WEBVTT 1 00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:47.039 Larchment is located along the Long Island South in Westchester 2 00:00:47.159 --> 00:00:50.280 County and New York. It's a charming and affluent village 3 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:52.799 that feels worlds away from the chaos of nearby New 4 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:56.399 York City. It was originally a summer retreat from Manhattan's 5 00:00:56.439 --> 00:00:59.399 e late, but it blossomed in the late nineteenth century 6 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:03.399 when the railroad brought city dwellers to its shores. Of 7 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:06.640 the decades, it's developed into a tight knit community known 8 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.359 for its tree lined, straight, historic hombs, and genteel atmosphere. 9 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:15.640 The Larchment Police Department reflects this quiet character. It's housed 10 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:19.280 in a modest brick building just off Main Street and 11 00:01:19.400 --> 00:01:23.560 is more Maybury than Manhattan. Officers often know the residents 12 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:27.760 by face, if not by name. Shifts were steady, predictable, 13 00:01:28.280 --> 00:01:31.640 almost boring in the best possible way. It's the kind 14 00:01:31.640 --> 00:01:34.079 of place where the radio crackles with reports of a 15 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:38.719 raccoon in someone's attic or a suspicious parked car. Rarely 16 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:43.040 anything more sinister, but even the most peaceful of places 17 00:01:43.120 --> 00:01:47.079 have their shadows. Before nineteen eighty nine, the village had 18 00:01:47.079 --> 00:01:51.439 only ever recorded to murders in its entire history. The 19 00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:54.959 first occurred in October nineteen thirty eight, when a whimpering 20 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:57.920 dog led its owner to the body of seventeen year 21 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:02.079 old martemmeld Coil. She had been beaten to death and 22 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:05.799 dumped in a vacant lot of Palmer Avenue. The case 23 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:09.479 was never solved. Nearly four decades later, a tragedy struck 24 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:15.039 once more. In nineteen seventy six, patrolman Arthur Demat responded 25 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:17.680 to reports of a homeless man near the train tracks. 26 00:02:18.599 --> 00:02:21.719 During the encounter, twenty three year old Anthony Curtis Blanks 27 00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:25.360 wrestled the matt's gone from him and fatally shot the officer. 28 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.439 His badge still hangs in the village hall, a solemn 29 00:02:29.479 --> 00:02:33.520 tribute to a rare but devastating loss. Since then, the 30 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:37.280 police department had returned to its sleepy rhythm. That was 31 00:02:37.479 --> 00:02:41.039 until New Year's Day of nineteen eighty nine. As the 32 00:02:41.039 --> 00:02:44.560 first evening of the new year settled over larchmentth festive 33 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:48.000 lights still blinked in windows, and the lingering scent of 34 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:51.960 pine clung to the cold there. Families returned home from 35 00:02:52.039 --> 00:02:56.680 holiday dinners. Children played in snowy front yards, their laughter 36 00:02:56.840 --> 00:03:01.400 muffled by scarves. Inside the police station, the mood was quiet, 37 00:03:01.919 --> 00:03:07.800 almost drowsy. A couple of officers nursed coffees, reviewing routine paperwork, 38 00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:12.919 while the dispatcher occasionally glanced at the silent switchboard. At 39 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:15.680 seven thirty pm, the front door opened with a jingle 40 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:20.039 of bells. A man stepped inside, brushing the chill from 41 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:23.960 his coat. He looked uneasy as he approached the front desk. 42 00:03:24.680 --> 00:03:26.680 He said that he hadn't seen or heard from his 43 00:03:26.759 --> 00:03:30.639 sister and her husband all weekend. In a town where 44 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:49.560 nothing bad ever seemed to happen, something had. Lincoln Street 45 00:03:49.599 --> 00:03:52.159 wasn't the kind of place you just stumbled upon. You 46 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:55.599 arrived there on purpose. It curled through the