New.York.Homicide.S03E05
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00:00I
00:03Think I'll take one more
00:06Is this the first time you've spoken publicly yeah, I don't even know where to begin
00:15Hurricane Sandy was a perfect horrible storm
00:18If you were gonna commit a crime that was the time to do it best thing that ever happened to me taken away
00:25It was the worst murder that I've probably ever seen he had 12 blunt force traumas, which is all
00:33There might be a serial killer on the loose
00:35Using a hurricane to conceal their crimes
00:39The metal examiner found some hairs in his left hand was she a part of it
00:44There was some sort of love triangle
00:46On her best day. She wasn't looking my husband's time. I
00:51Set him up. I had to
00:53Get angry, where are you? I was beyond
00:56I
00:57Want scream I want to cry. I
01:01Can't live with this anymore. I had to do something
01:23A
01:25Rockaway is in Queens, New York
01:30A lot of people don't realize it's part of New York City because it looks so different
01:36You have this beautiful coastline. It's a gorgeous beach
01:40You get that just the whiff of sea air you see the seagulls
01:45It's very peaceful
01:48In
01:50October 2012 this tranquil beachside escape was rocked by a once-in-a-generation storm dubbed Hurricane Sandy
02:05I live in Rockaway Beach. It was a perfect horrible storm that hit us
02:10We had two film crews set up at our house
02:13And if you look at the footage that we shot, it's harrowing the storm rapidly got out of control because of the surge
02:21And once seawater started rushing into people's homes, you know how severe and serious the situation was
02:28But there was really nothing we could do at that point but sit there and try to wait through the storm
02:36After Sandy moves on and residents emerge from hiding the Rockaways are
02:41Unrecognizable
02:42It was basically a third-world country in Rockaway. No power. No heat cell phones weren't working. Most people had no access to food
02:50So it was really a mini humanitarian crisis for a month
02:56Just two weeks after the storm a shocking discovery surfaced on the beach
03:00In
03:052012 I was a supervisor with Parks Department in Rockaway
03:11Myself and other parks employees were asked to get the cleanup effort underway
03:16At this point, we're more than a couple of weeks after Superstorm Sandy
03:23Right around a few minutes before 930 my radio went off
03:28The supervisor on the other end sounded a little panicky and was asking for someone to come over and assist
03:36Because of the urgency of her voice I got there as quick as I could
03:44The supervisor guided me up to the top of the sand dune and
03:49I walked that way not really understanding what was going on
03:54But then I realized what I was looking at was a human elbow and hip sticking out of the sand
04:07So I called 9-1-1
04:12That day around 10 o'clock
04:15We had gotten a phone call in regards to a found body on the beach
04:20The body was located between Beach 13 and Beach 14 Street just off the boardwalk
04:28As we were walking up I was thinking the whole time that it was just a victim of Sandy
04:35It's treated suspicious because we don't know how that person got there
04:40This could be somebody that died in the storm or was this person murdered? I don't know
04:46So in order to be very careful crime scene as well as members of the medical examiner will come and carefully
04:53Excavate the body and preserve whatever evidence is there
04:59Each grain of sand removed reveals a clearer picture of what detectives have discovered
05:05That something more horrible than the hurricane has hit Far Rockaway
05:08He was decomposing but the cold weather preserved the body we don't know how long he's been there
05:15The way the body was positioned and buried. I just didn't think that it was a body that washed up due to the storm
05:23The body was bound by a piece of fabric below the knees and around the back. The victim was curled up in a ball
05:31This is a picture of the victim
05:34The victim was curled up in a ball, this is a homicide somebody put this body here
05:44He was a male block possibly in his 30s
05:47He had a goatee
05:49But he had no other identifying marks as far as tattoos or anything that would help us and there was no identification on him
05:57He had over 12 blunt force traumas to his head which is a lot
06:02It appeared that there were stab wounds and two slice marks on the victim's wrists
06:11It seemed that the person who did this was extremely angry that's the type of person you don't want in your community
06:22Under normal circumstances detective knows would canvas the area looking for evidence
06:26But the aftermath of the hurricane creates considerable challenges not only for the citizens of far rockaway but for law enforcement as well
06:35Because of the hurricane there was no power no light
06:38There was no video surveillance in the area that would help us out in finding out who did this what time it occurred?
