I was like really freaking out I was like what's going on what's going on everything just hit me it was like a load of bricks I couldn't believe that any of this stuff was happening an unbreakable Bond my little bro yeah brothers and best friends then In the Still of the Night I felt like a hand being placed on my mouth I started telling them please don't kill me please don't kill me ambushed tied up and beaten and their mother murdered look like two ghosts have just committed the ultimate crime
it's a harrowing heart pounding story two Intruders burst in and terrorize a family but the question for police is it true he's the only one who survived he's practically unharmed they Trea me like a suspect or a witness they are treating me like a suspect Inseparable brothers were they now suspects it scary I've never been in that situation now an undercover plan to solve the mystery you stepping out of the car right now an undercover sting right out of the movies I think we all stopped breath
ing for about 10 seconds who was the real Mastermind behind this murder I want it to be wrong I really want it to be wrong I'm Lester Holt and this is dline here's Josh [Music] M the American dream so many of us want it the loving family the honest job the home you can afford the idea that you can start over here and in this new country that better life will be yours this is a story about that dream about a family that worked for it won it and then what happened to them now emergency this wasn't
part of anyone's dream someone just rob their house they br they T me and my mom how could it happen in this safe gated community in this home they'd worked so hard to have is everybody okay I don't know they just beat me up I don't know where my mom is and who deserved it less than this woman [Music] my mom BR the heart to the family Ryan ggis was the baby of the family spoiled rotten by his mother ariette we couldn't function without my mom my mom was like the chef in the household counselor
the full service Mom oh yeah she did it all yeah she was really really nice sweet lady she was one of those mothers who showed her love through food her cakes were legendary making every birthday that much more special says her older son Richard she made this really good upside down pineapple cake it was phenomenal I always remember cake and ice cream at the birthdays growing up Richard was Inseparable from his mom was she like the other moms that your friends had no I think she was a bit more o
n the conservative side conservative because of where she came from ariet ggis was born in Egypt and then came to the US when she was 29 years old her family settled in Northern California ariet LED a comfortable All-American life but cultural ties are strong and in 1980 ariette was called back to Egypt to meet a nice young man named magdi when my mom went out there and ended up meeting them she like I mean she really liked them years later she would reminisce about how their romance blossomed i
n Egypt you really can't just go out like on dates and stuff so they went together to the movie theater and then when it got real dark my dad reached over and gave her like a kiss in the cheek which was a very big deal yeah for her it was yeah I think that almost sealed the deal it wasn't the American way of falling in love but ariette seemed happy she and Magie married just two weeks later in Egypt and moved together to California in 1981 Richard was born born 5 years later came Ryan Richard wa
s delighted to have a brother to play with and to watch over so you were his protector big brother yeah I always kind of keep an eye on him I love my brother with all my heart how did you and your brother get along like best friends um I always looked up to him their dad was the classic hardworking immigrant Magie earned his license to become a respirat story therapist then put in Endless hours to keep a roof over his family's head and clothes on their backs he came from really poor country so f
or him it was like to come here he was like working real hard to try to build things up and try to establish a life magdi emphasized education teaching both his sons math at an early age he strove and saved to help them all prosper and they felt he would do anything to keep his family safe he didn't want your family to get pushed around not at all not at all it took many years of hard work saving and investing but magd finally put together enough money to buy this home in a gated community in th
e city of Westminster a quiet town in Orange County California the gges family was well on its way to living out the dream Magie and ariette had worked so hard to build but then on September 29th 2004 All of It Came Crashing Down Ryan Gess then 17 was out with friends and stayed out later than he was supposed to when'd you get home like 1 to 1:30 uh that night I slid the back door open and I went upstairs his dad was not at home his brother at work his mom asleep I remember I was a fixing up my
iPod dock and I fell asleep to uh music that night next thing I know I hear a door open and first instinct was that maybe it was my brother his older brother Richard his best friend and protector coming home or so he thought but it wasn't Richard kind of look back and then that's when uh I felt like a hand uh being placed on my mouth and it was a hand with some type of cotton glove can you see who this is I noticed it was a black male that was heavy set I was yelling for my brother and my mom to
help me and I was really scared Ryan says he fought the Intruder I bit down on the hand and I rolled off the bed and then I popped up and I was shoved into like the wall and he's telling me like to like shut up and calm down the man put duct tape over Ryan's mouth and started taping his hands and feet together and right after that a second uh suspect comes inside and he starts uh making threats to me like don't get your mom's killed don't get your mom's killed don't get your mom killed that had
to be terrifying to hear yeah yeah I was really terrified what did you think was going on I didn't know what was going on I thought I thought maybe it was like a robbery or something a terrifying situation was about to get much worse through the hallway I saw my mom Ying uh take anything you want take anything you want and then after that I I just noticed that the guy was taking my mom away like towards her bedroom Ryan's attacker dragged him into the closet but then noticed the duct tape was s
lipping around Ryan's hands I heard him taking like some Sho string off of one of my shoes using the shoelace the man tied Ryan's hands behind his back through the closet door Ryan pleaded with his attacker I started telling him please don't kill me please don't kill me and I started praying and during that time he was like I know your circumstances I know what you're going through I'm not going to kill you I know your circumstances strange as those words sounded Ryan found them somehow comforti