heart of 47 00:03:55.680 --> 00:03:59.840 Larchment like a secret, a residential strait so pristain, so 48 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:04.080 well kept it felt almost staged. It was the kind 49 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:06.879 of place where children still played hopscosh on the sidewalks, 50 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:11.879 and neighbors exchanged nods while raking their leaves. It was 51 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:15.319 wide enough for two cars to pass without slewing, and 52 00:04:15.400 --> 00:04:18.399 in the summer time, the trees lining both sides formed 53 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:22.120 a canopy so dense the straight glowed grain. And about 54 00:04:22.160 --> 00:04:25.000 half way up that quiet stretch of Lincoln Straight sat 55 00:04:25.040 --> 00:04:29.199 house number thirty six. It wasn't flashy, but it didn't 56 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:32.040 need to be. The two story home, with its early 57 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:36.360 twentieth century bones and graceful stone steps, had presents the 58 00:04:36.439 --> 00:04:39.399 kind of presence that made people pause mid walk and 59 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:43.240 look just a second longer. It was regal, but it 60 00:04:43.319 --> 00:04:48.040 wasn't chowy. Like it belonged there, rooted and unwavering in 61 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:51.920 nineteen eighty nine. This house belonged to doctor laksh Manrau 62 00:04:52.120 --> 00:04:55.959 and doctor Shanta's Chervou, and their story was the embodiment 63 00:04:56.000 --> 00:04:58.920 of everything America promised to those brave enough to chase 64 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:02.319 the dream. Originally from New Delhi, they had come to 65 00:05:02.319 --> 00:05:05.720 the United States in the early nineteen sixties chasing a 66 00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:09.800 dream with little more than education and determination in their suitcases. 67 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:14.279 By all accounts, they had caught that dream. Akshman Rau 68 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:17.279 was a professor of nuclear medicine at the Albert Einstein 69 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:21.079 College of Medicine. Shanda worked in emergency medicine at New 70 00:05:21.120 --> 00:05:26.519 Rochelle Hospital. She had trained in geriatrics at Montefior Medical 71 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:29.600 Center in the Bronx, and even on her rare days off, 72 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:33.319 she never truly slowed. Their lives were demanding, but the 73 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:37.199 Chervus never wore stress the way that others did. They 74 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:41.079 had two children, both grown, both thriving. A room was 75 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:46.399 out west deep into a surgical residency at UCLA. A Raree, 76 00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:49.319 a gifted economist, was carving out her own path in Toronto. 77 00:05:50.519 --> 00:05:54.079 From the outside, the cherves were the perfect picture not 78 00:05:54.160 --> 00:05:58.120 just of success, but of something richer. Each evening, after 79 00:05:58.160 --> 00:06:01.480 grilling shifts in the emergency room, Shanta would return to 80 00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:05.120 her kitchen. The scent of cumen and turmeric would drift 81 00:06:05.160 --> 00:06:08.879 through the house as she prepared traditional Indian meals, chopping 82 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:12.600 vegetables with worn, familiar knives at the counter, just as 83 00:06:12.600 --> 00:06:15.480 she had in her mother's kitchen in India decades before. 84 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:18.759 For years, she didn't even own a proper knife block. 85 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:23.120 Then their daughter Arare got her first real paycheck and 86 00:06:23.199 --> 00:06:26.079 brought her mother a gift, an elegant set of German 87 00:06:26.120 --> 00:06:29.560 Henkles knives in a beautiful wooden block. It was a 88 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:33.560 thank you for everything her parents had sacrificed. Shanda wore 89 00:06:33.600 --> 00:06:37.120 her mangol cut every day, a chain of black beads 90 00:06:37.160 --> 00:06:41.000 that never left her neck, even beneath her hospital scrubs. 91 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:43.639 La Shaman Rau. He was the kind of man who 92 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.879 collected degrees the way other people collected books or bottle caps. 93 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:51.360 Between the two of them, the Chervius spoke six languages. 