Transcript of Michael Thomas

Halloween. On the night Los Angeles celebrates its dark side, one man's revelry turns into a nightmare.

This person wearing this costume and this hooded robe coming out of the rose bushes. I mean, you would have thought it came out of a scary movie, but this was real life.

Did a passion for fringe interests lead to murder?

He got into alien cultures, ancient cultures, cultures, ancient civilizations.

And he had this business where he sold spirit animal furs to adults.

One of his favorite venues, it's a Gothic SNM Club.

Police eventually discover the truth is even more frightening than alien ancestors or SMM.

Halloween did provide a great setting for the shooter in this case to disguise his appearance.

All murders are bad. Some are more heinous than others, and this was about as bad as it gets.

You think you realized where the bottom of society is, and then you realize that whatever that bar was, was lower.

It's a mystery that proves on Halloween, some monsters are real.

I'm like Dr. Frankenstein. I'm sorry, but I am.

In Los Angeles, Halloween, it's crazy.

Most people are dressed in Halloween costumes.

People are all in masks.

West Hollywood is really the epicenter of partying on Halloween in Southern California. Hollywood has been a Halloween party night for decades.

It's a fun time, but it's also a scary time. You have your ghost, you have your goblins, you have your devils. No one's thinking that the ghost or goblin, the person dressed up in those costumes, would ever think to actually commit a crime until it happens.

November first, 2012. It's the morning after another wild Halloween in LA. For one Angelino, the party is coming to an end. All morning, she's been trying to reach her friend and coworker, 42-year-old Eric Polterack.

She had called him multiple times that morning, but he wasn't picking up.

Just after 11: 00 AM, his worried coworker decides to head to Eric's residence in the Fairfax district.

What happened there, ma'am? I just came to see my friend. I called into his driveway. I go to his door, ring the bell, and he's there laying on the floor in blood. If somebody killed him, he's cold and dead and covered in blood.

When officers rush to the scene, they confirm her fears.

The injury to Eric's head was very clearly a high-powered firearms. It was clear that where the injury was to the back of the head is not something that he could have survived.

The body is exhibiting that it's been dead for some time. It did not occur recently, probably 10 plus hours since he was assaulted.

This is a brutal crime, even for seasoned LA cops. But the fact that it seems to have taken place on Halloween is even more concerning.

Halloween could provide a great setting for the shooter in this case to disguise his appearance and to be able to get close to Eric's doorstep in Eric's home without much suspicion.

Everyone spoke very, very well of him and that he would really give them the shirt off his back. What happened? Who would go after Eric?

Eric Polterack was Born in Los Angeles in 1970, one of two sons raised by Henry and Delia Polterack.

I was the older brother. He was the younger brother, and they were just the two of us. Eric was Maybe a little bit of the darling of the family. After high school, he started doing a number of different jobs. He was an entrepreneur. He was doing some unique sales. He was selling costume, jewelry, and he was selling clothing and fashion stuff, high-end stuff. He was also doing some financial planning and insurance sales. He was very successful with that.

As Eric's business Dennis Ventures grew, so did his circle of friends and business partners.

We were best friends. He was such a good listener. He was very bright. He was very accomplished. He worked hard. He was very accepting of everybody. He took people as they are.

He led an alternate lifestyle in a certain way. I mean, yes, he had the jewelry business, but he was also the executive in a very popular fashion business as well called Roleplay Fashion.

Eric had this business where he sold spirit animal furs to adults.

In addition to outfitting the alternative community, he also catered to the crowd at clubs and EDM venues.

It was a laundry business where they were selling laundry, too. There was bras everywhere.

I was surprised to find out one of his favorite venues to sell at was an old bar up in Hollywood, a Gothic S&M Club. And he was a regular selling his wear, selling his jewelry, selling his lingerie stuff. That was fun for him because he was a people person.

As Eric entered his 30s, his business ventures were going strong, and he was ready to settle down.