ng and then after that like I I started feeling a little bit of a sense of relief but then Ryan heard a sound that would come to haunt him I heard um like a cutting up his sheets so I thought he was like cutting my sheets up I didn't know like what was going on and what was going on was worse than anything he could have imagined so who were these men and what did they want when we come back they're like don't make me have to kill you I will kill you a panic call to 911 and another to his brother
I was like really freaking out I was like what's going on what's going on what really happened inside that house oh my God oh my God when dat line [Music] continues Ryan ggis had just been through a terrifying ordeal two men breaking into his home in a gated community in the middle of the night both black guys and they're really huge to me and like their whole persona just was like gangsters and like thugs you'd never seen him before never ever they tied him up threw him in a closet but not bef
ore he saw one of the men drag his mother into her bedroom he says he thought he heard the men walk out thought he heard a car drive away but for a few more moments Ryan sat in that dark closet heart thumping afraid he says to come out it was now or never Ryan says he managed to untie himself and grabbed his cell phone I went down the hallway I looked to the right really quickly I noticed that the door was like in like a closed position to your mother's bedroom to my mother's bedroom why didn't
you check on her um I wanted to get out of the house as fast as possible and then come back with help you had to be thinking that's my mom in there I got to go see how she is the whole time I was like I need to get out of this house and come back with someone because I already got overpowered by myself he ran outside the house and called 911 what happened dropped my house and they just like don't make me to K don't make me have to kill you don't make me have to kill you I will kill you don't get
your mom kill Ryan called his dad Mai he was shocked and asked two things if Ryan was okay and where ariette was and Ryan didn't no Ryan also called his older brother Richard who was working the night shift at the Queen Mary Hotel what did Richard say when you called him he questioned if I was all right he questioned where's mom uh he also questioned who do you think it is someone you know Ryan why would Richard think that you might know the people who broke into the house well he felt like I I
was the one that got tied up and things like that and they came into my room so he just was like questioning like Ryan is something having to do with you like what what's going on do they have a personal Vendetta on you or anything as you'll see that's a question that would come up again after Ryan's call Richard left work and drove to the house but the police tape was already up and they wouldn't let him through I was like really freaking out I was like what's going on what's going on and you
know and I was asking him I was like where's my mom at where's my mom at police took Richard and Ryan to the station the boy were surprised to find themselves split up and sitting in separate interview rooms Ryan's hands were bagged to preserve any evidence but before detectives could ask too many questions Richard asked one of his own please before we go on please I I [Music] deserve so we have a murder investig oh no she's not no she's not I didn't hear that I didn't hear that Ryan says he did
n't know what was happening right then but he could tell it was bad oh my God oh my God I just hear like a scream and I'm like what just happened it sounds like Richard my brother and he is screaming to the top of his lungs no she's not she's not you can't see Richard you can just hear him I could just hear him in the room and he's going hysterical I never heard him scream like that in my whole life oh my God does my little brother know police soon told Ryan the same awful news that their mother
ariette had been murdered now the cops started asking questions and that wasn't all they did police took your fingerprints police took my fingerprints uh cotton swaps DNA you name it they they did it they treating you like a suspect or a witness they are treating me like a suspect at this point did you have a chance to check on your mom before you ran the house no I didn't want him like Chas after me I just ran out the stairs before your mom's room to pass by my mom's room you had to pass by yo
ur mom's room get downstairs just Richard was facing questions that were slightly different but just as skeptical what I ask is why would someone pick your house and break I don't know man I wish like who I don't know cops take your fingerprints yeah and your DNA yeah did you think to yourself they're looking at me as a suspect yeah it was scary I've never been in that situation with the police but the detective's focus seemed to linger on his brother Ryan this wouldn't be like directed against
him that you know I I don't know dude I don't know first reaction I had when he called me his I was like man is it one of your friends it's on to break in or something there was your first reaction my first reaction was that as police continued their questioning one question stood out above all why would these two thugs come into your house basically not hurt you and then really brutally kill your mother and leave behind a witness yeah this investigation was about to take a turn that no one expe
cted coming up looked like two ghosts have just walked in and committed the ultimate crime DNA and CSI what will the evidence reveal when dat line continues Ryan ggis was attacked in his own home and hours later given the worst news imaginable while he had managed to escape his mom ariette had not she was dead all of which begged a pressing question why would they kill her and leave me police and even his own brother were asking the same thing how many murders you get in Westminster not that man
y really Sonia Baye was a deputy da in Orange County California the ariet gurges case landed on her desk it's a nightmare it's the thing that most people would fear to be home in the sanctity of your home a sleep in your bed and have Intruders come in and do the unthinkable police found ariat's body near her bed she'd been stabbed multiple times that odd tearing sound Ryan said he heard investigators believed it was the sound of the knife ripping through the mattress as ariat's kill slit her thr
oat was that knife found at the scene it was not James Wilson was a patrol officer at the time of the murder Wilson says the details of the crime scene pointed to something other than a home invasion robbery in part because nothing appeared to have been stolen this was not a burglary in which she was sort of collateral damaged definitely not cash was in plain sight jewelry too even Ryan's iPod and new dock all all untouched the house wasn't even rummaged through as if they were looking for somet
