One Road, Countless Crimes

0:00 Speaker 1: The traffic stop that opened the door to horror. Most

0:03 Speaker 1: police officers expect traffic stops to be routine. A broken

0:07 Speaker 1: tail light, a speeding driver, an expired registration, a few questions,

0:13 Speaker 1: a warning or a ticket, and everyone goes home. But

0:16 Speaker 1: sometimes a simple stop turns into something far darker. Sometimes

0:20 Speaker 1: it reveals drug traffickers, missing children, violent predators, and even

0:25 Speaker 1: the dead. These are the traffic stops that officers never forgot.

0:30 Speaker 1: The first stop began on an ordinary afternoon in Springfield Township.

0:34 Speaker 1: Officer brand pulled behind a vehicle and activated his lights.

0:38 Speaker 1: The driver, a woman named Victoria, had a suspended license

0:43 Speaker 1: and an active warrant. It seemed like a straightforward arrest.

0:46 Speaker 1: As he approached the vehicle, Victoria appeared nervous. Turn the

0:50 Speaker 1: car off and place the keys on the dashboard, the

0:53 Speaker 1: officer instructed. Then something caught his eye. Movement not from Victoria,

0:59 Speaker 1: from the passenger seat, a raccoon. At first, the officer

1:03 Speaker 1: thought he was imagining things. Then he looked closer. The

1:07 Speaker 1: animal was holding a glass meth pipe. What they Victoria

1:11 Speaker 1: immediately reached toward the raccoon. The raccoon has her meth pipe,

1:16 Speaker 1: she shouted, Officer Brand could barely believe what he was seeing.

1:21 Speaker 1: The raccoon named Chewi was turning the pipe over in

1:24 Speaker 1: its paws as if it were a toy. Officers later

1:27 Speaker 1: discovered that chewe had spent so much time around Victoria

1:31 Speaker 1: that the animal had become familiar with her drug habits.

1:34 Speaker 1: Victoria was arrested on felony drug charges, while Chewey was

1:38 Speaker 1: safely removed and handed over to wildlife authorities. But bizarre

1:42 Speaker 1: as that stop was, it wasn't even close to the

1:45 Speaker 1: strangest thing officers would encounter. In Indiana, Trooper Buchanan was

1:50 Speaker 1: driving through Vincennes when he spotted something unusual rolling down

1:54 Speaker 1: the roadway. At first, he thought his eyes were playing

1:57 Speaker 1: tricks on him. Then he realized what he was looking at.

2:01 Speaker 1: A grown man was driving a children's power Wheels jeep.

2:05 Speaker 1: The tiny battery powered toy rattled along the road in

2:08 Speaker 1: complete darkness, no headlights, no reflectors, nothing. The driver was

2:14 Speaker 1: fifty one year old John McKee. After stopping him, Buchanan

2:18 Speaker 1: quickly noticed signs of impairment. John struggled through sobriety tests

2:23 Speaker 1: and admitted to using methamphetamine at the hospital. Toxicology results

2:27 Speaker 1: confirmed meth and marijuana in his system. The image of

2:31 Speaker 1: a middle aged man driving a toy jeep while high

2:34 Speaker 1: on drugs would become one of the most unforgettable traffic

2:36 Speaker 1: stops in the state's history. Elsewhere, an officer in Columbus, Ohio,

2:43 Speaker 1: thought he was checking on a tired driver. Instead, he

2:46 Speaker 1: found a man dying behind the wheel. Twenty three year

2:49 Speaker 1: old Brian had pulled his car to the side of

2:52 Speaker 1: the road. When officers approached, they found him barely conscious.

2:56 Speaker 1: His eyes drifted shut between sentences, His speech was slurred.

3:01 Speaker 1: He couldn't stay awake. The officer recognized the signs immediately.

3:05 Speaker 1: Overdose Narkan was deployed, then another dose, then another. For

3:11 Speaker 1: a terrifying moment, it appeared Brian might not survive. Finally,

3:16 Speaker 1: after multiple administrations of the life saving medication, his eyes opened.

3:21 Speaker 1: Officers discovered heroin and drug paraphernalia nearby. Brian was rushed

3:26 Speaker 1: to the hospital alive only because an officer happened to

3:30 Speaker 1: stop and investigate minutes later, and he likely would have

3:33 Speaker 1: died alone in his vehicle. But one of the largest

3:37 Speaker 1: discoveries came from a simple highway stop in Ohio. Sergeant

3:41 Speaker 1: Timothy Williamson noticed a white rental box truck driving dangerously

3:45 Speaker 1: through heavy rain. The driver, Andrea Rodriguez, claimed she was

3:50 Speaker 1: moving belongings from Arizona to Pennsylvania. Her story immediately sounded suspicious.

3:56 Speaker 1: The truck smelled strongly of chemical deodorizers, the timeline of

4:00 Speaker 1: her trip didn't make sense, and a heavy duty lock

4:03 Speaker 1: secured the cargo area. A drug sniffing K nine was

4:07 Speaker 1: brought in. Within moments. The dog alerted troopers opened the

4:11 Speaker 1: rear cargo door. Inside sat dozens of packages, one after another,

4:17 Speaker 1: fifty packages in total, more than one hundred ten pounds

4:21 Speaker 1: of cocaine, nearly two million dollars worth. Andrea eventually admitted

4:26 Speaker 1: she had been promised fifty thousand dollars to transport the

4:29 Speaker 1: shipment across the country. What began as a simple traffic

4:33 Speaker 1: violation had become one of the largest drug busts of

4:36 Speaker 1: the year. Another traffic stop would uncover something even more disturbing.

