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(soft tense music) (gun firing) (gun firing) (soft tense music) - [Computer] Monday 3-1, 2010 at 8:50 p.m. - [Dispatcher] Emergency 911, where is the problem. - [Child] Um, my mommy's in the basement and I need emergency and I need ... hello? - [Dispatcher] Where at? - [Child] Um, I'm at and I'll go ask my mommy. Mommy, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you where we at, I'll tell you. I need - - [Dispatcher] Let me speak to your mom. - [Child] No, she, she's almost dead, Mommy! Where we at? Tell me, I got the police on the phone, tell me! Mommy, tell me where we at? Where we at? What'd y say? I said I called 911, where are we at? Mommy. - [Dispatcher] Let me speak to your mom. - [Child] I don't know where we at. - [Dispatcher] Okay, put your mom on the phone, if she's there. - [Child] She's, she's almost dead, please. (tense melodic music) (mellow melodic music) - [Narrator] 26-year-old Monica Botello was a single mother of two young daughters, ages eight and six. She was raised in Michigan along with her two sisters. Monica graduated from Cody High School, where 88% of students are economically disadvantaged based on US News and World Report rankings. Despite this, Monica was working to improve her station in life. She enrolled in courses at Purdue Global University, an Online School that offers classes for working adults. At the same time, she was employed in the pharmacy industry. Monica treasured her two daughters and enjoyed spending time with them. In a social media post dated February 22nd, 2010, she stated, "Enjoying the day with my two little princesses, snow day, went to breakfast, now to go home and relax. I miss them, anyway, they just got back after being gone for a week, winter break, kisses." One week later, on March 1st, Monica and her two daughters left their home in Taylor to visit her ex-boyfriend in Detroit, 26-year-old Percil Carson. Although they were no longer romantically involved, they remained good friends. Percil had a 10-year-old son from a prior relationship and was considered a father figure to Monica's two daughters. He lived in a house owned by his mother. Percil was described by friends and relatives as a loving father and brother. They were all looking forward to spending a quiet evening together and catching up. Unfortunately, an acquaintance of Percil's had other plans for the evening. According to court records, 42-year-old Derrick Dennard Smith, a career criminal discharged from prison six weeks earlier was waiting at a Subway fast food restaurant inside a Walmart retail store. He was having a conversation with two men. According to sworn testimony, Smith and an associate discussed a conspiracy to rob and kill Percil Carson. Derrick and Percil had once spent time together in prison and he suspected Percil had cash and prescription drugs in his house. Derrick Smith mentioned that he was going to Percil's house. Once he got there, he stated, "I'm gonna punch in." The associate understood that to mean Derrick would commit a robbery. On March 1st, Derrick Smith and Devi Smith, who are unrelated, entered Percil's home not long after Monica and her daughters had arrived. Derrick and his accomplice drew weapons, confronted Percil and demanded they hand over their money and any painkillers. As the cash was counted, Monica and her two young daughters were forced to enter an upstairs bathroom at gunpoint. Eventually, Monica was taken from the bathroom to the basement, where she and Percil had their wrists bound with duct tape. As Percil begged for his life, Derrick and his accomplice directed him and Monica to lie across a couch. Meanwhile, Monica's frightened daughters were still hiding upstairs. They heard the commotion and didn't know what to make of the situation. Then moments later, two gunshots rang out. With his mouth duct-taped, Percil was struck by a single gunshot to the front of the head. Next, Monica was shot once in the back of the head. After Derrick Smith and Devi Smith left the house, Monica's eldest daughter dashed to the basement and discovered a frightening scene. The man she called "Daddy" was dead and her mother was lying in a pool of blood struggling to breathe, but remarkably, the eight year old did not give into fear. Instead, she took action, she picked up her mother's bloody cell phone, collected herself the best she could and called 911 for help. Unfortunately, the eight year old did not know her current location as the Botellos were only in town to visit. - [Computer] Monday 3-1, 2010 at 8:50 p.m. - [Dispatcher] Emergency 911, what is the problem? - [Child] Um, my mommy's in the basement and I need emergency and I need ... hello? - [Dispatcher] Where at? - [Child] Um, I'm at and I'll go ask my mommy. Mommy, I'll tell you, I'll tell you, I'll tell you where we at, I'll tell you, I need - - [Dispatcher] Let me speak to your mom. - [Child] No, she, she's almost dead, Mommy! Where we at? Tell me, I got the police on the phone, tell me! Mommy, tell me ... where we at? Where we at? What'd you say? I said I called 911, where are we