WEBVTT 1 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:52.240 I love all right, he look his voice. Washington County 2 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:55.399 sits in the southeastern corner of Missouri, in the section 3 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:58.840 of the state the locals call the Missouri Ozarks. French 4 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:02.000 explorers came through the air are in the early eighteenth century, 5 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:05.000 drawn by the promise of lead deposits in the hills 6 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:08.959 around what would become the county seat of Potosi. Permanent 7 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:12.719 settlement followed in seventeen sixty three. The county itself was 8 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.599 formerly organized in eighteen thirteen, named for the first President. 9 00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:20.200 It spent the next two centuries doing what rural counties 10 00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:25.359 in the American interior tend to do, farming, mining, raising families, 11 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:28.799 and watching its young people leave for somewhere larger. It's 12 00:01:28.840 --> 00:01:32.400 one of the most sparsely populated counties in Missouri. At 13 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.079 the time of the nineteen ninety census, the entire county 14 00:01:35.120 --> 00:01:38.439 held fewer than twenty thousand people across eight hundred square 15 00:01:38.439 --> 00:01:42.640 miles of land. Within that county, Tucked into its eastern 16 00:01:42.680 --> 00:01:46.519 reaches along Hopewell Creek and south of a crossroads called 17 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:51.959 Summit Sits, the unincorporated community of Hopewell doesn't appear on 18 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:56.079 most road maps. It has no mayor, no municipal boundary, 19 00:01:56.280 --> 00:02:00.680 no town center in any conventional sense. Post office that 20 00:02:00.760 --> 00:02:03.560 served the area operated for over one hundred years before 21 00:02:03.560 --> 00:02:07.840 closing in nineteen seventy eight. What remained with something much quieter. 22 00:02:08.719 --> 00:02:12.520 It's just a collection of families spread out along rural roads. 23 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:16.800 People here know each other. They often leave their doors unlocked. 24 00:02:17.479 --> 00:02:22.000 Extended families live within walking distance, sometimes within shouting distance. 25 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.520 There was a railroad track that cut through the scrub 26 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:28.479 land on the edge of the community, and beyond them 27 00:02:28.759 --> 00:02:32.120 fields and trees and the particular stillness of rural Missouri 28 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:35.479 in winter. It was the kind of place where if 29 00:02:35.479 --> 00:02:38.439 something went wrong, everyone would know about it before the 30 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:42.560 day was out, and nothing, as a rule went wrong. 31 00:02:43.240 --> 00:02:45.759 On the evening of the fourth of December nineteen ninety eight, 32 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:49.439 two teenage boys were at a trailer near those railroad tracks. 33 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:54.560 It spent the evening the way teenage boys do, playing games, 34 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:58.879 killing time, waiting for sleep to come. When it's dyed. 35 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:02.120 The night was quiet and ordinary and completely unremarkable in 36 00:03:02.159 --> 00:03:05.240 every way. But then some time before half past six 37 00:03:05.319 --> 00:03:07.919 in the morning, they woke up to the smell of smoke. 38 00:03:23.400 --> 00:03:26.080 Rita and Smith was born in Hopewell on the seventeenth 39 00:03:26.080 --> 00:03:30.039 of April nineteen fifty eight. She grew up a local girl, 40 00:03:30.360 --> 00:03:33.000 part of the fabric of Hopewell, and as a teenager 41 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:34.840 she fell in love with a man from the same 42 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:40.280 tight knit community. His name was Edward Polyte. They married young, 43 00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.520 just two young teenagers building alive together. The couple went 44 00:03:44.599 --> 00:03:48.680 on to have three children, first Game, Crystal, then Melody. 45 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:52.280 By the time their youngest arrived, Rida and Edward had 46 00:03:52.319 --> 00:03:55.439 been parents long enough to have settled into patterns. They 47 00:03:55.439 --> 00:03:58.120 had a boy, and they named him Michael Bernard Polyte. 