Live Breaking News & Updates on Nelson serrano wasn t
Stay updated with breaking news from Nelson serrano wasn t. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
out. >> we got a phone call from the two detectives that went up to atlanta, they said hey, we have got him here in the afternoon. he couldn't have done it. >> but that didn't mean the detectives thought serrano's hands were clean of the crime. >> we thought that nelson was in atlanta and that he had hired someone for a contract killing. >> for all the red flags flapping around them, detectives never could get enough to arrest nelson serrano. years went by, the twins had other birthdays. nicoletta dosso dressed only in black, a perpetual state of mourning for her murdered son and daughter. you said during that ordeal, you lost your faith in god. did you get it back? >> a little bit at a time. a little bit at a time. i keep saying why my children? why? i didn't do nothing wrong, why my children? >> and the father of one of the murder victims, diane's husband george, flew to florida to demand answers from prosecutors
cover his tracks. so do you go to the prosecutor at that point and say, we got it, let's go to the grand jury, let's get an indictment? >> yes. >> and he said? >> he said, you're close, but you're not there. need a little bit more. >> what's he need? >> he needs something placing nelson, an eyewitness, physical evidence, something placing nelson back in the area on the day of the homicide. >> do you think you were ever going to get more than you had? >> yeah. we knew this was the beginning. there's more out there we have to keep digging. >> digging. it's in the detective's dna. and now the erie murders would find him digging through a box of moldy, old receipts. like little jack horner, tommy ray pulled out a plum. when we return the detective's discovery. would it help him catch the killer? >> divine intervention plays a big part in here. >> but just when he thought the case was solved, his suspect slipped away again, when "unfinished business" continues.
4 1/2 years after the murders, tommy ray finally got his indictment. four counts of first-degree murder against nelson serrano. but there's a problem. you can't arrest him, right? >> nelson fled to ecuador. >> federal officials said the chances of extraditing serrano an ecuadorian national, would be slim to none. the detective superiors told him to forget about it. so their advice to you is close, but no cigar? forget about this one. >> get on another case. >> when somebody tells you forget about a case, is that an order that sticks? >> not really. especially in this case. >> but orders were orders and ray got new ones. a re-assignment to miami. but luck followed the detective to miami where a chance meeting with an ecuadorian colonel soon changed everything. ray asked the colonel to convince his government to extradite serrano. and told him why he wanted him back so badly. >> after he saw the violence and what nelson serrano had
florida made sense for the very tight time line of the crime to work. he either flew into orlando or into tampa. all theory. meanwhile, the murder investigation at erie manufacturing was getting colder and colder. >> this case then hit a brick wall, huh? >> as far as a brick wall, we were still doing background on any and everybody connected to nelson serrano. >> one of those people connected to serrano was a nephew in florida named alvaro penaherrera. the detective could not figure out why serrano had called his nephew so frequently around the time of the murders. >> the day of the homicide, nelson had called him around 7:53 a.m. there was a series of phone calls that connected the two. >> then detective ray's team came up with a bingo moment. the discovery of a credit card transaction for serrano's nephew on a most interesting day and for the detective in a most interesting place.
four-hour opening statement that left some jurors scratching their heads. >> it was very complex when he went through their long opening statements. it was a little hard to put it together. there was some holes in it. >> it's a very complicated story, isn't it, what happened at this business and there were a lot of names. >> in the beginning it didn't make sense. >> jurors said the defense attorney cheney mason made it shorter and simpler for them to understand. they said, my client, the defendant, nelson serrano wasn't at that place, can't put a gun in his hand, there's no hair, fiber, fingerprints, dna, nothing to indicate that he was in that place on that day. >> they had me, they said he didn't have a gun, he didn't have this. you can't prove that he was there. >> more important from the assertions from both sides was the evidence in the case. a visit to the crime scene was a jolt for jurors, they literally walked in the killer's footsteps at erie manufacturing.