06:44What day it occurred?
06:46And due to the hurricane causing people to evacuate it leaves less witnesses and it creates almost a perfect crime
06:54Without functioning surveillance cameras for video evidence and no witnesses out in the aftermath of the hurricane
06:59We turned to other precincts for assistance
07:02So our next step was to see if we had any missing persons throughout the city that could possibly match our victim
07:09He wasn't coming up anywhere as a missing person
07:13The search quickly produces a lead
07:16Although not one detectives expect
07:18In the early morning hours of november 15 2012 the same day as the body on far rockaway beach was found
07:24Park workers in forest park discovered what appeared to be a young male in his late teens early 20s
07:31Concealed in the pile of debris that had occurred due to hurricane sandy
07:37No one bats an eye when two bodies are found on the same day in new york city
07:41But the fact that this second body was dumped among hurricane sandy
07:45But the fact that the second body was dumped among hurricane sandy's debris catches detectives attention
07:53His throat was slit he had lacerations to his wrist
07:56His hands were bound with zip ties
07:59investigators saw some similarities between the two
08:02We're dealing with somebody that's possibly a serial killer and now it opens up the door to where is this person going to strike next?
08:12Coming up
08:14Without a doubt in my mind
08:16Would he be unfaithful to me?
08:19I felt betrayed that the person who I called my brother
08:23Was that malicious?
08:25So
08:40Just over two weeks after hurricane sandy hit new york
08:43The bodies of two men are discovered on the same day within hours of each other just 12 miles apart in queens
08:49With
08:51Eerily similar circumstances detectives must now figure out if this is just a coincidence or potentially the work of a serial killer
09:01One of the things we will look at are similarities a pattern of behavior
09:07Both their hands were bound
09:09They both had laceration injuries to their wrists and they were both dumped in pretty public places owned by the parks department
09:16There might be a serial killer on the loose using a hurricane to conceal their crimes and dispose of their bodies
09:23Of course, it's going to cause fear to spread
09:29Detectives in both precincts know they need to work fast to address the potential threat to public safety
09:35And detectives from far rockaway hope the autopsy on the first body will lead to answers
09:41The next day when we had the autopsy
09:43The metal examiner's office was able to determine that the cause of death for the victim in far rockaway was the trauma to the head
09:51There were grooves inside the femur that indicated that the victim's legs were attempted to be sawed off
09:58The metal examiner said that it was a post-mortem injury
10:01It appeared to us that they were trying to cut up the body before it was buried in the sand
10:06It was buried in the sand, but with whatever tool they were using they couldn't do it
10:12The metal examiner found some hairs in his left hand, they were all black in color
10:18The first thing I thought is all right. Maybe we have something here
10:22The hairs were all tested but they were determined to be not human hair
10:27We thought maybe that he grabbed onto a wig or maybe that person who owns the wig was involved
10:33And then finally we fingerprint the body and entered into our system and hopefully identifying who this person is
10:42While detective knows in his team wait on the results from the fingerprint analysis
10:47The media picks up on rumors of a possible serial killer using the hurricane's aftermath to conceal their crimes
10:55But then on november 17th, two days after the bodies were found. There's a break in one of the cases
11:01A woman came forward and she said that she saw thomas studley who was 21 be kidnapped from his home in brooklyn
11:09The woman explains she is thomas studley's sister and her description of her brother matches the second body that was found in forest park
11:19That indicated that the killing had likely occurred in brooklyn
11:21And therefore the case was taken by the brooklyn da's office
11:24While the body on far rockaway beach continued to be investigated by the queen's district attorney's office and queen's detectives
11:30The witness identified the killers as tramell quences and irving gavin
11:35It seemed that they knew thomas studley and it was related to
11:39Drugs and possibly money owed and that is usually not indicative of a serial killer
11:48Gavin irving and tramell quences are arrested for thomas studley's kidnapping and murder
11:53Although quences conviction is later overturned due to a technicality regarding his arrest
11:59And detectives at the 101 precinct can find no evidence linking either man to the john doe found on the beach in far rockaway