at? Where are we at? (muffled child speaking) Um, um, I'll tell them where we at, um. I'm outside and... And ah... Mommy. - [2nd Child] I'll help you! - [Dispatcher] Let me speak to your mom. - [Child] I don't know where we at. - [Dispatcher] Okay, put your mom on the phone, if she's there. - [Child] She's, she's almost dead, please. - [Dispatcher] Okay, you, you, you need, I can't help you without you helping me. Let me see who else in the house. - [Child] Nobody else is in the house. - [Dispatcher] Okay, you need to give me an address. You need to calm down and give me an address. I don't know where you're at, you have to give me an address. - [Child] Address, this address? - Yes. - Okay. - [Dispatcher] Stop screaming. - [Child] My mommy's almost dead, you don't know (both speaking) - [Dispatcher] I want you to calm down and give me a location. - [Child] alright. Please help me. You promise you will help me? - [Dispatcher] I'm gonna help you once you help me, okay. - Okay. - Go on the porch. Can you open up the door? - No. - Do you see any mail? - [Child] No, I can tell you the address. - [Dispatcher] What's the address? - [Child] Um, I can find it, um. It is, um, I don't see it, but I'm trying to- - [Dispatcher] Okay, calm down, calm down. Is there any mail on the table or in a drawer? How old are you? - Yes. - [Dispatcher] How old are you? - [Child] I'm eight years old. - [Dispatcher] Do you see any mail on the table or any mail in the drawer? - No. - [Dispatcher] Do you see any mail on your mom's dresser? - [Child] My, my mom doesn't live here. - [Dispatcher] Okay, you were just screaming at your mom. Okay, who do you live with? - Huh? - Who do you live with? - [Child] I live with my mother. - Your mother? - Yes. - [Dispatcher] Okay, look on her dresser. You just said your mom don't live there. - [Child] Yeah, but I'm looking, I'm looking for everything and I can't find nothing, please, she's, she's almost dead. - [Dispatcher] Okay, you need to calm down and find me something with an address, I can't help you without an address. - [Child] Okay, I'll try to look outside again, but I can- - [Dispatcher] Open the door, open up the door and look at the porch, up on the porch. - [Child] What'd you say? - [Dispatcher] Open up the door, look on the porch. - Okay. - Give me those numbers off your porch. - All right. (muffled person shouting) - [Dispatcher] You said no one else is there, I hear someone in the back. - [Child] Oh, that's my sister, I'm calling- - [Dispatcher] Okay, how old is your sister? - [Child] Okay, okay, I know the address now. - [Dispatcher] How old is your sister? - [Child] She's six, um, I know the address now. 19380. - [Dispatcher] What is the street? - [Child] Um, I can tell you this, but it's- - [Dispatcher] You have to tell me the street. - [Child] Okay, it's G-L-A, I don't know, it's- - [Dispatcher] Glastonbury? - [Child] Yes. - [Dispatcher] Is it a house or is this a two-family flat? - [Child] It's a house. - [Dispatcher] What is wrong with your mom? - [Child] She got shot. - [Dispatcher] Somebody shot her? - [Child] Yes. - [Dispatcher] Who shot your mom? - I don't know, some guy. - Where's your mom at? - [Child] She's downstairs in the basement. - [Dispatcher] Who is the guy? - [Child] I don't know, he was just some guy. - [Dispatcher] Is she bleeding from where? - [Child] Yes, she's bleeding from, I don't know, from her head or something, I think it's from her head. - [Dispatcher] Okay, I've requested police and EMS. - [Child] She's still breathing, um, my dad is not. - [Dispatcher] Your dad's there? Let me speak to your dad. - [Child] No, he's dead, my mom is still breathing. - [Dispatcher] So your mom and dad were shot? - [Child] Yes. Hello and I need emergency, okay. Hello. - [Narrator] Officers arrived at the house in the 19,000 block of Glastonbury Road to find the eight year old upstairs consoling her six-year-old half sister. The two girls were the only witnesses to the shooting, according to Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans. Monica was rushed to the hospital, but later passed away from her wounds. Percil Carson was pronounced dead at the scene. Detectives first believed the couple was executed by an acquaintance. During the initial investigation, police discovered Derrick Smith's prison discharge papers in the pocket of a coat that belonged to Percil. When detectives pulled Derrick's record, it revealed convictions for armed robbery, kidnapping, felony firearms, assault with a dangerous weapon and other serious offenses. During brief questioning at the scene, Monica's eldest daughter was able to describe the perpetrators. The day after the double homicide, Monica's daughters were taken to Detroit's Kids-TALK Child Advocacy Center, where they had a more extensive conversation with a forensic interviewer. A forensic interview is a structured conversation designed to prompt the child to speak and provide information that can be used in court. Generally, it can be conducted by professionals with specialized training and a background in criminal justice, sociology or psychology. Asked what transpired the previous night, the eight-year-old said, During the interview, the eight year old was shown pictures and positively identified Derrick Smith as the man at Percil's home on March 1st. She was able to pick Devi Smith out of a photo lineup as well. The six-year-old also positively identified Derrick Smith from a photo. When Detroit Police learned Derrick Smith had left the state, they reached out to the US Marshals. 