Off Duty: The Interrogations | Ep 2

Summary

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Off Duty | The Guardian Investigates

Episode 2: The Interrogations
Host/Reporter: Melissa Segura
Date: March 18, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode delves into the aftermath of the high-profile murder of Chicago police officer Clifton Lewis and the controversial interrogations that followed. Reporter Melissa Segura methodically reconstructs the harrowing experiences of four men—Edgardo Colon, Alex Villa, Tyrone Clay, and Melvin DeYoung—who became the focus of a relentless police investigation. Through candid interviews and detailed accounts, the episode questions the integrity of the interrogation process, highlights allegations of police misconduct, and explores the devastating personal costs of Chicago’s race to “find the killers—at all costs.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Aftermath of Officer Lewis’s Murder

• Setting the Scene:
  The murder of Clifton Lewis, a Chicago police officer, led to immense public and departmental pressure for a swift resolution.
  • $10,000 reward offered
  • Rush of tips, primarily implicating the Four Corner Hustlers gang (00:59–02:00)
• Shift in Focus:
  Despite most tips focusing on the Four Corner Hustlers, a single tip led police to fixate on Spanish Cobras—a rival gang with little logical motive due to territorial rivalries (05:01–05:24).

2. The Roundup and Interrogations

• Mass Arrests:
  In early January, police detained 24 men, including Edgardo Colon, Alex Villa, Tyrone Clay, and Melvin DeYoung. Three would ultimately confess, but all recanted, claiming coercion (00:59–03:00).
• High-pressure Tactics:
  Edgardo Colon describes the holding conditions:
  • Small, cramped rooms (04:10)
  • Detectives uninterested in his gun charge, instead focusing on implicating Cobras in the murder (04:26–04:36)
• Timeline Pressure:
  Police had 48 hours to file charges or release detainees; they pushed the legal boundaries, securing extensions under questionable practices (07:44; 19:13–19:48).

3. Edgardo Colon’s Ordeal

• Details Fed to Suspects:
  Edgardo reports that detectives supplied narrative details and pressured him to adopt a story implicating key individuals (06:39–06:44; 08:17).
• Threats to Family:
  • Detectives threaten to remove his mother from subsidized housing and take his daughter unless he cooperated (09:00–09:35).
  • “They know what points to hit to break you down.” – Edgardo Colon (09:35)
• Repeated Requests Ignored:
  Colon claims he asked for a lawyer, but police disregarded his requests, a practice he labels as systemic in Chicago (25:27–25:55).
• Coaching and Contamination:
  Colon admits confessing only after hours of psychological and physical distress—he could barely keep narrative details straight without detective guidance (24:57–27:44).
• Notable Quote:

  “You know I'm lying to you because I told you from the beginning that I had nothing to do with this, but now you're telling me that this is not adding up with what I'm saying. Well, I'm thinking to myself... of course it's not adding up because I was never there.”
  — Edgardo Colon (27:44)

4. The Arrest and Beating of Alex Villa and Tyrone Clay

• Dawn Raid:
  Police storm Tyrone’s house, detaining him, Alex, and Alex’s girlfriend. Both men describe beatings and threats during the arrest (12:37–13:26).
• Physical Violence:

  “They just grabbed me, dragged me face on the floor and just started punching me... I was just suffering from a gunshot wound as well.”
  — Alex Villa (12:37; 13:29) "We gonna kill you. Say you did it."
  — Tyrone Clay (13:12)

• Ignored Alibis and Evidence:
  Tyrone insists he was playing NBA2K on his PlayStation—its logs could verify his alibi—but police allegedly ignored this (20:36–21:07).

5. The Plight of Melvin DeYoung (Type 1 Diabetic)

• Medical Crisis Used as Leverage:
  Melvin, a diabetic, was denied insulin for extended periods. He describes the physical breakdown and eventual acquiescence to police demands under fear for his life (22:43; 30:43).

