Killer Story | 5. Diners, Dreams, and Death

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• 1:01Speaker 01

  Previously on Killer Story.

• 1:05Speaker 02

  He sat there seeming so innocent, and it was easy to believe that he genuinely cared.

• 1:11Speaker 03

  Why in the world would someone be taking out a $400,000 insurance policy on a teenage girl? That made no sense whatsoever.

• 1:22Speaker 02

  Here it is. Here's the motive.

• 1:35Speaker 01

  It's three years since Sabrina Kidd disappeared without a trace, and Jim Bixel, her former boyfriend, rarely thinks about her anymore. She was in his life one day, and the next, she was gone. Jim moved on.

• 1:51Speaker 04

  I thought she was missing, or moved back to Texas, or ran off with somebody.

• 1:57Speaker 01

  Jim's moved on from racing down mountain roads on his motorcycle, and now he's an EMT at a local ambulance company. One day, he's on a 24-hour shift when his phone rings. It's Tommy, son of Tom Preston. Tommy was Jim's childhood best friend. He's known Tommy forever. They'd played Little League baseball together. But Tommy moved out of Vegas, and Jim and Tommy drifted apart. On the phone, Tommy needs to reconnect with his best friend. He sounds scared.

• 2:32Speaker 04

  I'm like, what's going on? He says, I can't talk to you right now. He goes, I need to see you in person. He goes, I'm coming to Vegas right now.

• 2:40Speaker 04

  I need you to get out of work. We need to talk. He was crying. I'd never seen or heard Tom that, like that. He was, the kid was devastated and was scared of something. He's like, Jimmy says, I need to talk to you, like now. And I said, what's this about? And he says, this is about my fucking dad.

• 3:03Speaker 01

  That's Preston.

• 3:05Speaker 04

  He goes, he's a fucking asshole, Jimmy. He says, and I'm in trouble. I need to talk to you.

• 3:09Speaker 01

  Jim asks his boss to cover his shift. He heads home and waits for Tommy. Hours go by.

• 3:18Speaker 04

  Tommy never shows up.

• 3:20Speaker 01

  This is Killer Story. I'm Steve Fishman. Episode 5, Diners Dreams and Death.

• 3:36Speaker 00

  Get this. When you're with Xfinity, you're already a member. No sign up, no cost. Score epic experiences from our family at NBC Universal. Plus movie tickets, discounts on streaming, mobile, and more. Check the Xfinity app every Thursday for exclusive perks and experiences only with Xfinity. Now that's the way to start a weekend. Let the magic begin. Restrictions apply. Visit Xfinity.com/membership to learn more. Welcome to the 50th Hunger Games.

• 4:08Speaker 04

  Witness the beginning of the revolution.

• 4:10Speaker 00

  Hey Mitch, you've been trying to take down these games from the start.

• 4:13Speaker 04

  Filmed for IMAX.

• 4:15Speaker 00

  Make them remember you.

• 4:17Speaker 04

  The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, November 20th, rated PG-13.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  It's two days after Tommy's urgent call to Jim. Two days after Tommy failed to show up at Jim's house. Jim's back at his EMT job. He's doing some paperwork, waiting to be called to somebody's emergency. A TV is playing in the background.

• 4:39Speaker 04

  And Channel 8 News at noon comes on. One of their top stories was that a young white male was found in a drainage pipe off the highway.

• 4:50Speaker 01

  Jim doesn't pay it much attention. Why watch on TV what he sees all the time at work? But a couple of days later, the same story's back on the news.

• 5:01Speaker 04

  They announced on the news that that body that was found in the drainage pipe off that highway was identified as Thomas Lanceler Preston III.

• 5:09Speaker 01

  That's Tommy.

• 5:10Speaker 04

  Holy crap. You know? And I'm like, that's why he never showed up. Somebody freaking killed him and stuffed him in this drainage pipe. And I'm thinking, what, what is going on?

• 5:24Speaker 01

  According to news reports, Tommy was murdered execution style. A bullet in his head. Jim has no idea what happened. But some answers may be on the way. A few weeks after Tommy's murder, Jim gets a call from Tommy's dad, also named Tom Preston. I'm referring to him as Preston for clarity. Preston is calling Jim, and as with his son, it seems urgent. He wants to speak to Jim in person and suggests a diner. Jim figures Preston wants to talk about Tommy, more in his son with his son's best friend.