18 days after the double murder, Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans conducted the following press conference. - A good day for me with the team next to me, which includes Detroit Police Homicide and our Commanding Lieutenant of the DFAT unit which is the Fugitive Apprehension team, that is run out of the US Marshal's office, but has a bunch of people involved. We got today, Derrick Smith, age 42, I believe, who we are convinced is the shooter in the Glastonbury shooting, double homicide two and a half weeks ago. In the last two and a half weeks, these guys, DPD along with the US Marshals, have worked to execute about, I think they've executed seven search warrants in this case trying to gather and glean information to figure out where this gentleman is. He was arrested on the street today in Gardena, California by the United States Marshals. I think that says a couple things, one is we said at the time and had some concern, when we left the tape out relative to the young girl, that that's not something we necessarily wanted to do, but we wanted to get the angst of the community up, so that people would in fact call and give information. We've been able to get him today. Thanks to the US Marshals profusely, but the people around me did an awful lot of legwork, that made that happen. He is in custody and we're just elated with that and hopefully the young ladies, who were locked in the bathroom, were hid in the bathroom when these shootings went on, at least will be able to start the healing process knowing that the person we think killed both their mother and at least one of the children's father is in custody. So that's what we've got at this point, He was arrested on the street without a lot of fanfare. The first thing he said was, "Who snitched me out?" I'm sure all of the officers around just smiled and looked at him and said, "You know, like we'd tell." (attendees laughing) And so that was a big one and I'll try to answer some questions in a minute. - [Journalist] Do you know a motive at this time, um, Chief? - For the Glastonbury? - Glastonbury. - I don't and I'm not even looking over at Homicide, because two things are going through my mind and one of them is never to jeopardize a case. But let me just tell you that he'd had previous, the deceased and the perp had had previous dealings with each other, they both had previous convictions for assaultive crimes and I think some drug things there too and usually when you see that type of crime, you tend to think that there's some drug involvement. - [Journalist] Extradition? - Yeah, I don't know whether he's gonna fight it or not, but you know, he's coming back, so I think it's more just a matter of when than if. - [Journalist] And who snitched on him? No, I'm just kidding. (attendees laughing) - The great citizens of the City of Detroit, hopefully. - [Narrator] Derrick Smith was apprehended by the US Marshals in Gardena, California. Detectives from Detroit flew to California to speak with him, but he invoked his rights on counsel. The detectives said all they wanted to do was introduce themselves in person and thank him for not harming the children. Smith, seemingly bothered, looked up and replied, "In this game, we don't do anything to kids." Following a jury trial, Derrick Smith was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of torture. He was sentenced as a fourth habitual offender to concurrent sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for the first-degree murder convictions and 60 to 90 years imprisonment for the torture convictions. His accomplice, Devi Smith was arrested about six months after the crime. He was tried and convicted in the circuit court for the County of Wayne in Detroit, Michigan on August 24th, 2011. He received a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. He received an additional 23 to 50 years for the torture convictions and a consecutive term of two years for the firearm convictions. As for the Botello and Carson families, no words can ease their pain. While the criminal justice system worked to ensure the families got the justice they deserved, obviously it could not bring their loved ones back. As the families continue their healing journey, we hope Monica's daughters can take some small measure of comfort in knowing, that because of their courageous actions, Derrick and Devi Smith are no longer free to hurt or kill anyone else. What are your thoughts on this case? Do you view this case as an example of the criminal justice system working effectively? What did you think of the dispatcher's performance? As usual, feel free to share your thoughts below. (tense melodic music) (tense melodic music continues)