Eric met a girl named Nikki through her mother. She introduced him to Nikki, her daughter, and eventually they got married.

In 2003, Eric and Nikki had a daughter together, and as she grew up, Eric was a dedicated parent.

Eric became a father, and he loved it. He doted over his daughter, and he was spending every minute he could with her.

He wanted to teach her about all the stuff he knew about history. He was excited to pass on his knowledge when she was ready.

The bond between Eric and his daughter was strong. But in In 2008, after six years of marriage, he realized he and his wife, Nikki, were on different paths.

Nikki got very involved with Scientology and was pushing Eric to also get involved with Scientology. Eric did not believe that, and that caused a big rift between them. And eventually, they ended up separating.

The divorce gave Eric a chance to start over. He moved into a nearby house he inherited from his grandmother and stayed involved as his daughter grew up.

They were amicable in the divorce as far as their daughter was concerned. They split custody. Eric had her very often, and they were always doing something together. They loved amusement parks. They loved Star Wars, they loved space, science, you name it.

When he wasn't spending time with his daughter, Eric threw himself into his work and his friendships.

Eric's house was always open. He was always having people over and coming and going. He was doing his business out of the house. He was selling his wearers and preparing and doing photo shoots and whatever.

Everybody always liked to hang out there. They just loved going over there.

But on November first, 2012, Eric's coworker has discovered him murdered on his doorstep. Officers check the surrounding area to make sure there are no other victims.

When the police looked inside Eric's house, they did not find anything to suggest any crime or anything happened inside the house.

After clearing scene, homicide detectives respond.

When we arrived, I met with the police officers that were at the scene who told us what they knew at that point. The victim was wearing a costume at the time, Halloween-type costume.

It was like a 1920s gangster thing.

So we didn't know if he had just got home from partying. We didn't know if it was a random act of violence.

He had a shotgun blast to the of the head, and he had a graze wound to his face. It was clear that there were two shots fired. To an experienced investigator, it would look as if it was fired at close range because there were other indicators like soot and stippling. There were no casings left behind. There were no items taken from his person. If it's not a robbery, then clearly the The only crime that was sought to be committed that day was to murder Eric. Why would they want to murder him in this way, at this location, on this date?

Everything happened really quickly. We were just trying to figure out what happened. He never hurt a soul. He was telling me to answer questions. I just wanted to know who did it, who would do such a thing.

Coming up, investigators discover this isn't the first time Eric's been attacked.

Yeah, I was just the victim of a break-in.

And they zero in on a real-life monster.

It was as if he feared nothing and nobody. From the cradle to the grave. Help.

The The morning after Halloween, 2012, Los Angeles detectives are piecing together what happened before 42-year-old Eric Polterack was gunned down in front of his home.

Responding to a crime scene like that, you're trying to think of any knowledge of the neighborhood that had a previous problem. Is there a crime problem going on there? Is there a gang problem? Is there a violent crime, assault problem in that area?

If the crime occurred the night before when the streets were filled with revelers, detectives hoped to find someone who witnessed the horror.

Eric did have a nice network of neighbors that he knew, but where he was positioned in the house, unless you came up to his door, you would not see him.

But some neighbors told them that they did hear something that could have been gunshots. But I mean, keep in mind, it's Halloween. This could have been anything. So no one thought enough to call police.

Investigators do spot an important detail.

There were surveillance cameras set up, and one was pointed directly in the area of where Eric Poltrack was shot and later located.

When we saw the cameras, we were hopeful that we were going to get footage of the actual crime. But you don't know if they're being recorded. If they're dummy cameras, you don't know what the value is going to be.

Something caused him enough fear to have him go then install cameras to different parts of the house.

As police continue their investigation, they learn they have a difficult notification to make to one of their own.

