True Crime Vault: All American Murder

"Very good?" "Very good." "That's a lot." "That's a lot." Stift-on-warm test computer-built

focus mani chip finance tips, such a thing. "Mega, but the stuff is still complicated." "No, just a few photos from the real estate business and it's done." "Very good."

"Very good, very good." "Very good, very good." "It's some iron-on-dresist newly up game." A mysterious note in a gun left on the counter. "Who killed a former sports star and his wife?"

2020 begins right now. "This case is a parents' worst nightmares. The murder retryle of AJ Armstrong." "You now have all the evidence in this case." "Do you think it's possible to convince 12 jurors to quit?"

"How we have a verdict?" "It's a showdown in a Texas court using in the making."

“"I was making my way down the stairs and that's what I heard the gunshot."”

"We start to hear it's two people shot. We believe it's the mother of father." "Bah, had this gotten here." "What?" "And some of you realize that they suspect you."

"I was in complete shock. I can't put in a word how I feel."

"But it has a feel about his third trial for murder."

"You don't think a 16-year-old kid is going to be a suspect." "I thought someone lost their mind to add my grandson with killing his mom and dad." "I saw the guy like I feel like I should have done something." "You should physically see somebody when I saw him running." "There was a pistol and a note with a message scribbled on it."

"And it said, "I have been watching for a long time and then up in the corner and the scribbles come and get him." "He's in our right and to me, you're cute." "It is the case that has captivated Houstonians for years." "The husband and wife shot in their bedroom."

“"The chilling details about the night the Armstrong's were murdered."”

"The Armstrong's are the perfect example of a Texas family." "This is a family that is so respected in this community." "They're family that's all about faith and football." "A family which appeared to be perfect and wasn't a loving family ripped apart." "I've been covering this story for years and tonight the explosive new evidence that

up ended this case and is the reason we're bringing it to you now." "Everything, everything, push to him!" "It got emotional, it was intense both sides very fired up."

"This is the latest twist in what seems to be a never ending case."

"Now, finally a decision, a verdict has been reached." "I saw the jury." "But this whole sort of tale began seven years ago with gunshots in the middle of the night and a 911 call for me terrified sounding 16-year-old." "You said 911 do you need medical police or fire?"

"It would be police, it would be whispering, it would light an injured church after a parent's room." "This is a house?" "Yes." "And your name?" "Aju?"

"And your medical sentiment?" "I tried to make sure I told you that." "And your parent's bedroom?" "Yes." "He was whispering, it was very quiet, concerns somebody may still be in the house."

"Austantly asking on the condition of his sister." "I need to get my sister. Your sister is down there. On the first floor?" "On the second floor."

"How old are you?"

“"I remember AJ coming into our room, waking me up."”

"Hey, hey, hey, you gotta get up, come on. You gotta get up, come on, come on. There I need you to get up. There I need you to get up." "I was halfway sleep so I didn't ask any questions.

I just got up and walked." "I just come with me, come on, come with me. Just grab my hand and stay behind me." "Okay, please, you're on their way." "That's me, lights up in my house."

"I'm happy." "When they knock on the door, you can go down there."

"Is anyone on the first level?"

"No, it's just her living room." "Okay." "Just listen for the police and listen for instruction." When police arrive at the home, AJ has to deactivate the alarm system to let them in the door. "Well, I don't want that.

I don't want that. I don't want that. AJ opens the door. And he and his 12-year-old sister, Kay, were walk outside to find this line of officers."

Stand by. They're just going to give them a walk. I'm Courtney Fisher and I'm a reporter for KTRK in Houston, Texas. Now, to some breaking news from Southwest Houston. I would just use reporter, Courtney Fisher, is live from the scene with what police know so far.

Good morning to you, Courtney. I have covered this case from the beginning. It was 3am. Police tape is already up. This just happened a couple hours ago, so it's very busy out here.

Good morning, my name is investigator Jimmy Dawson with the HPT homicide division. I was sitting on the desk on that night, but the call came into the unit. My lieutenant at the time had asked me if I could go help with the murder that it occurred. There was a lot of family members that showed up on the scene that night.

The first person that I saw was my older brother, Josh.

John and Antonio Armstrong have a third child. Josh, he'd recently moved into an apartment. And it's just a few blocks away from the family home.

“I just remember being woken up by Josh, shelling.”

They'd get up, get up, somebody's in the house. You know, I have a starter, but I just woke up out of my sleep. And he's like yelling this, and then I see him running out the door. Hannah was staying over Josh's apartment that night. And she described that he was so upset he was hyperventilating.

Trying to explain to her, phone call he'd receive from AJ. He runs over there and Hannah makes her own 911 call. He's so pretty, so excited. He's a member of my boyfriend's apartment. And he's going over there's house because he runs like so many town streets.

He just got there and he's called me and told me that his parents didn't sign.

My daughter, Olivia, got the phone call.

She said we had to go to Antonio and Don's home. That there were shots. When AJ called, I could hear it in his voice. He was afraid. He was hysterical. He said it's been some gunshots and somebody was here.

They went to house. I didn't know what to think.

“The police immediately go through the house to secure the house and make sure there's no one else in the house.”

As they are going through the house, they're not sure what they have. Someone could be jumping out in a moment. The officers found out very quickly that they showed up to a house that was locked. The windows are all closed. The blinds are all down.

The locks are all in place. And there's no forced entry. Don and Antonio are upstairs in their bed. And when the police went in there and the paramedics, they believed that Don had been shot twice in the head. And was deceased.

And Antonio had been shot once in the head.

And he was alive but in critical condition.

They had pillows over the tops of their heads. It appears that they were placed on after the fact. It was kind of odd. I don't know why you would shoot someone and then place pillows over their head. We start to hear.

It's two people shot. We believe it's the mother, father. We immediately start to think is this a murder suicide. We know one woman shot. Her husband also shot.

The couple's children inside the home. A teenage boy and a girl.

“I just remember seeing police cars in the ambulance.”

And somebody was rolled out on the stretcher. They were sending Antonio's members to hospital. And the Don had been shot in the head. What? They make the decision to separate the children.

I was trying to get to my grandmother's camera. She was only 12. I remember being escorted to a police car. And officer came by and asked the mom was like, "What's going on?" And they were like, "Your mom has passed away and your dad is fighting for his life."

And he might not make it. And someone brought me these bags around my hand and told me to put it on and that I couldn't take them off. The children were tested for gunshot residue. So they bagged their hands in order to preserve any gunshot residue.

It's not that they think that the person is responsible at that point. It's just, they don't exactly know what happened. I did not know what was being told to me. I still had the bags in my hand. So as I was crying, I just couldn't wipe my face or anything.

I just sat there alone. She was so traumatized and I was so concerned about her. I wanted those bags off her hands. AJ was also below. Police had bagged his hands and had him sitting in the back of a squad car.

After they secured the house and took the victim out of the house, they looked around for any evidence I could find. They come in the kitchen. The drawers were open. I could have been ransacked.

