Around the Corner (Dwight Grant)

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Speaker 2 Have you ever experienced something truly unexplainable?

Speaker 2 A moment that felt almost like a vivid dream, leaving you with a lingering sense of wonder, leaving you questioning everything you thought you knew?

Speaker 3 Perhaps it was a fleeting glimpse of something extraordinary, a chilling whisper in the dead of night, or an undeniable premonition that comes to life.

Speaker 3 I'm Yvette Gentile, and I'm her sister, Rasha Pecaro.

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Speaker 5 This should have happened.

Speaker 7 This literally should have just been like you should have listened to his conscience and said, yeah, let it go.

Speaker 5 But no,

Speaker 8 he just had to do it.

Speaker 4 I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff.

Speaker 9 I'm Anasega Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction.

Speaker 4 And this is Anatomy of Murder.

Speaker 9 According to a report published by the Council of Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, D.C.,

Speaker 9 there has been a notable decrease in crimes committed by juvenile offenders over the last decade. The one exception, homicides.

Speaker 4 So while crimes like burglary and robbery saw dramatic declines between 2016 through 2022,

Speaker 4 there was a 65% increase in murders committed by known offenders under the age of 18, a startling and disturbing fact.

Speaker 9 Even more distressing is the fact that a large portion of those homicide victims were also young people.

Speaker 4 Our guest today is a detective from the city of Miramar, a South Florida suburb of Miami.

Speaker 4 And like many detectives, Pedro Interion cut his teeth working road patrol, a job that requires considerable interaction with the public.

Speaker 4 And whether you're making traffic stops, responding to emergencies, or just interacting with everyday citizens, you are tasked to protect.

Speaker 9 It's a skill set that prepared him well for a career as a homicide investigator.

Speaker 10 In the detective world, that's one of our primary things, talking to people.

Speaker 10 doing interviews, you know, speaking with witnesses, speaking with suspects, speaking with victims.

Speaker 10 When I became an officer and I started seeing crime scenes and I would see this, you know, when we would put up the crime scene tape and I would see the detectives respond to the scene.

Speaker 10 I always wondered what it was like being on the other side of that yellow crime scene tape and I made it a point to try to do as much as I can and learn as much as I can so that one day I can get on the other side of that tape and do what I do now.

Speaker 4 And unfortunately, despite the palm trees and the white sandy beaches, South Florida also sees its fair share of that crime scene tape.

Speaker 10 The city of Miramar, it can be a very, very pleasant place to live in. Just like any other city, you have crime that goes on.

Speaker 10 We have our bad areas, we have our good areas, and we have our great areas.

Speaker 9 And as Pedro can attest, it's also a wonderful place to call home and raise a family, as evidenced by the increasing number of high school-aged kids in Broward County and surrounding areas.

Speaker 4 Our story today centers around one high school student in particular, 18-year-old Dwight Grant, who in October of 2021 was starting his senior year at Miramar High.

Speaker 9 Dwight and his mom lived in an apartment complex that was home to a lot of similar families, working parents and independent children who were often responsible for getting themselves to and from school, taking care of younger siblings, and even taking on part-time jobs.

Speaker 4 And that was the case with Dwight, who on a typical day got himself home and fed himself before his mom got home from work.

Speaker 4 But on the evening of October 17th, 2021, there was a conspicuous break in that routine.

Speaker 9 Dwight's mom came home to a quiet house, and her calls to her son were going unanswered. And while that might have been typical behavior for many teenagers, in Dwight's case, it was cause for concern.

Speaker 10 Her son was a good kid, never was the type to run away or do anything like that. So she called law enforcement and officer responded.

Speaker 4 It was totally out of character for her son to be unreachable and Dwight's mom had a sick feeling in her gut that something might be wrong. Maybe he was hurt or lost or worse.

Speaker 9 But from law enforcement's point of view, Dwight could not yet technically be considered missing.

Speaker 10 By this point, Dwight Grant, he was already 18 years old, so he was officially an adult. The officer didn't enter him as missing at that moment because he was an adult.

Speaker 10 And, you know, if he wants to leave the house and just go out and maybe not come back right away, legally speaking, he can.

Speaker 4 Part of his mom's fears was rooted in the reality of life from many teenagers in their neighborhood.

Speaker 4 She had heard about the fights at school, the rumors of drugs and violence that plagued a growing number of young people in the community.

Speaker 9 And until now, she believed she had done a good job of shielding her son from these dangers. Dwight liked computers.
He liked a game. He was a bit of a homebody.

Speaker 10 Dwight, he was a very good-natured son to Magelyn Emile and his father, Dwight Grant Sr.

Speaker 10 They raised a very, very good mannered kid. Was not a kid that was out in the streets.
doing drugs or breaking into cars or anything like that.

Speaker 10 Was just a good kid, loved his schoolwork, loved his friends at school.

Speaker 10 the only thing that really stood out once i got involved really was just he's never done anything like this in the past that starts to raise a red flag for me nevertheless dwight's mother spent a sleepless night calling dwight's friends and hoping that her son would show up safe and sound however the next day

Speaker 10 on the 18th he didn't show up to school So that's when alarm bells really started ringing.

Speaker 10 And his mother actually went to the school, tried to get as much information as possible, trying to find out, you know, if he was there, where he was at.

Speaker 10 And that's when another report was made to law enforcement. And at that point, he was entered in as missing.

Speaker 9 Another day passed, and Dwight's family and friends spent it passing out flyers and searching for him on foot.

Speaker 9 Dwight's mom was absolutely sick with worry, and she was also not the kind to just sit on her hands.