  "I'm like, man, what are you trying to do, kill me in here?" — Melvin DeYoung (22:43)

• Hospital Trips During Interrogation:
  Only after severe complaints is he briefly hospitalized, then returned for further questioning.
• Final Statement:
  Sick and unable to concentrate, Melvin eventually delivers a confession to end the ordeal:

  "It was a lie." — Melvin DeYoung (recorded on camera after confession, paraphrased 31:48)

6. Confessions, Recantations, and Consequences

• Pattern of Coercion:
  • All three confessed after multi-day interrogations under duress, with details often supplied or corrected by detectives (24:22–28:21).
  • Each would later recant, claiming confessions were false and coerced.
• Legal Fallout:
  • Edgardo Colon: Sentenced to 84 years (33:00)
  • Tyrone Clay: Jailed for nearly 12 years awaiting trial (33:00)
  • Melvin DeYoung: Never charged with murder, but imprisoned for a gun charge, losing a toe in prison due to diabetes complications (33:00)
  • Alex Villa: Refused to confess and was eventually released after 48 hours, but would later be convicted for the Lewis murder (14:03)
• Notable Quote:

  “You don't know if you're ever going to see your family again because they're blaming you for something. They know what points to hit to break you down.”
  — Edgardo Colon (09:35)

7. Systemic Issues and Police Response

• Broader Allegations:
  • Lawyers and suspects allege systemic disregard for legal protections in interrogations, particularly against Chicago residents with criminal backgrounds (25:33).
  • Police interrogated partners and family members, allegedly using threats and violence (21:07–21:57).
• Police/Public Response:
  • Chicago Police did not respond to most allegations, citing pending litigation.
  • In courts and in documents, all allegations of misconduct were denied (33:40–34:00).

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Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On being targeted:
  "Wait a minute, now you're questioning me about a police officer's murder I had nothing to do with."
  — Edgardo Colon (04:46)

• On allegations of pressure:
  “They broke me down to the point where it’s like, okay, I’ll tell you what you want to know, just so I can get out this room…anywhere but this room.”
  — Edgardo Colon (24:57)

• On family threats:
  “We’re going to take your mom’s housing if you don’t cooperate…”
  — Edgardo Colon, paraphrased (09:00–09:13)

• On the confessions:
  "It was a lie."
  — Melvin DeYoung (post-interrogation, on camera, paraphrased 32:06–33:00)

• On ignored requests for a lawyer:
  “They just act like they didn’t hear you. They just keep going. They’re like, yeah, whatever. You don’t need a lawyer right now.”
  — Edgardo Colon (25:33)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

| Time | Segment | |------|---------| | 00:59–02:00 | Background: Officer Lewis’s murder, early tips, pressure on CPD | | 03:06–04:23 | Edgardo Colon arrested, holding conditions, initial disbelief | | 04:26–08:47 | Interrogation focus shifts, confusion over gang involvement, narrative built by police | | 09:00–09:45 | Threats against Edgardo’s family | | 11:59–13:53 | Tyrone Clay & Alex Villa’s arrest, physical violence described | | 16:03–17:00 | Melvin DeYoung’s arrest, confusion, medical vulnerability | | 19:13–19:48 | Police deadline; judge’s extension to detention | | 20:09–21:07 | Tyrone’s PlayStation alibi, ignored by police | | 22:43–23:00 | Melvin DeYoung’s medical distress during interrogation | | 24:22–25:27 | Edgardo on psychological breakdown, reasons for false confessions | | 25:27–28:21 | Edgardo’s coerced confession, detective coaching, failed narratives | | 30:43–30:56 | Melvin’s fear for his life, ultimate capitulation | | 33:00 | Aftermath—jail time, convictions, lack of charges for Melvin | | 34:00–34:47 | Official responses: denials, pending litigation |

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Tone & Language

Melissa Segura’s reporting is sober, methodical, and empathetic—giving voice to the men and their families who describe what they endured during the interrogations. The testimonies from Edgardo, Tyrone, Alex, and Melvin are raw, often distressed, and convey the sense of desperation, isolation, and trauma experienced inside the interrogation rooms. The episode resists sensationalism, letting the words of those involved—and the unanswered questions about the police’s methods—speak for themselves.

