. Not exactly normal protocol, especially since once people start walking in and out, the scene becomes highly compromised. Did you go into the house that day?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Well, when they said, you can go in the house, we went in.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They were hoping to find some sign or clue to explain what happened to Cassie. But they never imagined they'd find evidence that the deputies just left behind.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

There was still water in the tub, so we pulled the drain. And when we pulled the drain, then we saw black scuff marks. Like from shoes. Rubber. Black rubber shoes.

[Interviewer/Host]

In the tub.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

In the tub.

[Interviewer/Host]

And where did those scuff marks come from?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

From a struggle.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They also found Cassie's glasses and a hair ribbon near the broken towel rack. No one had bothered to collect them as evidence, so they did.

[Interviewer/Host]

So strange to have the family as a kind of CSI group.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

We gathered up the hair with the bobby pin and the ribbon, her glasses.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did it seem to you that you were gathering evidence is not enough?

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

That's frustrating.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, kind of like a tell right off the top. This isn't going to necessarily go well.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Deputies did return to the house the next day, though, and discovered the carpet in her bedroom was gone.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Billy Lee, the landlord, goes in and starts ripping the carpet up.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Wait a minute.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah, you've got a guy going in right after, and the first thing he does is rip the carpet out of

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

the mask soaking wet.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And that finally seemed to get the attention of the lead investigator, Sergeant Sanchez, who by then already had a few reservations about Mr. Lee. Why would he remove the carpet to get rid of evidence. And what was his relationship with Cassie?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Mr. Lee told him that he really didn't have any dealings with Cassie. Then later found out that she had applied for a position in the emergency room and Billie Lee was the one that was helping her. And that's what threw red flags up for Sanchez.

[Interviewer/Host]

Why?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Well, because he was thinking maybe he was there to try to collect favor for getting her the job.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Did Cassie rescue reject Billy Lee and pay a terrible price? A few days after Cassie's death, the investigating deputy set out to officially question Billy. But Billy was gone, had quit his job, left town, was far, far away in Alaska without his wife.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

I was like, wow, he's going to Alaska?

[Billy Lee]

Maybe.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Maybe Sanchez is onto something.

[Interviewer/Host]

But that's exactly what people do. You know, they get in trouble, they take off for Alaska or someplace like that or Mexico or something.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But for whatever reason, no effort was made to bring Billy Lee back to Silver City for questioning. And investigators quickly turned their attention to another man in Cassie's life. Her live in boyfriend, David Berry.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

His behavior the first few days after her. Her death was very strange and peculiar to me. Oh, so I myself never really saw him shed a tear. But I was suspect of everyone that had any contact with her. I didn't trust anyone.

[Narrator/Reporter]

At the funeral, Cassie's casket was left open to tell the world what was done to her, said her siblings.

[Bo Brooks (Cassie's Brother)]

Her face was covered in bruises. Her neck was a giant bruise and swollen. Her hands were black.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But who had done it? For months, all anyone could do was speculate.

[Bo Brooks (Cassie's Brother)]

I thought it was over. I thought she was just dead and that was it. And nothing was ever going to be done about it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

At the sheriff's office. Investigative supervisor Tavazon questioned his deputy, Sanchez. Why hadn't he even dusted for fingerprints?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

He says no. He said it's too clean. To him, it wasn't anything that would have been helpful to the. To the investigation.

[Interviewer/Host]

Kind of an assumption there, huh?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Well, I guess I would. That's what you could call it.

[Interviewer/Host]

What's the old expression? To assume makes an ass.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

It makes both. Yeah, exactly.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So with zero physical evidence to prove point to anyone, the case of the murder in the bathtub went cold until. Until six months later, a particular friend, once suddenly gone, just as suddenly reappeared. Time for a pertinent question or two

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

coming up. Billy Lee back from Alaska, Admiral, admitting he and Cassie were close.

[Billy Lee]

We were real good friends.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

But what will he say to this?