Speaker 10 Dwight's mom is still trying to figure out what's going on and where he's located. And she went over to her community's property manager's office and explained to them what was going on.

Speaker 10 She can't find her son and asked to review the cameras.

Speaker 4 Knowing that the housing complex where they lived had a system of security cameras, she hoped that the video footage might give her a clue to her son's location.

Speaker 4 What she would see in that video would send her into a panic.

Speaker 10 His apartment is at the end of the building basically and it's right next to the stairwell of the building. So there is a camera right outside of that building that faces the stairwell.

Speaker 10 Miss Emil asks, can I just review the video? So they start to review the video and they see that Dwight Grant went to the stairwell with a female and he was attacked.

Speaker 9 Her mother's intuition had been right. Her son had been in danger and it was not the police, but her, his mom, that discovered the evidence that Dwight was not not just missing.

Speaker 9 He was the victim of a crime.

Speaker 10 And once she sees that her son was attacked, she just picked up the phone and immediately called 911.

Speaker 4 A uniformed officer from Miramar PD immediately responded to her residence in Newpark Towers and did the best he could to calm her down.

Speaker 10 I think in that moment he saw how emotional she was and all those alarm bells started ringing and that officer said, I need to go there and make sure that I investigate this fully instead of just making a phone call reporting it and that's it.

Speaker 10 He knew that this was something serious.

Speaker 9 The officer went straight to the office of the property manager where the security footage was queued up.

Speaker 10 He made contact with the staff over there and they explained to him, they reviewed the video and in this stairwell, you see her son getting attacked. So he asked them, you know what?

Speaker 10 Take me to the stairwell. Take me to the stairwell so I can see it for myself.

Speaker 10 At that point, they walk him over to where the stairwell in question was located at and he starts looking around and it's pretty clear that something happened there.

Speaker 4 What appeared to be dried blood was smeared across the floor of the stairwell. The officer also observed several spots of blood on the adjacent railing.

Speaker 10 He's like, okay, something definitely occurred here. And he gets the crime scene tape and starts to set up the crime scene tape all around that area.

Speaker 10 Now, the good thing here is that he didn't just put that crime scene tape around the stairwell.

Speaker 10 He actually opened it up, made it a nice big crime scene, and started putting that tape all around that whole corner of the building.

Speaker 9 Protecting the integrity of a potential crime scene is a critical priority of any first responder.

Speaker 9 But in this case, creating that wide perimeter with crime scene tape also enabled the officer to make a shocking discovery.

Speaker 10 He walks around this large set of bushes that's on the southeast corner of that building. And as he's putting up the crime scene tape, he looks down and he sees a body.

Speaker 4 The officer immediately called back to the PD. And at that point, the dispatcher called all hands on deck requesting all available units to the location.

Speaker 4 Detective Interion was one of the first investigators on the scene.

Speaker 10 First thing I did was I looked at the stairwell. And I'm careful because

Speaker 10 there was so much smeared blood on the floor

Speaker 10 behind the actual stairs. but also in the hallway just outside of the stairwell.
You could see smears of blood.

Speaker 10 I go further into the stairwell and I'm looking around and you can see the blood smears actually going up the wall a little bit towards the bottom part of the wall.

Speaker 10 And you also see what looks like footprints in blood.

Speaker 9 His suspicion was that this was evidence of a violent and bloody attack, but it would take an examination of the unidentified body to know for sure.

Speaker 10 We walk outside and now we go towards the bushes where the body was found. Now the body was close to pushed up against the wall of the building on the back side of those bushes.

Speaker 10 He was on his back with his legs bent over his torso. If you're laying on your back and you bring your legs up and over your chest, that's how he was found.

Speaker 10 His shirt, it was like a green sweater, was pulled up a little bit and that's when you can see a fairly large hole. in his chest and his face was very swollen.
So we knew that this was violent.

Speaker 10 It appeared that he had been beat a lot on his face because his face was very, very swollen.

Speaker 4 The victim was male and appeared young enough to be a high school student, but he was not carrying any ID. And due to his extreme injuries, investigators were not able to make a positive ID.

Speaker 9 But one thing was obvious. The young man had been severely beaten and stabbed multiple times, once in the neck and once in the chest.
And it appeared he had been dead for at least 48 hours.

Speaker 4 And while the victim was partially hidden in the bushes, considering how many people lived in the apartment, it's shocking to me that no one would have discovered the body earlier or at least seen the blood in the stairwell and called police.

Speaker 4 I mean, I had to ask, how is that even possible?

Speaker 10 I ask myself those questions all the time, but keep in mind, I'm in this job, right? So I'm constantly observing what's going on around me.

Speaker 10 But most people, you know, that are not in this line of work, your average person is walking down the hallway and they're not really paying attention to, you know, those smears that are on the floor.

Speaker 9 And while investigators didn't know for sure if the victim was the missing teenager Dwight Grant, Pedro still had the responsibility of speaking to Dwight's mother and breaking the news to her about what they had discovered.

Speaker 10 We went in there and we spoke with Ms. Mew in her apartment and we told her that we are investigating this incident.
We did find a body nearby, but we have not been able to identify that body yet.

Speaker 4 So unfortunately, I know from experience that making that notification to the family member of a victim is emotional and heartbreaking and it is not an easy task, even for the most veteran cops.

Speaker 10 It's very emotional in that moment because, you know, I'm thinking of this as a parent because I am a parent myself and I can't imagine my reaction to hearing something like that.