hing what's more this was a gated community The Killers would have needed a gate code to get in it starts getting more interesting as to who could have done it crime scene investigators collected mounds of evidence and surprisingly with all that blood not a single trace of unknown DNA all the DNA results matched the people who lived in the house ariette Magie Richard and Ryan the witness who for some reason was Left Alive two guys come into the house beat up Ryan tie him up and then kill ariet i
n a brutal Hands-On way and leave no Trace that's what it looked like looked like two ghosts have just walked in and committed the ultimate crime it seemed improbable and it encouraged detectives to look Clos mostly at Ryan he claimed to be a victim but was he really police learned the friend he was with the night of the murder had offered Ryan a knife for protection just hours before Ryan's mother was brutally killed with a knife a knife that had not been found they also learned Ryan smoked mar
ijuana and not just at the occasional party he smoked every day and he wasn't just smoking some like selling Nars Mar police found small amounts of marijuana in Ryan's room along with a bong baggies and tin foil and there was more like the description Ryan had given detectives about the two suspects both male blacks um they were large he said that they acted like they were from a gang but that was something that we still didn't know 100% sure um if that was true or not claiming two black men com
mitted the murder seemed almost too convenient and more troubling if Ryan had been beaten by gang members much bigger than he was why didn't he look like it there's no question that if Ryan had been in a serious duking it out fight with a couple of guys that he would have ended up much more battered than he was if those guys wanted to hurt him work than they did definitely so yes and remember Ryan had told police that one suspect said I know your circumstances I'm not going to kill you was that
true and if so what did it mean and then there was the issue of Ryan claiming to have left the house before he so much as took a peak into his mother's bedroom that strike anybody's ey I think so as a detective you have to consider why somebody would do that soon detectives found out Ryan had more Dark Secrets than they realized coming up he's the only one who survived he's practically unharmed new questions for Ryan and a new clue had he received a warning before the attack popped up like bette
r watch your back I know where you live when dat line [Music] continues [Music] investigators looking into the Savage murder of ariet ggis naturally took a hard look at the only other person known to be in the house when she died her 17-year-old son Ryan he's the only one who survived he's practically unharmed he had he was selling the small amount of drugs we had to pursue that a couple more things police still had a lot of questions about Ryan's story but they hadn't yet found any evidence to
suggest he killed his mom for now at least they had to take him at his word until you can find a reason not to believe that person you kind of have to go with what they have to say unless they start lying to you and as far as you knew Ryan was not lying as far as I knew yes but the investigation was just starting and police could not discount another possibility that ariet was killed because of Ryan detectives learned that a year before the murder Ryan had confronted another kid at school who ha
dn't paid him for some weed later that kid's friends jumped Ryan doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would spark a homicide but I'm guessing you've seen homicides that were sparked by a lot less it is typical for uh especially Gang Related homicides to be something just as small as that remember Ryan described his asants as sounding like gang members and then there was this bombshell a message Ryan received on his AOL Instant Messenger just weeks before the murder about a week ago you said
he brought it to detectives attention during his interview thought like you better watch your back I know where you live like I've never even seen this person I really like pay attention to it you know what I mean Ryan told police he had chocked it up to a prank now it seemed like key evidence except Ryan had not saved the message no way to tell now who had sent it any idea who was WR no AOL able to help you with any of that no a frustrating dead end but by now police were looking at other possi
bilities they dug deeper into the American dream the gges family seen to be living and interviewed the man of the house Magie how did you feel about your wife deated we lived together for 24 years is uh she's the mother of my kids you really didn't have any vices he didn't spend any money on any hobbies of any sort so he was a guy who went to work and went home but their father wasn't just a hard worker said his Sons he was more like a workaholic I think my mom felt neglected he wasn't affection
ate towards her it was like all he would do was just work I played sports like all my life and he never ever came to watch any of sports that I played a lot of the childhood a lot of me growing up I can remember a lot about my mom but I don't remember a lot about my dad it's not cuz I don't want because he just wasn't there he would come go to sleep get up go back to work come go to sleep get up go to work that was because for Magie they said the American dream was all about the green he was wor
k work work money money Mone money exactly after a rare outing to the beach one day Ryan says he and his father dropped by McDonald's I asked him if I could borrow a dollar so I could grab a 99 cent burger and not only did he asked for that dollar bag he also asked for the tax money on it what kind of father asks his 13-year-old son to reimburse him for a $1 hamburger my father he was always trying to like hustle someone for for some type of money it didn't take prosecutor Sonia biest long to le
arn about mag's Obsession this is the United States everybody goes to work everybody tries to make money everybody tries to provide for themselves or their family he's different yes he's very different he's in a category of very few people who who have an unhealthy relationship with money it drives everything that they do we're not talking about penerus or Thrifty no we're talking about squeezing every dollar until it bleeds yes I mean to the point where you have a house paid off but you can't r
un the electricity for more than one room at a time even even though you have the money oh absolutely he has food that expires and he towards it it's about collecting money and never paying it out correct his sons describe Magie as not only obsessed with work and money but also a strict disciplinarian did you love him yeah I did love him were you scared of him yeah from when I was a kid yeah I felt like there was like a thin line and I didn't want to cross anything the brothers say they saw what