There was a pistol. And a note with a message scribbled on it, laid on the counter. It appeared to be a stage crime scene to them.

And it said, "I have been watching for a long time." And then up in the corner, it was scribbles coming in. The fact that there's no gun in that bedroom, they know this is not a murder suicide. This is something very different.

I find out that somebody else in the house shot this husband and wife.

And it's like, "Wait a second, over there."

And you see this kid. He's really young, his handcuffs on. I did see them put handcuffs on him and put him in the back to the car and drive him off. But I didn't understand why.

There is someone in the back of that squad car. He is handcuff. We don't know the relationship right now to the victims.

“When you got that call, what specifically did Chris tell you?”

Told me that mom was dead. Dad was struggling to age it was in custody. That teen remains in juvenile custody this morning. You don't think a 16-year-old kid is going to be a suspect? Houston, Palais said the 16-year-old shot both of his parents

killing his mother, his dad fighting for his life. It didn't make sense. There's no way that age it could have done this. Just not AJ. Donna Armstrong has been murdered in her bed.

Her husband, Antonio, has a gunshot wound to the head and is clinging to life. And her 16-year-old son, AJ, is in handcuffs being taken in for questioning.

We traveled to Houston in early 2019 for the first of what will become

many interviews with AJ Armstrong and his legal team. AJ has been two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, three, and you clap good. All right. You've got night and police come in and you're looking for help.

And some of you realize that they suspect you. I was in complete shock. I can't even put in a word how I felt. It was a mix of shock. It was a mix of anger.

There was a lot of different things like why me. First time you've ever had handcuffs on. First time I've ever had handcuffs put on my hand. And for me, it was, there's no way possible. I couldn't even fathom the idea of killing my parents.

I immediately went to the hospital. And it still didn't cross my mind that they took AJ to the police station.

“And maybe you need to get an attorney to ask something.”

I found out, you know, Don had been killed and Antonio had been transported to a hospital. It was on life support. Chris was at the hospital. He was the family attorney and he also was Antonio's friend. I remember getting off the elevator.

And the entire waiting room was packed with people from everywhere. You saw Antonio. I told him goodbye. It was clear he wasn't going to make it. No, we knew it.

I told him to fight, you know, that he's a fighter. But we knew what the situation was. We're waiting for police to come talk to all the media. We're standing outside. Get some.

Might go into three. Everyone ready?

“And one of the first things Sergeant says to me was,”

"This is the all-American family." This was an outstanding family. The male and the family was an absolute heartworking red winner. He's a great guy. And the family, the mother was a great mother.

I wanted to really get across to the media and to the people out there. These were really good people. Everybody just loved them. Love their personality and just them as a couple. Tell me about Antonio's senior.

A monster of a man dedicated to his family. Antonio is my big brother. We're proud of him. Just to watch the things that he accomplished. Antonio was raised in a very poor situation.

His father, he never really knew.

His mother was 15 when she gave birth to him. I raised Antonio in cash from your garden. He used some Texas. It's mixed. Some working. Some welfare. And a lot of areas of a drug investor.

And when Antonio graduated from high school, he went to Texas A&M University. Play football there. This is a guy who got a full ride to Texas A&M. Where he played linebacker.

Football is life.

“And until he had played it day and day from 1991 to '94.”

In the cotton ball in '94, against Notre Dame, named offensive player of the game honors. Perfect sacs of the Hangers. He had eight tackles, three sacs. He went off. No doubt. He was going to be picked.

And then I felt draft. He was drafted six round to the San Francisco Fighting Hinas. And went to the Miami Dolphins. I'm like, isn't it really happening? You know, we get not the hood. How good a football player was your father?

He was amazing. I've never seen outside linebacker better than my dad.

Dawn came to visit the church that I passed at. They met Dan. My daughter, she was a charmant. She was one of a kind. If you met her, you would love her. When Antonio met Dawn, she had a baby boy.

And Josh, we came to Antonio's son. He adopted him basically as his own. Josh didn't learn Antonio wasn't his birth father until he was 16. But according to the family, Antonio always treated Josh like his biological son. Dawn and Antonio did have two kids together, AJ and Kara.

Dawn was very involved with her kids. Dawn was the mom that took the pictures every moment. She didn't want to miss anything. She was the perfect mom for me. I don't think like another mother could have come in and handled me better than she did.

She just knew how to always talk to me.

That was a relationship with your dad growing up. He was there for everything from football to basketball. When I went to play soccer, he was there. That was my go-to best friend. AJ wanted to follow his father's footsteps and play football.

And once he saw the plane, he was good at every position he played. Together, one of my names Antonio Armstrong on the first class training. Once Antonio's professional football career was over, he began to open up James. Antonio Armstrong knows what it takes to get in shape and stay there. And to good.

They had three James. Antonio, he worked day and night to provide and do for his family. AJ grew up in the Beller area, southeast Houston. Beller is family area. There were a lot of bigger homes.

For Antonio to come from Cajumier Garden and end up living near Beller on the gym and Beller. It was as different as days from night. And it was a major accomplishment. Tell me about life in your household previous to 2016. It was amazing. I was attending a great school.

The kids went to King K, a very prestigious private school. He just finished up his sophomore year. He has a lot of friends. He has a girlfriend. He loves his parents. They appear to be this perfect family. But that picture perfect family is now shattered with both of the Armstrong's shot

in their bed and AJ is in handcuffs. People will send me.

“You need to get AJ an attorney, I said for what?”

You have a 16 year old in a room with two experienced police officers. Does your dad own a gun? Yes, he does.

Police say, sure, you never touch that gun.

And the story changes. It's been five hours since AJ Armstrong made that 9-1 call. Most of his family is at the hospital where his father is still fighting for his life. At what point did you hear that AJ was now the number one police suspect? It was one of the family members that told me that AJ had been arrested and taken down town.

So I just had simply asked, is anybody taking care of AJ? Chris wanted to do something for his friend's 16-year-old son, but he knew he was going to need help. I know Rick had handled similar case and so I called him. Rick, when you got that call from Chris, what did he tell you?

He was pretty upset and he was asking me what I would do as far as dealing with AJ and being the police custody. I didn't know what was going on. I didn't know what was going on. I could ask him because I could someone tell me something and I got no answers.

“When it comes to a juvenile, it's important in the state of Texas.”

And the law says it is that a judge has to read a juvenile their magic shirt warning.

I'm going to go over you, Ryan's with you. She has to read the warnings to AJ. So he understands he doesn't have to talk to police. She makes AJ repeated back to her. You don't warn that you may remain silent, not make any statement at all.

“Any statement that you may be used in evidence against you?”

What does that mean to you? That if I don't want to say anything, I don't have to. That's correct. After being magistrate by a judge, he's done at the police station giving his story. He denied legal counsel.

I asked him why did he do that. He said, "Nanny, what did I need legal counsel for?" He said, "I just want to tell him whatever they want to know so they can provide. Who did this?" When I walked into the room where AJ Armstrong is in the homicide division, he was just very calm.