Speaker 10 Like it's such a horrible thing to have to tell a parent that their child might be deceased. But you try to treat it with as much compassion as possible, with as much respect as possible.

Speaker 10 And we told her, we're working on this and we're going to... We're going to do everything we can to figure out exactly what happened.

Speaker 10 And as soon as we have more information, we'll be able to update her.

Speaker 9 And that information came in the form of fingerprints. And sadly, the body left in the bushes was positively identified as 18-year-old Dwight Grant.

Speaker 4 Also confirmed, the cause of death, blood loss from two deep stab wounds delivered deliberately and with intent to kill. Dwight had been murdered.

Speaker 9 According to Pedro, the first clue to who could have perpetrated such a heartless and brutal crime was revealed in the nature of the crime scene itself.

Speaker 9 So when I'm looking at this, I'm thinking the suspects must know each other in some way, shape, or form to be able to develop so much anger towards the victim the key in identifying dwight's assailants would prove to be the security video of the attack but not only was the video grainy but the attackers appeared to be wearing hoodies and masks disguising their identities

Speaker 10 The only thing that they recognized that anybody recognized was the victim himself. You can see some of their face, but that video was not the best quality.

Speaker 10 So it's got to be like you have to know the person to be able to tell that who it is.

Speaker 4 But the video was still able to provide investigators with crucial clues.

Speaker 4 Most importantly, they were dealing with multiple assailants who appeared to be waiting for Dwight in the stairwell, masked, armed, and prepared to ambush their victim.

Speaker 10 So there were a total of three suspects. You can see first two suspects that are wearing all black.
They walk into the stairwell and go up to the second floor.

Speaker 10 They remain between the second floor landing and the third floor landing.

Speaker 9 A few minutes elapse before you see Dwight walking out of the hallway of his building and into the stairwell.

Speaker 9 And he's actually seen carrying a female in the way that a friend might give someone a piggyback. Clearly, Dwight was not aware of what awaited him around the corner.

Speaker 10 All of a sudden, you see... The two suspects that were between the second and third floor landing, they come down the stairs, they confront the victim, and now the victim tries to run away.

Speaker 4 There is no audio on the video, but the fear and the desperation of the young man is still palpable in the silent footage.

Speaker 10 One of the worst parts of this video is when you see the victim running away, he's running out of the stairwell and the suspects grab him by the waist and pull him in back to the stairwell.

Speaker 10 You literally see the victim's hands are stretched out and his feet are trying to get out of the stairwell opening and he's being dragged by his waist back into the stairwell out of the view of the camera.

Speaker 10 At that point, that was the last time that you see the victim alive.

Speaker 9 But while investigators couldn't ID the suspects from the video, they were able to make out one critical piece of evidence, a glimpse of the murder weapon.

Speaker 10 You see that they have

Speaker 10 a long

Speaker 10 skinny object in their hands. Initially, we really couldn't tell what it was.
We had no idea. We just knew it was a long long object and it had kind of like a shoulder strap.

Speaker 10 You can fling it over your shoulder.

Speaker 4 One of the investigators also had an idea how to improve their chances of identifying the suspects.

Speaker 10 He's looking at all the video from the complex because we've dealt with this complex in the past. They've assisted us in the past, very cooperative with us in helping us with video from other cases.

Speaker 10 And we know that there are cameras all around that apartment complex.

Speaker 10 So once they start looking at the video, they see that the three individuals, the three suspects that we see at the stairwell video, we see them walking into the community.

Speaker 9 And among the three people was the young female that Dwight was playfully carrying down the hall.

Speaker 10 She didn't have a hoodie on like the other two. She didn't have a face mask on like the other two.
She had like burgundy hair with one long strand of blonde hair. So that stood out in the video.

Speaker 4 She also appeared to be no older than Dwight. And with her distinctive look, investigators hoped that someone at Dwight School may be able to put a name to that burgundy hair.

Speaker 10 Most of our school resource officers, they create relationships with all their students. A lot of times, they'll know a lot of the students just by seeing their face.
They'll know their name.

Speaker 10 That resource officer, she was able to tell us right away, that's Christy Parisi.

Speaker 9 Christy Parisian was a 17-year-old high school student and, according to witnesses questioned at Miramar High, a friend of Dwight Grant.

Speaker 4 The big question that remained was whether Parisian was an unwitting witness to the crime or a willing participant.

Speaker 10 So we knew Christy Parisian was someone we needed to talk to right away.

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Speaker 9 In Miramar, Florida, an 18-year-old high school senior was found stabbed to death just footsteps from his family's front door.

Speaker 4 Incredibly, security footage from the apartment complex captured the attack and possibly the identity of one of the three potential suspects, a female classmate of the victim.

Speaker 10 We pulled so many hours of video surveillance from that community from a bunch of different cameras to capture every different angle from the entrance of the community all the way to where the crime scene was and back.

Speaker 10 The way it seemed was that maybe he was lured to the stairwell by Christy Parisian because the other two were waiting in the second floor.

Speaker 10 So we just knew right off the bat we need to make contact with Christy Parisian and get the story from her and see what she says because she's going to be the key to kind of opening this up and finding out what actually occurred.

Speaker 4 So Anasega, let's talk about what's seen on the video.

Speaker 4 And then what's in front of you is that you're sitting down with someone who doesn't yet realize how much information that you've already gathered.

Speaker 4 And of course, you're not planning to show your cards as of yet, because you want her to feel comfortable enough, as we always say, to open up. And the main goal is super simple.

Speaker 4 See if she'll identify the other two people involved and possibly cooperate in a potential case against them.