At the time, I was working for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a Deputy Sheriff. We were doing some training for the Homicide Bureau, and we did our training, we finished it up, we wrapped up, and my sergeant got a phone call, and he says, I have some bad news. Your brother was killed. Disbelief went through my mind because I hadn't put it together yet. I definitely disassociated a little bit and went into that unemotional cop mode where just get the facts, take a motion out of it, get the job done. I met with the LA Police Department detectives, and they started filling me in on the story, on what happened. They take me into the house and they show me the scene and the the patio, and then it starts to sink in because the house was very quiet in a weird way. And the house felt very empty. That's where it happened. That's where he was killed.

To find out if their had enemies, detectives talk to Eric's coworker and his brother.

We talked to the 911 collar. They called in what they had discovered, debrief them the best we could. She was very upset about her friend and business partner, but in control and able to really share the information that she had about what may have happened to him.

While some of Eric's entrepreneurial endeavors were a little unconventional, his personal beliefs were even more unique.

He was heavily interested in the exploration of humanity and the origins of humanity.

Eric was a devote of Zechariah Sitchin, an author who argued humans were descended from extraterrestrials.

Zechariah was his mentor and his teacher in a lot of these ancient cultures, ancient civilizations. Eric also became his webmaster and started managing his knowledge portfolio. Eric would travel to Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, study the Mayans, and those even more ancient cultures. He traveled to Egypt several times. I thought it was a little far-fetched, but when Eric would bring up different bits and pieces of evidence, he was very passionate about it and very emotional about it and very convincing. It was fun. I mean, it was fun debating the theories.

It was weird, but he was really into it. He was doing a lot of research with Professor Zaharia. They were learning about Sumerians. It made him happy.

A thorough investigation, like the one that happened here, would look at those things and then look at everything they can about Eric. But they looked at who the him was, and they investigated his background, and there was nothing there to suggest that he had any enemies.

But Barry tells investigators Eric did have enemies, just not from his businesses or his beliefs. Barry thinks the shooting is related to a scary experience Eric had the year before.

I knew that he had a home invasion, robbery, but he was very hush-hush about it.

In the fall of 2011, Eric was at his home, and he got a knock on his door, and there were two men outside, one African-American male and another white male. They said they had a document from court that they needed to serve Eric with.

So he said, The guy's got some papers to serve, whatever, and he let them in.

Once the two suspects entered Eric's apartment, the African-American suspect produced a firearms, pointed it at Eric, and told him, Where's all the money? Give us all the money. And when Eric said, There is no money, the African-American suspect hit Eric on the head with the firearms.

Eric was pistol-whipped, tied up, and then the house was ransacked and robbed.

The assailants fled with the computer, two phones, a camera, and $600 in cash.

Once Eric realized that the suspect had left, he was able to loosen himself from the electrical cord, and he was able to call 911.

911 emergency operator 416.

Yeah, I was just the victim of a break-in in my house, an assault on Do you know who this person is?

Have you ever met him before? There was two people.

No, I did not know who they are.

I would recognize them if I saw those.

Responding officers realized Eric's attackers left a crucial piece of evidence behind.

The police arrived. They confiscated the supposed court document, and they took that into evidence.

Our lab personnel were able to We get fingerprints from that paperwork. They were lifted by technicians from our LAPD lab. Those fingerprint cards were entered into the fingerprint database, and we got a hit.

Detectives investigating the Halloween murder of Eric Polterack learn about a previous home invasion and analyze the evidence to determine if it could be related to his murder a year later.

Two suspects in that case, one of them left fingerprints behind on some documents. The list came back to a Michael Thomas. He was a crook, the bad guy with a rap sheet.

Michael Thomas is familiar with the criminal justice system. He was on felony probation at the time that the home invasion robbery had occurred. He's had prior convictions. He's had cases of evading police. He's had drug possession convictions.

After his fingerprints matched those false documents, they showed Eric Polterach a lineup of men, and Eric was easily able to identify Michael Thomas.

And my understanding is that they had targeted him thinking that this jewelry, this costume jewelry, was real and that someone had targeted him from his online store.

But law enforcement was unable to identify this other suspect who did the home invasion.