How was your relationship with your parents? That was a very good relationship. You get along with your mom. Me and my mom were like, "We?"

I mean, me, my brother and my sister had our little issues with my mom, but it was never anything like serious.

It was just like family stuff. When we asked AJ about his relationship with his mom, it's actually one of the more telling things that he says. He immediately kind of villainized her, which was pretty telling to us, because we already had the thought process that she was potentially shot first. And what about dad?

That was like the go-to. And if any recent problems, any issues between you and him or anything like that. Uh, no. Like what I was a pretty like chill guy. The question of AJ was going to be important because we want to lay out the timeline of the day in the household.

We want to know if there was any arguments. We want to know if mom and dad had a bad running into with someone out in public. All of those things need to be established because you're trying to find a motive for why his parents were killed. My mom, she came back around five and it was me, my dad, and her. Me, my dad and her.

And then my mom and dad got dressed and they went to one of my dads. He, like one of my dad's friends he went. But he had, so they were born until like eight. And then when they got back, I went to pick up my little sister from my grandmother's house. AJ came pick me up and he took me home.

He seemed happy like always just in a good mood.

Like we got back to the house like nine or ten. So we locked the doors. I sat the alarm and went upstairs. I went to bed. My parents were laying in their bed.

I don't know what they were doing. And I was just upstairs. I was just walking in that flick still. And then I, it was like probably one or two. We can ready to go to bed.

And I went to the restroom. And when I came out, I heard the door open. And I haven't been feeling well like this whole day. I saw I've just been at home. And I thought it was my parents.

So I walked down stairs. So I was going to ask if I can get some medicine. And I was making my way down the stairs. And that's when I heard the gunshots. So when I got like four or five stairs down.

And I like looked at how many you heard. How many you heard?

“I mean, I think I heard two but it may have been three.”

I'm not really like 100% positive. I just like personally feel bad because I saw the guy. Like I feel like I should have done something. When AJ is being questioned by police, he makes a huge revelation.

He says he saw a mask to intruder. He says you physically see somebody or I saw him running. Like I saw him running. What did he look like? I mean, they had a, it was like a mask.

And like you can only see the eyes and the mouth. But he looked like it. He looked like a black guy. I say like six feet. Maybe.

He's on that nine more one called for 16 minutes.

Never in those 16 minutes does he say he saw a mask man.

Don't you think that would be one of the first things that you would tell officers at the scene? Hey, I saw an intruder. I understand your point there and it makes sense. But remember, this is a 16 year old. You cannot put yourself in his shoes and imagine what's going on if he's just heard going shot.

And remember, on that nine more one call, AJ does seem to briefly elude to someone being in the house. Police say they didn't find any evidence of an intruder in the house that night. And they've now determined that the gun used long to Antonio Sr. They want to see what AJ knows about it.

Does your dad own a gun? Yes, he does. Do you know what kind of gun it is? I just know it's like a pistol.

“I think it's a 22, but I'm not like 100% positive.”

Like I've only, only time I've ever like used it was when went to the gun range. I was like eight years old. Then detectives confront him with a puzzling piece of evidence found at the scene. They found a bullet hole that went through his bedroom lower down to the second floor study right outside of his parents bedroom. AJ Armstrong had covered the bullet hole in the floor of his bedroom with socks.

It was like almost a T.P. of socks to throw off authorities that there was a hole in the carpet.

You sure you've never touched that gun and the story changes.

I can explain the gun from the room upstairs. It was like two, three. It was like two, maybe three weeks ago. Like me and one of my friends was just like playing around. That was like, hey, like I've ever touched on before.

And they were like, no, I've never done it. And I was like, you want me to show you how to. And then we're going to my dad's bed. AJ tells the officers, at least initially in the interview, that he never touched his dad's gun.

That wasn't true. Not a lot of ways to describe it, except he's a 16 year old knucklehead. And he might have been scared that he'd get in trouble for touching his dad's guy. They were playing around with the gun.

Stupid, sure, but that doesn't make him a bad guy.

It makes him a stupid teenager.

“I think at any time you're talking to police and your story starts to change,”

that could be a bit of a problem. But now that it was really, very plausible, you could tell that he was someone who is trying to be smarter than other people, but not mature enough to pull it off. That's kind of what his explanations came across as. Investigators seemed to be finding more problems for AJ back at the house.

More suspicious evidence that just isn't adding up. I understand this situation is not looking good at all for a coup. If you like your true crime, like you like your coffee, Red handed is the podcast for you. It's dark, intense, and might just keep you up all night.

I'm Hannah, I'm Suriti, and every week on Red handed, we break down a different fascinating case. From the most recent US trials, everyone is obsessing over, like Brendan Banfield, Karen Reed, and Ellen Greenberg, to the most unbelievable stories from around the world.

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If you're looking for smart, detailed true crime with personality, check out Red handed wherever you get your podcasts. You know when you're locked in, focus and fearless. Welcome to the WNBA. Your vision narrows, you can't look away.

Every assists, every stop, every low-go-three.

“From beyond the low-go. Every did you see that moment?”

You can! What records are going to be broken this season? All of it, right here. Lock in is the WNBA on ESPN, all season long. Investigators have been questioning AJ for more than half an hour,

and they've asked him about evidence found at the house. There's that bizarre note that says, "I have been watching." And the bullet hole in the ceiling. But it's not just those things that investigators have questions about. They've also noticed a suspicious burn mark on the carpet at the top of the stairs

on the floor where AJ's parents' bedroom is. So I know you guys saw the black little thing on the carpet when you walked upstairs. I was like playing with matches and I dropped one and didn't realize it. I just walked away and then the carpet said, "Don't fire." And then my dad came and confronted me about it.

I was like, "Uh, I don't know." He tells investigators he originally lied to his dad. His dad got upset. He was like, "You guys like lie to me." I mean, like, "Me and my dad, whenever we do have problems,

like, we sit down and we talk about it and we solve it." There was something that was odd to us. He says, "Oh yeah, I was playing with matches. I accidentally dropped one." Well, the problem was that burn mark smelled like a accelerant.

So it smelled like a petroleum based either gasoline or rubbing alcohol. By this point, detectives have also started to talk with other family members and they're telling investigators that AJ had started having some issues with his dad recently. They said that you recently got in trouble with your pop. It was the carpet.

They said you got caught with drugs too. That was a really long time ago. I'd probably say like three, three, six months ago. Whenever AJ would come over to the apartment, him and Josh would smoke weed together.

I remember a few times Josh's mom calling about AJ and his grades were falling and all he must do is party now. You know, talked to him, can you try to steer him on the right path? What AJ doesn't know what this point is that he is the main suspect and investigators are trying to appeal to him to just mess up.

“There's a time in your life even at 16 when you have to man up and accept responsibility”

for doing something wrong, losing your cool, whatever it is. Throughout the entire interview, AJ maintained his innocence.

He never once said that he had anything to do with it.

The techers are telling him, "We bagged your hands so we could run, gunshot and residue tests.