48 00:03:58.960 --> 00:04:02.039 He went by Bernie, a nickname that came naturally from 49 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:05.039 his middle name. He was the only son, the baby 50 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:07.439 of the family, and from the very beginning he was 51 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:09.680 attached to his mother in a way that every one 52 00:04:09.719 --> 00:04:13.759 around them noticed and remembered. Rada wasn't a woman who 53 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:17.720 went unnoticed. Her daughters would later describe her in terms 54 00:04:17.720 --> 00:04:21.800 that were almost musical in their consistency. They said that 55 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:24.160 her laugh was the first thing people noticed about her. 56 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.560 She was always laughing, always smiling. She always had the 57 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:32.720 camcorder out at Michael's football games and baseball games. She 58 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.720 worked hard, She showed up and she loved openly. In 59 00:04:36.759 --> 00:04:39.240 a community where people knew each other close enough to 60 00:04:39.279 --> 00:04:44.639 recognize character, Rada was known as warm and friendly. But 61 00:04:44.720 --> 00:04:48.759 behind the warmth of the household, something else was running underneath. 62 00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:53.120 Rada and Edward's marriage had been fractured for years, and 63 00:04:53.160 --> 00:04:57.439 the fractures ran deep. Reflecting on her childhood, Melanie said 64 00:04:57.439 --> 00:05:01.759 that her father was mentally abusive. Cristel said that he 65 00:05:01.800 --> 00:05:05.839 had also been faithful. This didn't happen just once, it 66 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:10.199 happened all throughout their marriage. And yet, as Cristel explained it, 67 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.319 their mother loved him. That love outweighed every other feeling 68 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:18.240 that she had. Michael, the youngest, didn't escape the weight 69 00:05:18.279 --> 00:05:23.680 of that household. He witnessed violence between his parents. During 70 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:27.160 one incident, the police were called. Michael told them his 71 00:05:27.240 --> 00:05:30.000 father pushed his mother to the floor and choked her. 72 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:34.800 He absorbed, as children often do, the particular tension of 73 00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:38.959 loving two people who were hurting each other. He rode 74 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.879 his bicycle around Hope, well played football, helped set fires 75 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.439 on the railroad tracks with his friends. Out of the 76 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:49.600 straightforward boredom that belongs to teenage boys in rural places, 77 00:05:50.439 --> 00:05:53.399 he was happy. He would later say. The marriage lasted 78 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:55.839 more than twenty years, which is a long time to 79 00:05:55.879 --> 00:05:59.759 hold something broken together, but by nineteen ninety eight it 80 00:05:59.800 --> 00:06:04.439 was over. The couple finalized their divorce that summer. The 81 00:06:04.480 --> 00:06:09.519 decree cited Edward's infidelity. Rita, who was now forty years old, 82 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:12.800 moved into a double wide mobile home in Hoopwell and 83 00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:16.279 began the work of rebuilding a life that was hers alone. 84 00:06:16.680 --> 00:06:19.600 She worked at a tool factory in Saint Francis County. 85 00:06:20.600 --> 00:06:23.079 She took part time night shifts at old minds at 86 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:27.639 local bars. She kept her youngest with her. Michael, for 87 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:31.240 his part, had made his choice clear. His father had 88 00:06:31.279 --> 00:06:33.079 tried to get him to come and live with him, 89 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.759 and had reportedly even offered him money to do it. 90 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.439 Michael refused, he wanted to be with his mother. In 91 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.040 the end, a compromise was reached and he split his 92 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:46.839 time between both homes, though when given the choice, he 93 00:06:46.879 --> 00:06:50.800 always angled back towards his mother. It hadn't been a 94 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.879 clean or a peaceful divorce. These things rarely are, but 95 00:06:54.920 --> 00:06:59.399 this one was especially raw. A week before December, a 96 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:03.959 judge had analyze the financial terms. Rada was awarded child 97 00:07:03.959 --> 00:07:08.560 support half her ex husband's retirement money, attorney fees, and maintenance. 98 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:12.680 According to people who knew the family, Edward's response to 99 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:16.319 the ruling was one of anger. In open court, he 100 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:19.879 had an outburst. He told Rada she wouldn't live to 101 00:07:19.879 --> 00:07:24.160 see a penny of that money. Later that night, he 102 00:07:24.199 --> 00:07:27.279 called her at the bar where she worked. Some people 103 00:07:27.319 --> 00:07:31.639 said he's threatened to kill her. Edwards denied it, but 104 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.759 the words had been said the people who heard them 105 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:48.240 carried them. As the turmoil was surrounding the family, Michael 106 00:07:48.279 --> 00:07:53.360 had found himself navigating adolescens, and he wasn't navigating it gracefully. 107 00:07:54.279 --> 00:07:57.120 He was fourteen years old and had failed seventh grade 108 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:01.279 three times by this point, skipping's with an off regularity. 109 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:05.959 That truancy had become a habit. He started to drink alcohol. 110 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:09.199 He once even told the teacher he wasn't afraid to 111 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:12.279 use a gun or a knife. It was in a 112 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:17.040 threatening manner, and he was suspended ten months Before December 113 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:20.319 of ninety ninety eight, things had deteriorated to a point 114 00:08:20.639 --> 00:08:25.399 where Michael was hospitalized for behavioral issues. He had threatened 115 00:08:25.439 --> 00:08:27.560 to kill both himself and his mother. In the middle 116 00:08:27.560 --> 00:08:30.560 of an argument. He said he would put her six 117 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:34.159 feet under. He would later say he hadn't meant it, 118 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:38.919 that it was the biggest regret of his life. Redistressed 119 00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:41.399 that she wasn't afraid of her son. She knew that 120 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:45.919 he was struggling with the messy divorce. His sisters attributed 121 00:08:45.960 --> 00:08:47.840 his behavior at being caught in the middle of his 122 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:51.200 parents' war, his father pulling at him from one direction, 123 00:08:51.879 --> 00:08:54.639 his loyalty to his mother angering him from the other. 124 00:08:55.960 --> 00:08:59.519 He was, as one reporter would later put it, an angry, 125 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:03.679 troubled teenager. But he was also a boy who refused 126 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:07.159 money to leave his mother's side. These things can both 127 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:12.159 be true. Adolescence doesn't sort itself neatly into categories, and 128 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:16.159 Michael Palade existed in the complicated space between the two. 129 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:19.559 By early December of nineteen ninety eight, Radel was settled 130 00:09:19.639 --> 00:09:22.799 into her trailer, working her shifts at the bar, and 131 00:09:22.840 --> 00:09:25.840 doing what newly single mothers do, which is keep going. 132 00:09:26.840 --> 00:09:30.120 The court had ruled in her favor. Her children, the 133 00:09:30.159 --> 00:09:33.200 two oldest daughters, now grown and living their own lives nearby, 134 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:37.000 and her youngest still circling back to her, were still 135 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:41.000 hers to love. There was financial pressure, and there was 136 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:44.799 lingering bitterness from the divorce, but Rada was by every 137 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:48.559 account a woman who kept showing up. On the evening 138 00:09:48.600 --> 00:09:51.480 of the fourth of December, Michael was at his mother's place. 139 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:54.919 Rida headed out for the night to work at the bar. 140 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:59.639 The trailer was quiet, and Michael hopped on his bicycle 141 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:03.679 and rode down towards the General's store. There he ran 142 00:10:03.720 --> 00:10:08.600 into a schoolmate, fifteen year old Josh Sansucci. The two 143 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:11.879 boys fell into easy company, and Michael invited him back 144 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:17.000 for a sleepover. They played chess and video games. At 145 00:10:17.000 --> 00:10:19.000 some point in the evening, they headed down to the 146 00:10:19.080 --> 00:10:22.840 railroad tracks nearby and seat of fire. Michael later said 147 00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.720 that all the local kids did it, burning things in 148 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:29.759 the dark for the uncomplicated entertainment of watching something catch. 