could happen when they crossed that line one night when Ryan was 14 and came home past curfew they say Magie simply lost it he threw me on the floor and he started kicking me and my brother had to uh pull him off of me your brother kind of shielded you a little bit didn't he he did he did sounds like you were closer to your brother than you were to your father very much so Ryan rebelled staying out late smoking weed Richard was more dutiful but he too felt his father's wrath a punch a kick you
kind of name it depending I would find that the sooner I would cry the sooner that it would stop it's a tough lesson to learn from your dad yeah he was a very harsh person which was made it more fortunate to have my mom in my life cuz she was like the complete opposite as tough as he was on his sons they say Magie was just as tough on his wife Ryan and Richard say they never saw their father hit their mother but they say they heard the yelling and they did see the bruises we never ever called 91
1 it was just like we had that sense of fear uh that we didn't want to we didn't want to cross the line you were more afraid of what your dad would do to you if you did call 911 than what might happen to your mom if you didn't yeah yeah I we we were scared of my dad yeah we were just we were like so petrified did you think your dad was capable of more than just hitting people I always felt like like you didn't want to mess with that guy at all like you didn't want to like push him to the other l
evel so the boys stayed quiet but a storm was brewing in the end ariette would give investigators their best lead coming up a transformation and a confrontation there's no going back and so the life you had before was never going to be the same when dat line continues [Music] as investigators worked the murder of ariet ggis they heard disturbing information from her sons most disturbing by far was what happened 7 months before the murder in February 2004 on the eve of Magny and ariat's 24th wedd
ing anniversary so she starts talking to Magie can we go out to dinner that's what starts this fight doesn't sound like it was a very long fight no he punches her in the face Richard remembers arriving home that evening and seeing his mom she looked very subdued um her face was swollen um her nose was still like bleeding so I went upstairs and I confronted my dad what was his response he told me to stay out of it but Richard in nursing school at the time worried his mom could have a concussion o
r worse he rushed her to the emergency room they had kept their family secret for so long but that was about to change the nurse asked her like what happened and your mom said my mom told her that you know he punched me in the face that started the whole Cascade police went to the GG's home and arrested Magie that was really scary that was scary not thrilling it was terrifying not not the moment you'd been waiting for no no no no no no there was no point of return somehow I knew immediately afte
r that that it was like There's No Going Back there's no going back and so the life you had before was never going to be the same a court issued a protective order and Magny moved out of the house he worked so hard for to an apartment comp complex he and his brother owned nearby after more than two decades of marriage it seemed Magny and ariette were headed for divorce it was a thought that seemed to terrify ariette I think she was scared and had a lot of cold feet about striking out on her own
in the world exactly ariette was totally dependent on magdi she'd never written a personal check didn't even know their mortgage was paid off she would Express to me like you know I wish all this would just not be here or I wish you know everything could go back to the way it was Magny too seemed frightened and perhaps chastened he was definitely trying to get back with my mother did it seem like your mom was wavering at all yeah there was a limbo period where my mom was uh considering taking th
em back Richard who had stepped up during his father's absence as the man of the house overheard a strange conversation between his parents he was like oh you know I love you had you ever heard your dad say I love you to your mom I can't really recall that until that conversation when he needed something from her yeah what did Magie need it turned out he was more worried about himself than anyone else a domestic violence conviction might cost him his respiratory therapist license which would cut
off his income and magy knew a divorce would force him to split his hard-earned money with ariette get us back to the wall yeah so magd came up with a plan a letter in which ariet would say she wasn't sure what happened that her injuries could have resulted from a fall magd and ariette weren't speaking at the time so magd convinced Richard the dutiful older son to transcribe the letter and persuade ariet to sign it thus getting her husband off the hook do you feel bad at all trying to get your
mom to change her story of something that you knew she was telling the truth about yeah back then I kind of felt like um like I was just trying to help and maybe the price of saving your family is convincing your mom to lie about something that you know is true he really just manipulated me he knew his mother had mixed feelings about the breakup of her marriage Richard told himself he was doing the right thing I was trying to support my mom at the same time I still felt that he was my dad so I f
elt really pulled ariette agreed to sign the letter Magny no doubt breathed a sigh of relief but then came his preliminary hearing in which ariette did something quite unexpected she took the witness stand and she told the truth she felt that enough was enough so she went and she really laid everything out not just about the night magdi gave her a black eye and bloodied her nose but about abuse ariette described as stretching over two decades did your dad feel betrayed my dad was like I can't I
can't believe what she said up there ariet gurgis had finally stood up for herself it might have been the manifestation of her own American Dream ariette hired a divorce attorney and began planning a new life I really felt like my mom was like empowered she just wanted to be happy you know that she felt like there was happiness like coming instead the next month she was murdered and to investigators who heard ariat's story it now seemed obvious her husband Magie was the Prime Suspect everything
pointed at Magie except for the fact that phone records Pro that Magie was at his own apartment when Ryan called him that night and according to the only witness two black men committed the murder and there was still the question of why that witness Ryan was left alive and just a few days after his mother was killed the rebellious son Ryan received another anonymous message on his computer how did you like your gift LOL LOL how did you like your gift yeah coming up an aha moment for police a new