Good shot residue is the blowback that comes after weapon is fired,

and the residue comes flying out of the gun. Now, in most instances, it's going to end up somewhere on your clothing. It could be on the gun. It's possibly also going to be on your hands. The gunshot residue is talked about so much during the interrogation.

And AJ keeps saying, "You'll see there will be no evidence on me." "I can tell you not, there's nothing that will come back that it's on me." "There will be no gunpowder, there's my fingerprints on nothing like that." "Come back on me, I ain't nothing to do with this." Even as AJ maintains his innocence,

the detectives continue to ratchet up the pressure in the interview. Trying to get him to admit that he knows more than he's saying. "I mean, just being man to man here, there's four people in the house. The house is completely secured with locks and with a alarm system.

“I honestly don't buy it, somebody was able to rush out the house.”

Place the gun, right in no one else got in that house tonight.

No one else got in that house, me. I mean, I don't, I can't overcome it and do it." Detectives also have another car to play. They claim the 911 call points directly to AJ's guilt. We still haven't knocked on the door.

"I'm gonna go for something like that." "Okay." "And I'm in my closet." "Your parents have both been shot and you're very calm on the phone. That's not normal."

"That's not a normal scenario." "But then you can ask the police that have been allowed." "I was crying, but my brother calmed me down." "I wasn't cold in that line coming out of the house. I understand it."

"I'm told when you called 911 this incident happened." "Someone down afterward, several minutes after your brother showed up." "To really know what happened."

“"I didn't know if they were actually dead."”

"I didn't know if I just didn't know what happened." Now, that 911 call is 16 minutes long. And there's something that AJ whispers about seven minutes in that would raise the eyebrows of any detective. Under his breath, AJ says, "It's all my fault."

"It's all my fault." "It's all my fault." "When we thought I could have done something." When we were listening to the 911 call, AJ makes what we think to be a Freudian slip.

That was an accidental confession. Two sides take this very differently. AJ's attorney's believed he was saying, "It's all my fault because I couldn't protect my parents." "Well, if you felt you could have done something, the first thing that comes to mind is say there's a mass man in the house

as soon as you call 911." "I and I understand this situation is not a good at all for me." "What it's not that it doesn't look, it doesn't make sense." "It doesn't make sense." "It doesn't make sense."

"It can't tell why I'm telling I didn't see it." "Get any one to do it and I didn't do it." "Maybe when my dad would stop me in." "Because I had nothing to do with me." But at the hospital, his dad is on life support

and ultimately Antonio never wakes up.

You know how you watch movies and you see those doctors that come in and they say to you, "To the family. I'm so sorry, but the person didn't make it." That is exactly how it happened. And it was...

It was hard. It was hard. My mom said let them go. He wouldn't want to be here. And when I told my brother I loved him.

Don't know to this day if he could hear me or not. But I didn't appreciate his life. After his interview, AJ is booked as a juvenile on charges of capital murder. "I thought someone lost their mind trying to charge my grandson

with killing his mom and dad." But then, with AJ sitting in juvenile detention, something happens that his defense team says could be related to the murders. A break-in at one of the Armstrong gyms.

"They throw a brick through the window, they come inside the gym and looks like they're looking for something." "Dad, night, it's just a blur."

“"So why do you think the police focused on yourself quickly?”

Your guess is as good as mine." And the idea is there were four people in the house. Two of them were severely shocked. And a house that's locked with the alarm on, so that only the occupants inside the house

could have conceivably committed this murder. "And there were no signs of forced injury." "If you sweet little girl can have done it, it has to be AJ." "I'm Kate Ober and I am AJ's girlfriend."

"That's my girl. We've been through everything together."

“"Not only her, but her family has been supportive of me this entire time."”

"You could ask for nicer." "He treated Kate with such respect." "You could just look at him and tell that he really cared about her." "I felt like she was safe with him." "That night, I was on the phone with him."

"And his parents were in the background." "They're all laughing and joking." "Just being goofy together." "After the phone call, we continued to text and talk." "Like normal."

"I wake up the next morning and I'm texting AJ." "And my text aren't sending."

“" Kate kept saying, AJ's not answering his phone."”

"We just happened to walk into the room and did it was on the TV." "You could see the police cars and this baby's hair." "You would see that it was him standing there." "At this point in time, it's an ongoing investigation. We're following up on some leads trying to narrow down some things to get her suspect."

"Who's really hard?" "He's morning losses, parents." "While being accused of murdering them." "I can't even begin to understand, like, pain came in through." "I was taken to the juvenile detention center downtown for me being in there on a capital murder charge."

"That's scary." "A 16-year-old boy is expected to be in Harris County juvenile court tomorrow charged with killing his parents." "What does he have in juvenile detention center?" "What was that like?"

"On be notes to me, I may have been the first person to told him that it's that past."

"And I can see just everything kind of drained out of him." "That's when everything like he, like it was real that they were gone." "And..." "This is not easy." "That all."

"This is not right." "And to be, your cues just makes everything so much worse." "And makes it so much harder for my family."

“"If you want to see how much Dawn and Antonio Senior were loved, you just had to go to the funeral."”

"It couldn't even be held at their home church. It had to be moved to a bigger facility." "And if you don't mind doing that, you can just touch somebody by you and tell them, "This is a son of right to the blood." "That was powerful." "To see all the lives that they touch, all the people that they knew." "Dawn and Antonio were still living." "They're just living in a heavenly place."

"Foulsams of people and I was among the crowd and I was touched by the ceremony." "Where do you allow to attend their funeral services?" "Yes." "That was a little blessing." "He was on the very front row and they had him handcuffed. And so he had a jacket over his arms."

"Just staring, just looking at two caskets with the people that I love more than anybody."

"And knowing that I'll never get to have a conversation with them, I'll never get to see him."

"After the funeral, AJ's taken back to juvenile detention, in this case, she would visit him twice a week." "And it was the most difficult thing was seeing him and having to leave him there." "There was some visits he cried to hold visit." "How often were you allowed outside?" "There was not side."

"You'd never saw the light of day." "We saw light throughout window, but there was no going outside fresh air." "There was none of that." "I knew what I was dealing with emotionally." "It was really hard on camera."

"It was." "No 12-year-olds should have to wake up and find out that both your parents are no longer here." "When I went back to school, I just kind of felt out of my body really." "They were talking about stuff and I couldn't tell you what was being said because my mind was just gone." "I would think my my parents, I would think about AJ."

"Did she ever ask you point like if you killed your parents?"

"Not a single doubt in my mind, he couldn't have."

“"The truth is this is an amazing kid who no way would hurt his parents."”

"Those tests investigators have been waiting for, start coming back, and the results are very surprising." "And investigators believe that the perpetrator had to have had intimate knowledge of the home to commit this crime." "But could there be someone else out there who knew the house just as well as AJ?" "Then the last minute discovery of evidence changes everything about this case." "My first reaction was you got to be kidding me."