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Summary

“Off Duty: The Interrogations” exposes the personal and systemic costs of the race to solve a cop killing in Chicago: confessions given under duress, the fear and despair of those interrogated, and the lasting toll on suspects and their families. The episode challenges the audience to consider what “justice at all costs” really means—if the costs are this high.

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Transcript

[Melissa Segura]

This is the Guardian.

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[Melissa Segura]

In early January, 24 men were brought into the police station on Chicago's northwest side. Some were friends, some nearly strangers. Within 72 hours, three of those men confessed to having murdered officer Clifton Lewis. But in time, they all recanted, insisting they never had anything to do with the murder. Two of those confessions would be tossed. One man was never even charged. So if they didn't kill Officer Lewis, why did they say they did? From the Guardian, I am Melissa Segura, and this is off duty. Episode 2 the Interrogations. The murder of Clifton Lewis was one of the highest profile crimes the city had seen in years. A cop had been killed and CPD had been tasked with finding the killers. This was the priority. A $10,000 reward was offered. The shooting was making headlines. Calls to a tip line pointed to a gang called the Four Corner Hustlers. They'd supposedly been involved in a shooting at the mini mart three weeks before the murder. Days were passing. 3, 4, 5. The pressure to make an arrest was enormous. Finally, that pressure came down on a man named Edgardo. Colonial. On the evening of January 3, five days after the murder, he was riding with friends in a beat up Honda Civic. A CPD officer pulled them over and found a gun in the car. Agardo wasn't that worried at the time.

[Edgardo Colon]

I've dealt with the police in the past and the police will be like, okay, well, if you give me a gun or you give me whatever, I'll let you go.

[Melissa Segura]

He figured this would be the same thing. The Chicago police want to get as many illegal guns off the street as they can. So they take this one from the car and he'd steer them to another gun and he'd be on his way. Edgar, though, had been in a gang for most of his adult life. But it wasn't the Four Corner Hustlers. It was the Spanish Cobras. He'd Done time for serious crimes. But he says that wasn't his life so much anymore. He was 34 years old, taking care of a mother with early onset dementia and a one year old daughter whose life he didn't want to miss out on like he had with his older kids. He was wrong about the gun, though. The officer who pulled him over wasn't interested in it. Instead, she took him in. And the moment Igardo stepped into the police station, he knew something was up. The place was packed with Spanish Cobras.

[Edgardo Colon]

They put me in a little room and I'm sitting there. It's a real small room. It's just a slab, like a little bench welded to the wall. I could barely stretch out all the way on the floor. So that's how small it was.

[Melissa Segura]

Two detectives came into the room.

[Edgardo Colon]

When I started telling them that I didn't have nothing to do with the gun or whatever, they're like, well, the gun's the last thing you got to worry about. And that's when he started talking about the police officer's murder.

[Melissa Segura]

They didn't want to talk about the gun, he says. They wanted to talk about the murder of Clifton Lewis. A tip had come in that morning that the killers were Spanish Cobras.

[Edgardo Colon]

When they started, like, we know you guys, you know, the Cobras killed this police officer or whatever and just stuck there and going through my mind like, wait a minute, now you're questioning me about a police officer's murder I had nothing to do with.

[Melissa Segura]

There's something I've never been able to figure out. If most tips pointed to the four Corner Hustlers, why do cops seem to fixate on that tip pointing to the Cobras instead? Because there are plenty of reasons to doubt the Cobras involvement. The mini mart where Lewis was shot is in a neighborhood controlled by the hustlers. Agardo said he would never go there. No Cobra would.

[Edgardo Colon]

It's unheard of because first of all, like the Spanish Cobras and the four corner Hustlers are oppositions. So just being in the neighborhood there, I mean, it's dangerous. So to go actually and commit a robbery in their neighborhood, you would have to worry about running into them and then going to commit the robbery, too. So it's, It's. I don't think it's. I wouldn't do it.