12:09But their investigation isn't a total bust
12:14We were notified by the metal examiner's office that they had a fingerprint hit from a minor incident
12:20And they identified the person as a sean rucker who lived in baltimore, maryland
12:29He wasn't coming up as a missing person and we asked baltimore, maryland to run him as well
12:36Our detectives spoke to the police department that covered where he lived and they were able to get a contact number through the family
12:44It's definitely a phone call that you don't want to make and of course for them it's even harder to receive
12:53I was preparing for bed. So it's between nine and ten
12:56My phone rings and it's detective nels
12:59This is two weeks after hurricane sandy
13:02I've been calling missing persons, but hurricane sandy has shut new york down
13:07And so they tell you they will try and get to you
13:12And now the detective was telling me that my husband is dead
13:17And it was devastating
13:21And I told him sean went to new york in october
13:26He wanted to go to this business course
13:30Sean said the thing is it's gonna be between three to five months
13:36I had unconditional love from a man who was a very good friend of mine
13:40Between three to five months
13:43I had unconditional love from a man who would do anything for me. So i'm like, okay go
13:56How we met was sean was friends with someone that I knew from maryland
14:01This was the fall of 2008
14:042008
14:06Before I even got intimately involved. He was consistently a great man and his looks. Oh my
14:14I remember first meeting him and his smile could just brighten the room
14:21We spent that week together I came and I saw and I was conquered
14:27And
14:30Sean called me and he was like ta guess what I said what he said I met this most beautiful
14:36intriguing woman
14:39I'm, just sitting there like boy you smiling hard because I can hear the way you talking
14:44And he was just like, but I don't know if everybody is going to accept her
14:49He's like she's transgender
14:51And I was like sean
14:53Forget about with anybody else thing if that's something you want to pursue pursue her
14:58That is your life
15:00I was proposed to and married before I knew it
15:03It might have been shocking to people who knew us how sudden it was because it was only like eight nine months
15:08But he asked and I said yes, and it was history
15:14Detectives asked tracy about sean's living situation during his stay in new york
15:19She stated that he was living in far rockaway for a few weeks with a friend by the name of tiana baker
15:28I know I wasn't gonna be unfaithful to him
15:32And without a doubt in my mind would sean be unfaithful to me
15:38So I wasn't even threatened by tiana
15:41Because on her best day she wasn't gonna be my husband's type
15:45I
15:47Didn't know what the relationship status was between tracy and sean and tiana baker
15:53What's tiana's story as to where he went where he's going?
15:57Was she the last person to see him alive?
15:59We need to speak to tiana. We decided to bring her in
16:16So
16:20Two days after sean rucker was found dead on far rockaway beach
16:24His wife tells detectives he was living in new york with another woman
16:28named tiana baker
16:31I told them sean had met tiana in one of our forums
16:35you know, we had our social media stuff going on and
16:39I got to know who she was
16:42Tiana was trans and she was just starting out her transitioning
16:47So she used to call me and we'd talk on the phone and I gave her little pointers and that's how it was between us
16:54But we had never met face to face
16:58Tracy tells detective knaus that when sean decided to go to new york. It was her idea that he contact tiana
17:05We were talking about I said, well, you know what?
17:07I think that might be the best bet if somebody you know and can kind of look out for you because it's new york
17:15Tracy explains that sean arrived in new york just a few weeks before the hurricane
17:20She heard from him the day after the storm, but then he stopped responding
17:25Tyree and I were talking, you know, this is a person that he talks to just as much as he talks with me
17:31And I said tyree, when did you last speak with sean?
17:35I was calling his phone texting him hitting him on facebook
17:41And I wasn't getting no response
17:44I've known sean since high school
17:47and i'm like
17:48This ain't like sean
17:53With the information provided by tracy detectives get to work tracking down tiana
17:59We contacted tiana over the phone
18:02We asked her if she would be willing to come to the 101 detective squad
18:06tiana agrees
18:08But when she arrives at the precinct detective knaus's attention is immediately drawn to her head
18:15She was wearing a wig
18:17And knowing the black hairs found in sean's hand i'm thinking all right. Was she there?
