https://www.nny360.com/news/new-leads-surface-in-phillips-murder/article_129462bd-bed2-53ab-b550-39d06dfacc74.html. However, at 6:24pm, Nicks daughter texted her dad asking what was for dinner, despite having told the police Nick was home with her at the time of the murder and they had talked about dinner. "In [the Garrett Phillips] case, the head person is a chief of police who ran the investigation originally, is convinced that they got the right person, and is not going to want to devote a lot of time and resources of his personnel into something that hethinks is useless," Trainum said. A 'Justice for Garrett' sign is pictured in an undated photo. Genre: Documentary. "It's very frustrating," he told "20/20." "To date we do not know who murdered that 12 year-old boy," said WilliamBastuk, executive director of It Could Happen To You, a Rochester-based not-for-profit that fights to overturn wrongful convictions. Thats why Who Killed Garrett Phillips? devotes so much time to following Hillary himself. Dateline's been covering the case of Garrett Phillips for over a year. 24. MORE : Robbie Williams takes terrifying Halloween decorations to the next level with a giant witch statue, MORE : Rose McGowan pays homage to Mia Farrow on Halloween in Rosemarys Baby costume, Putin formally suspends last nuclear arms treaty left with the US, Today presenter forced to leave mid-show and rush home after falling ill, Boy, 15, shot dead by his older brother, Scott Mills misses romantic weekend after getting locked in electric car for five hours, How a group of LGBTQ+ MPs helped fight Hitler years before Britain did, Robbie Williams takes terrifying Halloween decorations to the next level with a giant witch statue, Rose McGowan pays homage to Mia Farrow on Halloween in Rosemarys Baby costume, Do not sell or share my personal information. On Tuesday, the eve of the verdict, Interim Potsdam Police Chief Mark Murray took ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas through the crime scene: a 3-bedroom apartment where Garrett lived and where he was found on the floor that fateful October day. It was almost Halloween, a rainy late Monday afternoon in Potsdam, NY, when a security camera high atop a high school recorded a video that still makes the hair on your neck stand-up. 23, with Part 2 following the next night on Jul. The coachs daughter Shanna-Kay Hillary testified for her father and said he was in their house at the time of Garretts murder. Director: Liz Garbus. said he had gone through the case files himself. premieres on HBO on Tuesday, July 23 at 8/7c. As le After being found not guilty of murder, former college soccer coach Nick Hillary opened up to ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas for his first post-verdict interview. As least, thats what many may hope after the new St. Lawrence County district attorney admitted a new tip earlier this spring. Tips come in. Garrett Phillips was a 12 year old boy who lived with his mom, Tandy and brother, Aaron, in Potsdam, New York. Garrett Phillips was a 12 year old boy who lived with his mom, Tandy and brother, Aaron, in Potsdam, New York. When the police arrived on the scene, Phillips was still breathing. Advocates for the wrongfully accused are trying to draw new attention to the murder of Garrett Phillips in Potsdam nine years ago. "Nothing in the living room area was out of place," Murray said. On the same courthouse steps in Canton where Hillary walked away a free man after being cleared in Garrett Phillips death almost four years ago, a couple dozen people held a press conference Friday afternoon. Advocates say raise it first, DEC says 2022 tied for the safest hunting season on record, Governor Kathy Hochul Releases New York State Budget, New York redistricting commission to hold final public hearings this week, New York unlikely to have a new chief judge until later this spring, Adirondack Council leader to step down later this year, Stefanik opens district office in Rensselaer County Government building, Budget watchdog says NY should plan for an upcoming "fiscal cliff", Community Advisory Board (NCPR Executive Council). That there'd been a rush to judgment. He said: Its important to note I think that the cops may have been somewhat intellectually challenged, but the district attorney that prosecuted this case has been a district attorney for three decades, thats thirty years in New York. ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Lauren Rosenthal (Investigative Reporter and Producer), A phone call from inside the investigation, Gumball machine serves up free poetry in the Adirondacks, Not in Old Forge's backyard? I probably will the rest of my life," Phillips said. Nick was interviewed for 9 hours that day. His killer is still out there. He entered the parking lot of the high school, heading towards his house. I did everything I could. When he entered, he found an adolescent boy, just around the corner, lying on his back in the master bedroom, with his head facing the door. Part 1 of Who Killed Garrett Phillips? Nick was finally released, but they kept his clothes and took the cigarette butts from his pocket and drain. Nick had to leave the station that day in a hazmat suit. Dismiss. When a new prosecutor took office, St. Lawrence County district attorney Gary Pasqua, he said the case remains open because no one was convicted. #AD - Use this link for a 7-day free trial - http://bit.ly/23sh00652In today's video I discuss the case of Garrett Phillips as well as the documentary 'Who k. On that rainy afternoon in October 2011, police responded to the scene at just after 5 p.m. after next-door neighbors heard concerning noises from Garrett's apartment and called 911. Though the crime happened almost five years ago, the whodunit of it all has consumed this quiet area. Nick Hillary is the ex-boyfriend of Tandy Cyrus. The Phillipps family was victims of prosecutorial misconduct, as well as Nick, says Garbus. Phillips was convinced police had the right suspect, but he felt it was time to move on and it became clear that law enforcement wanted to move on, too. Whatever has come to light or will come in the years ahead Phillips said hes tried to focus on the good. Photo: Brit Hanson, Groups call for independent probe of Garret Phillips murder, Groups call for independent probe of Garrett Phillips murder, David Sommerstein (News Director), cleared in Garrett Phillips death almost four years ago, local police and prosecutors declared the case closed, Nick Hillary's civil rights case, and how it links to a broader moment of reckoning, A phone call from inside the investigation, Gumball machine serves up free poetry in the Adirondacks, Not in Old Forge's backyard? First, why the actual eff was he allowed to be in the interrogation room with Tandy? He argues he was treated differently than another suspect in the case, a deputy sheriff named John Jones. A few other people who were interviewed in this episode also said they didnt see a limp and it could have been the recording and camera. ", "That day, I pulled the sign out of my yard. Police suspect the killer escaped through this window. Oral "Nick" Hillary still coaches soccer. Garbus says her team did analysis on that tape beyond what the police had done but no new developments came out of it. Director Jesse Quackenbush, a man from Albany, New York who graduated from the University of Houston Law School in 1987 and, that year, moved to Amarillo, made the documentary The Last Word which argues that Garrett was in fact innocent of the crime. His arms were at his side and his legs close together. On October 26, two days after the murder, Nick was brought into the station. Formal complaints were filed against him for violence and abuse. About his hitch in the U.S. Army. As Tandy would tell us, Nick was rigid -- a man with a plan for every day. Back in the hospital, Garrett Phillips was pronounced dead at 7:18pm. Nicks defense team said right away that the police had tunnel vision and said it was a race issue. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. But despite being a free man, it seems Hillary is still struggling to clear his name in his community. Whether Phillips mother agrees remains to be seen. The window is how it is believed that the killer escaped. They also heard someone saying no and crying out for help. If there's been an acquittal, Trainum said, thats all the more reason for investigators to take a step back and consider how the case unfolded. (Courtesy of HBO ), There was systemic racism and police tunnel vision but when both are linked it becomes really problematic, Garbus explained. He is also a Jamaican immigrant, who was living in a community that was 94 % white a fact crucial to understanding how the justice system failed Garrett, Brooklyn-based director Liz Garbus told the Daily News. Photo: Lauren Rosenthal. NY Man Speaks out After Not Guilty Verdict in Murder of Ex's Son: He was accused of strangling to death his e https://t.co/y1qpX8JO62, Around 5pm on the night of Monday, October 24, Sean Hall and his fiance, Marisa Vogel, heard a scream, a bang, and then moans, coming from the neighboring apartment. "But the day of the verdict, something just hit me. He had minutes left to live. Back at the apartment, the investigation was just beginning. The prosecutor would thunder that the camera had in fact recorded Nick out "hunting" for the boy just minutes before his death. Garrett had been strangled and suffocated. proceeds with the case. He loved sports, being with his friends and ripsticking (kind of like skateboarding, but your back leg always moves). I have so many questions about the ex-boyfriend, John Jones. There was word that several other boys were with Garrett when he died. Despite