look at that old interrogation of Ryan you say you bit this guy yeah he have the pick off the love to put on you could it lead to the break they'd need when dat line [Music] continues investigators were zeroing in on magd gurgis as the prime suspect in the murder of his wife ariette the two had been going through a domestic violence case and were divorcing you know he's an obvious suspect but that doesn't mean he did it no matter how noxious he may have been during the marriage maybe he's not t
he guy that you're looking before sure you have to explore every possibility especially after the CLE C's son Ryan received a taunting message on his computer days after the murder how did you like your gift LOL LOL it didn't make any sense to me police looked into it but just as with the threat Ryan received weeks before the murder they weren't able to track down the sender of those messages in hindsight you wish some more work had been done on that yes older brother Richard also came under scr
utiny Richard had sort of stuck up for maybe even covered for his father during the domestic violence investigation did you guys think he might be doing that again um initially they believed it was a possibility yes soon after the murder the brothers left Westminster and moved to Northern California and they did so without telling magdi as police continued to dig Richard and Ryan say they worried whoever killed their mom was still at large and knew Ryan was a witness to the crime I have Recollec
tions uh I have nightmares I also give uh chills I don't like to be at home by myself I have trouble sleeping I mean the list goes on Ryan and Richard say they had a growing suspicion their father was responsible for their mother's murder they said they were too scared to confront him but in the months that followed the investigation seemed to stall seems like you had a lot of leads that kind of hadn't gone anywhere we had a lot of paths that we went down yes remember there was no physical evide
nce linking magdi to the murder Ryan said it was two black men who'd broken into the house and killed his mom police had never found those men or any Trace they ever existed and those threat ing messages to Ryan still no idea who sent them either was there a point where you thought maybe this one be solve it's hard to think that way when you desperately want to solve it uh but yes and so the years rolled by Richard became a critical care nurse Ryan the self- admitted Stoner says he stopped smoki
ng he was working toward a bachelor's degree in business and had started his own events and entertainment company magdi would have been proud of his boys if he knew how far they'd come but Richard and Ryan said they never once got a call from him in All Those Years and they made no effort to contact him the brothers did call the Westminster police department again and again urging detectives to investigate their father and each time they heard the same response you know we're still looking into
it but we don't have any news leads there's nothing depressing it was they made endless calls enlisting family and friends to write America's Most Wanted and they raised a $55,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects all of it led to nothing how many other cases you do in those years a lot of murders but something about this one stuck with you absolutely was there something about ariad that made you not want want to quit you don't ever want to quit on any case but I think
that the fact that she came so close to being an independent woman to standing up for herself to being the kind of mother that she wanted to be to those boys and she did everything right and she died on her watch it was terrible feeling terrible feeling it was 2010 nearly 6 years after after the murder when Richard made another of his many phone calls to the Westminster PD this time it was James Wilson who answered he'd been a patrol officer at the time of the murder but in the intervening year
s it worked his way up to detective I really didn't have very good answers for him what what's going on with my mom's case what are you guys doing on my mom's case and I know there's nothing really going on in his mom's case so I just started looking into it out of guilt I think an obligation really you know this is one of the reasons that you become a police officer to help people like that and as detective Wilson poured through the mountain of evidence on the case he came across that interview
detectives had with Ryan right after the murder reading through the transcripts he saw a key detail that no one had noticed you say you bit this guy yeah on the hand was it on the hand or through a glove or I think it was through a glove but he had to take off the glove to put on tell Ryan was telling detectives the Intruder took his gloves off before handling the duct tape and also the shoelace used to tie him up you don't have to be detective to think well maybe that might have some DNA on it
detective Wilson checked to see if the shoelace had ever been tested it had not so he sent it off to the county crime lab and sure enough one afternoon 8 years after aran's murder detective Wilson's phone rang Prim La did call me and told me that they got a hit and no one could have predicted the name police were given it had to be our suspect or at least one of our suspects and the name the crime lab gives you for the DNA hit is Anthony Bridget was that name in any of the Case Files no not som
eone who had been talked to at any stage in this investigation it wasn't even in our computer our in-house computers has ever being person that's been contacted by a police and yet the DNA proved Anthony Bridget was the attacker who had tied up Ryan detective Wilson entered Bridget's information into a computer so who is he he's a member of the trace 57 Crips the Crips one of the most notorious and violent gangs in the US and Mr Bridget street name little shotgun was by any standard a profession
al criminal coming up it had to be our suspect wasn't even in our computer a whole new suspect who was this guy did you know where he was I knew exactly where he was when dat line [Music] continues she'd been on the brink of a new life the night two mysterious Intruders burst into her home who had killed ariot ggis investigators said it seemed as if a ghost had committed the ultimate crime then disappeared in the dark but soon they'd have a plan in place to solve this case something bold daring
and straight out of Hollywood here again Josh manowitz it was 2012 8 years after the murder of ariot ggis when detective James Wilson got his first solid break home Invaders had had tied up ariat's son Ryan with a shoelace the detectives submitted that shoelace to a crime lab hoping for a Longshot DNA it and the results were in the DNA belonged to Anthony Bridget he had numerous violent conduct including um prior conviction for manslaughter so this was no novice long violent rapet absolutely Bri