Speaker 9 And, you know, of course, people hearing it is like, look, is it even possible that a person like this would have just been a witness witness and not one of the assailants?

Speaker 9 And I'm going to say, like playing devil's advocate and having seen them before, easily she's shown first to be friendly with the victim.

Speaker 9 She isn't seen participating, at least on this portion of the video that we're talking about. And she leaves walking away with two other people that clearly would be suspects.

Speaker 9 But I will say there is definitely something that you have to keep in mind is that she could be scared, right? And that's something that has to be assessed, right? He's attacked.

Speaker 9 She's scared and keeps what she knows to herself out of fear of repercussions. It could go both ways, but it's something they have to really look at closely.

Speaker 4 And by the way, this has actually happened to me. During an interview, I would want to watch her and see her body language, but also to see, does she have a phone nearby?

Speaker 4 Is she texting off to the side where she may be warning the other two that police may be on to them?

Speaker 4 I mean, she doesn't realize, I'm sure, at that point, that you have video footage tracking all of their movements during and after the crime.

Speaker 4 So for me, the best place to start is simply asking even if she knew the victim and then give her the time and space to tell her story.

Speaker 10 This whole encounter with her was audio recorded. We had our audio recording device turned on and activated and we made contact with her at the apartment.

Speaker 10 She opened the door to us and we explained to her that we were detectives with the Maramar Police Department and wanted to. talk to her about an incident we were investigating.

Speaker 10 We asked her if she would mind speaking to us. She was fine with it.
She actually asked us to come into her apartment and she told us she was alone. So we said, okay, well, that's fine.

Speaker 10 Let's just go ahead and leave the door open and let's just talk here.

Speaker 9 And now at this time in October of 2021, being that Parisian was only 17 years old, so now legally still not yet an adult, the investigators were very cognizant of the procedures for questioning her.

Speaker 9 And while they had their suspicions, they didn't yet know for sure of her actual involvement in this crime.

Speaker 10 You could just tell right from the beginning as she's talking to us and telling us what had happened that day, you could tell that she knew more than she was actually saying.

Speaker 10 She was making a lot of different comments. Things were not lining up.

Speaker 4 At first, Parisian claimed that she did not know the other two individuals she was seen with in the video on her way to Dwight's house, and she was only there to meet Dwight. for a date.

Speaker 9 Clearly, the 17-year-old had no idea how extensively the security footage had captured her movements on the day of the murder, including her standing by during the attack and walking away side by side with the assailants after Deut was killed.

Speaker 4 Nevertheless, Parisian never admitted any involvement in her friend's murder, but she did make one critical admission.

Speaker 10 During that conversation, she tells us that her boyfriend, Andre Clements, had joked about murder via text with her.

Speaker 9 A joke about murder? It's the kind of detail that is too coincidental to not be true.

Speaker 10 So at that point we knew okay Andre Clements is likely going to be the other suspect in this case and we knew right off the bat that her phone contained evidence so we needed to seize her cell phone in that moment you know pending a search warrant The 17 year old was quickly going from witness to suspect, which meant it was time to bring her to the station and get her official statement papered and processed.

Speaker 10 We seize her phone and then we asked her, okay, let's do this.

Speaker 10 Let's go ahead and come back to the police department just to kind of get the full story, get a full statement from you regarding what actually occurred.

Speaker 10 We called her mom, she didn't answer, and we left a voicemail for her.

Speaker 10 Christy was able to tell her mom over the voicemail, I'm going to the police department because I'm a witness or they're asking me about a murder investigation.

Speaker 9 The two detectives and Parisian settled into an interview room at the Miramar PD for an extensive interview.

Speaker 9 One in which Parisian's story continues to veer this way and that, but steering clear of the truth.

Speaker 10 From start to finish, this interview was somewhere around four to five hours. We spoke for a very long time.
Her storyline kept changing every so often.

Speaker 10 You could just tell that she was lying about certain things. So it took a while to kind of get the full story.

Speaker 4 The detectives detectives focused on her boyfriend, the boy she had said texted her about, in his words, a murder happening soon, and then got Parisian to admit that she might have been the cause of some bad blood between him and Dwight Grant, our victim.

Speaker 10 She and Andre Clements are in a relationship. Andre had cheated on her, so she wanted to get back at him.
The way that she was going to get back at him was by having sex with Dwight Grant.

Speaker 9 But she stopped short of admitting that she knew Clemens was there ready to ambush Dwight. In fact, she claimed she had changed her mind and left the stairwell, having no idea what happened next.

Speaker 4 But the detectives already knew that the security video disputed her weak alibi.

Speaker 10 So at some point during the interview, we show her a snippet of video from the stairwell that shows her with the other two suspects.

Speaker 10 And it shows her with that long, narrow item in her hand that has the sling. So at that point, we ask her, you know, what is that? And she says, oh, I don't know.

Speaker 9 Investigators still had not identified the murder weapon used in the homicide, but they had a suspicion that the long, narrow object in her hand, that was at least one of the weapons used to kill Dwight Grant.

Speaker 9 And Parisian was about to confirm it entirely by accident.

Speaker 10 She's talking about this, that, or the other. And then she goes, and then that's when I gave him the knife.
Oh, what knife? What are you talking about?

Speaker 10 And that's when she goes, yeah, that long object is a knife.

Speaker 4 And not just any knife, an approximately 20-inch curved sword, like something out of an anime drawing or a kung fu movie.

Speaker 9 And in the course of trying to weave another lie, Parisian also lets slip the name of a third suspect in Dwight's murder.