• 6:05Speaker 04

  So I agreed to meet with him.

• 6:08Speaker 01

  Jim arrives on time.

• 6:10Speaker 04

  I walk in, I sit down.

• 6:12Speaker 01

  Preston is already there.

• 6:15Speaker 04

  His very first thing he says to me, he says, Jimmy, he says, "The police think I have something to do with Sabrina's disappearance, and I need your help."

• 6:24Speaker 01

  Sabrina? This is not the person he expects to hear about. Jim realizes he doesn't actually know much about Preston. Though, he now knows one thing. Like his son, Preston is apparently in trouble.

• 6:40Speaker 04

  He says, "The cops think I had something to do with her disappearance. I had nothing to do with it."

• 6:46Speaker 01

  Seated across the table from Preston, Jim doesn't know what to think. Except maybe, "Why come to me?"

• 6:54Speaker 04

  He says, "So I need you to go to the police and tell them that you saw her on a..." He gave me a specific date and a time and everything of when I allegedly saw her. He wanted me to tell this big elaborate story to the police to try to, I guess, clear his name of any wrongdoing.

• 7:17Speaker 01

  Preston is asking Jim to say that he saw Sabrina after she disappeared. Seems he's trying to imply that Sabrina is still alive.

• 7:25Speaker 04

  I mean, this is my... One of my best friend's dad.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  In other words, Jim feels some loyalty to Preston. But still, he's not comfortable. Here's the story Preston wants Jim to tell the police.

• 7:40Speaker 04

  Um, you know, you saw her at Merrill Parkway in Vegas Valley. It's such and such time, on this date. And she was with a black guy driving a yellow Cadillac. And they were going northbound on Merrill Parkway. You pulled up next to her in your ambulance. You looked over, you not saw her, she saw you. You waved, kinda like, "Hey, roll your window down." And she just waved at you and they drove off. He says, "That's all I need you to say."

• 8:05Speaker 01

  It's a really detailed story, which kinda gives it the ring of truth. But, it's a fabrication. Jim isn't prepared for any of this. Preston, though, has more.

• 8:19Speaker 04

  And he said, "If you say this, if you go to the police and do this for me, Jimmy says, "I'm gonna give you Tommy's new Mustang GT, and I'll give you $5,000 in cash."

• 8:32Speaker 04

  This guy is trying to bribe me to come up with some lie to the police to get him off.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Something else strikes Jim.

• 8:44Speaker 04

  He never, ever brought up his son Tommy during that whole conversation. It was all about Sabrina. That's all it was about.

• 8:53Speaker 04

  I'm like, man, this is, this is wild.

• 8:57Speaker 01

  And not really even about Sabrina. In Jim's mind, this is about helping Preston, helping him redirect suspicion for Sabrina's disappearance away from himself.

• 9:10Speaker 04

  I'm like, I'm freaking out at this time. My gut just shrivels up and I'm thinking, he had something to do with Sabrina's disappearance 100%. And I got scared. I'm thinking now, and now Tommy just ended up dead.

• 9:28Speaker 04

  All these things are going through my brain as he's talking. I'm thinking about Tommy's and I's last conversation, how Tommy's calling his dad all these names. He's in trouble. He's crying and I can't help but think, man, that he's got something to do with both of these.

• 9:43Speaker 01

  With Sabrina's disappearance and with Tommy's murder.

• 9:48Speaker 04

  I was scared to death.

• 9:53Speaker 01

  Scared to death and still in a booth in a diner across from Preston, who's still awaiting Jim's answer.

• 10:03Speaker 04

  So I said, look, there's a lot going on. There's a lot to process. And I said, I'll probably do it because I wanted to just tell him whatever he wanted to hear. So I could get away from the guy.

• 10:17Speaker 01

  Jim exits the restaurant and walks through the parking lot.

• 10:21Speaker 04

  I remember getting on my motorcycle when I left there. I'm like, something's up. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something wasn't right. I'm thinking, Tom's dad actually kill his own son?

• 10:35Speaker 01

  And if Preston could do that, what else is he capable of?

• 10:40Speaker 01

  Who is this guy Preston?

• 10:51Speaker 05

  Observe: The North American Dad. 50s, great polo collection. He enters his vehicle information on Carvana. An offer appears in minutes. Remarkable. He squints, reads it again, smiles and says, "Dang, that's a good offer." The highest form of approval. No haggling, no hassle. No one called him "boss." He's still on the couch. Astonishing. Sell your car today on carvana.com. Pickup fees may apply.

• 11:21Speaker 00

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• 11:57Speaker 01

  In 1991, Lynda's looking into Preston. To her mind, he's the prime suspect in a murder. Lynda wonders, "Why would he have an insurance policy for Sabrina? One her own mother wasn't even on." But, in truth, four years earlier to Sabrina, Preston is the kind, generous father of her friend Tommy. Remember that until Sabrina moves into Preston's home, she was knocking around from place to place. And so Preston's modest house on a cul-de-sac must seem to her like a safe, stable landing. The house's decorations are a little haphazard. Preston's wife has just moved out.

• 12:42Speaker 01

  They're divorcing. And she took a bunch of photos with her, leaving bare spots on the walls.

• 12:49Speaker 04

  After they divorced, it looked more of a bachelor pad, if you will.

• 12:55Speaker 01

  That's Jim, who was a frequent visitor once Sabrina moved in. Sabrina doesn't care what the place looks like. The house has four bedrooms, and she gets one.

• 13:09Speaker 01

  Sabrina most likely decamps to Preston's place in early September, just a few weeks before she disappears. Preston seems to go out of his way to make the teenager comfortable. Her friends are welcome. Preston has an open door policy. He's not on top of anyone. He's not insisting on neatness, for instance. Jennifer remembers a visit to Sabrina's bedroom.

• 13:34Speaker 06

  I just remember going in there one day and all of the clothes were like, you know, like a girl would do, like she was trying to find something to wear. So there was like piles of clothes everywhere and the suitcases were open and, you know, it was kind of like that. It was a, it was a little bit in disarray.

• 13:49Speaker 01

  So Sabrina is in charge of her life, her messy life. But for her, the real comfort must come from living with friends. It's as if Preston has curated just the right crowd for her. His son Tommy and Tommy's girlfriend Denise live at the house, too.

• 14:09Speaker 01

  What else makes Preston look good to Sabrina in 1987? Well, he offers to help her. He takes an interest in her future. He asks Sabrina what she wants to do with her life. The way the story gets told, when Preston inquired about her future, Sabrina answered that she was interested in modeling. Sabrina hadn't ever modeled before and as far as I can tell, she hadn't ever mentioned a modeling dream to those closest to her, not to friends or relatives, not to her mother, who had once been a model herself, nude in Playboy magazine, according to Sabrina's cousin.

• 14:50Speaker 01

  Preston, though, is boundlessly enthusiastic about Sabrina's possibilities. One day, Sabrina and her friend Jennifer are in a car with Preston.

• 15:00Speaker 06

  The whole way back, he was talking to her about modeling and this, that. And I remember sitting there, you know, like half asleep going, this guy is so full of shit. He really sold it to her.

• 15:15Speaker 01

  Preston assures Sabrina he can help make her dream, if it really is her dream, come true. He has connections, he tells her. Sabrina must be tickled. Until now, her crowning achievement is an eighth grade certificate for excellence in math. And Preston is talking about making her a star. Sabrina tells Jim about the exciting possibilities Preston is lining up, including, apparently, a Sprite commercial.

• 15:46Speaker 04

  And he had told Sabrina that he had her set up to do a Sprite commercial. It was to make a ton of money off of this Sprite commercial she was gonna do.

• 15:55Speaker 01

  So Preston offers a home, interest, prospects, and money, all things Sabrina wants. In 87, Preston seems to be giving direction to Sabrina's directionless life. There are a few skeptics, though, like her friend Jennifer. Sure, Jennifer believes Sabrina could be a model and told her so.

• 16:18Speaker 06

  Yeah, 100% you could. You're tall and thin and pretty and yeah, I mean, you could. But he ain't gonna make that happen for you.

• 16:27Speaker 01

  But praise can be intoxicating, maybe especially for a kid on her own. Sabrina didn't seem concerned. Aw, come on, Jennifer.

• 16:37Speaker 06

  And she's like, yeah, but maybe it'll go somewhere. It's my friend's dad, you know?

• 16:43Speaker 01

  I suspect Sabrina was more committed than she let on. To me, the modeling plans were Preston's brainstorm. But then Sabrina embraces them, and with a determination she's never previously shown. She calls her mom to tell her about the new opportunity. We have an actor voicing her mom's words.

• 17:06Speaker 07

  She was very excited about becoming a model.

• 17:11Speaker 01

  And Bobby Sue noticed something else.

• 17:14Speaker 07

  She felt Preston was the person to help her.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  Maybe Sabrina is drawn to this view of her future because of who it's coming from. Preston is a good salesman, and maybe also she's seduced by his promises because, as far as I can tell, no one else has ever shown interest in Sabrina's future. Sabrina's mom certainly didn't set her up for success. Sabrina is a high school dropout with no vocational training. The only tool Bobby Sue sent her 17-year-old daughter into the world with was her good looks and some lingerie. It was little preparation for a teenager alone in Las Vegas.

• 18:00Speaker 01

  But just a few weeks after Sabrina moves into Preston's house, there's a glitch in the plan to make her a model. Big events happen in quick succession, though it starts with a petty crime.

• 18:15Speaker 01

  On September 10th, eight days before disappearing, Sabrina is arrested by the Las Vegas police for shoplifting.

• 18:25Speaker 06

  I think it's because she needed things, you know? She would just take things here and there. But it wasn't like she was a klepto that did it all the time. She was just pocketalipstick. It wasn't like major.

• 18:39Speaker 01

  The Las Vegas juvenile authorities take a different view. To them, Sabrina is one more rootless teenager making trouble. The authorities call Bobby Sue in Texas. They tell her that because Sabrina is a minor and because she doesn't have an adult guardian, she is banned from Las Vegas until she's 18. Sabrina's just six months shy of 18, but she's impatient. Her modeling career is waiting for her in Las Vegas.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  On September 12th, six days before disappearing, Sabrina leaves town. She flies to her mom in Texas. She arrives with a plan. She and Preston have obviously discussed this. He's willing to sign on as her guardian. And now Sabrina tells her mom, she wants Preston to step into that role. That way she can get back to Vegas ASAP to work on her career. This is the voice actor again.

• 19:45Speaker 07

  Uh, she had been advised before she got back here, or got back to me. She knew about it when she got to my house.

• 19:53Speaker 01

  Bobby wanted to convince Sabrina to spend a little more time with her in Texas. But no.

• 20:00Speaker 07

  She started getting phone calls from Tom Preston, telling her that he had set up this meeting with her and someone that was going to advance her career. And if she didn't get back out there, just to forget it.

• 20:11Speaker 01

  Bobby Sue might have wanted more time with her daughter. But by now, Sabrina is calling the shots.

• 20:18Speaker 07

  Sabrina was adamant about wanting to come back to Las Vegas. She couldn't wait to get back.

• 20:25Speaker 01

  Who would you choose? A mom who thinks of you as a "lost kid," Bobby Sue's term, or a modeling agent promising fame? That's what Preston became, her agent. Sabrina rushed back to Preston. And Preston got to work. He had Sabrina posed for photos. He worked the camera. There were headshots, of course. But also, he wanted something a little more provocative. Luckily, Sabrina had Bobby Sue's lingerie handy. Preston took a photo of Sabrina in a baby doll outfit, a kind of sheer nightie. Perfect.

• 21:06Speaker 01

  As if declaring victory, Preston lets Bobby Sue know Sabrina has moved past her.

• 21:12Speaker 07

  And he said that I didn't really care about my daughter. If I had, I would have never let her come to Vegas in the first place. And that she knew he cared about her. He told me I didn't know my daughter any longer, that she had changed.

• 21:28Speaker 01

  And Bobby Sue also, partly, likes that a responsible adult has taken an interest in her daughter. Sabrina's legal guardian slash landlord slash modeling agent, Preston, doesn't seem supportive. He rhapsodizes about her.

