"The following story is fictional and does not depict any actual person or event." "May 9, 1987." "keep it straight." "That's it.That's it,clay." "Attaboy." "Got to keep it straight." "That's it,pedal a little faster." "Straight." "Doing good,clay." "Keep your head up." "Hang on." "Lean forward." "Faster,faster,clay." "You got it." "Don't let go!" "That's it,you got it." "You got it,clay." "You got it." " Dad!" " Steer." "Yeah." "Ugh!" "whoa." "You had it there for a second." " are you okay,honey?" " He's okay." " Mitch,maybe you should take..." " he's fine." "You're okay,there,champ." "You just got to walk it off." "I told you not to let go." "Trust me,clay,this is the only way to learn." " No,I can't do it." " Sure,you can." "You just got to get back on the horse." "No,I don't,and it's not a horse." "Come on,I'll be right behind you." "I promise I won't let anything bad happen." "I want the training wheels back on." "hey, whatever you want,buddy." "You're the one who said you didn't want to be the last of your pals riding around with training wheels." "I'll give it another shot, but only if you don't let go until I say so." "deal." "Let's go." "Come on." "Okay,pedal faster this time." "Pedal faster." "Look straight." "You can do it." " Pedal faster." " Don't let go." "Little faster." "Come on." "Come on,clay." "That's it,that's it." " Steer,clay." " Dad!" "Steer." "I'm doing it!" "I'm doing it,dad!" " oh,gosh." " Backwards,clay." "Brakes!" "Clay,backwards!" "Clay!" "Slow down!" "clay!" "what's up with the fresh job?" "Some joker took a header off a high-rise last night." "They yanked us out of bed for a jumper?" "The boss is already here." " That's got to be 20 stories up." " Guy's a pizza." " If he's still in one piece." " It was nice of him to beat rush hour." "Victim's a harold dixon,55." " We got called for a suicide?" " Wasn't a suicide;" "hands are bound." "Plastic ties." "Bound?" "You're saying the guy was pushed?" "He was a registered sex offender." "now that's a damn shame." "Found this note stuffed in his pocket from the doer." ""I'm going to take out a piece of garbage "" "every day till you solve the murder of my son clayton hathaway." "Looks like we're going to need a few more garbage bags." "Missed the dumpster." "Resync by undelete" "Cold Case Season 4 Episode 19 Six-year-old clayton hathaway." "Snatched off his bike back in 1987." "Found two days later raped,strangled,bike was never recovered." "Kid disappeared on the dad's watch." "Mitch hathaway." "Police zeroed in on the father after the body was found at a construction site he was developing." "Traces of semen matched his father's blood type." "Even the wife checked out on him at the trial." "Guilty till proven innocent." "Jury didn't take long." " He got life." " So why'd they let him out?" "After endless appeals,a dna test revealed that the original evidence was contaminated." "The judge overturned the conviction,ordered a new trial." "Lack of evidence; we had no case to move forward." " Hathaway was released a month ago." " You still think he did it." "Doesn't matter what we think,matters what we can prosecute." "What matters to your boss is he's got a pr disaster on the loose." "If he did it,why's he going around shoving sex offenders off buildings?" "Harold dixon molested half a dozen boys the same age as clayton." "Yeah,he could have just pulled him off the megan's law web site." "If that's his hit list,right now he's spraying buckshot." "Why are we going after this guy again?" "He's performing a public service." "You're joking,right?" "Hey,nobody else can figure out what to do with 'em,certainly not the courts." "They serve their time." "We can't incarcerate them forever." "Fine,then..." "cut 'em off." "That'll fix the problem." "Sex offender web site's just an admission by the state that they can't keep society from harm." "So we just let some crazed vigilante use the registry as a hit list?" "Crazed vigilante,grieving father." "It was bound to happen sooner or later." "Talk to the ex-wife,see what she remembers about the day her son disappeared." "Scotty, line two." "Yeah." "Valens." "You going to solve my son's murder,detective?" "Hathaway?" "I read about your brother's case in the paper." "So what?" " I'm not a monster." " You killed a man last night." "He had it coming." "You of all people know that." " This isn't about me,mitch." " No,it's about what I lost." "And what I need you to do." "You want to talk to me,come on in and tell me your story." "come on in and tell me your story." "I didn't kill my son,detective." "Now do your job and find who did." "Has mitch tried to contact you since he's been released,tara?" "No." "But he must have written me over a... a thousand letters from prison." "After the first on I..." "I threw the rest out." "Why?" "What'd he say?" "That he didn't do it." "You never showed at the trial." " You believe he did." " That's what the courts said." "Look,it was just too painful,I..." "I just couldn't handle it." "My world caved in." "You ever seen this man before,tara?" "No." "Why?" "He was a pedophile." "Your ex-husband killed him this morning." "What?" "Mitch killed someone?" "He promised to do it again unless we solve clay's murder." "I don't know what to tell you." "If there's anything you might be able to remember about the day your... son was murdered." "Before he disappeared." "It's what every parent fears most." "It's..." "it's your worst nightmare." "Only for us, it was real." " where's clay?" " What?" "clay-- where is he?" "He was just here riding around in the driveway." " Well,you were supposed to be watching him." " I was." "Relax." "He probably just rode around the block with johnny." "Well,he's not supposed to go past the corner." "Don't worry,I'll go get him." "Clay!" "Clay!" "Clay!" "hey,have you guys seen clay?" " Not since this morning." " He's not with johnny?" "Tara,is something wrong?" "Linda,I don't know where he is." "I didn't see him." "I don't understand; he couldn't have gone far." "I'll get the car,go look for him." "I'll get my keys,mitch." "clay!" "They found him two days later, and there's not a day that goes by that I don't blame myself." "You said you saw a postman?" "Uh,right." "That's strange." "Clay disappeared on a sunday." "Better start explaining what the hell you were doing on that street delivering mail on a sunday,ernie." "Sometimes I'd drop off parcels on my off-days if the address was on my way home." "Only back then,you didn't have a record for diddling boys yet." "Run whatever test you want." "I never touched that kid." "Wasn't my thing." "Your thing?" "My preference was blond-haired boys,ages eight to 12." "Slight build,introverted." "I was always very specific." "Gee,I guess we're way out of line here." "All in the past." "Years of therapy,I stay off the internet." " Got mechanisms to help curb the urges." " Well,that's comforting." "It doesn't matter if you believe me." "I paid my debt to society." "Far as I'm concerned,you'll never pay for what you did to those kids." "Hey." "I would never kill a child." "I love children." "Guy who killed that boy was an amateur,worried about getting caught." "An amateur?" "If a boy is properly groomed,you don't worry about them telling anyone." "They give you...consent." "Consent?" "A child can't give an adult consent." "Someday,society will come around to accept it." " You sick..." " hey,hey,hey... hey!" "If you ask me,you ought to be going after that little bitch." " What little bitch?" " Hathaways' babysitter." "Wasn't like she was really watching the kid." " What was she doing?" " More like who." "Preppy jock boyfriend always over there," " sneaking around." " When the hathaways were gone?" "Always got to watch out for the young,clean-cut ones." "No,cut it out!" "Stop it!" "Shh!" "You're going to be okay." "Quit being a baby." "Shh!" "Come on,pal,it's not that bad." "You know what?" "You like baseball,right?" "Who doesn't like baseball?" "Yeah?" "You know,my dad has season tickets to the phillies,right?" "Really?" "You think you might like to go sometime, see the phillie fanatic dancing on the dugout?" "Okay." "Just don't tell trish what happened." "All right?" "It'll be our little secret." "Just us guys." "Total amateur hour." "Never ceases to amaze me how many parents put their kids in play." " Just offer them up." " Guess you'd know." "That's why I was surprised when I heard it was the dad." "Unless that's all changed." "Something I should know?" " We'll be in touch." " P.O.Knows where to find me, 24-7." "Rom hathawaycame back to a pay phone outside market east station." "Check with septa,see if they can pull a security tape,confirm it's really hathaway." "So what are we doing to find him?" "Where hathaway called from, the building where he pushed dixon-- see if we can narrow his location." "So you have no idea where he is?" "Every cop in the 15th district has an updated photo of him." "What are the red pins?" "Registered sex offenders who lived or worked in proximity to the hathaway residence back in '87." "Depressing,huh?" "Names,photos and addresses,all listed on the megan's law web site." "That's the law." "We need to shut down the site till we find hathaway." "Public access to that site supersedes the risk." "Really?" "Public got a right to know that wasn't a suicide this morning?" "Yeah,sure." "Trish was my girl back in high school." "When she used to babysit for the hathaways." "Heard you used to drop in on her quite a bit." "Well,no parents." "Best opportunity to get some play." "Sure." "Then you take them out to the old ballgame,right?" "'Cause boys love baseball,right?" "Long as they don't tell anybody what happened." " That's sick." " No argument there." "No,you..." "I have three kids,two boys of my own." "We know about the blood on the underwear,adam." "Clay bawling his eyes out." "No,you've got this all wrong." "I was raiding the liquor cabinet,okay?" "I accidentally dropped a glass on the kitchen floor." "Kid comes in from the outside in his bare feet,steps on it,cuts his foot." "So how'd blood get on his underwear,adam?" "I just grabbed something from the laundry basket, whatever,just to stem the blood flow." "Kid's underwear was on top." "Do you know how dumb that sounds?" " 's the god's honest truth,I'm telling you." " You going to have to do better than that." "Hey,I wasn't even in town when the kid disappeared." "I didn't even hear about it until I got back." "Just a horror show." "Always haunted me." "Something else you want to share?" "I was over at the house one night when trish was sitting." "And I saw something... kind of disturbing." "Come on!" "What?" "I heard the garage open." "Hey,guys,we're home." "Hide!" "Hide!" "come on,johnny,we got to hide it!" " Who gave it to you?" " The scarecrow." "No way!" "You can't say anything or he won't give me any more cool stuff." " Your parents are coming!" " Clay!" "Don't tell anybody or scarecrow will get mad at me." " Clay,you better hide it." " Swear not to tell?" "Swear." " the scarecrow?" " Like some kind of secret pal." "But who the hell would give that knife to a six-year-old?" "You never mentioned it to Trish?" "I was gonna but... it took me an hour to get out of there and then I forgot." "You remember now?" "Well,it seemed kind of irrelevant after they busted the dad." "Gose to show you never can tell." "it was long time ago." "Anyhow I was only six-year-old." "Clay was my best friend back then." "It's pretty devastating what happened." "Scarred the whole neighbourhood" "My parents became paranoid about my playing outside after that." "John,you remember anyone with the nickname "scarecrow"?" "Yes.This older kid... goth freak, lived next door to us." "Got a real name?" "Damon Childress?" "Something off with that guy." "he was into all kinds of weird crap we thought he was cool." "like what?" "Ninja stars,medieval weapons, nunchucks." " Butterfly knife?" " right,you name it." "he slept in his basement,parents just let him alone.Had his own back entrance." " you saw his bedroom?" " Even though you guys were only six." "Guess he didn't have a lot of friends in his own age." " Was kind of unstable." " Emotionally disturbed." "yeah.Just had to be careful not to rile him up." "or what?" "he even turn on you?" "clay?" "once.came after both of us." "Came after both of us." "He-Man, Master of the Universe!" "By the power of Grayskull!" "I love the power, power." "Watch this one, Clay." "Watch?" "We got to get back, Johnny." "I'm not supposed to go past our street." " One sec." "Just watch." " Boo!" "little punk." " hey,damon." " why you been ducking me?" "what?" " what do you mean?" " think you can just steal from me." "but...you said i could have that knife." "nothing is free." "you owe me,boy." "you!" "went back home and just hid in my room." "never saw him again." " never told your parents." " I thought that freak would kill me." "those times damon let you into his basement." "he ever try anything?" "touch you?" "not me." "Scarecrow was more the type to get off on torturing cats." " think he killed one the same day." " you saw him do that?" " kill an animal?" " I heard something later that night." "looked out,saw damon in his back yard,burying somenthing." "Damon Childress' family moved out the neiber neighborhood." "couple of months after clay hathaway was killed." "Current owners gave us pemissin to dig up the yard." "looks like they found something." "Clay's bike." "Yeah?" "Did you find him yet,detective?" " mitch?" " you know who killed my son?" "we are close,we'll find him." "I promise." " you belive me." " I believe you,mitch.But... you are not helping us,dropping bodies." "nobodylifted a damn finger on my son's murder till now." " This ain't the way to go about it." " you're right." "These guys should be burned at the stake." "You got our attention,all right?" "Nobody else needs to die." "No.I..." "I has to do this,for my son your son's...gone,mitch." "Only 'cause I promised him that I'd be there, and... and I wasn't." " I understand how you feel." " You don't." "I lost everything." "I know.But..." " You have to stop what you are doing..." " too late." "I already took out the trash today." "Anything back on mitch's call?" "blocked number,all we got is it was a cell phone." "And a DA's office on crisis control." "Ballbuster alert,6 o'clock." " Any ID yet on the victim?" " still trying to get prints off him." "Soon as we scrape him off the hood." "Whoa." "what?" "come see." "no thanks,pass." "no scotty got to take a look at this." "It's Grabowski." "the postman?" " Special delivery." " how could he know who we're talking to?" "'cause he is following us." "You interviewed that man,and didn't notify him of possible he threat his life?" "Think I'll sleep okay tonight, thanks." "we have a responsibility to notify anyone who's a possible target." " Sure, why not offer them all protective custody?" " scotty!" "we'll do our best to notify every level three sex offender who fits the profile." "my boss is suspending public access to the magen law's web site." "have a good day,counselor." "Got any Batman back issues?" "depends." "Detective Comic,Dark Knight, Shadow of the Bat?" "Got any where, uh," "Batman fights that guy who looks like Ichabod Crane?" "Preyed on people's fears?" " you mean scarecrow?" " yeah,that's him." "what you know about that guy... damon?" " what it this about?" " boy named clay hathaway." " long time ago." " yeah.But I'm sure you remember him... or at least,burying his bike in your back yard." "all right." "I took this kid's bike." "It was stupid." "I was going to sell it,but that's it... you were assaulted a that six-year-old, stole his bike and threaten his life." "I had a lot more anger than friends back then." " but I didn't kill him." " then why did you bury the bike?" "As soon as the kid went missing,I panicked." " you need to come down,make a statement,Damon." " Wait!" "I don't get the hassle, didn't the dad do it?" "Even the mom said so." " No, she didn't." " I heard by myself." "She knew way before anyone else." "Don't worry about the caterer, Mitch." "I took care of it." "Right." "Thanks, Cliff." "anything you need,just ask." "I found something*******" "What is it?" "I just..." "I don't ******anymore." "What do you mean, Tara?" "I should've seen it,I should have stopped it somehow." "What?" "he's not the man I thought he was." "What're you saying,tara?" "I saw something,Linda." "What would you do if you found out your husband was a monster?" "So,tara saw something that turned her against mitch." "Yup." " Before the cops or anyone else knew." " But she never said anything." " Never testified against her husband." " Didn't go to his trial,either." "That's when everybody said they knew he did it." "Wife loses faith in the husband,so does the jury." "Am I under arrest?" "No." "He's here to protect you." "You already knew,tara." "Before the police suspected it was mitch." "You turned on him because you found out something before the wake." "That your "husband was a monster." "" Does it matter what I believed?" "Yes,it does." "I failed, you know..." "I failed to protect my own child." "What made you think it was mitch?" "You think you know someone." "Everything you believe to be true." "You have no idea." "What did you see,tara?" "I was such a fool." "the caterer's here." "People will be coming soon." "You shouldn't have babied him so much." "Bewhat?" "Made him vulnerable, the kind of kid these guys prey on." "U think this is my fault?" "asul u' o thaypued." "You had wanna I always pushed him?" ""Let him go,he's fine,he's a boy..." " I was right." " You were wrong." "You let him go,only he's not fine,mitch." "He's dead." "I need some aspirin." "honey." "I'm sorry." "I just miss him so much." "Do you really?" "What?" "Do you really miss him," "I mean?" "why are you looking at me like that?" "he had photos of johnny burrell?" "Thumb in his mouth..." "same way clay was found." " You never came forward with those photos?" " They had enough to convict him." "I was trying to protect my friend." "I never wanted linda to see those,so I destroyed them." "You never told her." "I told her... to never let her son go near mitch again." "hathaway?" "You leave my wife alone." "You twisted,lying sack of crap." "Wasting our time." "What?" " You're no better than the g arbage kill." " What're you talking about?" "I know what you did-- those photos you took of johnny burrell,sucking his thumb." "What?" "Photos?" "Your wife found them in the bathroom,mitch." "Remember?" "No,no." "You wonder why she turned on you,you psychopath..." "There's a lot of things not adding up,john." "Things you never told us." "Anyone." "We can understand why, how painful it is to admit." " Admit what?" " What mitch hathaway did to you." "I don't know what you mean." "He didn't do anything to me." "If you don't deal with this now,eventually,it'll just eat you alive." " No." "You got the wrong guy." " You think you're strong, it's all in the past." "Then one day you wake up,you just can't get out of bed." " Or worse,you do the same thing to somebody else." "Even your own kid." "No." "That's not me." "John,we need your help here." "We know what mr.Hathaway liked." " What he did to you..." " the photos he took of you." "What-what photos?" "The ones of you in bed,sleeping with your thumb in your mouth." "Posed just like his son clay after he killed him." " It's okay,you can tell us." " No,it's not okay!" "All right it never was." "And I don't care what you think." "It wasn't mr." "Hathaway who took the photos." "go to sleep,son." "Night,daddy." "It was your father who took those pictures?" "I swear my father never touched me in that way." "Maybe because you were his own son." "You were off-limits." "But clay wasn't so lucky." "yeah?" "Rush." " What?" " I need a marked car to go to 8th and walnut." " Okay,cliff burrell." "Just send the car over and meet me there." " Right now?" "Where?" "What do you mean?" "Why not?" " Hang up." " What?" "Hang up." "Hathaway just took cliff burrell up to the roof of the building where he works." "What?" " Boss said swat is en route." " That ain't possible." "How the hell could hathaway have known it was burrell?" "Scotty?" "I told him about the pictures tara found." "I thought it was him." "We got to go." "Go to the edge." "Go to the edge." "Please,please." "Move!" "move!" "shut up!" "shut up!" "shut up!" "mitch!" "Mitch,it's me." " It's me,detective valens." " That's fine right there,detective." "I know it wasn't you,mitch." "I'm on your side here." "I gave up believing anybody was on my side a long time ago." "Understood,but listen to me now." "You don't put down that gun and step back, these guys are going to put a bullet in your brain." "I don't plan on walking off this roof alive." "But I'm taking this piece of garbage with me." " Please,please!" " Shut up!" "I know you want to kill him,mitch." "I understand,I do,but... you don't want to die this way." "he killed my son." "He planted those photos,he turned my wife against me." "Mitch... tell him what you did." "I want to know before you die." "Tell him what you did." "Tell him!" "Tell him damn it!" "Mitch,this won't bring your son back." "Oh,you're going to die,you're going to die." "You're going to die..." "Stop!" "Mitch!" "No!" "Stop!" " Stop!" " Easy,mitch!" "Tara." "he did this." "To clay." "To us." "I'm sorry,mitch." "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you." "I let you down." "But I lost him." "I looked away." "I never should have looked away." "No,this is not your fault,mitch." "Don't do this,mitch." "Oh,please, don't do this." "I need you." "Do you know I never stopped loving you?" "Me,too." "Me,too." "Cliff,just... tell the truth." "We know how you watched his son while he slept,took pictures of him." "I..." "I'm so sorry... but you couldn't touch johnny,'cause he was yours." "I swore I never would." "So you took mine." "You took my boy from me." "I fought it for... for so long." "The feelings." "And then,I-I..." "I couldn't anymore." "I'm so sorry." "Hey,little buddy,what happened?" "Damon took my bike." "He pushed me off,and I scraped up my knee." " Tore it up pretty good,huh?" " It hurts bad." "Well,let me seeee." "Yeah." "Need to clean that up,get you a bandage." "I'll just walk home." "It's okay." "I got a first aid kit in my tool chest." "Something to take the sting out." "I don't know." "Won't hurt a bit,promise." "My dad always tells me just walk it off." "Come on." "You're bleeding." "You want a soda or something?" "Got a fridge full back in the garage." "What kind?" "You like grape?" "Yeah,sure." "Go on." "Help yourself." "Cold Case Season 4 Episode 19"