Thomas was arrested and charged with robbery on August 30th, 2012, almost exactly one year after the home invasion. Eric agreed to testify in court.

I was 100% against him testifying. I said, This is a revolving door. Don't get involved. Forget it. He knows where he live. What are you doing?

He was very paranoid about being robbed again. On the Sunday before he died, Eric was talking to me about testifying in open court, and would the defendant know who was testifying against him, where he lived, and if he was entitled to witness protection and all of that.

The pre-trial hearing was scheduled to take place after Halloween on December second. But Eric was murdered before it could happen. Barry tells investigators the experience convinced his brother to up his home security.

He was also afraid that they would come back again and do another home invasion because now know what he's got.

That afternoon, investigators finally get access to the password-protected security system.

So when We found the hard drive for the security system and got into it. The footage we pulled up occurred just after about 2: 00 in the morning.

As investigators watch, a nightmarish scenario unfolds.

The video that police witnessed, I mean, you would have thought it came out of a scary movie, but this was real life.

I knew he was out in West Hollywood at the Halloween Carnival with a couple of his friends. They had come back to the house, said their goodbyes. So Eric had walked his girlfriends out to their car, got them safely into their car, said goodnight, and he was coming back into his house.

And once He gets to the front door, at that same time, the shooter comes up.

This person wearing this costume and this hooded robe coming out of the rose bushes, they fired twice. And you could see the blast, but you just couldn't see the impact. But what police could see was Eric feeling that impact and falling to the ground.

All murders are bad. Some are more heinous than others, and this was about as bad as it gets.

Knowing that Eric Polterack was supposed to be the key witness in this pre-trial hearing for Michael Thomas, police now have a suspect, right? Because that would have been the motive to get rid of him.

However, there are two major problems with the theory. For one, Michael Thomas does does not seem to fit the description of the very large man who killed Eric, and he's in no position to shoot anyone.

Michael Thomas was in custody at the time that the murder was committed, so he was not the shooter.

Even if Michael wasn't the shooter, his behavior proves that he is still dangerous, even behind bars.

When it came to Michael Thomas, it was as if he feared nothing and nobody. I mean, he would threaten police officers, and while he was in jail, he stabbed someone with a shame.

At the LA County Jail, inmates can use a payphone, and all of those phone calls are recorded. In this particular investigation, we worked with the Sheriff's Department to pull all phone calls related to Michael Thomas.

Detectives sift through hundreds of recorded calls and find one that's very suspicious.

You ready to put in for work? Yeah, what's up? Well, since I'm not out, then somebody is, somebody Jim has got to fight this case for me on the street. They got to make this obvious. This got to disappear.

They were communicating in code, trying to leave out keywords and phrases. The motive behind this crime could be to prevent a witness, the victim, in this case, Eric, from appearing in court and testifying against Michael Thomas.

The person doesn't come, then the person is not there, then it I was away. That's the only way I'm going to be clear.

Detectives use visitor logs to determine the man on the recording is Alan Williams, Michael's friend, and the man dating Michael's niece, Jessica. On another suspicious recording, five days before Eric's murder, Thomas seems to coach his girlfriend, Yvonne Keith, on what to say if police show up asking questions.

You have the right to remain silent. The right to remain silent? . From the cradle to the grave. Got it. That's under any and in all circumstances.

And on the morning after Halloween, there is a final call that is chillingly celebratory.

Hey, baby. What's going on? Everything good? Everything is wonderful. I love you. I love you, too. That's enough. That's enough. Okay? That's enough. Everything is great. Everything is great. Okay.

Coming up, a mastermind reveals the true source of his power.

But I always remember, first mother in the first ever. Recorded prison phone calls have given detectives reason to believe believe, inmate Michael Thomas orchestrated the Halloween murder of Eric Polterack from behind bars.

Those same calls also reveal an upcoming visit from his possible co-conspirators.