149 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:34.399 Then they went back to the trailer. Rady came home 150 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:39.039 around midnight carrying sandwiches for the boys. The three of 151 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.159 them sat together while she checked her answering machine. Then 152 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.200 she told them she was going to bed. It was 153 00:10:46.279 --> 00:10:49.039 laid and the boys were tired, so they decided to 154 00:10:49.080 --> 00:10:52.559 head the bed as well. Michael asked Josh where he 155 00:10:52.600 --> 00:10:55.320 wanted to sleep. In the living room on the fold 156 00:10:55.360 --> 00:10:59.679 out couch or on the floor in his bedroom. Josh 157 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:03.200 said he would crash on the floor. The radio was on, 158 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:14.360 the door was locked. It was a completely ordinary night. 159 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:21.879 It was just after six point thirty in the morning 160 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:25.960 when Michael awoke to the acrid smell of smoke. He 161 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:29.559 could smell that something was burning. He glanced over to 162 00:11:29.639 --> 00:11:33.600 the side and saw Josh as sleep. He roused him awake. 163 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:37.519 Together they opened the bedroom door and came out into 164 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:41.000 the narrow hallway of the trailer. The smoke grew heavier 165 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:44.639 with each step that they took, and then across from 166 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.120 them they could see a glow coming from underneath Raida's 167 00:11:47.200 --> 00:11:52.600 bedroom door. It was orange and flickering. Michael called out 168 00:11:52.600 --> 00:11:55.960 to his mother, but there was no answer. He then 169 00:11:56.039 --> 00:11:59.840 ran outside and grabbed the garden hose. He dragged it 170 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.879 inside and over to his mother's bedroom. He opened up 171 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:07.080 the door. It took his brain a second to catch 172 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:10.799 up with what his eyes had seen. His mother, Rida 173 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:14.039 was on the floor. She was on fire from the 174 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.840 waist up. Her legs were visible and there was blood 175 00:12:17.879 --> 00:12:21.120 on them. Michael's hands were shaking as he turned the 176 00:12:21.159 --> 00:12:25.039 water on. He stood there, he later said, for some 177 00:12:25.159 --> 00:12:28.799 amount of time he couldn't measure. Could have been seconds, 178 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:31.519 it could have been minutes. He was in a state 179 00:12:31.559 --> 00:12:35.799 of shock. Meanwhile, Josh ran to the neighbor's home for help. 180 00:12:36.840 --> 00:12:39.080 He told him that the polite trailer was on fire 181 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:42.679 and to call nine one one. As he spoke, Michael 182 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:46.240 appeared around the side of the home. The neighbor ran 183 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:48.720 to the trailer and found that the hose was still won. 184 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:52.240 He grabbed a large pot and filled it with water 185 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:55.639 and then entered the bedroom. He was able to put 186 00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.480 out the fire, but it was already too late. Raid 187 00:12:59.559 --> 00:13:03.559 Up Polyte was dead. The first officers from the Washington 188 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:06.399 County Sheriff's Department pulled up to the trailer to find 189 00:13:06.440 --> 00:13:09.720 police cars and fire trucks beginning to line the driveway. 190 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:13.399 One of the responding officers that morning was Tammy Nash, 191 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:16.960 who worked in the department at the time. She would 192 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.480 later recall that you could smell it before you even 193 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:24.679 reached the door, the smoke and something underneath it, the 194 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:29.200 smell of flesh. While the officers found inside Rada's bedroom 195 00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:33.879 told them almost immediately that this was no accident. Rada 196 00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:37.399 had suffered severe blunt force trauma to the head, She 197 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:40.799 had cracks at the back of her skull. Blood was 198 00:13:40.879 --> 00:13:43.399 visible on the bedroom walls and there was a sign 199 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.759 of a struggle. There were blood streaks on the door 200 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.360 light switch and the bed sheets. There was a pull 201 00:13:50.399 --> 00:13:54.320 of blood in the floor near the doorway. It wasn't 202 00:13:54.320 --> 00:13:57.720 the blunt force trauma that had killed Rada, however, she 203 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:02.240 had died from carbon monoxide poisoning. Rita was still alive 204 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:06.279 when she was set on far A far Marshall arrived 205 00:14:06.320 --> 00:14:09.480 and quickly reached the conclusion that an accelerant must have 206 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:12.799 been used to set the body on fire. There was 207 00:14:12.799 --> 00:14:16.679 no murder weapon in sight. Tammy Nash and her colleagues 208 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:20.080 had searched for one. They went through the trailer carefully, 209 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:23.720 but they found nothing outside. Fourteen year old Michael was 210 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:25.960 sitting in the front passenger seat of a police car 211 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.039 when his sister's Crystal and Melanie arrived at the scene. 212 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:33.360 They ran straight to the window. He had suit on 213 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:35.960 his face and dawing through the suit. There were two 214 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:40.240 clean lines where tears had tracked. They asked her brother 215 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:44.519 what happened. He looked at them and said, Mom's dead. 216 00:14:45.919 --> 00:14:48.679 That image of their brother sitting in that police car 217 00:14:48.840 --> 00:14:51.679 with a suit streaked face and tear marks running through 218 00:14:51.679 --> 00:14:54.519 It was one that the sisters would carry with them 219 00:14:54.519 --> 00:14:58.480 for years. But it was not the face that investigators 220 00:14:58.480 --> 00:15:01.919 were focused on in those early off They were watching 221 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:06.720 something else. They were watching how Michael moved, how he spoke, 222 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:11.240 what he said and didn't say. They were building an impression. 223 00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:20.080 On the drive from the trailer did the Washington County 224 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:25.519 Sheriff's Department. Michael asked the officer a question. He asked, 225 00:15:25.519 --> 00:15:29.200 what was going to happen to his mother's truck. It 226 00:15:29.279 --> 00:15:32.200 was the kind of thing that, in another context, in 227 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:34.840 a room full of people who understood grief and shock 228 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:38.639 and the strange places a stunned mind will go, might 229 00:15:38.679 --> 00:15:42.919 have passed without comment. Rita had loved that truck. It 230 00:15:42.960 --> 00:15:46.519 was hers. When you lose someone, Crystal would later say, 231 00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:50.519 you want to hold on the things, anything, You reach 232 00:15:50.559 --> 00:15:54.039 for something tangible, because the loss itself it's too large 233 00:15:54.080 --> 00:15:59.720 to hold. Michael's family understood that completely. The investigators, however, 234 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:04.559 heard it differently. To them. It was a flag, the 235 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:08.559 first of several. Michael then asked if an autopsy could 236 00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:13.279 determine whether his mother's throat had been slashed another red 237 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:17.200 flag to detectives. He later said he was just trying 238 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:20.720 to find out how his mother had died. At the 239 00:16:20.759 --> 00:16:24.799 Sheriff's department, Michael was given a voice dress test. He 240 00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:27.559 was fourteen years old, had just witnessed something that no 241 00:16:27.679 --> 00:16:31.200 person of any age should witness. He was told he 242 00:16:31.240 --> 00:16:36.559 had failed. Then the investigators took his shoes. An accelerant 243 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:40.559 sniffing dog was brought in to examine them. According to 244 00:16:40.600 --> 00:16:43.840 the officers, the dog alerted to the presence of an accelerant, 245 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:48.480 but there was a problem with detective's theory. There was 246 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:52.240 no blood found on any of Michael's clothing, nothing on 247 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:54.720 the clothes he was wearing, and nothing on any of 248 00:16:54.720 --> 00:16:58.600 the clothing Inside the home. Both Michael and his friend 249 00:16:58.679 --> 00:17:02.639 Josh continued to tell this same story. They'd gone to sleep, 250 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:05.759 they'd woken up to smoke. They had no clue what 251 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:10.079 happened in between, But detectives weren't interested in that story. 252 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:15.480 They began to question the boys repeatedly across multiple sessions 253 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.119 that stretched over two days. They pushed at the gaps 254 00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:22.240 and pressed on the places where the account felt to 255 00:17:22.359 --> 00:17:27.519 them incomplete. Michael recalled being taken through the same sequence 256 00:17:27.559 --> 00:17:31.079 over and over again. Every time he reached the point 257 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:33.680 where he woke up and found his mother, the officers 258 00:17:33.720 --> 00:17:36.839 would stop him. They told him he was missing something. 259 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:40.279 They told him there was a gap he wasn't accounting for. 260 00:17:41.519 --> 00:17:45.000 Michael held his position. He said what he knew, and 261 00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:46.920 what he knew was that he had gone to sleep 262 00:17:46.920 --> 00:17:49.799 in his room and had woken up to smoke and 263 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:52.240 his mother on fire, and had tried to put out 264 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:55.559 the fire with the host. By this point, detectives had 265 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:59.279 learned that Michael enjoyed setting fires. In the yard of 266 00:17:59.279 --> 00:18:02.440 the home, they found several burned plastic bottles and several 267 00:18:02.480 --> 00:18:07.160 gas cans. Michael admitted that he often burned things many 268 00:18:07.200 --> 00:18:11.359 teenagers in the area did. Even referred to himself as 269 00:18:11.400 --> 00:18:14.599 a firebug. He said that he and Josh had burned 270 00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:19.000 holes in railroad tires the night before. He said to detectives, 271 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:23.400 gas doesn't burn down, you have to have chemicals. Even 272 00:18:23.400 --> 00:18:27.119 a firebug like me knows that. Michael knew that detectives 273 00:18:27.119 --> 00:18:30.640 were looking at him as the main suspect. He tried 274 00:18:30.680 --> 00:18:33.240 to defend himself by saying that if he was going 275 00:18:33.279 --> 00:18:35.720 to kill his mother, he would have taken her into 276 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:38.960 the woods and burned her there. Then, two days after 277 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:42.960 Rada's body was found, Josh gave a videotape statement at 278 00:18:42.960 --> 00:18:47.160 the Sheriff's department. He sat between two officers with his 279 00:18:47.240 --> 00:18:51.319 mother present. In that statement, Josh said he had woken 280 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:57.240 up in the middle of the night to a sound, 281 00:18:55.839 --> 00:19:01.279 a woman's voice and burning to or did you see 282 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:05.559 Bernie in the room at that time? Bernie wasn't in bed. 283 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:08.559 I didn't seen Could you have seen him if he was, 284 00:19:10.519 --> 00:19:14.119 yes or no? Yes, okay, So there's no doubt that 285 00:19:14.200 --> 00:19:19.839 he wasn't invaded and was he anywhere else in that bedroom? 286 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:23.039 He said he heard a thud, he thought he heard 287 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:26.599 a woman's voice, and when the officers pushed him on 288 00:19:26.680 --> 00:19:30.200 where Michael was at that moment, Josh said he hadn't 289 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:33.759 seen him in the bed. It was, on the surface, 290 00:19:34.319 --> 00:19:48.079 a significant problem for Michael's account. On the ninth of 291 00:19:48.079 --> 00:19:51.119 December nineteen ninety eight, four days after his mother was 292 00:19:51.160 --> 00:19:54.920 found dead on her bedroom floor, Michael Bernard Polite was 293 00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:58.000 formally arrested and charged with her murder in the first degree. 294 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:02.119 Rita was bare The next day, Michael was allowed to 295 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:05.240 attend part of the service. He went in an orange 296 00:20:05.319 --> 00:20:08.359 jumpsuit with his hands and fading chains, and he sat 297 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.440 among the people who had known his mother her entire life, 298 00:20:11.960 --> 00:20:14.240 in the community where both of them had grown up, 299 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:18.720 and he said goodbye to her like that. The charge 300 00:20:18.720 --> 00:20:21.720 against him because of his age placed him initially within 301 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:26.480 the juvenile system, but Missouri law required that for serious felonies, 302 00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:30.839 a certification hearing had to be held before a judge. 