Speaker 10 During that interview, that's when she tells me that as she's walking back home from New Park Towers, she makes contact with her boyfriend, Andre Clements, and his friend, Jaslyn Smith.

Speaker 4 According to Parisian, she accompanied Clemens and Smith away from the crime scene.

Speaker 10 They leave New Park Towers and they proceed over to Lake Vista, at which point they go to Jaslyn's apartment. Jaslyn decides that she wants to do a bonfire.
to burn some baby clothes.

Speaker 10 Now, as the interview continued, she eventually said it wasn't baby clothes. They were burning their actual clothes.

Speaker 10 They were taking off their clothes, burning it, and getting dressed into something else. So I asked her, Okay, where did this bonfire occur? And she said directly behind Jaslyn's apartment building.

Speaker 9 It's almost as if she couldn't help herself from giving investigators the very clues they needed to prove her involvement in Dwight's murder.

Speaker 10 As Christy Parisian is telling me this in the interview, I now am communicating with other detectives to go out to that area and start to look for a burn site.

Speaker 4 And sure enough, investigators found the remnants of burnt clothing right where Parisian said they would be. The items were collected and sent to the lab to be tested for blood evidence.

Speaker 10 So at this point, now we know, okay, Jaslyn Smith is involved, we know Andre Clements is involved, and we know Christy Parisian is involved.

Speaker 9 Like Christy Parisian and the victim Dwight Grant, Andre Clemens and Jaslyn Smith were also students at Miramar High School.

Speaker 9 What could have motivated these three people to murder a friend and a classmate was still a mystery.

Speaker 4 Investigators found Smith at home and like Parisian, she too was a minor, but also may be an accomplice to a brutal homicide.

Speaker 10 We start to talk to Jasily and we wait for her mom to get to the house. When her mom arrives, we start to speak with her mom and we explain to her why we're there and what's going on.

Speaker 9 Once again, investigators were very deliberate and careful to both respect the suspect's rights and not lose an opportunity to gather critical information.

Speaker 9 Pedro and another investigator spoke with both Jaslyn and her mom.

Speaker 10 Jaslyn's mom was the one that was talking to Jaslyn, and then Jaslyn was answering, and it's just she was answering in our presence, but we weren't necessarily directly asking Jaslyn questions in that moment.

Speaker 9 And while I'm sure her mother's mother's priority was to protect her daughter, you also have to wonder how much her presence may have actually encouraged her daughter to cooperate with the police.

Speaker 9 You can kind of hear her lecturing her daughter here as recorded by the officer's body cam.

Speaker 4 Do you know how much true

Speaker 4 crime I watch?

Speaker 11 You can't get away with nothing

Speaker 11 because there's cameras everywhere.

Speaker 10 We continued that form of interviewing for a few minutes just to see see how much we can get because we had so much information already just based off of Christy's statement, just based off of the burn site that was behind Jasmine's apartment.

Speaker 10 And we decided, you know what, let's do this. Let's go and take an actual formal statement.
And we asked Jasmine's mom, we would like to get this statement from Jasmine,

Speaker 10 really go into detail about everything that occurred. You could be present if you want.
And she was okay with that.

Speaker 10 And we read her Miranda at that point because we we just had a feeling that there was a chance that we may do the arrest, and we wanted to make sure that everything was done properly.

Speaker 4 And so, detectives led Jasilyn Smith to the police cruiser, where her classmate, Christy Parisian, was already in the back seat.

Speaker 9 Unbeknownst to both of them, the car was equipped with an audio recording device, which captured their conversation. What follows is a portion of that recording.

Speaker 7 So, the big squishing sound I heard was the big knife, I'm assuming. And we untouched him, I'm assuming.

Speaker 7 But I touched that knife with my hand because he told me to hold it. So am I being screwed over for that? Am I being fed over because he had me hold it too?

Speaker 4 Incredibly, that's Parisian and Smith discussing the fact that they had both held the bloody murder weapon.

Speaker 4 But it's the callous and almost nonchalant tone of their exchange that is even more shocking.

Speaker 7 He should have listened to his conscience and said, Yeah, I let it go.

Speaker 8 But no,

Speaker 5 he just had to do it.

Speaker 9 The two teenage girls were discussing their accomplice in the murder, Andre Clemens, who they seem to be blaming for instigating this plan while simultaneously incriminating themselves in premeditated murder.

Speaker 6 He should have just threatened, but like, never do it again.

Speaker 6 Just fight. Just have a fight.

Speaker 5 Like, then, like, grown to like, fight it out, you know, like, you know,

Speaker 6 just fight. Ain't nobody need to be killing nobody.
Just fight and leave.

Speaker 8 I know what all I knew this was was a fight.

Speaker 6 I know.

Speaker 8 I'm dragged into a murder.

Speaker 4 But now, realizing that police, in fact, have the girls squarely in their sights, they're heard joking about what may lie ahead.

Speaker 8 We're not going to college.

Speaker 5 We're not going to go to college anymore. We're not going to collect anymore.

Speaker 8 I wonder why.

Speaker 6 Did we get charged as juveniles?

Speaker 8 Who was going to a suspension school?

Speaker 6 Let's all just go to the same one beef when it's cool.

Speaker 8 I know, right?

Speaker 6 Put us all in the uniforms.

Speaker 8 Definitely say uniforms. Yeah, James.
Perfect at uniform. Oh my god, I just got out of uniform.
Considering my parents, my mom is probably on the ground crying right now.

