"The Garrett Phillips case is just full of the appearance of impropriety.". By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Here was the thing about the investigation though: crime scene techs could come up with no forensic clues -- no fingerprints, no DNA, no tissue and no hair linking Nick to what was theorized to be a violent hands-on struggle in a small space. Whatever has come to light or will come in the years ahead Phillips said hes tried to focus on the good. Police have estimated that Garretts murder took place around 5pm neighbors called the police to complain of hearing strange noises coming from his apartment at 5:07pm. And that's an important part of the lawsuit Hillary has since filed against many individuals involved in his case. 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. On May 14, 2014, Nick was arrested and charged with second degree murder. Apparently, the town of Potsdam is split about if Nick is guilty or innocent. The two-part HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? doesnt solve the mystery but looks at the case through a critical lens. Bastuk said local law enforcement is too compromised and an independent prosecutor needs to take over. "Oral Hillary will face that for the rest of his life unless the true perpetrator is found and held accountable," Bastuk said. IE 11 is not supported. But he backed off after the main suspect was acquitted. Around 5:16pm, the police arrived. 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? And the focus right now is to start puttin this in the rearview mirror.. "It still is. Part 2 premieres on HBO on . If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page - we'd love to hear from you. Years passed with no arrest, and now Nick Hillary, a former college soccer coach and an ex-boyfriend of Phillips's mother, awaits trial on a murder charge. He entered the parking lot of the high school, heading towards his house. It was two days after 12 year-old Garrett Phillips was found strangled to death in his home in Potsdam. HE HAD A KEY!!! I have so many questions about the ex-boyfriend, John Jones. Whether Phillips mother agrees remains to be seen. Jennifer Baxtron, organizer of many demonstrations in Potsdam and across St. Lawrence County, has collected 1,650 signatures on a petition calling for an independent investigation. Director Liz Garbus investigates the 2011 murder of a 12-year-old boy. When they didnt hear back, they called on state Attorney General Tish James to intervene. And they havent been in touch with Garrett Phillips family. "It's very frustrating," he told "20/20." The medical examiner also collected DNA from under Garretts nails. Since moving to New York, I've associated Kips Bay with decent curry and a cheap pint. The person who brutally murdered Garrett Phillips is still allowed to walk free. Knowing where John Jones is now shows how differently he was treated by police after Phillips' murder. Oral "Nick" Hillary and Tandy Cyrus are pictured in an undated photo. His admiring teammates in their undefeated season called him, "The General. He'd parlayed his experience into a job as the head coach of the men's soccer team at Clarkson. https://www.oxygen.com/martinis-murder/who-killed-garret-phillips-theories, https://heavy.com/news/2016/09/garrett-phillips-abc-news-2020-trial-potsdam-obituary-nick-hillary-websleuths/, https://philosophyofcrime.com/the-murder-of-garrett-phillips/, https://www.nny360.com/news/crime/garrett-phillips-revisited-recent-leads-in-murder-case-fall-flat/article_615185e3-73a4-511c-a287-43c85b845d14.html. This led to Hillarys arrest, which satisfied Brian Phillips, who still passionately professes his belief that Hillary is guilty in Garbus doc. 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). Yet somehow, within hours, police. "Thats not gonna change.". When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. In 2006, Hillary was acquitted of murder after a trial before a judge without a jury, The jury pool came from the same individuals who had elected the district attorney, Hillary, 45, told The News. Let me know what you think in the comments. After the schoolboys body was found suffocated and strangled, all fingers pointed to Nick as the murderer. And that was the tunnel vision., And that was on what Garbus wanted to shine a larger light with this project. Director Liz Garbus is pictured in an undated photo. She added Nick warned her, "If I didn't get Garrett under control or get him on a more strict schedule, then when he got older I wasn't gonna be able to control him. Nick was the head soccer coach at Clarkston University, and had played there himself. On the last day of his life, he went home after school and was home alone where he should have been safe, but apparently wasnt. Hillary was confused, especially because Jones was not in his deputy uniform and he wasn't sure if Jones was there in an official capacity or not. 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. Nick had to leave the station that day in a hazmat suit. Who Killed Garrett Phillips? Garbus film, which debuts on Tuesday, uses police footage and photos, video evidence and interviews to recount what went wrong in meticulous detail. And we talked of his passion: Soccer. "He was a kid he was a 12-year-old kid. The inside of the house where Garrett Phillips' body was found, is pictured on Sept. 27, 2016. Brian Phillips helped produce hundreds of yard signs that read "Justice for Garrett," with a picture of the boy, smiling. They immediately called an ambulance. ", 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Phillips also knows that the former DA, Mary Rain, had her law license suspended last summer. What 12-year-old kid just isnt right full of life? But where was the evidence to put before a jury? For years, one of the loudest voices demanding justice for Garrett Phillips belonged to his uncle. aired on HBO on Jul. Nick did say he was at the high school that day, watching a soccer game. It would take 18 more months for any more information about what happened to Garrett would come to light. You've got inclement weather, it's near dusk -- if not dark.". How are police handling new leads in the Garrett Phillips case? The police asked him why he turned the opposite way. "The head person, the most dominant person everybody is gonna follow their lead," said James Trainum, a nationally-recognized police consultant. Oral Nick Hillary exhales as he leaves the St. Lawrence County Courthouse in Canton Wednesday after being found not guilty of murdering Garrett Phillips. What makes this weirder is that Brandon and his dad both say they saw a white male with dirty blonde hair go in out of 100 Market Street around 3 - 330. The window is approximately 20 feet above the ground, Murray said. From Emmy (R) winner Liz Garbus comes this riveting documentary that examines the 2011 murder of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips and the subsequent trial of Clarkson University soccer coach Oral "Nick" Hillary. The lawn signs of a grinning 12-year-old boy demanding Justice for Garrett remain scattered around the town. Jones held Cyrus' hand and comforted her as she was interviewed by the police. One DA declined to pursue an indictment and was eventually voted out of office. Rain credited the "Justice for Garrett" movement Brian Phillips, Garrett's uncle, sold and distributed thousands of posters bearing the slogan and raised $40,000 for a reward fund . He was just all about control.". When he arrived back home to the second-floor apartment he shared with his mother and younger brother , someone would strangle and suffocate the life out of the boy. 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 killer is still out there. I was in complete shock, she told ABC News. True crime is popular because theres a healthy impulse to want these things to be solved, Garbus says. Garbus and her crew interviewed him many times, filmed him with his kids and in his home, and included footage of his 2016 trial. The lawsuit alleged that Hillary's civil rights had been violated during his trial. Garrett lived at the apartment at 100 Market St. with his mother, Tandy Cyrus, and younger brother, Aaron. Hammond, Norfolk teens jailed on charges of sex abuse, endangering the welfare of child . The last time Phillips was seen alive was on school surveillance footage, in which he's seen making his way home on a Riptide skateboard. Today, Garrett's mother's ex-boyfriend, Nick Hillary, was found not guilty in the boy's murder. Despite housing crisis, there's pushback against development, Rochester man dies in snowmobile crash on the Tug Hill, Hochul wants to tie the minimum wage to inflation. Her father said Ill be right back through the door, and when she got out of the shower 20 minutes later, her father was home. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. He was asked many questions about where he was the day of the murder. First, why the actual eff was he allowed to be in the interrogation room with Tandy? Hillary was considered a suspect because he was an ex-boyfriend of the boy's mother. 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. "The district attorneys office, the police, and the sheriffs department refuse to get to the bottom of things and basically have swept this investigation under the rug.". New York, 2011: Garrett Phillips, 12, is found strangled. 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? Lawyers for Nick Hillary react to acquittal in Garrett Phillips murder case, The defense team for Oral "Nick" Hillary reacted to the decision acquitting their client of second-degree murder in the murder case of 12-year-old Garrett Phillips. Movie Info. 2. Garrett Phillips was a 12 year old boy who lived with his mom, Tandy and brother, Aaron, in Potsdam, New York. Bastuk says now is the time to draw national attention to a murder case thats been unsolved for too long. Nick told the police that he was with his assistant coach, a man named Ian at the time of the murder. Hillary does not shy away from the scrutiny the film will bring, saying his ordeal will have had purpose if it saves others from similar mistreatment by law enforcement. They struck up an easy conversation that, in short order, became a live-in relationship with a blended family. Nick said he had nothing against the boy or his mother and that his alibi witnesses, his daughter and an assistant coach, would place him elsewhere at the time of the murder. After about a year together, Tandy moved out with her sons. A Brandon D. Murphy from nearby Norfolk was arrested in 2013 for sexual contact with a minor under 14. There were people outside changing a tire, but they only reported hearing the window screen being pushed out, Murray said. After first reading about the case in a New York Times article, Garbus recalls being struck by the thematic issues and concerns that, I think, are ones that spoke to larger systemic problems. Specifically what caught her attention was that the local polices focus was on one of Phillips mothers ex-boyfriends, a Jamaican American man who was well-known around town as a soccer coach, despite the fact that he had an alibi and that there had been rumblings of other possible suspects early on. Garrett didnt ever want to be alone with Nick, even though Nick said he never had any problems with Garrett. Being a father and having known this young man I would hope the objective is to pursue the killer and do the right thing by Garrett Phillips.". For five years my family and I have been livin underneath this cloud, said Nick. with hopes to shed more light on the devastating case. Garrett was described as always being a happy kid, who always had a smile on his face. 1.) But going forward, it looks like industry-shifting life sciences In one room, a screen in a window seemed warped, Murray said. His white mom names black ex-boyfriend Nick Hillary as most likely to kill Garret. Soon afterwards, a neighbor in Garretts apartment building heard strange noises and called 911. Garrett Phillips was twelve years old when he was murdered It doesn't appear that Jones's daily life has been drastically changed following the case: without negative reports, one can imagine that he still resides in Potsdam, New York. We did hear these rumors, and we wanted, as much as we could, to go out and explore them and accompany local journalists, Garbus says, but there really was so little [to go on]. Sky Crime launched the documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? Phillips was the 12-year-old boy who was fatally Mar 08, 2019 A St. Lawrence County prosecutor says there's a new tip in the Garrett Phillips murder case. In March 2019, North Country Public Radio reported that Hillary had filed a lawsuit against the New York State Police, St. Lawrence prosecutors, local police, St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary Rain, and Jones, who was a Sheriff's Deputy in St. Lawrence County. From the polices point of view, they thought they had the best suspect the most they could put together on someone, says Garbus. Garrett had been strangled and suffocated. Nick said he was at the high school to watch a soccer game, went home and talked with his daughter, and then went to his assistant coachs house. It's about the unsolved October 2011 murder of a 12-year-old boy, Garrett Phillips, who was strangled by an intruder while he was home alone in the Potsdam, N.Y., apartment he shared with his . 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