• 21:47Speaker 07

  Oh, and he would talk to me about her, about how beautiful she was. And you know, he would say that she'd put on this white dress and walk through the house, and she'd look like an angel. Ugh. He said she looked so beautiful and so pure.

• 22:08Speaker 01

  On September 14th, after two days in Texas, Sabrina hops on a plane and heads back to Las Vegas, to Preston's home, now her official home. She takes with her a handwritten letter from her mother, appointing Preston her daughter's legal guardian.

• 22:32Speaker 01

  For Sabrina, things seem to be falling into place. With a devoted Preston at her side, it must seem like the beginning of something exciting. But Sabrina's life is about to take another twist. Her view of Preston is about to change.

• 22:52Speaker 01

  That night, Sabrina calls Bobby Sue from Preston's house.

• 22:56Speaker 07

  She was crying. She said I made a mistake. She was crying, and she really sounded nervous and scared.

• 23:06Speaker 07

  She said that when she returned back to Tom Preston's home, that he told her he was going to lay the law down and that she would not be going out with her girlfriends.

• 23:18Speaker 07

  She would be staying there and following his rules because he was going to be the boss from then on. And she said that he treated her in a different manner than he usually did, and it scared her. And she wished that she hadn't gone back.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  Now, there's an argument to be made that Sabrina could benefit from a strong parental hand. Maybe she needs the law laid down. After all, she's just been arrested. Are her girlfriend's really good influences?

• 23:52Speaker 07

  He said, "My daughter was reckless. She was always running around with her friends and that you never know what could happen to a girl when she's riding cars fast, going out with boys that he didn't know."

• 24:04Speaker 01

  But Preston's enthusiasm for parenting someone like Sabrina, it soon evaporates.

• 24:10Speaker 07

  And he told me, he said, "Well, I was going to make her famous, but she didn't have her head together."

• 24:17Speaker 01

  And Preston's sudden flip-flop, so different from how he'd been talking about her just days earlier, it leads me to wonder, what was really going on in that house on the cul-de-sac? Preston never did book her any modeling jobs, no Sprite commercial, no sock commercials for Sears. Did he intend to? What about those sexy photos? What truly did Preston think of Sabrina? And what was his true plan for her? All these events, the arrest, the guardianship, Sabrina's tears, they happened just days

• 24:55Speaker 01

  before September 18th, the day Sabrina disappears from Preston's house and from the world. After Sabrina disappears, Preston talks to a detective from the juvenile division of the Las Vegas P.D. He tells the detective he doesn't know where she's gone. She's a teenager, unreliable, and he tosses in that Sabrina had a drug habit and, oh yeah, maybe she was a prostitute as well. To the cops, Preston is likable, believable, that's one of his talents. Soon after the police investigation stalls, Preston is not a suspect.

• 25:40Speaker 01

  For the next four years, he will be unbothered by cops or conscience.

• 25:46Speaker 01

  Until 1991, that's when Lindell starts poking around. That's when she finds the life insurance policy that leads her to declare she's found a motive, a motive for murder. Preston isn't a helpful generous father figure. Lindell says he is Sabrina's killer. But if that's so, Tom Preston is lucky. Lindell has gone down every rabbit hole, but still, there are no actual witnesses to the murder of Sabrina Kidd. That, though, is about to change.

• 26:46Speaker 01

  Okay, we're back in 1991, four years after Sabrina's disappearance. Lindell had met with Preston to ask him about Sabrina, but her ambush in the diner didn't go as hoped. Was Preston really going to incriminate himself to a journalist? Hmm. Lindell, as usual, was undeterred. She's calling everyone in Preston's life. She'll even interview his mother. And she's gotten the Las Vegas Police to restart its investigation. Sabrina's body has been found and identified. She's not a missing person anymore. She's a murder victim.

• 27:29Speaker 01

  And now homicide detective Robert Leonard is interviewing all of Sabrina's friends. He couldn't interview Tommy, he was murdered. But he did interview Tommy's old girlfriend, Sabrina's housemate Denise, though Denise claimed to know nothing about the disappearance.