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Speaker 4 17-year-old high school students Christy Parisian and Jaslyn Smith were two of the three suspects in the brutal slaying of their high school classmate. Dwight Grant.

Speaker 9 After the girls were separated, Jaslyn Smith was asked to give her account, still in the police car, but now with her mother present.

Speaker 12 So basically, you know, we're here because, you know, there's an incident that happened on Sunday, and we're just pretty much trying to get the whole story about what actually happened.

Speaker 12 So I'd like for you to kind of tell me step by step on how everything occurred. And just take your time with it, you know, step by step as best as you can.

Speaker 4 The detectives' body cam footage captured the ensuing exchange in haunting detail.

Speaker 4 And it's a striking example of the investigative value of video over just an audio recording or transcript of an interview.

Speaker 10 That video is going to show, you know, that body language. You see so much more of their intent and their feelings.
That was key for me because that interview was

Speaker 10 honestly,

Speaker 10 for me,

Speaker 10 is where you can see evil.

Speaker 9 According to Smith, it was her friend Andre Clemens who had recruited her to participate in what she thought would be just a fight with another boy, a fight he claimed was retribution for Dwight's involvement with Clemens' girlfriend.

Speaker 13 He had proceeded to tell me the whole scenario of

Speaker 13 we're going to get dressed in all black.

Speaker 11 We're going to wear clothes that you don't care about.

Speaker 11 You're going to wear gloves.

Speaker 13 You're going to wear do-rag. I know the whole layout of the building and everything that you need to do this.

Speaker 10 Andre also made a comment to Christy when they got to Jasmine's apartment saying, oh, I brought it with me and I sharpened it.

Speaker 10 That's also when Jasmine saw the knife, and it was a small dagger and the sword.

Speaker 4 Smith described walking to Dwight Grant's apartment complex, positioning themselves out of sight in the stairwell and waiting for instructions from Clemens.

Speaker 14 And then he got a signal from Christy to walk downstairs.

Speaker 11 We walked downstairs and he tells me to wait for the doctor.

Speaker 11 And he had a weapon

Speaker 11 with her.

Speaker 13 He told me to hold the weapon.

Speaker 9 She described the moment Dwight entered the stairwell how, sensing danger, he tried to flee.

Speaker 9 But Clemens and Smith ran him down and backed him into a corner of the stairwell while Jaslyn Smith was holding the sword.

Speaker 9 And we want to warn you that the following audio content is graphic and disturbing.

Speaker 13 I'm just standing there, holding it, using it as a point of invitation. Andre is talking to him, saying everything he has to get off of his chest, and saying how mad he is.

Speaker 13 And then he proceeds to say,

Speaker 11 you know what I have to do, right? That I have to hurt you.

Speaker 13 Like, I have to get you back for what you did.

Speaker 10 Andre tells the victim, you know who I am, right? And then proceeds to tell him, you know, I have to kill you now, right?

Speaker 13 And

Speaker 13 the boy is like, you don't have to do this. I won't bother you.
I won't say nothing. I haven't seen you guys.
I won't say anything.

Speaker 13 Nothing.

Speaker 11 And I'm just thinking, okay, Andre's probably not going to hit him or punch him.

Speaker 10 At that point,

Speaker 10 Jasmine helps to hold the victim as Andre proceeds to punch the victim several times in the face rapidly.

Speaker 13 And then

Speaker 14 after a while, Chrissy said there's a lot of cars here. There's a lot of people watching.
There's kids out.

Speaker 13 You need to hurry up.

Speaker 14 So like, Andre, do what you gotta do to furry up

Speaker 13 he proceeded to take out a

Speaker 11 small weapon

Speaker 11 and

Speaker 13 attempt to

Speaker 11 stab it I'm sorry

Speaker 5 and then he had another smaller weapon and he took that out and he

Speaker 13 stabbed it right here

Speaker 11 where's right here

Speaker 12 on the neck like back side of the neck?

Speaker 11 Like side.

Speaker 12 On the right side?

Speaker 10 She tells us that at one point the victim is now on the floor. He's already been stabbed on the neck and I believe also in the abdomen.

Speaker 10 At which point the victim is in pain and he basically tells the suspects, if you're going to kill me, just end it already. End it because it hurts too much.

Speaker 10 And that's when she's holding on to the victim and Andre steps over him and drives a sword into his chest.

Speaker 4 Jasilyn Smith had described in horrifying detail, step by step, how the three teenagers had ambushed, beaten, and then stabbed Dwight Grant to death.

Speaker 10 Which was great for the case, but she was listing it all and in my opinion, kind of just describing what she was having for breakfast that day. It was just no emotion.
I don't know,

Speaker 10 no remorse, no nothing. It was just

Speaker 10 talking about it like it was another day.

Speaker 9 In Smith's account, the weapons that killed Dwight were in Clement's hand, but it was clear that all three were complicit in the plan and the murder.

Speaker 10 They finally are done and they start to drag the victim's body out of the stairwell. Their plan was to possibly maybe throw him in the lake.

Speaker 10 but it was too far and they were too tired so they are able to pull him out of the stairwell. And that's when they throw his body over that railing, which is why there was blood all over that railing.

Speaker 4 Dwight's killers then jumped over the railing, dragged his body into the bushes, and then coolly just walked away to dispose of their bloody clothes.

Speaker 10 I just wanted to point this out because Jaslyn was saying while she was giving her statement that while they were putting his body in the bushes, you know they were trying to figure out what the plan was, but they were too tired and they hadn't eaten yet.