18:23Was the wig her head the one that he grabbed?
18:26Was she a part of this?
18:29The two of us spoke at length I told her that sean was killed and she was very calm
18:37She said she didn't know that sean was dead
18:41Tiana's story isn't that sean was in new york pursuing a degree
18:45She told us that she met him on a chat room
18:48And they decided for him to come up and move to new york to establish a relationship
18:54She says that they were living together
18:56The other people that had resided with her there were her young son nate and another individual by the name of chantal
19:03Sometime like a week prior to the storm tiana had met a guy by the name of theron acock
19:09In manhattan
19:10And he had told her that he wanted to mail her a thank you card for looking so good
19:15The two of them hit it off
19:17That night she invited him back to far rockaway
19:21That night she invited him back to far rockaway to stay at their house
19:26Now you had theron acock tiana baker and sean rucker all sharing the same room together
19:35We actually like you know, well, how did sean feel about you inviting somebody while he's there
19:41She never really answered that question fully
19:44So
19:46Tiana baker is the centerpiece of the household
19:49And she said that they were arguing over her
19:52In my head. I was thinking like why didn't you just end it with sean?
19:55Was she just playing both sides?
19:58Was there a battle between these two individuals and tiana?
20:03Tiana says in the week since dyron moved in tensions between the two men were intensifying as they jockeyed for her affection
20:11And then sandy hit
20:14They had lost power
20:17tiana
20:18Chantelle nate sean and theron would all stay in the same bed together in order to stay warm
20:25Living in those conditions during a hurricane could of course be a sort of a volatile living situation
20:31According to tiana during that week after the storm tension in the house came to a head
20:38Tiana said sean and theron were arguing
20:41Tiana wanted to let the two of them work out their differences
20:45So tiana chantelle and nate went for a walk
20:49They were gone for a few hours
20:52And when they returned and they asked where's sean the answer she was given was I don't know he took his left
21:01It's an intuition you develop
21:03You could tell that she was telling somewhat of the truth but holding back at the same time
21:08And I wanted to find out why
21:11So
21:26Four days after sean rucker's body was discovered buried in a sand dune in far rockaway
21:31Detective michael knaus is questioning his roommate and possible girlfriend. Tiana baker
21:36And he suspects she's not telling him the full truth
21:40She was distancing herself from the house when sean left putting herself out on a walk
21:46But I didn't want to press her because she was being cooperative
21:50We still had two other people to talk to
21:53Tiana told us theron and chantelle were at a hotel in brooklyn. So that's where we went
22:02We spoke to chantelle outside in the hallway she confirmed what tiana had told us
22:07When speaking with us, she's very quiet and reserved very withdrawn
22:12She didn't really seem all there
22:15It didn't seem to us that she had the capability to be involved in whatever happened to sean
22:23Theron had an open parole warrant for failure to stay in contact with his parole officer
22:28So we decided to take him from the hotel and bring him back to the 101 detective squad
22:37So I go into the miranda warnings with him and then he just goes off and just starts talking
22:44Theron indicated detective knaus that tiana was essentially his wife, even though they had only met days ago
22:51He immediately admitted to the fact that he didn't like sean
22:55And then he admits to being basically the last person to ever see sean alive
22:59But his story is that he passed out on the couch and sean left
23:02He says am I a subject or am I a person of interest in this investigation and I said we're investigating everybody
23:09And that's when he shut down and requested a lawyer
23:12Once he invoked his right I can't ask him any further questions in regards to sean's case
23:18So we immediately ended the interview and we do the arrest processing for his parole arm
23:24And now if iran acock goes away to jail
23:27So
23:30The next step we took was we did a search warrant at the beach 13th street location
23:34Knowing that tiana theron and shantelle confirmed that that was the last place that sean was
23:41First thing I thought is that the location that sean was staying at
23:44To where we found his body was approximately 150 to 200 yards away. It was very close
23:51We didn't know exactly who at the time was involved
23:54But now we did know that the person who did this is going to be within this household
24:00Heading into the kitchen area they noticed a kitchen knife on the table
24:05It had a brown reddish smudge on it. That might be the presence of blood
24:10They found a handsaw in the bathroom it had a similar smudge on it
24:17They also found a bed sheet in one of the bedrooms
24:22I suspect that the bed sheet was taken because it looked like it was torn and maybe deemed suspicious
24:33The next step is to go to the office of the chief medical examiner to have these items tested
24:38The smudges on both the kitchen knife and the saw were in fact blood and the blood did belong to sean rucker
24:46More likely than not the last place that sean rucker was alive was beach 13th street
24:52The knife and saw being positive was good at the same time we didn't find any other dna on it
24:58There was no dna of tianna's
25:02Daron's shantelle
25:04So we weren't able to put anyone's hand on either one of those weapons that caused the post-mortem injuries to sean
25:10That caused the post-mortem injuries to sean
25:14Detective now says confident he recovered the tools used by the killer in their attempt to dismember sean's body
25:20But he still doesn't have the actual murder weapon
25:23Unfortunately when the search warrant was conducted on the house, we didn't find anything used to create blunt force trauma on this individual
25:31Having the actual weapon that caused his death is so crucial because we're trying to prove that this person killed
25:38Sean and that they had the intent to kill him
25:41Precious time is slipping away, but detective now sees an opportunity
25:46We figured that since dyron was in jail that maybe tiana would be a little more forthcoming
25:52So the plan was to bring her back in and try to bluff her into putting those items into someone's hands
26:00This time she refused to come back
26:03If the storm didn't occur, you know, we possibly would have witnesses at the house
26:07We might have had some video surveillance tracking to see who came and went from the location
26:14It's frustrating because the storm hindered us tremendously
26:19By august of 2015 almost three years after sean rucker's body was found the case goes cold
26:27We're years into this I didn't think that this would be solved in my lifetime
26:35It don't make sense sean wasn't a fighter that man he was a gentle soul
26:43So i'm still waiting for justice
26:46Since 2000 nypd detectives have successfully closed over 600 homicide cold cases
26:53We never give up on seeking justice
26:56Sean rucker's case is no exception
26:58So
27:00In 2019 when I decided to reopen this cold case was when I was officially assigned as the lead detective
27:08So now it's march 21st and it was more of like a hail mary pass
27:14Let me interview tiana baker shake the tree and see what falls
27:20And so that night I picked the phone up and called her and she picked up
27:25The second I introduced myself she seemed taken off guard
27:28And I thought maybe there's a chance. She just hangs up on me
27:32But then I asked her are you familiar with how sean was actually killed?
27:37And that's when I said the cause of death was blunt force trauma
27:40And she paused
27:42And she said to me
27:45I think I have something you might want
27:55So
28:05Nearly four years since his case went cold
28:08detective joe zappia reopens the investigation
28:11His first call is to sean's former flame tiana baker and she delivers a stunning revelation
28:18She goes I have this hammer
28:21There was an argument that day between theron and sean one had a knife one had a hammer she couldn't tell which one had which
28:29Now she's kind of opening up about it being a little bit more violent than what had been represented in the first interview
28:36And she goes this is that hammer
28:39And now my hairs rose up because this is the first interview i've conducted and I get a possible murder weapon
28:46And i'm thinking why are you saving a hammer from seven years ago that could have possibly killed this person
28:53What kind of involvement did she really have?