[Melissa Segura]

One gang crimes officer who caught wind of this theory at the time said it was quote. But if anyone else raised questions, they weren't documented, at least not in the paperwork I've seen. And from here on Out. The investigation had the Cobras in its sights. It's around 9pm on Jan. 3. Generally, police can't hold someone longer than 48 hours without charging them. If they don't have what they need to bring charges after two full days, then they have to let him go or ask permission from a judge to keep holding them. So the cops are on the clock with Edgardo, and at first, he says he's not giving them anything. He says they already had a whole theory of the case.

[Edgardo Colon]

Basically start feeding me a story, like telling me, you know, like, we know you guys did this and this and this and that.

[Melissa Segura]

He says they started filling in more details, naming accomplices.

[Edgardo Colon]

Flip and Tyrone Clay went in the store, and I was driving the car, and Melvin DeYoung was with us.

[Melissa Segura]

Flip. That's Alex Villa's nickname. Police have surveillance videos from the night of the murder, including one from just outside the mini mart. It shows a car driving near the store around the time of the crime, what looks to be a silver or beige Dodge Intrepid or maybe a Chrysler 300. When they searched a database looking for people they've stopped who drive either model, Alex's name popped up as the owner of a silver Dodge Intrepid. CPD knew Alex was also a Spanish Cobra. According to court documents, it looks like detectives scratched him from the list of suspects almost immediately. Again, likely because it didn't make sense that a Cobra would go into rival territory to knock off a convenience store. But when that tip about the Cobras came in, Alex was back on the list of suspects.

[Edgardo Colon]

I knew that from being around the neighborhood that Flip had, like, a lot of bad run ins with the police officers.

[Melissa Segura]

It didn't surprise Edgar, though, that they were asking about Alex. What didn't make sense was why were they asking him about Alex? Yeah, they're both Spanish Cobras, but they were from different parts of the gang. He says they didn't really have anything to do with each other.

[Edgardo Colon]

Never a relationship, never a friendship, never did anything together, never bought anything from him, sold anything to him, nothing of that sort.

[Melissa Segura]

Police say Edgardo volunteered information about the case, but Edgardo says they had their own agenda. He says they just kept feeding him details about the murder, repeating the story over and over. Four of you drove up to the store. Two went in and shot Officer Lewis. They robbed the store and got back in the car, and you drove away.

[Edgardo Colon]

It was just like, no, no, no. I have nothing to do with that. I don't know nothing about that.

[Melissa Segura]

By 9pm on January 4, Edgardo had been in the interrogation room roughly 24 hours. That's when detectives started threatening his family. Edgardo says in court filings.

[Edgardo Colon]

They're coming in there talking about, they're going to take my daughter. No. They were like, well, we're going to take your mom's housing if you don't cooperate and you don't help us.

[Melissa Segura]

His mother lived in subsidized housing, and Agardo stayed there to take care of her. But he has a felony record, and a felony record is often reason people are denied or removed from public housing. Agardo says cops were telling him, listen, if we say you're staying in that building, then your mom gets kicked out of the program. You want her to lose her home.

[Edgardo Colon]

It was, you know, you're sitting in that room, you don't know if you're ever going to see your family again because they're blaming you for something. They know what points to hit to break you down. It was a real hard time, mentally.

[Melissa Segura]

While two detectives interrogated Edgardo, two others pulled his cell phone records. Calls, location data, web searches, contacts. Alex Villa's number wasn't on Edgardo's phone. Like Edgar was trying to say they didn't know each other very well. Would you commit a robbery with someone you didn't even know well enough to have their phone number? He says one of those detectives scrolled through Edgardo's contacts and finds a name he recognizes. Another Spanish Cobra named Choco. He texts him, pretending to be Edgardo, and says, hey, give me Flip's number. A minute later, Edgardo's phone dings, and a phone number appears on the screen. 800-5882-300, EMPA. It wasn't Alex's number. It was a jingle from an ad that was in heavy rotation. Choco's way of saying, f you. I'm not giving you Flip's number. That didn't matter. Agartho says the officers just kept coming back to the same story. We know you did this. We know Alex did this.