AJ Armstrong, 908, killed his parents, had been planning on killing his parents for days. "The AJ prepares for the fight of his life." "The district attorney's office confirms it will try AJ for a third time."

"This is the latest twist in what seems to be a never ending case."

"There's also the question of why AJ who seems to be living a pretty difficult teenage life would want to murder his parents." "It's impossible, just totally impossible." "Everything has to be pushed to him." "You have to put the gun in his hand and they haven't done that."

“"Within minutes it used to police department decided he was the suspect in this case."”

"We decided we were bring the crime scene to the courtroom." "You got to be kidding me. How after seven years is this just now being discovered who's blood is this?" "Here we go again for a third time." "We've lost and Tonya went done."

"We're no closer to who murdered them."

"But here you are taking us back in court again." "Do you think it's possible to convince 12 jurors to quit?" "Please deny one one to leave medical police or fire." "I said two times that doesn't happen to me." "And your parents did you?"

"Yes." "And your name?" "And Tonya and Don Armstrong were gunned down at point blank range while they slept at their home." "Now they're 16-year-old son AJ who called 911 that night stands accused of the unthinkable." "Being the person who pulled a trigger."

"He was charged with capital murder and so after that he was transferred into custody and then he had to go through the juvenile proceedings." "The prosecutor had a meeting with the fellow members very early in this case and we knew about it." "And they said, "Look, the evidence is going to come back with a gunshot resume on his hands." "It's going to come back, it's going to be a DNA on him."

“"I do remember hearing the DNA tell us that if these results come back and they have no evidence, hey, I'll be free to drop the case."”

"Charges dismiss." "That didn't happen." "So you're 16?" "Yes, sir." "Are you a junior or anything?"

"Yes, I'm a junior junior." AJ gave his statement because he felt like I didn't have anything behind. "I've told you guys everything." "I mean, y'all, like all the tests you guys run." "No, I know."

"I will come back with nothing to do with me." "And that was odd to us because we had just laid out every piece of evidence we have against you and how it points to you."

"And that was the first thing you could say you weren't upset, you weren't mad, you weren't sad, you didn't cry, you just said."

"Yeah, what happens to you out against me?" "That's an innocent person saying, I didn't commit this crime and you're not going to find evidence of it in my house." So all those tests that police told AJ they were going to run come back. But they seemed to confirm what AJ had been telling those detectives all along. AJ didn't have gunshot residue on his hands.

Kira Armstrong's hands, which were also tested, came back clean. And detectives are surprised that there's no gunshot residue found anywhere on AJ. But there could be a simple explanation for that. It's common that the type of gun that was used, which was a 22, doesn't produce gunshot residue.

The gun at the scene was found on the kitchen counter next to a note. The note was on a piece of paper clearly torn out from a pad that was in the kitchen drawer. And when police test everything, there are no fingerprints of his on the gun. AJ's fingerprints are not on the note pad. They're not on the pen, they're not on the note that was left there.

His fingerprints are nowhere. And then there's the question of blood spatter. Rick Tutoto actually says, "If AJ shot his parents at point blank range, you'd expect there to be some blood on his clothing.

He was on the phone with 911 for 16 minutes, which is a really long time.

We don't know how long he waited from the time he pulled the trigger to the time he called 911. Everything that they had access to was tested. There was no water in the sink, no one used soap. They didn't find any gloves. There's absolutely nothing that links him to any physical evidence in his case.

Where on earth did he go?" In order to try someone for murdered, it put these charges to him and take away my nephew's life,

“then you have to put the gun in his hand and they haven't done that.”

Well they say at this point they are not sure of a motive in the shooting. And there's also a question of why AJ, who seems to be living a pretty typical teenage life, would want to murder his parents. As we kind of establish the relationships going on in the home, specifically with AJ and his parents,

the motive that starts to come out is just disgruntled teenager. He's a 16-year-old kid whose entire world is just imploded on him. Prosecutors have a few theories. AJ was really struggling at concade.

He was basically failing.

And that's not acceptable for Don and Antonio. What was going on? Why did you let your grades go south? I was 16-year-old kid. I had just got a car. So school kind of took a back seat. All I was worried about was football. I had a car.

So kind of the freedom got to me. Because you were struggling at school at concade after your sophomore year, your parents decided to pull you out. Yes, sir. Were you upset?

I wasn't upset because I knew that it was my fault. So I couldn't blame anyone. Then I was ready to take that next step in my life and go to Lamar. Lamar is a public school in Houston, but the much more competitive football program.

So authorities are wondering, maybe being pulled out of his fancy private school, where he's the star of the football team, could be a motive for murder. They are coming down on him constantly.

It starts with the grades and then it gets a little heavier.

“Why are you smoking pot? Why are you doing it in the house?”

It doesn't really match up to this wonderful relationship that he tells police about. It showed that he was an individual who had the capability of telling you one thing to your face and having a completely different plan behind your back.

I know my grandson, I know my family. We were close. It's impossible, just totally impossible. For AJ to have done something like that. But if authorities had begun to think

a picture of an out-of-control teenager, willing to murder his parents

was finally coming into focus,

something was about to happen that would raise questions about that theory. A few weeks after the murders, one of the gems that the arms shone was broken into, that was captured on surveillance video.

“At this point, AJ was in custody of juvenile.”

Two mass intruders busted through the windows, coming inside, going through looking for something specific. There was big screen TVs in there. There was a lot of other equipment and things

that they could have taken, but they left with just the computer. And the person who did that this defense attorney claiming could be a person of interest in the murders. It's suspicions. We have a double homicide,

where you're accusing a 16-year-old of doing this. That opened up a whole another can of worms. Immediately I thought thinking, "Why are they coming from my family?" One online predator unleashed hell on his targets.

An internet terrorist. For the young female gamers he's hunting, there's no getting away. It was unrelenting the cops need to figure out who he is and stop him before it's too late.

How is he doing all of this? From Sony Music Entertainment and novel, this is you are next, available now on the binge. Search for you are next wherever you get your podcasts to start listening today.

I'm Harvey Guillain and this is Killer Stories. Every Monday I'm cutting the lights and telling you a bedtime story. Except these stories are all real. We're talking brazenheist,

devastating cons, serial murders, and cases that defy tidy categories. So join me for new episodes of Killer Stories with Harvey Guillain, every Monday.

surveillance footage captured masked men breaking into one of their gyms. And remember,

“the night of the murders AJ said he saw a masked man in his house.”

So for the defense team, this was just too close to be a coincidence. They're very specifically looking for something. So we didn't know if the Armstrong was involved in something. We didn't know about it and it was revenge

or death or whatever, but it further led me to believe that AJ was not involved in what happened. The burglary at the Armstrong's gem occurs a few weeks after the murder. That is actually not unusual

because when you have a high publicity case and people know victims are now dead, it is not uncommon that that business may be verbalized because they know they're not operating in the same way.

Those perpetrators were never caught.

An AJ's defense team sees this as what they describe as investigators with tunnel vision, refusing to adequately pursue leads outside of the AJ. For us though, the gem was isolated incident

“and everything that we had showed us that we had the right person.”

It's April 2017 and AJ has been in juvenile jail for eight months and he spent Christmas there. It's basically his junior year of high school. It's definitely, it was tough. It's just not being wrong family.

It was just at this time, it was just, it was a lot to do with. But his case is now transferred to adult court which is good news for AJ in some ways because he now can bond out of jail. AJ talks to us about how you're feeling.

AJ enters a plea of not guilty. This is my ankle monitor. It was part of my bond condition because I was bonded out. They put place me on house arrest and it's just been one since then.

We visited AJ in 2019. And he told us what life on house arrest was like. And it's frustrating. I've looked down, it just reminds you of everything that I have to deal with in the case

and all of that stuff. He can go out into the backyard. He can go out into the street but he cannot go past like the mailbox and stuff like that. I'm missing out on so much and I'm seeing

on my friends going and do things their life. I'm just stuck here. I try to stray away from social media as much as possible. Just because it just shows me everything that everyone else is doing. It's hard.

Two years and nine months since the murder and here we are in court. The big question everyone has had is motive. On July 28th, the alarm was set in the home of Don and Antonio Armstrong.

The alarm never went off.

The killer didn't come from outside of the house. Within minutes, he used to police department. He sided. He was the suspect in this case. And then they shaped this case to fit.

They're okay. We don't have DNA. We don't have fingerprints. We don't have blood spatter. And so the real smoking gun for the prosecution shifts

to the alarm system. The alarm system was really big for us in this case. Because of the fact that once the records came back we were able to tell definitively that the alarm was set at the time of the crime.

The alarm records show that he obviously turns the alarm system off. He disarms it from a key fob. And he then opens the door to that police officers. And that is virtually the end of the story for them.

There's no ghost. There's no burglar. There's no nobody. There were two motion sensors in the house.

One was on the first floor and one was on the second floor.

And so we know that for somebody to come into the house and go to stairs the first four motion sensor would have tripped. Prosecutors say that at about 109 a.m. The motion detector on the second floor of the house where Don and Antonio's bedroom was goes off.

They say that's AJ coming down the stairs to kill his parents. What happened between 109 when the upstairs detectors went off? And 140 when the defendant said he heard shots.

That's a long time to be able to, I don't know, put a gun downstairs,

“change clothes, whatever you need to live.”

The defense has their own expert come and testify

This is the actual keypad that was used to arm the alarm system.

“And he says the alarm system is completely unreliable.”

You notice the door is slightly a jar. This is not stopped the system from being earned. The front door and the door from the garage were on the same loop. And if one of those was open, you could open the front door and the alarm would go off.

The front door could be open and closed without anything happening. The other piece of evidence for the prosecution that really stuck with me was the shot in the middle of AJ's bedroom floor. This defendant is up in his bedroom with the gun

and he fires it through the computer. The day of the murder, he takes the murder weapon and shoots it in his own bedroom as a test slider. AJ Armstrong, not only killed his parents, he had been planning on killing his parents for days.

How loud will it be?

We'll let wake my sister up.

Regarding the bull hole in the floor, he tells the police officers that he was showing his cousin how to shoot the weapon and they were just playing with it. Gotta remember, he's 16 years old. I'm glad this is an evidence.

“Next up for prosecutors, something they think will show”

what was really going on with AJ and the months and weeks before the murders. His text messages with his parents. We start in October 2015. Son, you can do this.

We believe in you. You gotta bring up your grades. You can do this. Then we get in a January. You're lying to us. February.

You're starting to lie to us. March, April, May. It gets more somber. Text messages. There is chastising and disappointment from the parents

and AJ deflecting his parents. Out of a gazillion pages of text messages, they picked and presented to a jury. Only the things that if you put it all together wouldn't make AJ look like a liar

or he had trouble with his parents. What was going on between AJ and his parents with typical teenage stuff? So if AJ Armstrong didn't kill his parents, who did?

The defense believes there is an alternate suspect. Someone has some severe mental health issues. Someone who has access to the house. Someone who knows where the gun is.

“I think everybody, including my job, just dropped.”

In Houston, Texas prosecutors have presented their case against AJ Armstrong. Now it's the defense's turn. And they waste no time telling jurors who they think really killed Dawn and Antonio.

You're gonna hear about one person to name his Josh. I think I know everything about this case. And when AJ's attorney says Josh Armstrong could be the real killer.

I think everybody, including my job, just dropped. Remember, Josh Armstrong, AJ's older brother, lived just around the block from the family home. Josh had access to that house just like AJ did.

In fact, Josh showed up at the scene when the night was happy. And we do know in interviews with the family that he was upset with his dad. He was upset with his mom.

And all the stuff was kind of simmering inside of him. I think we in Josh have found out that Antonio wasn't the bot. His biological club thinks change. I lived with Josh.

I was with him every day. I know 120% of my mind.

That Josh would have never done this.

But rather the prosecution, nor the defense, called Josh to testify. Prosecutors insist that he is not a viable suspect. We had corroborating evidence that he was outside of the home at the time of the crime. And we had no evidence to place him inside of the home.

Closing arguments begin today. In the AJ Armstrong murder trial. You want to know the answer? Here's the answer. The people in the house that took away his car

is money that restricted his freedom to go see his girlfriend. They were killed. He's not a perfect kid. Never said he was an angel.

But they're asking you to take that. And jump over to killing two people. Not just two people. It's parents. Ladies and gentlemen, you now have all the evidence before you.

After 19 hours and 10 minutes of deliberating, we watch the jurors come in. They look exhausted and beat up. The court finds it is improbable.

And accordingly, because that the court declares in this trial. Yeah, well, we disappointed. We didn't get in a quittle, absolutely.

“But the fact that he's getting to go home is huge.”

But that relief only lasts so long. Because prosecutors announce they will try AJ again. By the time that trial is set to begin in 2021, so much about AJ's life had changed. I've been on house arrest for today.

We've been making 1,603 days. The biggest change in my life has become becoming a dad. Yeah, they go. I love being a dad. Once you have a kid of your own,

you really do understand how much the child changes your life. And Kate, the girlfriend, who has stood by AJ side since the very beginning, is still with him. Hey, Jack. Come on. Come on. Come here.

We decided to do Hendrix Antonio. Take care of his doubts in going. I mean, obviously, I would love

“for Hendrix to have been able to meet my parents.”

But I know they're open heavy and they're happy for me. And it's just something I try not to think of too often. The six years after his parents were shot and killed in their home, AJ Armstrong is back on trial for their murder. For the second trial, the defense is the same.

But for the prosecution, the team is completely different. The first trial team really focused on motive. Why he did the killing? Which was a lot different than how John and I looked at the case.

And we decided that you may never know why he did it.

You're just going to know he did it. This case is a parents' worst nightmare. To come to the realization that the person you brought into this world would end your life. The alarm system is so important for prosecutors.

But they don't just rely on that now. They have software where they were able to extract more information from AJ's cell phone. We could determine whether he plugged his phone in or unplugged his phone. The defendant had unplugged his phone at 108. There's only one reason why you unplug your phone.

It's because you're on the move. One minute later, we know from the alarm records that the sensor on the second floor where his parent's bedroom is goes off. Then we know there's no other activity on that phone until AJ calls 911 at 140am. This time around the defense presents a case that goes all in on Josh Armstrong.

It's time for you to really get to know Josh Armstrong.

Josh's medical records were not allowed in the first trial in this time.

“The defendant says you have to allow these in.”

Here's why we believe that this proves why he could be the killer. They show Josh's pages of his medical records and AJ's attorney, Rick Tutoto, Lee's jurors direct quotes. Josh is extremely psychotic with command voices to hurt self and others. We're off to hospital by police with psychotic symptoms.

Patient experience watching the murder of both parents in 2016. The mountains of medical records started four months after the murder, and they leaned into the wealthy witness the murder then you must have committed the murder. He did witness his parents' murder. He was outside as his parents are taken out of the home.

One in ambulance and one to the ward. The prosecution argues his parents murders acted as a catalyst, bringing on the symptoms of schizophrenia. We knew very well Josh had nothing to do with it. And I suppose we could have called him to the sand.

But we didn't believe we needed to use him to convict his brother.

Prior to the second trial we reached out to Josh Armstrong,

but he declined multiple requests for an interview. Prior to happening today, we expect closing arguments in the murder, re-trial of AJ Armstrong. Before the prosecution rests, John Jordan goes back to those text messages between AJ and his parents.

He wants jurors to hear from one final voice, John Armstrong. But I saw him name my judge. She says,

Go warm, doesn't lie." You lied.

In Ryan and I obviously never met John,

“but through reading through the text messages,”

we feel like we got to know her. And admired her as a strong mother. All right, ladies and gentlemen, you now have all the evidence in this case. Please retire the jury.

All right, so what is your name? Thank you. Today, jurors were once again unable to decide whether AJ Armstrong is in fact guilty in the 2016 murders of his parents.

It's been probably a million dollars of expenses by the District Attorney's Office. It's time to let this young man go. We were shocked and in disbelief, and we wanted to try him again.

But prosecutors knew at a third trial

that would need something big. We went back to the drawing board. What they found shocked everyone. My first reaction was, "You got to be kidding me.

How is this just now being discovered?"

“Big developments in the AJ Armstrong case.”

The District Attorney's Office confirms it will try AJ for a third time. It's almost embarrassing. We weren't able to conduct him, and this was not going to happen again.

When I heard that they made the decision that they were going to try AJ for the third time, I thought it was complete (bleep) I feel like it was a political decision to try AJ, and I felt that they would continue trying to.

And it's why we felt that we had to get a knockout here the saga would not end. We were devastated. We couldn't believe it. We've lost, and Tonya went down.

We're no closer to who murdered them. But here you are, tip pulling us back in court again. We knew that AJ was going to either be found, innocent. I was going to be another Hungarian.

“And they wanted to move on with their lives.”

They had a beautiful wedding. They were happy. They were planning their future. AJ Armstrong is back in court on Monday when jury selection starts for yet another capital murder trial.

Knowing that we'd probably had one more shot at this, with trial three, knowing that we had to get him now or killer would go free, really motivated us to get the job done. And so we went back to the drawing board, and we'd be fools if we tried to try it the exact same way.

So we decided we would bring the crime scene to the court. Chelly Rossi is one of the leading bloodstained pattern in Alice experts in the country. Sergeant Rossi, she was brought in to assess the crime scene. Figure out how AJ would have shot and killed his parents for the state.

Although she's seen all of the physical evidence of photographs, Chelly Rossi wanted to take a look at the pillars, placed over Antonio, as well as Don's Head after the murders. So we arranged for her on the Friday before opening statements to view the pillows.

And so when I was looking at that inventory list,

the first thing that I came to was a shirt, a pair of pants,

and two sandals. And so I asked the detective if those were AJ's clothing that were collected the night of the offense, and he confirmed that they were. And so obviously now, given the opportunity,

I want to look at that. In 2016, months after the murder, they tested the clothes. And the lab had said there's no blood here at all. I laid out brown paper and laid out his shirt

to visually inspect it. On the night of the murders when AJ was brought into the police station for questioning, a visitor's badge was placed on his shirt. But until that day, in the evidence room,

no one had thought to remove it and look underneath. When I pulled back that sticker, I saw what looked like small reddish brown circular stains. When you have done this long enough, you don't get too excited because there are other things

that have similar appearance to blood stains. And so the first thing that I want to do is I want to presentively test them. And it had a chemical reaction and turned the swab a dark green color,

which is positive presumptive for blood. It was a whirlwind of a day. And we know that DNA testing is not something they can do overnight. And we also, I think, were concerned

about how it would look the Friday before trial. All of a sudden, this comes up now. The immediate thing we did is

to say this is what we have. I wasn't sure what to think. But I was concerned. I was angry. There's been no evidence of that.

Well, it was quite the shock.

“AJ Armstrong's third capital murder trial”

is now being delayed by another week. This is the latest twist in what seems to be a never ending case.

My first reaction, like I'm sure everyone else

in the process was, you got to be kidding me. How after seven years is this just now being discovered? It sounds very shocking. Any given day in America things get missed.

So not only, how was it just being found? Who's blood is this? The Houston-Friendsic Science Center they had results pretty quick and I was told that it had been identified

as a single source to Antonio Senior. We learned about the match. So it got really complicated because we had a jury waiting. We didn't want to lose that jury

after careful consultation with AJ with his family with lots of different lawyers. We're just going to let it in because it looks so desperate and it would add to our theory that there's no evidence.

The discovery of the blood we don't need it to conduct them. If you look at the evidence, his own words in the 911.

“His own words in the defendant's statement”

hours after the murder frankly, it is just overwhelming. Now armed with what prosecutors see as powerful new evidence trial three is about to get underway

and both sides are ready for a final showdown. Why is his father's blood on his clothes? Everything, everything points to him whether people want to believe it or not

all evidence points to him. This is a reckless prosecution. He's a dangerous prosecution. Will prosecutors succeed or will AJ Armstrong walk away

a free man? The best answers from across the globe are about to join me for the audition of a lifetime. ABC Monday.

Do they have what it takes to compete and be the next dancing with the stars pro? I'm here to win. Nothing is going to stop you.

Our star judges will decide. This is what hunger looks like. It was 100% around the chose. Robert Irwin hosts. The next era of ballroom

starts right here or dancing with the stars the next pro. Series from your Monday 8/7 central on ABC

next day on Hulu. Hello, Defina. July 9. Full of surprises this season. Project Runway is back.

Time starts napping. Robert's biggest season ever. Twenty-two designers are common hard.

“This has never happened in Project Runway history.”

Everyone is stressed. What was happening? I would wear that. It's fantastic. This is the type of thing

that you get from say hello. The world is watching. Project Runway July 9 on three farms stream on Hulu and Disney+. Well, here we go again.