94 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:55.519 Their home was more than shelter, It was sanctuary. They 95 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.560 went their doors to others as well. Over the years 96 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:04.040 they helped more than a dozen realves immigrant from India, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews. 97 00:07:04.680 --> 00:07:09.720 They gave generously, quietly, without ever asking for recognition. One 98 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:14.600 of those nephews, Rakubamadan, once put it best. They immigrated here, 99 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:17.680 they worked hard, they built themselves a home and achieved 100 00:07:17.720 --> 00:07:21.399 prominent positions as doctors, and then they brought ten brothers 101 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:25.279 and sisters here. It was a beautiful story, the kind 102 00:07:25.319 --> 00:07:28.759 of story people want to believe always ends well, the 103 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:30.759 kind of story that makes you believe in the promise 104 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.319 of America, in the promise of hard work and determination. 105 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:39.399 But even the most perfect stories have their shadows, and 106 00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:44.360 Larchman's shadows were deeper and more twisted than anybody could 107 00:07:44.360 --> 00:08:01.000 have imagined. It was December thirty first, nineteen eighty eight, 108 00:08:01.040 --> 00:08:05.199 and New Rochelle Hospital's emergency department was chaos. It was 109 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:08.079 one of those holiday nights where patients just kept coming, 110 00:08:08.560 --> 00:08:11.279 where the coffee grew colder and the charts piled higher 111 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:15.079 and higher. Doctor Shantah Shreview should have gone home hours ago, 112 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:18.920 but that wasn't who she was. She staid until every 113 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:23.800 chart was signed, every patient properly discharged. That was Shanta, 114 00:08:24.360 --> 00:08:28.600 meticulous caring, never leaving work half done. Just after midnight, 115 00:08:28.639 --> 00:08:31.879 as nineteen eighty nine officially began, she made her runs, 116 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:35.600 not medical runs, but personal ones. She walked through the 117 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:39.879 hospital corridors, wishing everybody a happy New Year. Then she waited, 118 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.200 but not outside. Shanta never waited outside. She didn't feel 119 00:08:44.240 --> 00:08:47.720 safe there. She waited in the hallway inside the building 120 00:08:48.159 --> 00:08:52.720 until she saw familiar headlights pull up. Lakshman raw As always, 121 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.159 was there to pick her up. They drove home through 122 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:59.559 the quiet streets of Westchester County, past houses where families 123 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:03.279 were sleeping off their New Year celebrations. They had no 124 00:09:03.360 --> 00:09:06.879 idea they were driving towards their final night, thirty six 125 00:09:07.039 --> 00:09:11.200 Lincoln Street. About twenty four hours later, that same Queen's 126 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:15.279 Hospital was filled with celebration. More than twenty members of 127 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:17.919 the Sherviu family had gathered to welcome a new life 128 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:21.440 into the world, the birth of a first generation American. 129 00:09:22.519 --> 00:09:25.320 It was supposed to be a milestone, a joyful chapter 130 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:31.200 in the family's story, and yet something felt incomplete. Lakshman, 131 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:34.159 Rau and Shanta, the very people who had made this 132 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:38.600 life possible for so many, were missing. They had sponsored 133 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:43.159 every single relative in that waiting room, every sibling, every cousin, 134 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:48.039 every niece and nephew. Without them, the celebration simply didn't 135 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:53.240 feel whole. But when call after call went unanswered, celebration 136 00:09:53.399 --> 00:09:57.559 gave way to concern. By sunrise, that concern had blossomed 137 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:02.279 into dread. Chants brought they're volunteered to check in. Just 138 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:05.679 to be safe. He drove the familiar route to Larchment, 139 00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:10.679 winding past quiet houses and holiday wraiths, past empty sidewalks 140 00:10:10.679 --> 00:10:14.679 and leafless streets. The house of thirty six Lincoln Street 141 00:10:14.759 --> 00:10:18.639 stood still, as if it was asleep. He knocked on 142 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:21.879 the front door and waited. Nobody came to answer it. 143 00:10:22.879 --> 00:10:25.120 He peered through the windows, but only saw the empty 144 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:29.399 ships of furniture in the morning shadow. Then he walked 145 00:10:29.399 --> 00:10:32.639 around back. As he drew closer, he saw that the 146 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:36.679 back door was open. Its glass pane had been shattered. 147 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:40.120 Too afraid to go further. He backed away and drove 148 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:44.840 straight to the Larchment Police Department. Police officers arrived swiftly, 149 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:49.279 among them with Sergeant Kenneth Khan. They circled to the 150 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:52.080 back of the house and immediately saw the glass scattered 151 00:10:52.080 --> 00:10:56.080 on the cold cement. Can nudged the rear door open 152 00:10:56.919 --> 00:11:01.320 it creaked against the stillness the fire himself and called 153 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:06.200 out to the Chervoos. There was only silence. They moved inside, 154 00:11:06.519 --> 00:11:10.519 then they climbed the stairs. Before they even reached the bedroom, 155 00:11:10.799 --> 00:11:14.120 the smell hit them. It wasn't the smell of blood, 156 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:20.120 but the unmistakable scent of decomposition. The master bedroom door opened. 157 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.600 The bed was soaked, dark, heavy and glistening with blood. 158 00:11:25.639 --> 00:11:29.399 In the middle lay Lakshman, Rau and Shanta, still in 159 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.200 their pajamas, still side by side, but now earily silent. 160 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.399 It was clear even from the doorway that they were 161 00:11:37.399 --> 00:11:41.600 both gone. Rick Remordis had said in there was blood 162 00:11:41.639 --> 00:11:45.159 spattered on the walls and on the ceiling. The Chervoos 163 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:49.759 never stood a chance. Shanda had suffered eight stab wounds, 164 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:53.399 one pierced her heart, another cut through to her spine, 165 00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:56.879 and even after death, the killer had slashed her throat. 166 00:11:57.919 --> 00:12:01.399 Lakshman Rau had been stabbed fourteen times in the face, 167 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:05.159 the hand, the chest, the abdomen. Like his wife, his 168 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:09.159 throat had also been slashed. The bodies were removed and 169 00:12:09.200 --> 00:12:12.600 taken to the medical Examiner's office, but the horror of 170 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:16.039 that scene clung to the house like a fog. It 171 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.240 didn't take long for word to spread. A double homicide Enlarchment, 172 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:27.120 a quiet, picturesque suburb where violence simply didn't happen. Within 173 00:12:27.159 --> 00:12:30.080 ours of discovering the bodies of doctor Lakshman Rau and 174 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:35.919 doctor Shanta Chervu, Lincoln Street transformed the quiet, storybook neighborhood 175 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.159 was suddenly a crime scene. Police tape fluttered from the 176 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:44.720 porch railings, Markers dotted the lawns. Investigators moved in and 177 00:12:44.759 --> 00:12:48.320 out of the home with hushed urgency cameras flashing, gloved 178 00:12:48.320 --> 00:12:54.080 hands gathering evidence, whispered exchanged beneath furrowed brows. It was 179 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:57.240 the first homicide Enlarchment in more than a decade, and 180 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.919 detectives felt the weight of that immediately. They knew the 181 00:13:00.919 --> 00:13:04.039 eyes of the community were now on them. The initial 182 00:13:04.080 --> 00:13:07.840 theory was a familiar one, a robbery gone wrong, but 183 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:10.559 that theory crumbled almost as quickly as it was formed. 184 00:13:11.399 --> 00:13:15.799 The inside of the home didn't reflect chaos. Nothing appeared ransacked. 185 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:21.960 Valuable items including jewelry, electronics, and cash, remained untouched, sitting 186 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:25.080 in plain sight like bait the killer never took. It 187 00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:28.279 didn't make sense if somebody had broken in to steel, 188 00:13:28.639 --> 00:13:32.320 they had failed miserably and instead carried out an execution. 189 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:37.759 So detectives turned their focus elsewhere. They combed the neighborhood 190 00:13:37.759 --> 00:13:42.639 with a precision that bordered on desperate. Garbage cans were overturned, 191 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:47.200 storm drains were searched with flashlights and mirrors. Metal detectors 192 00:13:47.200 --> 00:13:50.759 swept beneath hedges and down driveways. They were looking for 193 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:55.080 something very specific, a knife. One was missing from the 194 00:13:55.080 --> 00:13:59.559 elegant henkle block in the Shervood kitchen, the butcher knife. 195 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:02.960 It was likely the murder weapon, but after days of 196 00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:07.600 searching nothing turned up. Detective Captain Michael Garcia addressed the 197 00:14:07.600 --> 00:14:11.399 press and said, we looked everywhere for a weapon. We 198 00:14:11.480 --> 00:14:14.759 haven't come up with anything yet, and so the focus 199 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:18.799 shifted away from physical evidence and towards the lives of 200 00:14:18.840 --> 00:14:22.440 the victims. They figured out the last time either of 201 00:14:22.480 --> 00:14:25.000 them were seen was when Shanda had finished her shift 202 00:14:25.480 --> 00:14:29.559 and waited outside for her husband to collect her. One 203 00:14:29.559 --> 00:14:33.159 of her colleagues, Anne Kenny, remembered, it clearly to be 204 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:35.799 afraid to wait outside the emergency room and then be 205 00:14:35.879 --> 00:14:39.519 killed in your own house. It's so ironic. She was 206 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:43.720 a very timid, gentle soul as always. Lakshman Rau was 207 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:46.840 the one to pick her up. They drove home, and 208 00:14:46.879 --> 00:14:50.440 two days later their bodies were fond soaked in blood 209 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:55.200 in the sanctuary they'd spent a lifetime building. Now detectives 210 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:59.200 were faced with a disturbing question. If it wasn't a burglary, 211 00:14:59.679 --> 00:15:03.919 if it wasn't random, than who wanted them dead. They 212 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:08.879 began looking into their past, their social circles, their hospital colleagues. 213 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:13.799 They searched for any hint of tension, a jealous coworker, 214 00:15:14.039 --> 00:15:18.399 a spurned friend, a disgruntled patient, but they found none. 215 00:15:18.480 --> 00:15:22.120 Everyone spoke of the chervous the same way, with admiration, 216 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.919 with warmth, and now with grief. There were no enemies, 217 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:29.840 no scandals, just a quiet, perfect couple who seemed to 218 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:45.120 have done everything right. Days turned into wakes, and weeks 219 00:15:45.120 --> 00:15:48.559 turned into months. By spring, the floors had returned to 220 00:15:48.639 --> 00:15:52.600 Lincoln Street. The blood had been washed away, but something lingered, 221 00:15:53.320 --> 00:15:57.480 not just grief, not just confusion, but silence, the kind 222 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:00.840 of silence that fills a room after something terrible happens 223 00:16:01.200 --> 00:16:04.879 and nobody knows what to say. Detectives, meanwhile, were stuck 224 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:09.200 in place. Despite their efforts, including the interviews, the search parties, 225 00:16:09.240 --> 00:16:12.279 the forensic sweeps, they were no closer to finding an 226 00:16:12.320 --> 00:16:15.480 answer than they were on day one. They didn't believe 227 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:20.039 that anybody in the Sheriview family was involved. Everybody had alibis, 228 00:16:20.519 --> 00:16:23.960 everyone had been accounted for. Still the leads were scarce. 229 00:16:24.759 --> 00:16:27.759 So police Chief William Cursey announced a twenty five thousand 230 00:16:27.799 --> 00:16:31.840 dollar reward, hoping it might jar something loose. But the 231 00:16:31.840 --> 00:16:37.720 phone line stayed quiet. Nobody came forward. Enlarchment, life continued, 232 00:16:38.360 --> 00:16:41.440 Children walked to school, mail was delivered, lawns were moan, 233 00:16:42.200 --> 00:16:45.120 but something had changed. People were trying to resume with 234 00:16:45.159 --> 00:16:47.279 their routines, but they were doing so with a killer 235 00:16:47.320 --> 00:16:50.600 still among them, And so the town invented its own 236 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:54.840 kind of comfort. The story people told themselves over coffee 237 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:59.360 and across garden fences was simple. This wasn't random. The 238 00:16:59.399 --> 00:17:04.160 sherifviews had been targeted. Their neighbor Joan Sassin said it plainly, 239 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:07.880 we live in a very safe neighborhood. Most people feel 240 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:11.319 this was targeted at one specific family. It was an 241 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:16.119 isolated defense. People needed for that to be true, because 242 00:17:16.119 --> 00:17:20.119 if it wasn't, if it was random, then nobody was safe. 243 00:17:21.000 --> 00:17:23.440 And yet even with a double murder on their doorstep, 244 00:17:23.960 --> 00:17:27.759 most residents didn't change much. They still answered the door 245 00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:32.519 for strangers, still left keys and unlocked sheds, still chatted 246 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:36.960 casually with passerby. Ralph Engel echoed the sentiment and said, 247 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:40.240 we may be totally wrong, but the general belief seems 248 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:43.559 to be that this wasn't random, not some crazy murderer. 249 00:17:43.960 --> 00:17:46.920 There really has been no request for concerted community action. 250 00:17:48.519 --> 00:17:52.960 But behind that fragile calm, the rumors were relentless. Some 251 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:55.559 believed that the killer had ties to the Indian community, 252 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:58.799 that it was personal, but they had already fled the 253 00:17:58.839 --> 00:18:03.839 country and would now be seen again. That theory, albeit dark, 254 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:07.240 gave people comfort because it meant that they were safe. 255 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:11.480 It meant this horror story had already ended. But others 256 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:16.240 didn't buy it, especially not the Indian American community. In fact, 257 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.480 Many of them believed that police weren't doing enough. They 258 00:18:19.519 --> 00:18:23.079 worried the case was being ignored, swept aside because the 259 00:18:23.160 --> 00:18:26.759 victims weren't white. Some even feared that the murders might 260 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:32.519 have been racially motivated. That possibility wasn't without president. Just 261 00:18:32.559 --> 00:18:35.640 a few months earlier, in New Jersey, several attacks had 262 00:18:35.640 --> 00:18:40.400 been carried out by self identified vigilantes calling themselves the 263 00:18:40.480 --> 00:18:44.079 dot busters, a cruel reference to the bindi worn by 264 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:49.119 Hindu women. Detectives tonight any link, They insisted, the murders 265 00:18:49.160 --> 00:18:53.759 weren't hate crimes, but they offered very little else, no motive, 266 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.519 no suspect, no timeline, and no updates. Frustration mounted, faith 267 00:18:59.519 --> 00:19:02.880 in the system and eroded, and as the silence dragged on, 268 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:07.160 people began to wonder if justice would ever come. Eventually, 269 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:10.640 the month slipped into years, the house at thirty six 270 00:19:10.759 --> 00:19:14.920 Lincoln Street was sold. The neighborhood slowly stopped talking about 271 00:19:14.920 --> 00:19:18.640 what had happened. The Chervus, it seemed, had been buried 272 00:19:19.119 --> 00:19:22.279 not just in the earth, but in memory. By nineteen 273 00:19:22.319 --> 00:19:25.599 ninety three, four years after the murders, Police Chief Cursey 274 00:19:25.640 --> 00:19:28.640 gave an interview and said, I wish I could tell 275 00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:32.839 you there was something new. It's a frustrating case. But 276 00:19:32.880 --> 00:19:36.440 what the police chief didn't know, what almost nobody knew, 277 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:41.039 was that everything was about to change, and arrest was coming, 278 00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:50.160 and when it arrived, it stunned everyone. On the twentieth 279 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:53.240 of May nineteen ninety three, more than four years after 280 00:19:53.319 --> 00:19:57.720 Lakshman Rau and Chanta Shervey were brutally murdered, detectives called 281 00:19:57.720 --> 00:20:02.279 the press conference. There had been a development. A twenty 282 00:20:02.279 --> 00:20:05.319 five year old man named Paul Cox had been arrested. 283 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:09.079 He was a self employed carpenter working under the name 284 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:13.000 PC Construction. He lived in New Rochelle, just a short 285 00:20:13.079 --> 00:20:16.319 drive from Larchment. He held a job as a living 286 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:21.359 superintendent at an apartment complex. Claimed gutters or placed locks, 287 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:24.799 fixed the boilers. To most people, he was just a handyman, 288 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:28.000 and a quiet one at that. But to those who 289 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.839 knew the name Cox, the arrest came as a shock 290 00:20:32.759 --> 00:20:37.200 because Paul Cox didn't come from obscurity. He came from legacy. 291 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.240 His grandfather, Joseph Van der Knout, was one of the 292 00:20:40.279 --> 00:20:45.279 most well known local politicians in Westchester County. He'd served 293 00:20:45.440 --> 00:20:49.599 as the Mammarineck Town supervisor before that he was on 294 00:20:49.720 --> 00:20:53.519 the town council. Paul's mother, Mary van der Knoot Cox, 295 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:57.519 was a Junior League member. His father, Francis Cock the third, 296 00:20:58.119 --> 00:21:01.720 was a prominent attorney. This wasn't the kind of family 297 00:21:01.759 --> 00:21:05.000 the people whispered about. This was the kind of family 298 00:21:05.160 --> 00:21:08.240 sent Christmas cards to. But the connection that shook the 299 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:12.119 community the most was the house Paul Cox had grown 300 00:21:12.200 --> 00:21:15.880 up inside thirty six Lincoln Street, the very home where 301 00:21:15.920 --> 00:21:19.799 Lakshmanrou and Shanter were killed. He had lived there until 302 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:22.880 he was seven years old. His parents had sold the 303 00:21:22.920 --> 00:21:26.799 house to the Chervous in nineteen seventy. The murders had 304 00:21:26.799 --> 00:21:31.319 happened almost two decades later. The overlap of place of 305 00:21:31.400 --> 00:21:36.319 memory of violence was almost too disturbing to process to 306 00:21:36.359 --> 00:21:39.200 the residence of Lincoln Street. This wasn't just an arrest. 307 00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:42.680 It was a collapse of the narrative that they had constructed. 308 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:47.599 Somebody from the Indian community hadn't committed this crime. It 309 00:21:47.720 --> 00:21:52.400 wasn't a cultural dispute or some far off mystery. It 310 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:55.920 was Paul, the quiet kid from the neighborhood, the one 311 00:21:55.960 --> 00:21:59.000 whose roots ran so deep into the foundations of Larchment 312 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:05.559 that people see still called his family by name. You've 313 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:08.880 probably seen a million ads for hair growth products and thought, sure, 314 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:11.920 like that actually works. 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Steve McNally, a fellow resident, 343 00:23:45.359 --> 00:23:47.880 said the place was a rat hole and he took 344 00:23:47.960 --> 00:23:50.160 care of cleaning it up. He did seem like a 345 00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:53.839 nice guy. He never gave any trouble. But now the 346 00:23:53.839 --> 00:23:56.440 same man who had been fixing leaking pipes and patching 347 00:23:56.519 --> 00:24:00.119 drywall was in handcuffs and charged with a double murder. 348 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:03.759 Tom Constable, a local lawyer, tried to hold on to 349 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:07.559 that old larchment logic and said it's a very sad thing, 350 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:10.839 but an arrest isn't a conviction. And he was right. 351 00:24:11.240 --> 00:24:13.799 But what nobody could yet imagine was the dark undercurrent 352 00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:18.920 beneath Paul Cox's quiet demeanor, because the real story, the why, 353 00:24:19.680 --> 00:24:24.359 was more terrifying than anybody had expected. The truth was coming, 354 00:24:24.799 --> 00:24:38.319 and it was buried not in a motive but in memory. 