303 00:20:30.880 --> 00:20:33.440 This judge would then determine whether the case would proceed 304 00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.680 in the juvenile court or whether Michael would face trial 305 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:39.880 as an adult. That hearing was scheduled for the thirty 306 00:20:39.880 --> 00:20:43.880 first of March nineteen ninety nine. In the meantime, Michael 307 00:20:43.920 --> 00:20:48.160 was held at the Washington County Juvenile Detention Center. Its 308 00:20:48.240 --> 00:20:52.640 time there, by all accounts, was extremely difficult. Cheryl Graham, 309 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.440 the supervisor of the facility, was testified during the hearing 310 00:20:56.440 --> 00:20:59.359 that in her twelve years overseeing the center, she had 311 00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:04.839 never seen a young person accumulate more misconduct reports. For 312 00:21:04.920 --> 00:21:08.720 two months, she said, Michael caused total disruption to the program. 313 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:13.799 He was uncooperative, combative with staff, and resistant to any 314 00:21:13.799 --> 00:21:18.039 structure the facility had tried to impose. Then, on the 315 00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:22.000 fifth of January nineteen ninety nine, exactly one month to 316 00:21:22.039 --> 00:21:25.279 the day since his mother died, Michael attempted to take 317 00:21:25.319 --> 00:21:28.559 his own life. He tried to hang himself with the 318 00:21:28.599 --> 00:21:32.720 bed sheath. It was in the immediate response to that attempt, 319 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:35.920 while staff were dealing with him in the aftermath, that 320 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:38.759 something happened which would go on to become one of 321 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.839 the most significant pieces of evidence in the entire case. 322 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.119 Three workers at the facility independently wrote in their reports 323 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:49.759 that Michael, when asked why he had tried to kill himself, 324 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:54.279 said the following, I have cared about nothing since December fifth, 325 00:21:55.039 --> 00:22:01.759 that's when I killed my mom. Michael claimed that wasn't 326 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:05.519 what he said. His version of the words were I 327 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:10.000 haven't cared since they killed my mom, A single word difference, 328 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:13.759 and he said that every time he was asked without 329 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:18.720 variation from that point forward. After that incident, Michael was 330 00:22:18.759 --> 00:22:24.400 transferred to Hawthorne Children's Psychiatric Hospital for assessment. Clinicians there 331 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:27.799 evaluated him and found no need for formal psychiatric treatment 332 00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:31.960 or medication. He was then returned to the juvenile facility, 333 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:37.359 and he refused further counseling. The certification hearing in March 334 00:22:37.599 --> 00:22:41.400 was notable for a reason beyond its purpose. It was 335 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:44.599 the first juvenile corpusating in that circuit ever opened to 336 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.559 the public, the result of a change in Missouri law 337 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:53.319 around serious felony cases. The courtroom was open, reporters were present, 338 00:22:53.599 --> 00:22:56.039 and Michael sat before the judge in his blue jeans 339 00:22:56.039 --> 00:22:59.720 and a knit pullover. The prosecution's argument rested heavily on 340 00:22:59.799 --> 00:23:04.920 my Mindchaell's history. Witnesses spoke about his behavior, problems, the truancy, 341 00:23:05.119 --> 00:23:08.599 the hospitalization, the threat he had made against himself and 342 00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:13.240 his mother ten months before she was killed. Deputy State 343 00:23:13.359 --> 00:23:16.759 Fire Marshal Jim Holdman testified that there was evidence of 344 00:23:16.799 --> 00:23:20.279 fires being said in the yard near the trailer. There 345 00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:24.200 were burned tires on the nearby railroad tracks. Michael had 346 00:23:24.240 --> 00:23:27.559 told detectives at some point that he had accidentally burned 347 00:23:27.559 --> 00:23:30.079 a shed as a child, and that he referred to 348 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:34.480 himself as a firebug. These pieces were laid out together, 349 00:23:35.079 --> 00:23:39.559 one after another, building a picture. Investigators who had questioned 350 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:42.920 Michael in the days immediately after the murder testified that 351 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.839 he had appeared agitated and that he had shown no 352 00:23:46.000 --> 00:23:50.480 signs of grief or sadness. That characterization would follow him 353 00:23:50.519 --> 00:23:56.079 further than almost anything else. Social worker Angela Wallace testified 354 00:23:56.079 --> 00:24:02.640 for the defense. She said Michael was dealing with conduct disorder, depression, hyperactivity, 355 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:06.200 and substance abuse, and that he could be traded appropriately 356 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:11.480 within the juvenile system. Michael's attorney, Renee Murphy, made the 357 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:15.160 argument plainly, he wasn't a murderer, and she said that 358 00:24:15.200 --> 00:24:17.839 everyone in that courtroom seemed to have forgotten that Bernie 359 00:24:18.039 --> 00:24:22.400 didn't kill his mother. She pointed to his age, his circumstances, 360 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:25.240 his grief, and said that certifying him as an adult 361 00:24:25.480 --> 00:24:27.839 would remove any chance he had of receiving the help 362 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:31.000 he actually needed. On the question of his apparent lack 363 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:35.079 of emotion, she was direct everybody deals with grief differently. 364 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:40.000 The Juvenile Service's attorney, in his closing argument, noted what 365 00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:43.839 the psychiatric hospital had found that Michael had no clinical 366 00:24:43.839 --> 00:24:47.799 need for treatment or medication. He was capable of behaving 367 00:24:47.839 --> 00:24:51.400 well when he chose to. What was left unspoken in 368 00:24:51.440 --> 00:24:54.480 that observation was the question of what it meant for 369 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:58.640 a child who was choosing not to. Edward Pulley was 370 00:24:58.680 --> 00:25:01.960 in the courtroom that day. During a recess. He spoke 371 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:05.960 briefly to reporters. He said they had it wrong. He 372 00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:10.160 said his son didn't do it. The judge ultimately ruled 373 00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:13.559 that Michael would face trial as an adult. Within minutes 374 00:25:13.599 --> 00:25:16.720 of the order being signed, Prosecutor John Rupp filed the 375 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:21.279 formal charge, first degree murder. In August of that year, 376 00:25:21.319 --> 00:25:26.240 Michael's defense attorney, Renee Murphy, resigned from the case. The trial, 377 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:30.279 which was already scheduled, had to be delayed. A change 378 00:25:30.279 --> 00:25:34.319 of venue was also granted, moving proceedings away from Washington County, 379 00:25:34.359 --> 00:25:37.160 where the murder had taken place and where the Polyte 380 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:41.960 family was known. The case was relocated to Saint Francis County, 381 00:25:42.960 --> 00:25:47.359 to the town of Farmington, about thirty five miles from Hopewell. Then, 382 00:25:47.400 --> 00:25:50.359 in January of two thousand one, Prosecutor John Ropp made 383 00:25:50.400 --> 00:25:54.279 an unusual request. He asked a judge to authorize the 384 00:25:54.319 --> 00:25:58.839 exhumation of raid A Polyte's body. The reason, when it 385 00:25:58.920 --> 00:26:03.960 was explained with Stark, during the original autopsy, no scrapings 386 00:26:04.039 --> 00:26:07.440 or clippings had been taken from Raida's fingernails, or at 387 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.960 least nobody could find them. In a murder investigation, those 388 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:16.319 samples are considered a standard and essential step. They can 389 00:26:16.359 --> 00:26:20.279 hold skin, hair, biological material from whoever the victim was 390 00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:24.039 in contact with at the time of the attack. The 391 00:26:24.079 --> 00:26:29.440 exhumation was approved, Michael, through his attorney, didn't object. By 392 00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:31.599 the time the trial was finally set to begin in 393 00:26:31.680 --> 00:26:34.400 January of two thousand and two, Michael had been in 394 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:38.359 custody for three years. He turned fifteen in that first 395 00:26:38.400 --> 00:26:43.240 attention center, sixteen and seventeen in the county jail after certification. 396 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:47.079 He would turned eighteen in February, which meant the trial 397 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:50.880 would begin the month before his birthday. He had sat 398 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:55.200 with this charge for the entirety of his adolescence. The 399 00:26:55.200 --> 00:26:58.880 prosecution had actually offered him away out once they asked 400 00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:02.319 him to play guilty of voluntary manslaughter, and the maximum 401 00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:05.799