having only circumstantial evidence, the D.A. Garrett was found unconscious in his home and died that night due to injuries inflicted by a yet unknown perpetrator. Rain is no longer in office, and the new St. Lawrence County D.A., Gary Pasqua, was reluctant to discuss the tip in an interview with NCPR. Criminal justice experts say its not uncommon for an investigation this complicated to have leads that dont really go anywhere but that doesnt mean police should just forget about them. Cookie Notice The signs became iconic in Potsdam. Photo: Brit Hanson, Brian Phillips pushed hard to get a resolution to his nephew's case. He was the last person seen with him and he was know to be violent and committed a confirmed violent act. It doesnt say what his relationship was like. They were very much in his personal space as he was standing there naked with several cops around. But Murray said, "even if we had collected hairs and fibers [matching Hillary], he had been in the apartment -- he moved [Garrett's mother] Tandy in, he was in the apartment in the middle of the night on a number of occasions. I dont want to ever talk bad about the police, because some of them actually do their jobs the way they are supposed to, however this police department didnt. Nick was the head soccer coach at Clarkston University, and had played there himself. The accused was Nick Hillary, 37 years old at the time of the boy's death. His mothers ex-boyfriend, Nick Hillary, was found not guilty of the murder just over two years ago in a trial that captivated the region. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Back at the crime scene, the police realized there was no forced entry, but there was an open window, with the screen cut out. Garrett lived at the apartment at 100 Market St. with his mother, Tandy Cyrus, and younger brother, Aaron. After Hillary was cleared, Rain claimed the case was closed because she still believed he was guilty, which is crazy, according to Garbus. His backpack was taken off. 3. IE 11 is not supported. Before he spoke with NCPR, Trainum reviewed press clippings and media coverage to familiarize himself with the Garrett Phillips case. But their approaches to parenting seemed very different. Garrett and his family lived on the second floor, so the police determined that the killer would have had to jump on the landing and then down to the ground. Theyre calling for the state Attorney General to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the 12 year-old boys death. This case is currently still unsolved after a not guilty verdict. Today, Garrett's mother's ex-boyfriend, Nick Hillary, was found not guilty in the boy's murder. Gary Pasqua in his office near the St. Lawrence County courthouse. POTSDAM Nearly nine years after Garrett J. Phillips was strangled to death in his Potsdam home, the case remains open and no one has been convicted in connection to the 12-year-old's murder. Talking on Build, ahead of the series which dropped onto Sky Crime earlier this month, Hillary spoke about his life after the case. Phillips was the 12-year-old boy who was fatally attacked at his home in Potsdam in 2011. Easily explained." Bastuk admits theyre just familiarizing the AGs office with the details of the case. "There is obviously no resolution to Garrett Phillips murder," Pasqua said at the time. His brilliant field leadership at St. Lawrence, next door to Potsdam, had made him a college All-American. Garrett and Aaron's school schedules were on the fridge and family portraits were on the wall. Related stories:A phone call from inside the investigationSteve Downs, former chief attorney for New Yorks Commission on Judicial Conduct, said Friday that state rulings require avoiding those potential conflicts. Nick tried to leave for work, and the police blocked the door. The judge took it all in and after about a week of both sides summing up their arguments, he came back with a verdict. The mystery of what happened to Garrett Phillips continues. The first part of the documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? Yet, the suspect was indicted for a second time before he was found innocent by Judge Felix Catena, in 2016. The only real signs of struggle was his sweatshirt laying in the hallway and his physical body.". That's a remarkable jump from the window.". Mar 8, 2019. After about a year together, Tandy moved out with her sons. A security camera recorded Garrett skating home from an afternoon of basketball with his school pals just before 5 p.m. Years ago, Nick patronized a bar on Potsdam's main drag where the bartender was a single mother. Nick Hillary 20/20 Interview After Found Not Guilty of Murder. In 2015, Hillary had also alleged that he'd been harassed by Jones in 2010, which was reported by NNY 360. No one else has ever been named a suspect. 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