[music playing]
NARRATOR: June 7th, 2007, 12:44 AM, an anonymous 911 call
comes into Tulsa PD.
[phone beeps]
The caller reports a fight between a man and a woman.
A patrol unit rushes to the scene
and finds a woman lying on the sidewalk beaten to death.
The victim is an unidentified Black female in her 30s.
Regalado suspects she was a transient.
VIC REGALADO: The victim had a lot of trauma to her body,
to her head.
It was a very violent beating.
Whomever is responsible for that is a violent individual that
does not care about human life.
NARRATOR: As Regalado searches the crime scene,
he finds clues about the killer.
[suspenseful music]
VIC REGALADO: It was very dark.
The first thing I noticed is blood on the walls
and on the cement floor leading up to the front door
of this residence.
NARRATOR: The blood trail leads to an apartment 90 feet away,
hidden from the street.
What they find inside is startling.
[spooky music]
VIC REGALADO: There was harnesses and odd looking
devices hanging from the wall.
There were pictures of naked women everywhere.
Just kind of gave a "Silence of the Lambs"
type feeling inside the house.
[spooky music]
We saw a purse and believed it to be the victim's purse.
The walls had been dented in.
It lead me to believe that some of the physical abuse
that the victim took potentially happened inside of the living
room of this residence.
[suspenseful music]
NARRATOR: Detectives find the apartment has a hidden attic.
VIC REGALADO: Officers decided to look in the attic.
The individual was found hiding in the attic, crouched down.
He attempted to pretend he was asleep.
You don't have to be a cop to come to the conclusion
that he's hiding for a reason.
NARRATOR: It's 3:00 AM when the police
take the man into custody.
The suspect is 30-year-old Gary Howell,
a mechanic at a local auto repair shop.
Gary has scratches all over his body.
[suspenseful music]
Here you go.
You have a blanket with you?
VIC REGALADO: Sorry.
JEFF FELTON: There are some people
that you can tell almost looking in their eyes there's
something hollow about them.
Gary, he was a guy that I kind of got that feeling.
VIC REGALADO: Pretty aware everything
that's going on right now?
I think so.
VIC REGALADO: OK.
I did inform you a dead Black female
was found outside of your--
Yes, you did.
VIC REGALADO: OK.
Well, you didn't seem too surprised by that.
I mean, that's not every day you hear about somebody found dead.
We know for a fact that this female
was in your house with you, OK?
Can you agree with that?
Last thing I recall is her getting out of the car,
walking off.
[suspenseful music]
VIC REGALADO: Gary, here's what we have a problem.
We have a witness that says they saw you
not only verbally but in a physical altercation
with this Black female.
How do we explain that?
NARRATOR: The anonymous 911 caller claimed to have seen
the suspect beating the victim.
So all fingers are pointing at me?
VIC REGALADO: At this point, yeah.
I wasn't in a fight.
I'll say that.
I was not in a fight.
JEFF FELTON: You've got some real big scratches
on your back.
[suspenseful music]
You never seen those?
And they appear to be fingernail marks.
Maybe because you were involved in a physical altercation.
OK.
If this is the proof that you have, all right.
I don't remember.
I don't-- what do you want me to say?
Just tell me what to say.
Tell me what to say. JEFF FELTON: Just the truth.
That's all the words in your mouth?
Yeah.
Gary's coming off like he's angry,
and he's trying to control it.
VIC REGALADO: You can remember everything from the time
that you wake up in the attic and the police
are taking you into custody.
JEFF FELTON: You see what I'm saying?
So I'm just trying to explain here.
I don't know.
I just want to know what happened.
[suspenseful music]
VIC REGALADO: OK.
NARRATOR: At an impasse, the detectives
decide to step out of the room.
[suspenseful music]
Regalado calls in the homicide unit's commander
to take one last shot.
What am I going to do?
I mean, you want me to admit to something I didn't do.
This is dangerous territory because if he
asks for a lawyer, then our questioning is over.
We don't want you to admit to anything.
You want me to tell you the, quote, unquote,
"truth," you say.
If you want some sort of admittance, all right,
I killed her.
[suspenseful music]
Cut her into small pieces.
NARRATOR: The victim's body was never cut up.
He's trying to throw up a false confession.
I let him run with this because I
wanted the jury to see how flippant
he was to this whole situation.
Did you actually cut her?
Yes.
VIC REGALADO: Where?
The legs, the throat.
This is gonna mean the rest of my life here.
[cries]
I absolutely do not think he cares about what he did.
He's worried about what's going to happen to Gary
and that's it.
NARRATOR: Three hours into the interrogation detectives
feel that Gary is finally wearing down.
COMMANDER: We're asking you for your own words,
and you gave us those.
OK.
COMMANDER: Are those true and correct?
No.
VIC REGALADO: What you just told us here, just for the record,
what you just told us, this little story--
--and everything like that--
He's exhausted.
He's ready just to get it over with.
He knows where he's going.
So it's like, let's just get there, I'm tired.
OK.
Was there a physical fight between you and her?
Yes.
COMMANDER: And who threw the first punch?
She did, hit me with her purse.
COMMANDER: And how many times did you hit her,
and where did you hit her?
What part of the body?
Once in the chest.
COMMANDER: Did you have any type of weapon other
than your fists?
GARY HOWELL: No.
VIC REGALADO: Was that the truth that you said on this tape?
Yes.
VIC REGALADO: Interview times now at 9:09 AM.
[music playing]
We outlasted Gary Howell.
We certainly did.
He played a game with us and we won.
Typically, to beat someone to death
you have to be fairly violent.
You know, I knew there was evil out there.
However, after taking this job, it kind of solidified that fact
for me that there are people out there that
don't care about life, that would end your life
in the blink of an eye.
And I think that's frightening to anybody
to realize that as human beings we're capable of violent things
like that.
[music playing]
[tv turned off]