dget also had a drug conviction and remember Ryan gerges admitted he sometimes dealt weed could Ryan and Anthony Bridget have known each other is that why Richard immediately wondered if Ryan was the target of the attack police considered that theory and dismissed it in fact for police Anthony Bridget and his gang affiliation confirmed Ryan story for one Bridget matched Ryan's account that the man who tied him up seemed like a game member like he was one of those came out of just likeed and two
Bridget's prior booking photos match the sketch Ryan had given police and so investigators developed a different theory about Bridget's involvement he had the resume that you would expect The Intruders who came to kill area to have the kind of guy you'd hire to commit murder that's that's right and they suspected the person who hired him was mie ggis but of course there was no proof of any of that I'm guessing uh one of the things you did pretty early on was subpoena mag's bank records oh yes lo
oking for that big chunk of money that he took out a few days before his wife was killed you could hope but but it wasn't there it wasn't there well maybe he's innocent maybe he's just careful careful perhaps but in what Universe would mag ggis and Anthony Bridget's paths cross one way to find out they could ask Anthony Bridget did you know where he was I knew exactly where he was he was in solidad state prison prosecutor biest and detective Wilson decided to pay him an unannounced visit and the
re you are in a little room room yes little table like this one between you and you say I want to talk to you and he's a little surprised right he's a little surprised yes but Anthony Bridget was hard to Rattle he's been involved in Gang Related homicides in the past um pretty experienced at uh the prison system so saying to him hey the guy that hired you Magi GG just just rolled over on you that's not going to work right this is not a virgin exactly but they did get something you said to him I
have your DNA a murder scene yes and he said where he said where not I haven't committed any murder did you ask him whether he knew Magi no we never got that far here's what Bridget didn't know the prosecutor and the detective didn't really care what he said they Target was magd ggis and all they wanted was to prove a connection between him and Anthony Bridget that's why before they left Orange County they'd set up a wire tap on mag's phone he was back living in the house where his wife was murd
ered he even had a new girlfriend and now investigators listened to see if Bridget would tip off Magie I was hoping that at least my visit would Inspire him in some way didn't happen no it didn't so game over you stepping out of the car right now no it was just starting coming up a return to the scene of the crime what's up man a dramatic confrontation at mag's house check it out man be lock locked up in the P right now who were these men and what did they want when dat line continues [Music] Ja
nuary 30th 2013 the home where ariet ggis had met her awful death was suddenly once again the scene of an unexpected confrontation two men showed up on Magie GG's lawn let me holl at you for a few ticks let me holl at you for second and it was all caught on camera check it out man my home be lock locked up in the pin right now police approach him about him killing your wife or you in this house interesting because prosecutor Sonia biest and detective James Wilson had just returned from visiting
cp's gang member Anthony Bridget in prison they suspected magdi had hired Bridget and another as yet Unknown man to kill ariette and now apparently here were a pair of gangsters on mag's property the more talkative of the two called himself D money and money is what he wanted from mag you know what I'm saying we don't care about what the thing is we want to get paid for it we not going to say you know what I mean good question and who better to answer it than demoney himself you're a born actor
believe I am he's not a gangster he's an officer from The Long Beach Police Department who was working undercover which is why we're concealing his identity you a little nervous going in not at all the role he played at mag's home that day was part of a war game Sonia and detective Wilson had set in motion even before they met Anthony Bridget tell me about the scheme you call it a scheme I call it a plan by any name it was an attempt to trap Magie the only way Anthony Bridget or somebody like hi
m commits a crime like this is some kind of gain Financial primarily so you develop that kind of individual and you come up with a way in which they were able to contact magdi and demand more money let me holl at you for a few tips in other words these two undercover officers posing his gang members would approach magdi and hit him up for some hush money since investigators knew that money was mag's particular Obsession they hoped they were about to strike a nerve but they had to be careful if t
he killers were working for magdi it wasn't clear if he knew them directly or hired them through a middleman so you couldn't have these guys claim that they were the actual guys in the house correct because possibly he knew them possibly he knew them so you have them pose as friends of the guy in the house yes and he's now in jail in prison which is we knew that was true because Anthony Bridget was in prison and so his friends are what trying to leverage that knowledge it is some extra money for
them correct operations like this are especially tricky there's usually only one shot to get it right if the phony gangsters threaten magdi The Sting wouldn't hold up in court and magdi could walk free and at the same time one thing had to be crystal clear you want to make sure that everybody knows that we're talking about the crime that occurred about his wife being murdered in that particular house that couldn't be left ambiguous a risky plan and no guarantees it would work true that a lot of
Das might not go for a operation like that yes Sonia wanted to win she wasn't scared to fail did you think you were going to fail I was very nerv nous to say the least it had taken 9 years to get to this moment a team of cops watched and videotaped as the Undercovers approached Magie are you stepping out of the car right now everyone was on edge except for the Man cast in the role of D money you had to be going over in your mind like you know if he says this if he does this I'm going to no thin