28:57But I didn't want to scare her and I wanted to keep her communicating with me
29:01So I told her I need you to put that hammer in a paper bag hold on to it for me
29:08After I picked the hammer up, I remember distinctly seeing one of the metal prongs on the back of the hammer was broken off
29:16The doctor we had from the medical examiner's office was able to say that the prong and the hammer
29:22Was consistent with the injuries to sean rucker's skull
29:26This hammer was definitely used in the murder of sean rocker
29:31Having the murder weapon is huge, but still not enough to make an arrest
29:37So now I was reevaluating some of the other evidence recovered
29:40And there was a really important piece of evidence that I realized was not tested
29:45And that was the fabric that the victim was bound with
29:49So I specifically requested the medical examiner's office to test the fabric for dna
29:55But the dna came back negative
29:58So my next step was to reach out to our lab with the nypd
30:03And I requested that a comparison be done with the bed sheet from the 2012 search warrant
30:11The strips of fabric that I got were two thin
30:14Strips of patterned fabric like a floral print that have a torn edge along the entire length of that strip
30:23I open up that sheet and it was also this floral pattern
30:28I realized an entire side of that sheet appeared to be torn off from one end to the other
30:34I lined up the sheet with these strips of fabric and the floral pattern on the strips of fabric and the floral pattern
30:40on that bed sheet
30:41aligned perfectly
30:45This was a very significant piece of evidence
30:49It basically told us that the bed sheet had been utilized to tie sean rucker's body up
30:55This was the first time that a piece of evidence with the body on the beach connected to a piece of evidence from the house
31:04One night just as all the evidence is lining up detective zapier gets a frantic call
31:10It was april 13th 2019
31:13My job phone had like a missed call from tiana a couple of them and I was worried
31:20I called tiana back
31:22She seemed a little hectic over the phone like a little nervous
31:26She goes I have to talk to you
31:29Theron just got out of prison
31:31So
31:33Up until that point theron acock was still incarcerated for the violation of his parole that had occurred in 2012
31:40Tiana goes theron went to new jersey to this girl christine's house
31:48Christine con take one more
31:51Is this the first time you've spoken about your role in finding justice for sean rucker? Yeah, tell me about that
31:59I don't even know where to begin
32:04His name is tyron acock
32:06But I call him ty and he called me his sister
32:10He was one of my best friends
32:13But ty went to jail a lot
32:16And every time he came out I was told him i'll feed you I will get your clothes
32:20But then he'd come out and disappeared
32:23When ty came to my house in 2019, that was the first time I seen him since
32:302005
32:32I was making dinner
32:33And he asked me for a phone
32:40All I could hear was tiana, I love you
32:42I want to see you. Why can't I see you?
32:45I never knew anything about ty's life at that time. I didn't know who tiana was
32:51I go who is tiana and he goes. Oh, that's the love of my life
32:56But it's been seven years
32:58She's with another guy now
33:03After nine o'clock that night
33:06He sits at my kitchen table and it was christie. I need to tell you something
33:11I remember him telling me that he just did something really bad
33:17And I looked at him I go what happened
33:20And that's when he told me he killed somebody
33:24He proceeded to tell me that sean threatened tiana
33:28And he's had to get tiana and nate and the other girl out of the house
33:32And then that's when he said that he bashed his head in
33:37I didn't know who sean was. I didn't know tiana. I did not know what to say to him
33:43I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry and
33:46He was calm
33:49I couldn't even believe after knowing him for so long that he was capable of murder
33:55I'm like, please just leave ty
33:59Tiana's number was on the phone. So I called her and I asked her flat out. I said did ty kill sean
34:08You know, she didn't confirm nor deny
34:11And then she asked would I be willing to tell a police officer what ty told me
34:17I thought I said yes
34:21I can't believe i've just been informed that this guy got out of jail and he has already confessed to the murder
34:29So now what's my next step going to be?
34:33But detective zappia never gets a chance to come up with a plan
34:37The ron was arrested in manhattan for a domestic violence assault case
34:43He had been arrested for biting and shoving a woman into a pole
34:48It gave us some time in order to kind of build our case
34:52Byron's arrest also comes as a relief to christine
34:56I didn't feel safe until I knew ty was in rikers
35:00Now mind you I was in contact with ty the whole time
35:05All rikers calls are recorded and possibly listened to by law enforcement
35:09I had to do something. I knew the calls were recorded and
35:17I set him up. I had to
35:21This is a free call from the ron an inmate at new york city department of corrections
35:27This call is subject to recording and monitoring
35:39So
35:45In june 2019 with byron acox securely behind bars on domestic violence charges
35:51His friend christine can seizes the opportunity to get him to admit to the details of sean rucker's murder on the record
35:58Hoping his own words finally put him away for life
36:03Ty admitted to me what he did
36:05But it's hearsay
36:07I'm a third party in all this
36:09So I had to do something
36:12To get him to admit what he did
36:14To all the newspaper articles
36:16What newspaper about the incident? You're gonna give me a copy of that. I was like, yeah
36:20I never knew I'd be
36:25I'm like ty
36:27You gotta explain to me what happened. I said I can't live with this anymore. I can't
36:31It just scared the shit out of me. You had no idea that I had that depth of rage
36:37How angry were you she'd been him I was living I was beyond living
36:47Detective zappia and myself are monitoring the rikers calls byron in that moment told christine that he wanted to end sean
36:59I felt betrayed that the person who I called my brother was that malicious
37:05Does it bother you at all
37:07Does it bother you what?