Speaker 10 So they were hungry. And I was just looking at her like in my mind, I'm just thinking to myself, you just murdered somebody violently.
And now you're talking about like, oh, we haven't eaten anything.

Speaker 10 For me, that was just a moment of like pure evil. Like no, no care, no remorse, no,

Speaker 10 no heart.

Speaker 9 With two of the suspects in custody, police set out to find Andre Clemens, the alleged mastermind, and according to Smith, the one who plunged the knife then sword into Dwight's neck and chest.

Speaker 10 So at that point, we had enough to do a search warrant for Andre's house. We did the house of the father, which is the address that was listed in his school records.

Speaker 4 But it turned out that Andre didn't live at his father's home. He lived across town with his mother.
And it was only a matter of time before word got back to him that police were already on his tail.

Speaker 10 So at that point, while we're executing the warrant at the dad's house, detectives spot Andre at the mom's house in a car. They spot him getting into his mom's car with a couple other friends.

Speaker 10 We directed them to go ahead and pull the car over and detain Andre for purposes of executing the DNA warrant.

Speaker 9 Not surprisingly, Clemens was not as quick to confess.

Speaker 10 So we took Andre over to the Pembroke Pines Police Department.

Speaker 10 His mother came as well, and we attempted to interview him, but because of the fact that he was detained pending the DNA warrant, we read Miranda and he invoked his right to counsel.

Speaker 4 But the fact was investigators didn't need his statement. Search warrant on his cell phone revealed all the evidence they needed to prove he was guilty of premeditated murder.

Speaker 10 What we mainly got from all the text messages were the conversation between Andre and Christy pre-murder, about a week before the murder, where he's telling Christy that murder is going to happen soon.

Speaker 10 And at that point, Christy pretty much tells him she's going to help him with it.

Speaker 9 The only thing missing from the investigation, or I should say the only two things, were the murder weapons.

Speaker 9 But thanks to his texts on his phone, police had a pretty good idea what had happened to them.

Speaker 10 Based off the text messages between him and Christy, at one point after the murder occurred, he made a comment to Christie about, I should go throw out my trash.

Speaker 10 So I believe,

Speaker 10 I believe that he had the sword and the dagger with him, and he threw it out in the dumpster of his community when he got home that night.

Speaker 10 Once we were able to get those text messages and we saw that, we went back to the community to try to see if we can go into the dumpster to look for the sword.

Speaker 10 However, by that time, the trash had already been picked up and had already gone to the dump.

Speaker 9 You know, Scott, I just have to say it because this is one of those things that I think we get from TV more than anything. It's like, oh my gosh, they don't have the murder weapon.

Speaker 9 Like, can they prove the case? But look, as a prosecutor, and I think as a member of law enforcement, we know it's really not that uncommon.

Speaker 9 They're actually rarely located because the important thing is you know they were used based on the injury to your victims, right? And here they already have the video corroborated by statements.

Speaker 9 They certainly have more than enough for a case right there.

Speaker 4 I mean, would it be nice for investigators to be able to find the actual murder weapon? 100%.

Speaker 4 But they have so much, and I'll call it powerful circumstantial evidence, which I believe will go way beyond reasonable doubt.

Speaker 4 Just the callousness of their behavior in the squad car was really nothing short, for me, of evil.

Speaker 9 And, you know, interestingly, you have to think about where do they get most of their information about the details of this plan, right? And it's from both Jaslyn Smith and Christy Parisian.

Speaker 9 But again, you could not use those statements in court against Clemens, right? Not unless there's a deal made with these young women and they take the stand.

Speaker 9 So, really, this case is going to come down unless those plans and those deals are put into place.

Speaker 9 It's going to be a circumstantial case with proof by the video that can corroborate these accounts if they make the deal and take the stand.

Speaker 9 You know, those statements alone, as we know, in court can't be used against accomplices.

Speaker 4 And so the connective tissue really should be the weapon in some sense. You don't have it, but how did our suspects come in possession of such a unique type of weapon? And that was the question.

Speaker 9 And that was exactly what investigators planned to find out.

Speaker 10 The sword itself had a brand on it, and it said Snake Eye Tactical.

Speaker 10 So based off of that, and based off of the statement from Christy that Andre had purchased this sword several months prior from, he believes it was Amazon.

Speaker 10 So we did do a subpoena to Amazon to get all of Andre's purchase history at which point we did find that he did purchase a couple months prior the snake eye tactical sword and based off of the description and the fact that it was in his records we believe that that was the sword that was used they even got an assist from another classmate at dwight school there was an anonymous student that provided a photograph of a sword and dagger collection that supposedly came from Andre's bedroom.

Speaker 10 So once that picture made it to law enforcement, I reviewed that picture and I noticed that the background of that photo matched Andre's bedroom from the search warrant that we had executed at his apartment.

Speaker 9 So we're not going to get too deep into the laws about ages and juveniles and minors because honestly, it is such a deep dive that we would be here for the next hour.

Speaker 9 There's a lot of legalese involved. But, you know, basically in Florida, at last reading, at 16 or 17, you can definitely be charged as an adult, but only certain cases, right?

Speaker 9 Murder, kidnapping, assault, manslaughter, carjacking, and other violent offenses.

Speaker 9 But the reason for all these laws is that people realize that younger people do not have the same mindset and life experience and also should sometimes be given those other chances and given lighter sentences, except obviously in the most serious of crimes.

Speaker 4 There are people, as as you say, Anastiga, who argue that opportunity for change and rehabilitation compared to adults, it could happen.

Speaker 4 Their character is still forming and there are appropriate opportunities for intervention, such as counseling.