gs come out spontaneously really you have to be quick he say AI say B he say C I say d you have to have something up there and there nothing you can rehearse nothing you can write down either you can do it or you can't still there was cause for worry while these officers looked the part they had never done anything like this before were you worried at all about sort of their acting ability I was concerned too late now it was on coming up a surprise snapu his cell phone dials the number of underc
over and they told me he didn't answer the phone an undercover officer misses the call and that was just the beginning I think we all stopped breathing for about 10 seconds when dat line continues magd gurges didn't know it but he was the target of a sting operation he had just arrived home the undercover officers approached and the camera was rolling check it out man my homie locked locked up in the pin right now police approaching him about him killing your wife or you in his house you know wh
at I'm saying we don't care about but the thing is we want to get paid for it we not going to say you know what I mean what's his reaction when you make it clear that you know about his wife's murder he he appeared to be shocked you could tell it was was something he wasn't prepared for he never thought was going to happen we want five racks 5,000 you know what I'm saying we ain't going to say we a go to police we ain't going to say nothing else you understand what I'm saying all right give me a
call man take my number that's me call me tomorrow by 10:00 don't worry I'm I'm de money just give me a call tomorrow by 10:00 5,000 hit me up tomorrow almost as soon as it began it was over magdi left standing there with d money's phone number with instructions to call the next day and in terms of uh Oscar winning performances they uh they did a pretty good job I think so they did a great job now police waited and wondered what would magdi do if he doesn't call this all is for nothing it's a d
one deal case is over more than 8 years after the murder here was the make or break moment he was either going to ignore them he was going to contact them or he was going to call the police and say guess what I think the guys involved in my wife's murder just came to the house which is what an innocent person would have done yes but he didn't call the police he did not and he didn't ignore them very true the next day the surveillance team tracked Magie driving and just at that time his cell phon
e dials the number number of the undercover um and I'm notified immediately by the wire room and uh and they told me he didn't answer the phone the undercover officer missed mag's call so I had to call the undercover and I'm like the target of the investigation is trying to reach you he was in a bad area for reception so he had to move um and then uh it's like a nightmare so we were hoping he called back the undercover as usual was confident why were you so convinced he call back he called the f
irst time to me in this type of dude when you call the first time you know you're over with the nervousness and they're going to call back and Magie did call back the surveillance team caught him on camera this time from a place that doesn't get a lot of traffic in the 21st century we know he's at a pay fun that got really interesting for me right there sitting in the car and the cell phone went off we let it ring a few times and answered the phone you know this de money what's going on you came
by yesterday yeah I came by yesterday man yeah problem what's that problem is my boy locked down in the P like I told you yesterday we know what's going on you know my boy you know took care of little business you know so you know we just trying to get paid just to keep it hush you know what I mean one team told me hey I thought I paid you guys everything home run you know it's one of those feelings where you've known this all along and then you actually hear it from him and so I think it was o
verwhelming feeling of Confirmation and then just as quickly it all threatened to blow up in their faces listen carefully a m what who a mid middleman the undercover had no idea magdi had just asked a question that none of the investigators could answer when magy says tell me who the middleman is so I know I can trust you that was something the undercover officers I think weren't ready for no I think we all stopped breathing for about 10 seconds investigators had considered the possibility that
magdy might have hired The Killers through some third party and now this conversation seemed like confirmation that he had but who was it it seems to me that the middleman for this would have to be somebody that Mighty really trusted somebody he knew well he would have had to trust this person yes somebody who would stick up for him yes any thoughts on who that might be I do I do there was no way to tell the undercover that so D money just stated character I I I don't you know everybody know who
the middleman was the middleman was I ain't worried about that people talking people cuz I got the information that I got player I can go to police but I'm not I'm just I'm just I'm just trying to I'm just trying to get my money so I can go so the conversation about hush money continued Magie true to form haggled over the price 5,000 ain't that much you know it just goes to show the true character of this man I mean here's a guy who will negotiate with thugs 10 years later because he feels like
he already paid I mean it's just that's what I mean he's not in the normal range of Thrifty 1500 what's that 00 I have me police probably had enough to arrest Magie right then and there but they waited now you want to do the actual exchange of money got to get the money that meant a second meeting but would Magie even show up and if he did would he come with a plan of his own coming up nerve-wracking and nail biting one more hidden camera moment would you bring me a check when dat line continue
s magd gges had just been caught on tape apparently admitting to hiring thugs to kill his wife he seemed willing to pay even more to keep things quiet and made a date to do it on me 1500 what's that 1500 I have on me the next day officers secretly trailed magd leaving his home driving on the freeway and pulling into this Home Depot parking lot the meeting point chosen by magdi everybody's out of side except everybody's out of side plane closed unmarked vehicles and except us the two of us I'm no
police officer but this is starting to sound like fun uh definitely fun a rush it's I'll do it all over again prosecutor Sonia biest was nearby watching it all unfold tell me what that was like uh nerve-wracking it's um accelarating could you see m not at first but soon enough he came into view the Undercovers approached his car what's up what's going on what's happen did you bring me a check cash 15 so I took the envelope basically snatched it from him and counted the money right there and put