37:09Knowing full well, just how dangerous you are
37:13I'm only dangerous to the people that piss me off
37:19When I asked him about the fact that he cut sean up he was laughing you almost saw his leg off
37:28And you laughing see no, no i'm laughing because I remember why I started
37:35I was just like this would be a lot easier with a wood cutting axe
37:39That had been bonded pieces of him in jamaica bay for months if at all
37:47Boy
37:50I guess he wasn't deep enough
37:54Once he started talking about all this on the phone, I was like I got him now
38:00The jail calls are enough to make an arrest
38:02But detective joe zappia still has questions about the role tiana may have played in sean's murder
38:08A wig hair was found with the victim's body and tiana was known to have worn a wig
38:15They couldn't conduct a further test on it when I requested it, but I believe all these years tiana was hiding something
38:23My heart of hearts tiana was involved in sean's murder
38:27So
38:29Since tyron's already in prison detective zappia and ada brian kutowski take one last shot at her
38:36So october 17th of 2019. We spoke to tiana
38:42In the beginning she stuck to her story
38:44Finally, I took out the photograph comparison of the bed sheet and the tie that was around sean rucker's body
38:52We looked at her like listen, you know
38:53If there's something you want to talk to us about now is the time
38:58So she looked at the photograph and said where'd you get that that's my sheet
39:06Eventually knowing that we really just didn't believe what she was telling us she broke down
39:14She says, you know that story about the day that sean took his stuff and left that's true
39:20She goes but later on that night tyron and I went to the bathroom we were going to have sex
39:26And sean's body was lying in the bathtub
39:30She's like I was so scared I didn't know what to do
39:35Tiana was holding back all this time because she told tyron just get rid of him get him out of the house
39:42She goes well later that night I could hear the sound of a saw
39:50And
39:51By the next morning sean rucker's body was gone and she doesn't know what tyron acock at that point has done with the body
39:58Tiana has admitted she lied to detectives for years
40:01But the district attorney's office knows she's not the big fish here
40:05They agree not to press charges and tiana agrees to testify at trial
40:10We had a lot of physical evidence
40:14We had tyron's rikers calls
40:16And now we had tiana so we felt that we were going to be able to present a strong case to a jury
40:25Seven years after sean rucker was killed tyron acock is arrested and charged with his murder
40:37Finally in 2022 tyron has his day in court
40:41Ultimately tiana baker testified for the courtroom that the relationship between sean and tiana it wasn't intimate
40:49But with tyron, it was a romantic relationship
40:53She said that tyron was a violent and aggressive person wanting to get into a fight with sean and he wanted sean gone
41:02Tyron was swearing at his attorney. He was threatening the d.a
41:07He was threatening his sister he threatened the judge
41:13And you could see the evil and hatred in him
41:19On february 10th 2022 the jury delivers their verdict
41:25The jury came back that tyron acock was guilty of the murder of sean rucker
41:30He was convicted to the maximum penalty of 25 to life
41:34He showed no emotion at all no remorse
41:40It killed me because I feel like why
41:46Why
41:48Why take him for what?
41:51And I told tyron's sister I know what you personally risked
41:57And I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart
42:01It was the hardest thing I ever had to do
42:04I threw away a 25-year friendship
42:09But I know I did the right thing
42:13The best thing that ever happened to me
42:16Taken away
42:18I miss him
42:20And I love him
42:21And I just thank god for being fortunate enough to have somebody like him in my life for the time that I had
42:33You