Speaker 4 But perhaps when the suspect is so close, I mean, just a few months away from being 18, many do believe, including myself, it really doesn't apply.

Speaker 4 They show a clear understanding between right and wrong and in most cases, know the consequences of their actions.

Speaker 9 And the reality is, as we know, is that the reason that these nuances, these age factors make such a difference whether you're in juvenile court or adult court is the sentencing.

Speaker 9 If they are charged as juveniles, they could face a maximum of only 36 months.

Speaker 9 That's three years for these crimes in a juvenile detention center, where obviously there are much longer prison sentences if convicted at trial or plead guilty. So there's a lot to go into it.

Speaker 9 But here, as to your point, Scott, I mean, these three peoples clearly seemed to know right and wrong and showed little remorse.

Speaker 4 And let's just leave it here with the fact that the primary responsibility of the state, and that's why these laws are in place.

Speaker 15 The Broward State Attorney's Office announcing upgraded charges against three teenagers. The trio accused of killing an 18-year-old from Miramar will be charged as adults.

Speaker 10 So we charge them first-degree murder because of the premeditation. There was planning involved in committing this murder.

Speaker 9 The decision to charge and try the three three suspects as adults was understandably courting attention and controversy.

Speaker 9 If convicted, Clemens, Smith, and Parisian could face life in prison, but it was the brutality and callousness that drew even more attention.

Speaker 10 Right from the beginning, it actually received national attention. I remember going online and I go on to Yahoo.
As I scroll down, I see this case highlighted there.

Speaker 10 And I was shocked to see that this case was receiving national attention.

Speaker 4 Three Broward teams accused of brutally murdering a classmate back in court today.

Speaker 4 Police say those high school students lured their victim with the promise of sex before stabbing and beating him to death.

Speaker 4 I think what captured the community and the nation's attention about this case was not just that they were accused teenagers, but that teenagers, classmates of the victim, could plan such a vicious attack and carry out that vile plan and still show little to no remorse.

Speaker 10 You don't see something so brutal, and something for me, the best way that I can describe it and that I've had other people describe it to me is just evil.

Speaker 10 That word just has come up so many times in this investigation because of the callousness, the blatant disregard for life all over something so ridiculous.

Speaker 9 In the end, all three suspects decided to plead guilty and not go to trial, also avoiding the most severe penalty if they had.

Speaker 10 Eventually, Christy and Jaslyn, they both pled out to, I believe it was 25 years with 10 years of probation.

Speaker 10 And then Andre recently pled out to 40 years with a lifetime probation.

Speaker 4 25 years for the two females who helped lure and subdue Dwight Grant. 40 years for the male who ended his life.

Speaker 4 Significant sentences until you realize that these three killers will be 42 and 58 respectively when they're released from prison.

Speaker 9 Justice served, but a tragedy for Dwight's family and heartbreak for the families of all four young people involved, three taken off to prison and one taken from this world for good.

Speaker 4 Let's face a hard reality. Many adolescents today still cling to that dangerous belief that youth alone shields them from facing serious consequences.

Speaker 4 Historically, our juvenile justice system has leaned towards rehabilitation, believing deeply in the potential for change in young lives.

Speaker 4 But when we talk about murder, when a deadly weapon is in youthful hands, convinced they'll face a softer system,

Speaker 4 there is a troubling shift. As we mentioned at the top of the show, recent data paints a chilling picture.
From 2016 to 2022, juvenile-perpetrated homicides surged dramatically by 65%.

Speaker 4 It's time to rethink our assumptions, to acknowledge this stark trend, and to consider, are we ready as a society to effectively address the rising tide? All you have to do is ask yourself a question.

Speaker 4 Was that conversation sitting in a Miramar police car captured on audio? Was it theater or was it just pure cold-bloodedness? What do you think?

Speaker 9 From the first time I heard about this case, all I could think about was how can some people do things like this to others?

Speaker 9 As a homicide prosecutor, it's a question that I and many in this line of work have grappled with regularly as we handled so many cases of darkness over the years.

Speaker 9 But I don't want to give these defendants, Dwight killers, the last moments of attention, even in this podcast.

Speaker 9 It should be about Dwight, an 18-year-old good kid going to school, helping his mom, a good friend and loving son.

Speaker 9 At sentencing, Dwight's mom spoke to the court through tears and said, I will never walk my son down the aisle. He'll never come say anything to me because he's not here.

Speaker 9 All the good things my son did, those memories will always be with me. And thinking of her and him should be our takeaway.

Speaker 9 The baby she once held in her arms, the the young man she proudly watched him grow to be, is no longer here. For his mom and so many, the pain of this loss must be excruciating.

Speaker 9 But Dwight Grant, you are remembered, and it is clear you were very, very loved.

Speaker 9 Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an audio chuck original produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media.

Speaker 4 Ashley Flowers is executive producer.

Speaker 9 This episode was written and produced by Walker Lamond, researched by Kate Cooper, edited by Ali Sirwa and Phil Jean-Grande.

Speaker 3 So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?

Speaker 16 Hi, everyone. I'm Ashley Flowers, creator and host of Crime Junkie, the go-to crime podcast for the biggest cases and the stories you won't hear anywhere else.

Speaker 16 So, whether on your commute, studying, or while you work, let us keep you company. With new episodes every Monday, it is truly a Crime Junkie's dream.

Speaker 16 So, join me, my best friend Britt, and our entire Crime Junkie community right now by catching up on hundreds of episodes and by listening to a new case every Monday on Crime Junkie, available wherever you listen to podcasts.