355 00:24:38.400 --> 00:24:40.799 It was about three am on the thirty first of 356 00:24:40.799 --> 00:24:44.519 December nineteen eighty eight when Paul Cox lost control of 357 00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:48.000 his nineteen seventy nine Chevrolet and crashed it on a 358 00:24:48.039 --> 00:24:52.880 sharp turn along Fifth Avenue in New Rochelle. A few 359 00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:56.519 hours later, police found the car abandoned. They called the 360 00:24:56.559 --> 00:24:59.599 hospital and Paul Cox's home, but there was no sign 361 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:03.920 of him. At this time, Cox was an alcoholic, but 362 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.400 in ninety ninety something shifted. He was an alcoholics anonymous 363 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:11.960 trying to turn his life around. During one of the meetings, 364 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:15.039 Cox stood up to take the fourth and fifth steps 365 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:18.799 of the twelve step program, the ones that ask members 366 00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:22.240 to take a moral inventory and admit their wrong doings 367 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:26.559 to themselves, to God, and to another person. But what 368 00:25:26.759 --> 00:25:30.559 Cox shared would leave the room silent. He said he 369 00:25:30.599 --> 00:25:34.680 believed he had killed two people while blackout drunk. He 370 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:37.559 didn't know it, not for sure, but he felt it. 371 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:40.559 He told the group he had been out drinking heavily 372 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:43.359 the night of the car crash out at a bar 373 00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:47.599 on North Avenue, but after the wreck, instead of heading home, 374 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:52.359 he ended up on Lincoln Street outside his childhood home, 375 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:56.240 the Sherview's Home. He said he had a dream where 376 00:25:56.240 --> 00:26:00.440 he smashed a window, then walked inside. He said he 377 00:26:00.480 --> 00:26:03.279 grabbed a n eye from the kitchen like it was instinct, 378 00:26:03.880 --> 00:26:08.240 muscle memory, and then he went upstairs. He wasn't sure 379 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:11.599 what happened next, but he was standing in the master bedroom, 380 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:16.119 the one where his parents had once slept. Lakshman, Rau 381 00:26:16.200 --> 00:26:20.079 and Schanda were already dead. Cox said that he panicked. 382 00:26:20.680 --> 00:26:22.759 He left the scene, walked to his parents' home on 383 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:27.000 Prospects Street, and then fell asleep. When he woke up, 384 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:30.079 there was blood on his clothing. He told the group 385 00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:33.759 his mother had thrown the clothes away. Later, he said 386 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:37.400 he returned to the Shervo's home, cleaned anything he thought 387 00:26:37.440 --> 00:26:41.000 he'd touched, and said he tossed the murder weapon into 388 00:26:41.039 --> 00:26:44.559 the Long Island Sound. One of the members of that 389 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:47.440 AA group was his girlfriend at the time, a woman 390 00:26:47.480 --> 00:26:51.599 referred to only as Miss S. She recalled how Cox 391 00:26:51.599 --> 00:26:54.680 had broken down in tears as he recounted what he 392 00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:59.440 thought he'd done. She remembered, I said, no way, I 393 00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:04.400 know you're kind. It's not possible. Another member, Mister S, 394 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:08.680 remembered it differently. He didn't brush it off, he later said. 395 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.720 He told me he thought he had done something really bad. 396 00:27:12.440 --> 00:27:14.559 He said, after a period of drinking, he had gone 397 00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:16.920 into these people's house where he lived and killed the 398 00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:20.920 people with a knife while they slept. The confession had 399 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:25.000 happened four years before the arrest, because it had been 400 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:29.119 made in an AA meeting under a veal of confidentiality. 401 00:27:29.559 --> 00:27:33.640