The three individuals that came to visit Michael Thomas were identified as Yvonne Keith, Jessica Thomas, and Alan Williams. Yvonne Keith was Michael Thomas's girlfriend. Jessica Thomas was Michael Thomas's niece that Michael Thomas let live with him. Alan Williams was the boyfriend of Jessica Thomas.

When they arrive, three days after the killing, police are listening in. From the image on Eric's security cameras, investigators know his killer was a giant of a man. And Thomas's first visitor fits the description. Alan Williams, a 300-pound man nicknamed The Beast.

They start talking, and the conversation begins like Michael Thomas asking him, You good? You all right? Yeah.

But I always remember first mother in the first ever. Throughout the conversation, they're both laughing. It was a very cold and callous response to what had occurred.

Michael's conversation with his niece, Jessica Thomas, is equally damning.

How you feel? Good. But you're up close and personal? Did he confirm it? Really? You did?

Michael Thomas adopted her as his daughter and would refer to her as such. He said, Well, now that this is done, we'll go to Vegas for your birthday.

Michael's final visitor is his girlfriend, Yvonne Keith.

I knew what I had in my head. Everybody that I have, so you all know what I'm doing with her. I know. You as well. Hey, I'm like, What are you doing with me? I'm like Dr. Frankenstein. I'm sorry, but I am. I'm like, Dr. Frankenstein. I'm not your Lord.

But detectives are just as interested in the moments where no one is talking.

As they're speaking, there are different pauses. You can hear silences throughout route.

And it's at that time that we suspect he was putting up written notes on the glass partition that could be read, and that way he didn't have to say them.

Very conscientious Sheriff's deputies monitored visitation. They saw where they ripped up and threw away some documents in the trash when his visitors left. The deputies recovered those documents.

One note written by Yvonne informed Michael that Eric's murder was on the news. Another is written by Michael Thomas himself.

If anyone asks you questions, say that you're not talking without a lawyer and that you were on that day playing zombies, which is a video game, all night.

The day after their visit, investigators arrest all three of Michael's accomplices. A search of the home they shared with Michael reveals a visitor's pass dated two weeks before Halloween and a notebook containing the instructions Michael dictated over the phone.

It included writing related to Double Ot Buck, which is the size of the buck shot that was ultimately used to murder Eric Polterack.

It doesn't take long for police to get Thomas' henchmen to do the one thing he warned them not to do: talk.

Tactically, we interviewed Michael's niece, Jessica, first, always trying to interview the weakest link first to obtain the most information we can. She essentially broke and laid out all the circumstances of what occurred with Eric being killed. She laid out herself as being a look out while they were at the location. She had described that Alan was the person who shot Eric and killed him, and essentially spelled everything out to us of what happened to Eric. They mentioned the fact that Halloween is a busy night in Los Angeles on the West Side. They would fit in if they were wearing masks and disguises, and that was a perfect night to have a mask or a disguise.

She told police Then Michael had them case the house. She told them how they got the shotgun and how they threw it in the ocean after the crime.

Alan later confirms the story when he confides in a jailhouse in meant.

First, he told them that he was arrested because he had conducted a hit for the homie, Michael. Alan Williams went on to say that the shooting happened on Halloween, the general location of where the shooting was, the fact that they ditched the gun at the beach, and that the reason for the murder was because the witness, Eric Poltrack, was going to testify against Michael Thomas. After the arrest, Jessica and Yvonne Keith were put in a cell together, and that cell was recorded so they could capture their conversation. In that recording, you can hear Jessica repeatedly getting emotional.

I can't believe we did.

Really? I did cry so much, Jessica. I'm done crying. I'm done. No, I'm not asking for me. I'm for him. He didn't love him.

Listening to Thomas' conspirators, it's clear that Thomas had a hold over them.

I should have said, But we all are trying to please your uncle because we all love him. I don't want to see him in there for the rest of his life. And we got to talk. Like That's what gets me. I told this man, I feel like I didn't have a dad. I feel like you're my dad. He promised a balanced opinion, promised me a house, and I was just giving it real. I feel like she was manipulated into something that is not her character. I was thinking, My niece is not in jail for nothing serious because she's not capable of really doing too much.