• 27:48Speaker 03

  Denise had quite a few encounters with the police department, both locally and in California, so I wasn't expecting a lot from her.

• 28:02Speaker 01

  Where is Preston as Lindell and Detective Leonard bear down? Turns out Preston has opted for a change of scenery. He makes a new life for himself, a very respectable new life in Anacortes, Washington, a community of just 12,000 people, a thousand miles from Vegas. It's a place where his past can be whatever he says it is. Preston presents himself as a skilled grant writer and lands a job with the mayor's office. This new iteration of Preston, Preston 2.0, appears to be bug-free. He's been in Anacortes for months.

• 28:45Speaker 01

  He's outdistanced his past, or so it seems. Except that the preternaturally dogged Lindell is still looking to connect the dots. She's been on this story for more than a year now. So how long is Preston safe? Remember, Lindell's been preparing a story for A Current Affair. She's got tape of Detective Leonard labeling Preston the prime suspect in Sabrina's murder. She's even got Preston's mom on tape, calling her son a liar.

• 29:21Speaker 08

  When he gets the family, he says he's never lied. Now, I know that isn't that. I mean, I've been around a lot of the lies that he told.

• 29:30Speaker 01

  For Lindell, there is one roadblock. The lawyers at A Current Affair are worried. They threaten to ax the show. They think it's too risky. Lindell is terrified that she won't be able to tell the story, this story that has so much personal meaning for her. But then Dan, her boss and husband, steps up. He's called into the office of the head of legal. She says, well, you realize if you're wrong about this, they could own A Current Affair.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  And I said, I trust in Lindell. We're not wrong. Trust Ian Lindell. There's a good husband. And then, on April 9, 1992, a current affair aired a piece about Sabrina.

• 30:17Speaker 02

  A dusty missing person file was quickly turned into a murder investigation with one suspect, Tom Preston.

• 30:26Speaker 01

  The show was a hit with viewers across the country. One person in particular was impressed, the mayor of Anacortes. He watched as his trusted grant writer was accused of murder on national TV. The very next day, he fired Preston, who quickly fled the state.

• 30:55Speaker 01

  Meanwhile, back in Vegas, the wheels of the criminal justice system are beginning to turn. Detective Leonard has taken the case against Preston to the DA, who has declared it prosecutable, whatever that means. Two weeks after the current affair segment, a warrant for Preston's arrest for murder is sent to jurisdictions across the country, accompanied by his photo. The cops don't know where Preston is. He's in the wind, as the expression goes. A step ahead of the law. He heads to Deadwood, South Dakota. He's got a few thousand dollars in cashier's checks in one pocket and a passport in the other.

• 31:38Speaker 01

  He's clearly got travel plans in mind. But one evening, he walks down Main Street in Deadwood, past a celebration for a new casino. The head of casino security, who happens to be dressed in a tuxedo for the occasion, recognizes Preston from his arrest warrant. He buttonholes the mayor's wife. Keep an eye on that guy, he tells her. And then he calls the sheriff's office. Preston is soon led off in handcuffs.

• 32:11Speaker 01

  Lindell gets some locals to record video of the arrest. It's perfect for television.

• 32:18Speaker 01

  Preston is extradited to Nevada. Detective Leonard gets the honor of retrieving him. Preston protests his arrest. "He's a respectable businessman," he says. He writes a little speech. I'll read it to you. "The system has failed me greatly. You get framed, arrested, and overnight, everything you once were is no more. The system has changed to the point where whores, liars, dope dealers, dope users, thieves are now witnesses for the prosecution. Today, I have seen the police and prosecution alike lie more than the people."

• 33:00Speaker 01

  A seemingly outraged Preston pleads not guilty. So now, it's going to be a courtroom fight. And Lindell is worried. She is convinced Preston is a killer. And she had enough evidence to put that version on TV. But court? In court, the bar is higher. And the legal case is hardly airtight.

• 33:24Speaker 02

  We had a body. We had motive. We had an arrest. But it was still, in my mind, I'm not a lawyer, but I know that it was still a circumstantial case. There was no witness. There was still a possibility of a defense attorney arguing his way out of it, and this guy walking off scot-free.