For a third time, a jury in Harris County

heard opening statements in the Capitol murder trial for AJ Armstrong. As AJ Armstrong's third murder trial gets underway, all eyes are on the prosecutors. Waiting to hear about the new discovery

of that blood on AJ Shirt. We knew that there was no backspatter so how does the blood get on a shirt? Charlie Rossi, she educated us so there's something called expiration blood. And the state's blood expert also took the stand

to explain to jurors just how Antonio Seniors blood could have ended up on AJ Shirt after he was shot. It is my opinion that as dad is trying to breathe, his airways are filling up with blood,

that breath puts the spatters into flight. Those stains landed on AJ Shirt when he was placing the pillow. Over his dad's head and they stayed there

until this sticker was placed on there which preserved those stains.

People that handled AJ never saw any blood on him.

As you ever see blood on his hair on his hands on his shirt on his face, they're trained to look for that. And if we have a million specks of blood flying out of Antonio Seniors

mouth, it should be blood other than under that sticker on his shirt. The surface area of this batter is very, very small. The diameter of a mechanical pencil and so in flight they are drying

and so when they are deposited on the shirt they're not soaking into the shirt. Thankfully there is this founds camera in the property room when they discovered the blood on the back of the badge

and the video footage itself shows this was organic.

and everybody was there.

“Well the surveillance footage is one camera”

that's in the evidence room and it's sort of back off in one corner. So you can't really see what it is that they're doing but you could see that obviously they got a little flashlight from their phone out

and that's really all you can see. Any insinuation that the discovery of this blood evidence was anything planned or anything suspect by the prosecutors of myself

is ridiculous. Tomorrow closing arguments happen they are set for 930 in the morning. Why is his father's blood on his clothes when he affording to the defendant

he never went in and checked on them?

Miss Rossi, all of a sudden discovers blood under the name tab in seven years it's not been one person anyone who was within near him by him and set his blood.

So they have to figure out how to get those blood sticks on that sticker. It's very possible. Specs of blood

got under that sticker through the handling of the evidence. The defense they say this was cross-contamination. Having covered all three trials

“we saw a lot of the bloody pieces of evidence”

out in the courtroom and so it's the defense's perspective that lifting up those bloody pillows over and over moving them from box to box pieces of blood flaked off.

The history of the evidence does not. The defense spent so much time trying to combat the blood evidence and they had totally looked over. All the things we've been telling people

for years about this case as to why he was guilty. The crime scene alarm tells

people he did it. Everything, everything points to him whether people want to believe it or not.

All evidence points to him. This is a reckless prosecution. It's a dangerous prosecution over seven years they've refused to look at anything else.

Zero dead on this young man with 11 minutes. Only you can tell them enough is enough. It is the case

that has captivated Houstonians for years and it could right now be in its final moments.

The jury is deliberating at this point in the murder trial of AJ Armstrong. So a couple days of past and we're starting to hear

that there's a verdict. It's breaking news that we have been following for you all afternoon a verdict has been reached

“in the AJ Armstrong Capital murder trial.”

We've seen the last of the cover of this, there wasn't a verdict. How will we have a verdict? All eyes of the jury. Please, you see it.

[coughing] This is normal and I understand that the jury has been mistaken as a verdict. I'm sure he was scared to death

but he did his damn best to be positive for his family to be positive for his wife.

He's just an amazing kid.

Mr. Armstrong, can you say it? No. We, the jury, find the defendant and tell you

Armstrong Junior guilty of Capital murder as charged in the indictment. There's no reaction on AJ's face.

I'm looking at it. You know, I'm sitting behind him to the side. I'm looking at it. I'm like, did he hear that?

Because this is life in prison. There's an automatic sentence. He is not going home to his son and his wife.

He's going to prison. Our job is to do the right thing and it was an emotional experience that I don't think we could have prepared for and that verdict came down.

[coughing] Justice? No, Justice was served here. My grandson is convicted. They say he's guilty.

Antonio Armstrong Junior is not guilty. He is not guilty. We knew what we had done and how many hours and nights that we'd spent

without a family support and fighting for two people and fighting for truck justice. It was pretty overwhelming. Now a verdict has been reached.

Everybody is wondering, what happened inside that jury room we did have the privilege of talking to the jury afterwards

and they said something very powerful to us.

For seven years,

OK, man. Basin has been changed. And now a verdict. For some victorious and for others,

heartbreaking. That's the hardest thing

in my professional career, my far.

Because I'd lost somebody and it's not just a typical client. The media was a friend I respected him. When I lost him, it was devastating.

I have spoken for the jurors from this third trial.

“They told me it wasn't the blood evidence for us.”

It was AJ's own words. It was AJ's lies on his 911 call and lies on the interrogation tape. We did have the privilege of talking to the jury afterwards.

And Basin said we don't need to discuss Josh. It was just important for us to exonerate Josh as it was to convict AJ Armstrong. Some people believe Josh Armstrong

in some ways is the most tragic victim of this case. Because that very private life was put out there and his mental health

was put on blast for everyone to see. And then there's AJ's young family. I think the real victim is a son. I think that he's going to grow up

with out of father in his life. And that's a, you know, nothing that he did. AJ's ripped away from his own family.

So there's lost all across the board and now Hendrix isn't the shoes of AJ because Hendrix snow has lost his dad. And it's just, uh, it's a battle.

It's a battle. Well, I took, hey, I thought the best thing to do was to tell Hendrix that he was gone

“to work and he was going to be gone for a while.”

Since AJ has been transferred from Harris County, I went to see him and at that time, I'll be honest with you.

It was very difficult to go visit him in jail. It was really hard for me. And I, young man, was upbeat. He was positive.

He was happy. He was smiling. He actually made me feel better. Being a parent myself, he kind of wonder

how dawned on Antonio would feel. They probably forgave him the moment that he killed him. Right now,

Antonia and Don are not at peace about what's happening to their baby boy. Not at all. They love their children

“and they would do whatever they had to do”

to protect and help their children. We spoke with AJ's sister, Kira recently, and she told us she was devastated by the verdict

and continues to stand by her brother.

Even if we never find out

who really killed my parents, I was always remembered my mom being my best friend and my dad just being the strong world model

that he's always been. So I will always just keep that image in my head of them. A broken family. AJ Armstrong's attorneys

are in the process of appealing his guilty verdict. Because he was 16 at the time of the murders, he'll be eligible for parole

after serving 40 years in prison when he's 63 years old. Thanks for listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault. We hope you'll join us

Friday night at nine on ABC for all new broadcast episodes. See you then. Some stories never make national headlines,

but stories from small towns and coastal communities deserve recognition too. On Kylie Low, host of Dark Downies,

a true crime podcast that gives voice to victims through investigative journalism

and powerful storytelling.

Set in my home state of Maine and the Greater New England area it's my goal to dig through the archives to bring the stories of the people

at the heart of these cases to light. Listen to Dark Downies wherever you get your podcasts.