From my perspective, Michael Thomas is an evil human being that took advantage of individuals that he knew he could manipulate.

Coming up, a chilling courtroom reenactment meant.

To this day, when I come to my door, I still think about it.

And Dr. Frankenstein is betrayed by one of his own creations.

She was a respectful person, and her uncle manipulated her.

Less than a week after Eric Polterack was killed at his Los Angeles home, Prosecutors charge Michael Thomas and three others for conspiring in a fiendish Halloween murder plot.

Eric's final moments were clearly moments of fear. To have it happen in front of his own house probably was, I'm sure, more terrifying because that's your safe place. And if you're not safe in your safe place, then where are you safe?

It takes nearly two years for the case to make it to court. The alleged gunman, Alan Williams, and Thomas's girlfriend, Yvonne Keith, bleed not guilty and are the first to stand trial in September 2015.

Alan Williams, in my eyes, would be the second most culpable person because he's a shooter. Right before you squeeze that trigger, you have to really think about what you're doing and if it's the right decision. You need to be determined to do it. And he was. Yvonne Keith is a very close third because none of this would not happen without her. She organized everything. She planned, she helped carry out exactly what Michael Thomas told her to do.

In October 2015, the jury finds them both guilty.

Yvonne Keith was convicted of murder, and that sent evidence gave Yvonne Keith life without the possibility of parole. The same was found true for Alan Williams.

Almost a year later, in August 2016, Michael Thomas's trial begins. As the alleged mastermind, he faces the death penalty.

My viewpoint is that Michael Thomas is the worst and the worst of the worst. You think you've realized where the bottom of society is, and then you see the Michael Thomas's of the world, and you realize that whatever that bar was was lower. He never showed any remorse.

The prosecution's star witness is the last of the conspirators, 24-year-old Jessica Thomas.

Jessica said that she wanted to help Michael because thought that doing that was the right thing. Jessica was offered a leniency agreement where she essentially pled to a second-degree murder. So that sentence gave Jessica life with the possibility of parole.

After her mother passed away, she moved to Los Angeles. It was pretty sad when she moved away because it was like that side of the family was almost gone. She was a respectful person, and her uncle manipulative related her to doing a crime. He was the one to put up such young people to such things.

To emphasize the terrifying nature of the crime, prosecutors show jurors' footage from Eric's security camera.

To this day, when I come to my door, I still think about it because he was trying to open in his door, and I think how frightened he must have been. It was like a bad nightmare.

The evidence showed that Michael Thomas was involved in every detail related to this murder, including when it was to happen, the type of costumes to buy, what type of firearms to use, what type of ammunition to use, what to say to the police after the murder was committed. Michael Thomas was the architect of every part of it.

On September eighth, 2016, the jury finds Thomas guilty.

Michael Thomas was found by a jury that his appropriate sentence was the death penalty.

While Eric's killers were brought to justice, his loved ones still struggled with the loss.

I think about all the time, and his daughter, and his ex-wife, and It's sad that he's missing his daughter growing up and going to high school and graduating and college and the whole thing.

I felt like something was stolen from me. I still do.

What was once a fun holiday, Halloween will never be the same for Eric's community.

Every Halloween, I look around and I see kids in costumes and parents and think, on this day, back in 2012, this happened to Eric Polterack. You I can't not remember it.

I don't really celebrate Halloween anymore, and I don't decorate my house. It's hard. Takes a lot of fun out of it.

Halloween is definitely a reminder of Eric and the fun times that he had with all of his friends, even up to the last night he was alive. He said goodbye, and that was it.

Susan is serving her sentence at the California Institution for Women.

In 2019, Susan was denied parole and will not be eligible for parole again until 2029. Abuse is never okay.

If you are someone you love, is in an abusive relationship, there is help available. Call the domestic violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE.