It was now 5:44 a.m. Thompson, a 21-year veteran of the Police Department, has been a homicide detective since 2006. When Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson checks out a missing persons apartment and finds it covered in blood, he's launched into one of the strangest cases in his career--a case that he must s Read allWhen Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson checks out a missing persons apartment and finds it covered in blood, he's launched into one of the strangest cases in his career--a case that he must solve without the victim's body. W.D. She was so in love with him that she was always able to forgive him when he screwed uplike the night of her birthday, when he got rip-roaring drunk, staggered around the restaurant, and didnt even pay for dinner. He thought he had a mild case of COVID-19. What he didnt say was that the case was going nowhere. Every time she tried to answer a question, she said, he cut her off and called her a liar. Nevertheless, as far as Thompson was concerned, that did not eliminate her as a suspect. After the First 48 (2008- ) More at IMDbPro. . Police interrogations happen all the time here in Dallas, and over in Fort Worth as well as the rest of Texas and around the country. Something did not add up. In truth, she had called 911 seconds after she had tried to reach Jaffe. Witnesses can shift their statements from one day to the next. She claimed that Thompson show a reckless disregard for her rights in having Plaintiff arrested in 2010 for the shooting death of her boyfriend, Mcihael Brunside. That she didnt mean to do it.. (For a philosophy class, she wrote a paper on Socrates being sentenced to death under false charges.) Jaffe said he had been at the house earlier that evening, helping Burnside install a dishwasher while Lord was painting the doors and baseboards, and that he had left before midnight. Tittle then had the jurors watch Thompsons interview with Lord and Lundbergs interview with Rastegar. Texas law enforcement officers (troopers, police officers, deputies) arrest people then interrogate them and take people into interrogation rooms for questioning as part of crime investigation routinely. She cooked, she cleaned, he was happy.. He is a Democrat representing District 96 in the Tennessee House of Representatives . City attorneys are defending him, saying he acted in good faith and without malice. He called the tone and line of questioning a formula for a false confession. And Sanders questioned why Thompson did not read Lord her right to remain silent after the point in which he clearly considered her a murder suspect during the interview. IMDbPro. Thompson asked why there was so little blood on her hands and arms. After going through perfunctory questions about what happened that night, Thompsons voice boomed without warning. Seriously, does anyone believe this story that Olivia tells about being in the bathroom and hearing something that sounded like glass breaking in the kitchen? There was another, longer silence. We understand that people get upset, get scared, get angryand when all those emotions are happening at once, people do things., He paused and kept his eyes on Lord. . Hed been as tall as Thompson, with a lean, athletic build. Lord explained that Burnside had taken them out from underneath the sink when he was trying to install the dishwasher. But what did you actually tell Michael during the argument? Then she looked at Thompson. Lundberg gently brought up the bloodied towels in the kitchen, asking if she had used them to wipe blood off her body. Videos 1. Comments: Editor's Note: Plaintiff will probably file an application for attorney's fees and costs, which will be substantial. Kim Sanders, a more than 30-year veteran of the department who served as a homicide detective, said the interview amounted to intimidation. In his free time, he read Civil War history and played Internet chess. On July 15, the Public Integrity Units report landed on the desk of Dallas police chief David Brown. Lord could hardly look at him. He was wearing a T-shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals. She was Miss Right as far as he was concerned, Jaffe replied. If the detectives thought they had noticed the smell of chemicals on her, it must have come from the paint thinner and the floor stripper that she and Burnside had been using that day. Lundberg conducted the interview because Thompson had a prior commitment to teach a class at the police academy. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. I heard what I thought was glass shattering really loud, Lord said. According to Thompson, Rastegar said he had been in bed during the early morning hours of May 9 when he heard screaming in Burnsides front yard. The day after the shooting, he had checked the records and discovered that there was no seven-minute gap on Lords cellphone between the calls to Jaffe and 911. When Michael Burnside was found dead in his Dallas home four years ago, detective Dwayne Thompson decided that the victim's girlfriend, Olivia Lord, had pulled the trigger. (The autopsy report revealed that he had at least a .17 blood alcohol level when he diedtwice the legal limit to drive a vehicle.) The officer identified him as Brian Jaffe, a thirty-year-old civil engineer who had been Burnsides best friend since high school. Burnside died from a gun shot wound from a 9 mm Beretta handgun. When Quinton studied the gunshot residue report, he concluded that the trace amounts of residue on Lord did not necessarily indicate handling or firing the weapon. But he couldnt say for sure that she didnt fire the Beretta. What this trial is about is whether this detective had probable cause to believe that she did it. Then Schuette began listing all the reasons that would make a detective like Thompson believe Lord had killed her boyfriend. What do you guys think? Anonymous She had then grabbed the bottles of cleaning products from under the sink to wash away the blood and the gunpowder residue, which would account for the chemical odor he thought he had smelled on her. A Dallas County grand jury declined to indict Hephzibah Olivia Lord on a murder charge in connection with the 2010 death of Michael Burnside in his home. Im trying to figure out how to move on with my life, she said recently, sitting at a back table at an Italian restaurant in North Dallas. He said when he came up to Lord in the yard, she fell to her knees and said something to the effect of Hes dying. Rastegar told Lundberg, I got the impression she was trying to tell me it was accidental. For more information, see Michael Lowes Things to Know if You are Being Investigated for a Crime in Texas and our blog postSalinas v. Texas: Your Silence During Police Interrogation Does Not Get 5th Amendment Protection, Can Be Used Against You As Evidence Of Guilt To The Jury.. According to news reports and witness testimony of what happened in that interrogation room, Thompson suddenly became aggressive in his questioning, yelling accusations at a weeping Lord, things like You shot him! Wearing a black dress and black heels, Lord came into the courtroom, followed by her friends and family. Sometimes he would think [a gun] was unloaded and he would swing it around, you know, not trying to hurt anybody, just being stupid. Thompson left the room, walked down the hall, and opened the door to another interview room. When Michael Burnside was found dead in his Dallas home four years ago, detective Dwayne Thompson decided that the victim's girlfriend, Olivia Lord, had pulled the trigger. "The goal is to arrive at the truth." In an excited voice, he said that he had been told by his sons next-door neighbor that a neighbor who lived across the streetan attorney named Sheida Rastegarhad information that linked Lord to the killing. After arriving at his house, which was a ten-minute drive away, he had received a call from Lord. Its so ridiculous. Prosecutors are also aware that detectives can develop a kind of tunnel vision about a case. Thompson looked at his notebook, where he had written down the calls Lord had made on her cellphone. Not only that, Sanders also pointed out Thompsons failure to read Ms. Lord her Miranda rights including specifically her right to remain silent after it was clear that Thompson considered Lord to be a suspect in a crime. Home I want him brought down.. And now that he had a witness who was going to provide bombshell testimony about what had really happened that night, he was ready to go to trial. On May 14, five days after the shooting, Lord finally left her mothers house to attend Burnsides funeral with her family and friends. Her voice shook when she spoke. Dallas homicide Detective Dwayne Thompson sits at his desk in 2010, looking over material he collected in the death of a 42-year-old mother who was shot in front of her home. Only Burnside and Lord were in the apartment where they lived at the time. Will detectives be able to catch the killers before they strike again? And thats hurtful. Some are arguing that Lord has won this jury verdict because Detective Thompson used a controversial form of interrogation method called the Reid method of questioning. For someone to say Dwayne maliciously would go after Miss Lord and try to set her up, I would say, You have the wrong guy, said Andrea Handley, one of the offices senior prosecutors. She had desperately run from room to room trying to get better reception. She had told Jaffe she had driven past Burnsides house before leaving and had seen crime scene investigation vehicles parked outside. Lord said that she and Burnside had gotten into an argumentsomething about a birthday party. If he had wanted to go after that girl, he could have made stuff up, trumped up reports, and hidden the Rastegar tape. When the paramedics arrived, Burnside had faint vital signs, but he died shortly after reaching the emergency room at Parkland Memorial Hospital. The idea that she would put a gun to his head and pull the trigger is just unfathomable.. But Tittle said the evidence simply did not point to that conclusion. He noticed that there was a chemical odorit smelled like bleach, he would later sayon her clothes. | Advertising I cant say any more, but its insane.. (Jaffe had been drinking Shiner Bock, and Burnside had been having Red Bull mixed with vodka.) Toward the end of the year, he finally saw the video recording of Rastegars interview at police headquarters. Reddit - Dive into anything. But, he added, his friend wasnt the type to get married at any point.. She explained that after she had found Burnside, her calls to 911 kept getting dropped due to a weak signal on her cellphone. Maybe, Jaffe speculated, when Burnside and Lord had started arguing, he had declared that he was never going to marry her, which sent Lord into a tailspin and led her to grab the gun. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); With more than 150 jury trials under his belt, Michael Lowe has strong and varied courtroom experience. Lord seemed to be trying to control her breathing. People drink all the time who own guns, Thompson said. Alternative . | Articles The detective told him that he was doing what he could. Testimony continues Friday, during which Lord may take the witness stand. Mitchell realized that the evidence against Lord was weak, but she wasnt prepared to say that Lord was innocent. Lord was accused of murder countless times, and she always denied it. But as the case made its way through the courts, she maintained her innocenceand claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. Shearin got Lord out of jail on bail. Had she touched her boyfriends gun? We loved our life together.. I was picking at him all night long about that, she said. The officer shrugged. Lord was slumped over in a chair, still wearing her blood-stained clothes. She told her parents that Thompson had brutalized her. The First 48 (2004- ) Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson hunts for a band of carjacking killers that are terrorizing a neighborhood. Summary: Dallas Detective Dwayne Thompson and the homicide team investigate the brutal double murders of two friends shot and burned beyond recognition in the trunk of a car. Sipping coffee at a Starbucks one afternoon, he went through various scenarios of what he thinks could have taken place after he left Burnsides home. She told Thompson that she too had been drinking that night, a mix of vodka and sweet tea. Lundberg paused again. Thompson returned to headquarters and took the elevator to the homicide offices on the fifth floor. She had volunteered at an AIDS hospice. During her twenties, she always seemed to be out and about, a regular at trendy nightspots and concerts. She had lost her career because potential employers, when running a background check on her, would always find a reference to her arrest for murder. Thompson testified that Lord had little blood on her hands and that she smelled of cleaning solution, which led him to believe she had washed her hands. In the video, Rastegar initially seemed to confirm what he had supposedly told Thompson and Lundberg on the porch. Thats what you did! Lord told her friends and family that Burnside definitely liked to have a good time. The officer flipped a page in his notebook. Instead, he gave Brandi Mitchell everything he had.. Shed given her telephone to her aunt, who was screening her calls. Testimony. Most of Thompsons fellow officers assumed it would be only a matter of time before he was firedand perhaps even indicted. Im devastated., Thompson bore down. Why try to make money off Michaels death?. But Lord wanted her arrest to be permanently removed from her record, which would require her to be no-billed by a grand jury, a finding in which the jurors refuse to indict a suspect, primarily for a lack of evidence. You realize, dont you, that if I didnt have money from my family to fight back, I could have been wrongfully convicted, fighting this from prison. I dont work cases for the sexiness of them, Thompson snapped. Thompson repeatedly asked Lord during the interview why she waited seven minutes to call 911 after trying to reach a friend of Burnsides by phone. Lord seemed shocked. But she maintained her innocence and claimed Thompson was the one who should go to prison. Chasing a trail of clues, Thompson and the Dallas homicide team are always one step behind their suspect. Yes. The detective was 47 years old and built like a linebacker at six feet two inches and 230 pounds. How are you going to explain that to his family? Can you possibly understand how I feel?. Was she Miss Right or Miss Right Now? Thompson asked. 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