[911 Dispatcher]

Did you inflict any injuries to the victim? On March 24,

[Narrator/Reporter]

Cassie Farrington's parents, Chuck and Darlene Brooks, were in pain. Deep, endless, searing pain. About Cassie's murder, of course, but also about the long wait for justice.

[Interviewer/Host]

That period of waiting.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Hard, very difficult. Difficult on us. Between us.

[Interviewer/Host]

How come I was crying all the time?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Few things eat at a marriage quite like grief. Even the best marriages.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

All she wanted to talk about was Cassie's case.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And when months went by with no

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

arrest, and I finally got to the point where I just told her, I can't do this anymore. I thought about it, too, but I didn't want to talk about it all evening with her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the topic was unavoidable. Any new lead or development had to be discussed. The medical examiner's report, for instance. That didn't come come out for four months. And when it finally did, it was vague.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

It was homicide by undetermined means.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Undetermined means?

[Interviewer/Host]

You saw bruises all over her body and apparent strangulation.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

And they wouldn't classify it as strangulation was the cause of death. Multiple mechanisms is what caused the death.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They knew that if the case ever went to trial, that vagueness could be a problem. That is, if it went to trial. Because the investigation seemed to be going nowhere. The family found things out. Like how boyfriend David had a solid alibi. So why wasn't he officially cleared? Why did Darlene seem to be a more active investigator than the deputy?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She drove me nuts trying to play crime scene investigator. But it also helped me to push

[Narrator/Reporter]

the cops too hard. Maybe.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Detective Sanchez said, you know, I'm tired of Mrs. Brooks calling me all hours of the night.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But they kept pushing anyway.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I asked, well, did you get Billy Lee down here from Alaska and have him do his polygraph. He said yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Remember, Billy Lee lived on the same property as Cassie and was married to her landlord. And hours after the murder, he ran, ripped out Cassie's bedroom carpet and then decamped for Alaska. Question was, why? Months after he left, Billy returned.

[Billy Lee]

Your name's Billy? Billy Lee. Or Williams, actually.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And Sergeant Sanchez finally had his chance to question him.

[Billy Lee]

How long have you known Cassie? And in what? I knew Cassie whenever she was attacked in the emergency room.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But curiously, Sanchez did not ask why Billy removed the carpet or why he suddenly took off for Alaska. But he did ask about the nature of Billy's relationship with Cassie.

[Billy Lee]

We were real good friends. We didn't go. We didn't go to bars together. We didn't go fishing together. We didn't do that kind of stuff. But we had a working relationship that was pretty close.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Really? Back at the crime scene, day of the murder, at least, as Sanchez told his supervisor, Billy claimed to barely know Cassie. Now, they were pretty close. Too close. Billy told the detective he had an alibi. He and a buddy were out in the country working on his cabin.

[Billy Lee]

We were working on that roof. And when I got the call, we'd been out there for a couple of days.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But, of course, as any detective could tell you, people lie all the time about alibis. Sanchez asked Billy to take a polygraph.

[911 Dispatcher]

Did you inflict any injuries to the victim on March 24?

[Billy Lee]

No.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The results were inconclusive. Not so good for Billy. And that alibi just kind of sat there unchecked until finally, A year later, Lt. Tavazon himself did some checking and confirmed that Billy's alibi was absolutely solid. Though when we tracked him down, he said this.

[Billy Lee]

They never did, in my mind, ever really, truly suspect me because I had such an alibi.

[Interviewer/Host]

I hate to say it, but I've looked at what they were saying. You were their number one person of interest. At least one investigator's number one person of interest.

[Billy Lee]

They never told me that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Billy also found any suggestion he was too close to Cassie particularly offensive.

[Billy Lee]

Absolutely. Never even a thought in my mind to have had a relationship with Cassie. Not even a little bit. Treated her like a daughter.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So why take off for Alaska after the murder?

[Billy Lee]

Got a lucrative job offer up there.

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

So I took it.

[Billy Lee]

Not even thinking of that.

[Interviewer/Host]

It would look bad.

[Billy Lee]

Yeah. Why would it look bad?

[Narrator/Reporter]

And he felt the same about that carpet he ripped up in Cassie's bedroom.

[Interviewer/Host]

There were some people who thought Billy took that out of there because Billy didn't want evidence to be found.

[Billy Lee]

Well, what kind of evidence would have been in the carpet more than would have been somewhere else.

[Interviewer/Host]

You knew that question was being asked

[Billy Lee]

about you after the fact.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Billy Lee]

Yeah. Old Sanchez, he said, well, why'd you take the carpet? Of us was because you released the place and we needed to save that flooring.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But what about that polygraph? Why that inconclusive result?

[Billy Lee]

I can tell you why. They said, have you ever been in the house? I said, yes. And she kind of raised her eyebrows when that happened because that was our rental house. Of course I've been in the house multiple times.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Maybe they should have asked Cassie's family, who didn't for a minute suspect Billy Lee. They would have told the deputies it was long past time to focus on someone new. And who could that be? The person the family had suspected all along.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

He did it. He killed her. We know he did.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

Coming up, disturbing stories about one of the men in Cassie's life.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

She would wake up and he'd be in the dark, standing over watching her.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's creepy.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

And then a new theory of the case.

[Prosecutor]

He said a cop did this. That this had been done by someone who had been trained in police tactics.

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[Narrator/Reporter]

A dreadful whispered suspicion was making Its corrosive way around Silver City, New Mexico, that somehow cops were protecting cops. The blue code, they called it.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

At first, I didn't want to believe it, but as time went on, it became more apparent that it seemed that way.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Why? Maybe because the investigation of Cassie Farrington's murder had been going nowhere for so long, even while the family kept trying to tell the Detective Sanchez, that a particular Silver City copy killed Cassie. But the detective hadn't done a thing about it.

[Interviewer/Host]

He never questioned him.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

And I asked him that. And he said he was trying to eliminate everyone else that could be possibly a suspect. And then he was going to talk to him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But Sanchez's supervisor, Lieutenant Tavazon, had already confirmed Billy Lee's alibi. Boyfriend David's, too.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

We know he was at work. He left at 5 o' clock in the morning to go to work in Deming. And all that was verified.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And still nothing happened. So one day, months after the murder, the anger Cassie's family was feeling boiled over.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I called the DA's office, asked for a meeting to complain about the Sheriff's Department.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And complain he did, forcefully, said Chief Deputy District Attorney George Zoca.

[Prosecutor]

People got a little hot under the collar. The sheriff, the undersheriff were there, and Lieutenant Tabazon was also there.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He and the others had to admit that lead detective Jose Sanchez had made mistakes. Many mistakes.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

I had no reason to doubt him, but I should have. I should have micromanaged him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So maybe the whispers about some blue code were understandable to Deputy Tavazon. Just not true.

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

We do not protect officers. If an officer makes a mistake or commits a crime, we treat them just as we would any other person.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The real reason behind a stalled investigation?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

Just laziness.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The decision was swift. Sanchez was off the case,

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and this

[Narrator/Reporter]

ranch owner and veteran detective stepped in.

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

I came in one day and I was told, hey, we're going to assign you to the. To the Cassie Farrington case.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Sergeant Jess Watkins. See what you can find. They told him.

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

First thing I did was sit down, read through all the interviews, read through all the reports.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then he listened as Cassie's family told him about the city police officer who had never even been questioned about the murder.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I knew it was Farrington that did it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Brad Farrington, Cassie's estranged husband. When Cassie died, the two had been separated for more than a year, but were going through a nasty custody battle.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

As soon as we found out she was dead, we all thought it was him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Cassie's family told Detective Watkins that Cassie had been living in fear Of Brad for years. Wasn't shy about saying so.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

He had her convinced he was going to kill her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Watkins listened to their stories, Many stories. One, when Cassie's mom was right there watching.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

He has her against the wall, on her side, but he has her in a headlock.

[Interviewer/Host]

Didn't you want to call the police?

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Yes, But I felt like if I did anything, he would hurt her.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

And she would wake up during the night and he'd be in the dark, standing over, watching her.

[Interviewer/Host]

That's creepy.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Yeah. That is the first time she said, he's going to kill me.

[Interviewer/Host]

And she really believed this?

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Host]

The first time.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Mm.

[Interviewer/Host]

How many times?

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

She told me at least three times.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then there was this. What Brad did to the kids. Cassie told her mom about it. Said he called this a game. They were relieved when the couple finally split and they liked her new boyfriend, David Barry.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I thought when she moved in with David that maybe she'd be more safe, could get on with life.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

The kids loved him. Well, Tristan actually started calling him Daddy David, which Cassie would be like, you can't call him that. Your dad's gonna get mad.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And sure enough, said Cassie's sister, he did.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

He expressed to Cassie that he didn't like it, that the kids better not call him that.

[Interviewer/Host]

He blamed Cassie for it.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And a few weeks before Cassie's death, she told her parents, Son Tristan came home from a visit with Brad, utterly terrified.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I asked him, what's wrong, Tristan? He says, daddy said he's going to kill Mommy and David. He was five years old. I don't think a five year old makes that up.

[Narrator/Reporter]

By then, Brad was no longer on the police force and things weren't going so well for him. When Sergeant Watkins finished reviewing it, all, the police reports, his own interviews, what he felt was something like amazement.

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

Wow. Nobody in this world is pointed out as having any reason to want to harm her other than Brad.

[Narrator/Reporter]

As long as she was alive, Cassie had the kids and a new man and a great job. And he was losing everything.

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

He no longer working at the police department. You know, they hadn't reached any agreements on these kids. I think that was his way to take what he could from her. Just say, hey, look, those kids are going to not going to have you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Was Watkins right? We asked to hear the Farrington side of the story from Brad or his family or both. We asked multiple times, but they told us they didn't want to be interviewed anyway. For Sergeant Watkins, the evidence was too compelling to ignore, especially what came right out of the autopsy Photos which the detective said to the prosecutor told an unmistakable.

[Prosecutor]

He said a cop did this. That this had been done by someone who had been trained in police defensive tactics.

[Interviewer/Host]

What'd you think when you heard that?

[Prosecutor]

Well, I thought, we now have the evidence we need to charge Bradley Farrington.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Five weeks after Sergeant Watkins took over the case, and a year and a half after Cassie was killed, law enforcement tracked down Brad Farrington and Tucson, Arizona, where he had taken the children. And they arrested him and charged him with first degree murder. Just one nagging worry. There was no evidence at all to put Brad at the murder scene. And without that, odds of conviction weren't good.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

I was scared that he was going to get off.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

Coming up at trial, the defendant comes out swinging.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

It will be clear that other people had access, motive, and ability to complete this crime.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

What will the jury think?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Oh, I was nervous. I just paced up and down the halls in. And.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was the day the Brooks family feared they'd never see Brad Farrington on trial for murdering Cassie.

[Bo Brooks (Cassie's Brother)]

I never thought we would get this far.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Too far.

[Interviewer/Host]

The prosecutor's opening argument was a warning to the jury.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We don't have a lot.

[Prosecutor]

No one saw the defendant enter Cassie Farrington's home. No one saw the defendant strangle her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

No. And there was absolutely no evidence from the crime scene to help their case. The prosecution didn't even call the now retired detective Jose Sanchez as a witness.

[Prosecutor]

What we were rather brief on was the scene.

[Interviewer/Host]

That was a weakness, actually.

[Prosecutor]

Well, I don't know if I would call it a weakness, but it wasn't a strength.

[Interviewer/Host]

You should be in the diplomatic corps.

[Prosecutor]

Well, there just. There just wasn't anything there that was terribly useful. So we showed the scene so the jury could see. No, this is where it happened.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was unilluminating. And that was a problem until the prosecutor argued for the right to present hearsay evidence normally disallowed. And he won.

[Sergeant Jess Watkins (Detective)]

Brad was being verbally and physically abusive toward her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So one by one, Cassie's friends repeated stories. Cassie told them about her fear of Brad.

[Cassie's Friend or Family Member]

There would be times where he. She felt like he was following her.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Cassie was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then Cassie's mom told the jury what she saw when Brad was with Cassie.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

And he had her in a chokehold on the bed.

[Prosecutor]

When you say a chokehold, can you describe for us just how he was holding.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

Arm was up on her neck like this. He had her neck

[Narrator/Reporter]

to frighten control. Darlene wasn't sure, but shortly before she died, said her mom, Cassie confessed there was another reason Too.

[Darlene Brooks (Cassie's Mother)]

He liked to choke her during sex.

[Narrator/Reporter]

How did that relate to murder? Remember, the medical examiner was vague about the cause of death, but not this guy. Dr. Michael Hunter, Chief medical examiner in San Francisco.

[Prosecutor]

We're seeing bleeding within some of the muscles.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He made it crystal clear to the jury that Cassie's killer strangled her.

[Prosecutor]

Once you see injuries to the neck, petechial hemorrhages, evidence of assault, that you can form an opinion. I have formed an opinion that this represents strangulation.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But why should the jury decide Brad did that? He was in the Academy from January 2006. This is Ed Reynolds, retired Silver City police chief and also once Brad's police academy instructor. The man who taught him the chokehold. So eerily similar to what Darlene demonstrated. All of which was interesting, said defense attorney Nathan Gonzalez, but did not prove that Brad was the killer. In fact, he told the jury they arrested the wrong man.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

It will be clear that other people had access, motive, and ability to complete this crime.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But their star witness to drive that point home was none other than retired Grant county deputy Jose Sanchez. And what he said on the stand. Oh, my.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Mr. Farrington, a suspect in your investigation? Not my suspect, no.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Now, that was shocking because Sanchez had told Cassie's parents that Brad was a suspect.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

He believed there was an altercation, a fight, and that he killed her and then took her and put her in the other tub. He told us that the day after her death.

[Interviewer/Host]

This is Sanchez.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

This is what Sanchez said.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But now in court, Sanchez told a different story altogether, which, if the jury believed it, could undermine the prosecution's entire case.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

I was focused already on Mr. Lee,

[Narrator/Reporter]

Mr. Lee, Mr. Billy Lee.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Why did you choose to focus on Mr. Lee?

[Lieutenant Ray Tavazon]

There was just too many descriptions.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Remember, Billy was cleared, had a solid alibi. But now the defense was using Sanchez to raise doubt about who the real killer was.

[Prosecutor]

There's a lot of smoke here, but no, no.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Fire muddles it up.

[Prosecutor]

And that, I believe, was the defense strategy, that if you have enough of that, then the jury won't see through it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The jury retired to consider.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Oh, I was nervous. I just paced up and down the halls, in and out.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Four hours later, they were called back into court.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

Has the jury reached a verdict?

[Bo Brooks (Cassie's Brother)]

Could the defendant shall please rise?

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

We find the defendant, Bradley Farrington, guilty

[Interviewer/Host]

of first degree murder. When they announced their verdict, there was

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

a lot of tears, a lot of sighs of relief. One of the deputy attorneys says, thank you for not giving up. Thank you for pushing. And I said, how could I? It was my little girl, Brad Farrington

[Narrator/Reporter]

was sentenced to life, no parole, for at least 30 years. And Cassie is but a memory now. And so her parents remember their way through their pain to the good in her life. The kids live with Brad's family now, so Chuck and Darlene's one hope is to see their grandchildren again.

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

They don't allow us to see or talk to them.

[Interviewer/Host]

Anything you'd want to say to them if you could.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They would love them,

[Elizabeth Brooks (Cassie's Sister)]

that their mama loved them unconditionally.

[Lester Holt (Dateline Host)]

That's all for this edition of dateline. And don't forget to check out our Talking DATELINE podcast, in which we'll go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available Wednesday in the DATELINE feed. Wherever you get your podcasts, we'll see you again next Friday at 10, 9 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.

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