4:41 Speaker 1: A deputy in Arizona stopped a vehicle because objects hanging

4:45 Speaker 1: from the mirror obstructed the driver's view. Inside the vehicle

4:48 Speaker 1: sat a man named Raoul Romero beside him, hidden beneath

4:52 Speaker 1: a blanket was a young girl. Raoul claimed she was

4:56 Speaker 1: his girlfriend. He said she was nineteen years old. The

5:00 Speaker 1: deputy wasn't convinced. The girl looked much younger. When questioned separately,

5:05 Speaker 1: her story didn't match Raoul's. Then came the truth. She

5:09 Speaker 1: wasn't nineteen, she wasn't even seventeen. She was a missing

5:14 Speaker 1: thirteen year old girl from Alabama. Investigators discovered Raoul had

5:18 Speaker 1: been communicating with her online before traveling across multiple states

5:22 Speaker 1: to pick her up. The stop immediately transformed into a

5:26 Speaker 1: missing child recovery operation. A girl who had disappeared hundreds

5:30 Speaker 1: of miles away was finally found because one deputy noticed

5:34 Speaker 1: something wasn't right. Meanwhile, in Florida, Sergeant Ryan Owens pulled

5:39 Speaker 1: over a pickup truck displaying a license plate that didn't

5:42 Speaker 1: belong to the vehicle. The driver, Charles Lagallt, seemed cooperative.

5:46 Speaker 1: At first. He admitted to having marijuana. He denied possessing

5:50 Speaker 1: anything else, but during the search, deputies found methamphetamine, paraphernalia,

5:56 Speaker 1: and suspicious containers. Then everything changed. Owens picked up a

6:00 Speaker 1: strange PVC device. A second later, an explosion ripped through

6:05 Speaker 1: the truck. The deputy staggered backward. A cloud of toxic

6:09 Speaker 1: gas filled the air. The device was later determined to

6:13 Speaker 1: be a homemade chemical pipe bomb. Despite struggling to breathe,

6:17 Speaker 1: Owens managed to handcuff Charles and call for emergency assistance.

6:21 Speaker 1: The investigation uncovered methamphetamine, firearms, ammunition, and an illegal suppressor.

6:28 Speaker 1: The deputy survived, but the incident served as a chilling

6:32 Speaker 1: reminder of how quickly a routine search can turn deadly.

6:35 Speaker 1: Then came one of the most horrifying cases. A New

6:39 Speaker 1: Mexico State Police sergeant stopped a pickup truck after observing

6:43 Speaker 1: reckless driving. Inside were six children and one adult man.

6:47 Speaker 1: The driver identified himself as Jeremy Guthrie. He claimed one

6:52 Speaker 1: of the girls was eighteen years old. The officer immediately

6:55 Speaker 1: knew that wasn't true. The teenager appeared far younger. One

7:00 Speaker 1: by one, the children revealed their ages thirteen thirteen thirteen.

7:05 Speaker 1: The officer's concern grew. Then investigators uncovered the truth the

7:10 Speaker 1: children had been placed in serious danger. Among them was

7:14 Speaker 1: a young girl who had allegedly been victimized by Guthrie

7:17 Speaker 1: for more than a year. Evidence later uncovered messages, communications,

7:22 Speaker 1: and disturbing details that revealed a pattern of abuse. The

7:26 Speaker 1: traffic stop likely prevented further harm. Years later, Guthrie would

7:31 Speaker 1: receive a lengthy prison sentence. Yet, the darkest discovery of

7:36 Speaker 1: all was waiting inside the trunk of a speeding Camaro.

7:39 Speaker 1: Louisiana State troopers stopped eighteen year old Michael Mitchell for speeding. First,

7:44 Speaker 1: it seemed like an ordinary encounter. Then officers noticed bullet

7:48 Speaker 1: holes riddling the vehicle. Questions followed. The story didn't add up.

7:54 Speaker 1: The registered owner was missing. Michael couldn't explain where he lived.

7:58 Speaker 1: He seemed increasingly nervous. Troopers decided to investigate further. When

8:04 Speaker 1: they opened the trunk, they found the unimaginable, a decomposing

8:08 Speaker 1: body twenty three year old Michael Robinson Junior, the missing

8:12 Speaker 1: man hidden inside his own vehicle. The roadside traffic stop

8:17 Speaker 1: instantly became a homicide investigation. Mitchell was arrested on the spot.

8:22 Speaker 1: Over time, his story changed repeatedly. Investigators eventually pieced together

8:27 Speaker 1: what happened, leading to a conviction and a lengthy prison sentence.

8:32 Speaker 1: For most officers, a traffic stop lasts only a few minutes.

8:37 Speaker 1: A warning, a citation, a quick conversation. But sometimes a

8:41 Speaker 1: routine stop exposes a hidden world of crime. A raccoon

8:45 Speaker 1: holding a meth pipe, a toy jeep driver high on drugs,

8:49 Speaker 1: a man saved from an overdose, millions of dollars in cocaine,

8:54 Speaker 1: a missing child, a homemade bomb, a dangerous predator, and

8:58 Speaker 1: a body hidden in a trunk, all discovered because an

9:02 Speaker 1: officer decided to pull someone over. And on those days,

9:06 Speaker 1: a simple traffic stop became something nobody would ever forget.