[Edgardo Colon]

They're just pushing and pushing like, we know you were there. We know you know. We're not going to lock you up. You can just help us.

[Melissa Segura]

Whatever he says, they were like, give up Alex. He's the one who pulled the trigger. Help us and help yourself. Two and a half miles away from the police station, Alex Villa knew something was up. He'd been hearing about other Cobras getting picked up for petty things that wasn't so unusual. But the number was. More than 100 of them had Been arrested in just a few days. When some of the guys got released, they reached out to Alex and told him, police are asking about you. So Alex wanted to lay low. He and his girlfriend asked to crash with an old friend of his, a guy named Tyrone Clay. Before dawn on January 5, Tyrone's girlfriend wakes him and says, there are a bunch of police outside.

[Tyrone Clay]

The police outside? I said, the police outside? What the police outside for? What happened? Next thing you know, they got the beating on my door. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Open up. We know you in there.

[Melissa Segura]

Tyrone tells his girlfriend, whatever you do, don't let them in.

[Tyrone Clay]

I told her, no, you better not open that door. Let him kick it in. Cause if they really had something, the door would have been kicked down.

[Melissa Segura]

She opens it anyway.

[Tyrone Clay]

They rush in the house about. I say, good, 30, like 30 police officers rush in the house, come straight for me, grab me.

[Melissa Segura]

Alex says he was in the living room with Monica Rivera, his girlfriend at the time.

[Alex Villa]

I was laying there on the sofa with Monica, just grabbed me, dragged me face on the floor and just started a punching me. It was horrible. I had like seven, eight officers on me, yelling at me, got punched in the ear. I kept saying, where's the gun? Where's the gun? And I didn't know what the hell they were talking about. He started hitting me in my growing area, my private area was hitting me there. I'm like. And he's just shouting, where's the gun? I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about.

[Melissa Segura]

Tyrone claims police beat him too.

[Tyrone Clay]

They hit me with a gun in my face. They kept hitting me in my face. We gonna kill you. We gonna kill you. Say you did it. We gonna kill you. Say you did it. We gonna kill you. We gonna kill you. I was like, man, I don't even know what y' all talking about.

[Melissa Segura]

Alex says they then cuff him tightly.

[Alex Villa]

I was just suffering from a gunshot wound as well. The cuff was so tight when they took me to the station that it wasn't coming off by itself. That's how tight that handcuffs was.

[Melissa Segura]

The police take Alex and Tyrone to the police station, the same one where Edgardo is being held. Alex says police start asking him about the Lewis murder.

[Alex Villa]

I ain't know nothing about this. I'm not from that area. Never been there. Just like my neighborhood. We don't be over there.

[Melissa Segura]

Alex described the scene to me nearly 13 years after it happened. He was calling from Lawrence Correctional Center, 250 miles south of Chicago. The prison he'd been sent to for the murder of Officer Clifton Lewis.

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[Melissa Segura]

By the early morning of January 5, police had arrested three men, Igardo Colon, Tyrone Clay and Alex Villa. There was a fourth man who was a crucial part of the case, Melvin DeYoung. When police showed up at his door that morning, he was in his underwear.

[Melvin DeYoung]

They storm in, throw me in handcuffs, I'm in my boxers, and then they start searching. You know, I wasn't presented with a search warrant or anything like the others.

[Melissa Segura]

Melvin said he didn't know what was going on. He says the officers were shouting at him about some cop killing.

[Melvin DeYoung]

Honestly, I had no idea about the case. None of it. This was the first time I heard about the officer losing his life.

[Melissa Segura]

Melvin says he'd never kill a cop. It's just not something he'd do. Plus, his dad had been an officer on the force for 16 years.

[Melvin DeYoung]

First of all, I'm not going to kill no officer.

[Alex Villa]

Period.

[Melvin DeYoung]

My father was a cop.

[Melissa Segura]

As the officers searched, they turned up a gun and some weed. That was enough to bring him in. By 7am Melvin's in an interrogation room at the same station as Alex, Edgardo and Tyrone. Melvin was a cobra, too, and he was tight with Alex. Like a second big brother to him. He says he tells detectives over and over that he doesn't know anything about a cop being shot. He doesn't know why he's there. He also tells them that he's a type 1 diabetic. He needs insulin shots five times a day. If he misses those shots, he could die. I would love to play a recording of these interrogations for you. And they were recorded. It's state law for the interrogation rooms to have cameras, but the city of Chicago successfully petitioned a federal court to block the release of many of the materials related to these cases, including the interrogation tapes. I did get some transcripts and was able to dig up a tiny fraction of recordings. Four of the 48 hours that Alex and Melvin were in the interrogation rooms. The footage I watch doesn't show much. You see each of the men in a room pacing, sitting, talking to themselves. You hear noises from the hallway, but it's still unsettling to watch. The claustrophobia and the anxiety are palpable. And also I knew what was coming. By mid afternoon on January 5, Edgardo Colon, the first of the four men to be taken in, was still in a cell. He says he hadn't eaten, hadn't really slept, no fresh air or daylight for nearly 40 hours, he says, which meant the police were running out of time, approaching that 48 hour deadline when they'd have to charge him or let him go.

[Edgardo Colon]

There was a lot of things going through my mind, you know, like, never see my kids again.

[Melissa Segura]

But he knows he just has to hang on for a few more hours. Except there's a loophole. The police can appeal to a judge to extend the clock. It requires an emergency hearing. They have to make the case for the extension to a judge. And there is a document signed by a judge indicating that she held a hearing and approved an extra 24 hours for Edgardo Colon's interrogation. Judges are not required to hear from a suspect before deciding if they should be held longer.

[Edgardo Colon]

What they did was they took me to the county jail from the police station. Instead of taking me in front of a judge, they ran me through the processing for the gun charge. As soon as we finished with the processing, I went right back to the police station.

[Melissa Segura]

As Edgar the was brought back to the station, Alex Villa was about nine hours into his own interrogation.

[Alex Villa]

You know, you're telling somebody you're innocent, you're trying to plead with somebody and they're not listening to you. I remember several detectives just completely disregarding what I was saying, trying to feed me stories as they were talking to me. I felt like it was a lot of psychological games being played in that interrogation room.

[Melissa Segura]

Alex's friend Tyrone, who was brought in at the same time, kept insisting that he had an alibi. He Told officers that he was on his PlayStation playing NBA 2K at the time Officer Lewis was murdered.

[Tyrone Clay]

So, you know, the game is a mini computer. It saves everything. Got a hard drive, everything. So the time and the date that I was logged up on that game, that's the time and the date I was in the house. You see what I'm saying? And that game had that on there. I said, man, if you look on that game, it's gonna tell you everything.

[Melissa Segura]

Tyrone says he asked for a lawyer and that his request was repeatedly ignored. In the transcripts, an officer does read him his rights, but then tells Tyrone that he has to say yes, that he understands his rights and is not being coerced. Lawyers would later argue that Tyrone had been arrested before and would have known his rights. It's an argument a court would later reject. Tyrone was diagnosed with learning differences as a child and scored 66 on an IQ test. It's unclear, as you read the transcripts, whether he fully understands what he's agreeing to. Police also hauled in the wives and girlfriends of the men being questioned and interrogated them. They bring in Alex's girlfriend, Monica Rivera, and download the data from her cell phone, including her texts. Later in court, Monica testified that police threatened and abused her. She accused officers of slapping her and that an officer dug his fingernails into her face. Another woman said under oath that an officer raised a fist at her and threatened to take her four kids. In court documents, police denied any misconduct in this case. But of all the people hauled in for questioning, no one was faring worse than Melvin DeYoung, the guy with type 1 diabetes. More than 10 hours had passed without him taking the insulin he uses to control his blood sugar. And he was feeling it.

[Melvin DeYoung]

My vision was blurry. My tongue felt like a piece of cardboard. I felt my cheekbones sinking in. I'm like, man, what are you trying to do, kill me in here?

[Melissa Segura]

At this point, Melvin's really sick. Police call an ambulance and bring him to the hospital. He gets an insulin injection and is brought back to the station. Melvin says an officer rides with him in the ambulance and badgers him the whole way there and back. Alex Villa was in bad shape, too, from the beating he says he took when police arrested him at Tyrone's house. There's a moment in the transcript when Alex tells a detective that he's throwing up blood. He says, I feel like my ribs are broken, like, pushed into the side. The detective replies, I don't see any vomit. And Alex says, that's blood right there. Eventually, police call a Second ambulance, this one to take Alex to the hospital. His medical records are sealed, but Alex says when they got there, the police told the medical staff that he was fine. Just having a panic attack. They took him back to the interrogation room. It's now nearly 10pm on January 5th. In a room just down the hall from Alex, Egartho Colon is on hour 56 of his interrogation. Still no food, he says, hardly any sleep. And Agardo feels a kind of despair take over him.

[Edgardo Colon]

I felt weak, I felt beaten. I felt taken advantage of, you know, it was just like. How do I explain it? It's just that feeling like, okay, they got me where they want me, and there's nothing I can do about it. There's nobody to help me. There's nobody to come save me, you know, I don't want to die in here. I don't want to. You know, I'm going to have to do something to try to get out of here.

[Melissa Segura]

Edgardo says he began to weep. He says he was ready to say whatever he had to to get out of that room.

[Edgardo Colon]

You know, some people say, why would somebody confess to something that they didn't do? And me, I would say, is that they never been under pressure the way that I was. They broke me down to the point where it's like, okay, I'll tell you what you want to know, just so I can get out this room, just so I can. I mean, if you're going to lock me up, lock me up. But at least take me somewhere where I can see some daylight, get some fresh air, or get on the phone, or anywhere but this room.

[Melissa Segura]

He says he asked for a lawyer, but he says police ignored his request.

[Edgardo Colon]

It's not like on tv, you know, like, we're not with us, where you see a TV program. And he tells the cop, well, give me a lawyer. Okay, fine, buddy. I'll leave you alone. It doesn't work like that with us, you know, especially in Chicago. They just act like they didn't hear you. They just keep going. They're like, yeah, whatever. You don't need a lawyer right now. That's a practice that they've been doing for years, you know, not just with my case, even before me.

[Melissa Segura]

Edgardo finally relents. He is ready to make a confession. He says a prosecutor comes in to take a formal statement. But Edgardo is getting the details wrong.

[Edgardo Colon]

The first time, he was kind of irritated because he knew right away, like, no, this ain't adding up. He knew more than I did at that point. Obviously, no he's seen the video, so he knows what happened there. He knows everything. And when I say certain things, I could see the look on his face like, like, you're not ready yet.

[Melissa Segura]

A detective is in the room with him, coaching him, Edgardo says, telling him the route he, Alex, Tyrone and Melvin supposedly took when they drove home from the mini mart.

[Edgardo Colon]

He'll be like, okay, so you guys went this way. And I'm like, yeah, we went this way. And he's like, no, no, wait a minute. He just kept leading me a different way. Whenever he would see that I'm off what he wanted me to.

[Melissa Segura]

It went on like that for a long time. Edgardo says, him struggling to get the details straight, trying to repeat the story he feels they want to hear. At one point, Agardo says that Melvin and Tyrone were the ones who went into the mini mart to rob the store. But that couldn't be right. Both Melvin and Tyrone are black, and one of the assailants on the video is light skinned, lighter than either of them. The detectives were getting more and more frustrated. Edgardo says the prosecutor kept coming in to take a statement, Agardo tells me, and then leaving when Agardo couldn't get it right. And Agardo was like, what do you want from me?

[Edgardo Colon]

You know I'm lying to you because I told you from the beginning that I had nothing to do with this, but now you're telling me that this is not adding up with what I'm saying. Well, I'm thinking to myself, I'm not telling them this, but I'm like, well, of course it's not adding up because I was never there.

[Melissa Segura]

At one point, Agardo says he tells the detective he needs help. He thinks maybe he's having a heart attack.

[Edgardo Colon]

I was having a lot of, like, chest pains and like short of breath. And I'm telling him, like, I don't know what's going on with my chest, you know, like, I need to go to a hospital, I need to get out of here. And nothing. Oh, you'll be okay. You'll be okay.

[Melissa Segura]

He says police tell him he's not going anywhere until they get a usable statement from him. Finally, after 60 hours, he gives them a statement that seems to satisfy them. His statement goes like, Egardo was out walking his dog when Alex drove by and told him about plans to rob the mini mart. Edgardo spontaneously agreed to go. They dropped off his dog. Then he, Edgardo, got behind the wheel of Alex's car, the silver Dodge Intrepid. They drove to the Mini Mart. And he and Melvin waited outside while Tyrone, who's black, and Alex, a light skinned Latino, went into the store. They shot Officer Lewis, grabbed the money out of the register, and they all drove away. One confession down. Meanwhile, detectives have given a polygraph test to Tyrone Clay, the guy who says he was playing a video game. And now they come back into the room and tell Tyrone he failed it and he's in trouble.

[Tyrone Clay]

I said how I failed the polygraph and I'm telling the truth. He's like, well, you failed. You was there, so they gonna charge you. I said, man, charge me for what? A murder I didn't do.

[Melissa Segura]

Tyrone has been in custody for nearly two full days. He's confused and scared, and he figures he'll tell them what they want to hear and fight the case later. Like Edgar, though, Tyrone says he has to repeat the story several times to get the names and details right before they finally record his confession. Two confessions down now. Only Alex and Melvin remain. But Melvin's condition has worsened since his trip to the hospital, his blood sugar spiking as he sits in the interrogation room. So they take him to the hospital for a second time. Nurses gave him an IV and more insulin. Then it's back to the station for more questioning. Hours go by, blood sugar spikes again. And it's not an exaggeration to say that Melvin is worried that he might die.

[Melvin DeYoung]

It's like your kidneys are always boiling over. You have to urinate. Dehydration is like bones start to hurt.

[Melissa Segura]

He sees his options in this moment as lie about Alex, a guy he loved like a little brother, or risk his life. Melvin starts giving in, starts repeating back to the detectives pieces of the story he says they're giving him. But his blood sugar is all off. He says he can't concentrate enough to give them the details he thinks they want. Melvin goes back to the hospital for a third and final time. When he gets back, he gives a statement. Three down. Then after detectives finally leave the room, that's when Melvin looks at the camera and says those words that Jennifer and Eric will years later watch over and over. It was a lie. By Sunup on January 7, the CPD has matching confessions from three of their four main Igardo, Colon, Tyrone Clay, and Melvin DeYoung. Tyrone will spend nearly 12 years in jail waiting for trial. Edgardo will be found guilty and sent to prison for 84 years. And Melvin, despite his confession, will never be charged as an accomplice to the murder. That happens sometimes, especially when police and prosecutors are looking for cooperation from a suspect. Instead, he'll go to prison on a weapons charge, illegal possession of a gun police found when they searched his place. He'll do seven years and he'll lose his toe in prison as a result of his diabetes. Unlike the other three, Alex will refuse to confess. He will be released after 48 hours. But the police aren't done with Alex, not by a long shot. The Guardian made repeated attempts to speak with the Chicago Police Department. The department did not have anyone available to answer our questions, a spokesperson wrote in an email. Police did not respond to Alex Edgar though Tyrone and Monica's specific allegations of abuse in court, but they have denied any misconduct or wrongdoing in the case. In court documents, officers deny any misconduct. The Cook County State's Attorney's office declined to comment, citing pending litigation. In court documents, the state's attorney's office denied allegations of wrongdoing. The office of the chief judge, on behalf of the judge who extended Edgardo's time in police custody, also declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

[Edgardo Colon]

Foreign.

[Melissa Segura]

This is the Guardian.

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