• 33:48Speaker 01

  Lindell thought of her own attacker. Would this be another perpetrator walking off scot-free? That's a nightmare for Lindell. She shares her fears with Detective Leonard. For once, his imperturbability does not reassure her.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  Bob was very measured and cautious that we still didn't have a case that he was confident that we could win.

• 34:18Speaker 01

  Back at work in New York City, Lindell gets a phone call from a stranger. Someone besides the mayor of Anacortes is following Lindell's stories about Sabrina. It turns out that a young woman watched Lindell's segment, watched as Preston was led away in handcuffs. The woman was watching in a common room at Arizona's Mojave County Jail. She was there for forgery. Her name is Denise Day. Denise, the girlfriend of Preston's son, Tommy. She'd lived with Sabrina in Preston's house. She'd already spoken to Detective Leonard and said she knew nothing. Now, watching Lindell's piece on TV,

• 35:03Speaker 01

  it was like reliving a part of her life, a part she'd been running from. Denise, too, was scared to death. Denise makes a phone call. She calls a current affair and asks for Lindell.

• 35:18Speaker 02

  I got a phone call one day whilst sitting in my office in New York. And I remember this very timid voice at the end of the line. And she said, "Is that Lindell Marks?" And I was like, "Yes." And then the next question was, "Is Tom Preston in custody?" And I'm like, I knew it was a young voice. I knew it was a young girl. I said, "Yes, yes, he's just been taken into custody." She said, "Well, I need to talk to you." She just said, "I know that man." Hurt, I think she used the word hurt, hurt Sabrina. She was, she was very scared. She just said,

• 36:02Speaker 02

  "If, if Tom Preston's in custody, I want to talk to you about Sabrina." He had something to do with Sabrina.

• 36:10Speaker 01

  How did she know? Denise told Lindell.

• 36:14Speaker 09

  I was there when they threw Sabrina's body into the river.

• 36:23Speaker 01

  What really happened when Sabrina was murdered? We'll find out when a courtroom fight breaks out. It's Preston on the stand against Denise on the stand. There's also a surprise witness with a new version of events. She'll also take the stand.

• 36:41Speaker 02

  He had good defense and he had the gift of the gab and he gave his own testimony. And if you were a jury member that believed him, only one of them had reasonable doubt, this guy would not have gone to jail.

• 37:02Speaker 10

  What's it take to be a mentor with big brothers, big sisters? It takes 30 minutes and a cup of coffee, a video game, best two out of three. It takes sharing thumbs up emojis, clapping emojis, and loaded nachos at halftime. That's how you make an impact on a young kid's life. So go on, share a few hours a month because mentorship may sound huge, but the truth is it takes little to be big. To learn more, volunteer or donate, go to bbignow.org.

• 37:44Speaker 01

  Killer Stories is a production of Orbit Media in association with Signal Company Number One. Creator and host is me, Steve Fishman. Executive producers, Arlindo Marx, Kevin Wardis, and Jonathan Hirsch from Sony Music Entertainment. Producers, Jackie Pauly, Hannah Beal, and Austin Smith. Production coordinator, Austin Smith. Series consultant, Emile Klein. Sound designer, Britt Spangler. Fact check, Ryan Alderman. Our lawyers are at Claris Law. Special thanks to Emily Rassik, Steve Ackerman, Catherine St. Louis, Sammy Allison, Allison Haney, Fisher Stevens, and the glamorous Rhea Julian. We also thank our agents at WME, Evan Krassik, Marissa Herwitz, Ben Davis.

• 38:29Speaker 01

  And a special thanks to Shelley Shinoi for voiceover casting. Our voice actors this episode are Raven Dunham as Denise Day and Lindsay Smart as Bobby Sumay. And a special, special thanks to the inimitable Emile Klein.

• 38:49Speaker 00

  Get this. When you're with Xfinity, you're already a member. No sign up, no cost. Score epic experiences from our family at NBC Universal. Plus movie tickets, discounts on streaming, mobile, and more. Check the Xfinity app every Thursday for exclusive perks and experiences. Only with Xfinity. Now that's the way to start a weekend. Let the magic begin. Restrictions apply. Visit Xfinity.com/membership to learn more.