the envelope it was what $5 $100 b51 bills be you see us no more man all right everything good so this was not some sort of frightened little mouse who was doing what he was told by you guys this was a guy who was poised and kind of in control of the situation yeah I'm I'm going to get it done and this is going to be it and it'll be over but before it was the undercover dropped one more line to see if mag would [Music] bite he didn't take the bait he almost did mag probably thought he was home
free but as he drove away officers swarmed in you arrest him and you guys are all feeling like Wyatt herb we're feeling pretty good yes very good actually Ryan gurges of course had no idea any of this was happening he had moved back to Southern California and was completely unprepared for the call he received from detective Wilson you come to the station the cops bring you in and they say your father has been arrested and I couldn't be more happier I I really felt like my dreams and my PR prayer
s have been answered Richard once their dad's loyal and trusted Confidant was not as thrilled I was happy that the arrest was made but then on the other end of it I mean I was sad in a way too because even though I knew in my heart he had something to do with it it's still your dad it's still my dad and I always had some deeply wedged fantasy that maybe one day the cops would arrest some someone else completely and end up actually telling us like you know what your dad ended up not having anythi
ng to do with it you wanted to be wrong I wanted to be wrong on that I really wanted to be wrong have over there for me mag sure detective Wilson detective Wilson brought Magie to the station and sat him down in the interview room his tactic was an old one in small rooms like this play dumb and see where magdi took him basically what I need to know is what was going on in Long Beach there by the Home Depot Center look like there was a money transaction there or something but can you explain that
two days ago on on Wednesday around the 12th area I I was coming from Costco I find two guys approaching me and never saw them in my life they black guys this is the true but his account differed in key ways from what detective Wilson already had on tape I SP when they told me is your lady get killed in this house and you you have to pay us five grand otherwise we're going to hurt you and hurt your kids that's line number one there are no threats on the tape well how did you get to be with them
today yeah they throw telephone number on the lawn like on a piece of paper or small piece of paper he threw on line and the hit me up tomorrow line number two the tape clearly shows Magie taking the number then detective Wilson asked Magie the million dooll question why didn't you call us you had a phone number about my kids and myself are you scared of the police that wi I mean I don't know it's not as scar but the my wife problem is not solved yet and they consider the husband as a suspect t
hose tears had no effect on Wilson who now had Magie on tape paying hush money and we know you paid them okay yes Wilson B in I'm here to find out one thing what kind of person are you because because right now we don't know is Magny the type of guy that's a hard cold calculated murderer that paid someone to kill his wife what kind of person are you I'm just innocent person just simple person believe me okay magy pleaded for sympathy detective Wilson was not sympathetic I lost my wife but it's y
our fault you hired somebody I'm not hired anybody we recorded it oh they recorded their conversation with these guys I'm not lying I'm not lying tell what they talk like that no you guys are going graag me on stuff no no Magie had said the magic word lawyer he was done talking there would be no confession you didn't expect that he was going to admit it no the lies were good enough for me good enough to make the case but Wilson thought he'd try one more time to crack magdi This Time by making hi
m face his own son Ryan wasn't so sure at first I called my brother as I normally do as a younger one and I told him what do you think he was like do you feel like you want to talk to him I was like yeah I want some questions answer so he walked into that little room and saw his father for the first time in more than eight years what's wrong with you you forgot that you don't even look the same and Ryan had a lot to say you had a choice not to hurt me and Richard you had a choice not to hurt you
r wife why did you do that I didn't test anybody what are you talking about you didn't hurt us look at me right now look at you I'm looking at you I can't believe you man my son I don't believe don't call me your son I don't want to hear that you're a horrible person for what you do I just want to let you know that you're a horrible person yes you did I did not was it hard to tell your dad that you thought he was involved in your mom's murder yeah it was definitely very very hard it's hard for y
ou to talk about it now yes it is it is and the person that I had nightmares over was right in front of me and I was scared and soon Ryan would face his father again this time in court coming up the killing of ariet gergus was because she interrupted a robbery or a drug transaction between Ryan and these two suspects a father-son showdown exactly who is on trial the evidence suggests that he was involved with people that were dealing hardcore drugs when dat line continues [Music] March 2014 magd
gurges had been sitting in jail for about a year after an undercover sting led to his arrest for the murder of his wife ariette it was a case prosecutor Sonia biest couldn't wait to try nearly a decade in the making and as it turned out it would be her last Sonia had been promoted to management it's my swan song yes so you wanted to go out with a win uh prosecutors don't like to lose yeah I've noticed that despite what you've seen the case still wasn't a slam dunk there was no proof Magny knew
the alleged killer Anthony Bridget no evidence he paid Bridget any money and while detectives had their suspicions about the involvement of a middleman they still couldn't prove it and as you'll see even that undercover tape could be seen through a different [Music] land on the eve of the trial Richard and Ryan got ready for the big day their suits were pressed they reviewed their prior statements and they weighed the consequences of what this moment meant I'm happy that we will get closure but
then it's just sad like we lost our mom and then in the same night it's like we lost our dad too their only surviving parent the one they lived in fear of for years would be the one they had to face in court part of me is scared of him but also part of me wants to stand up and and let my voice be heard after all these years so I want to be strong and so the brothers walked into court together that first day of opening statements standing strong United in their quest for justice for their mom mag
dy gerges conspired to have his wife murdered she was an incub lenient woman to him and people are disposable to this defendant our cameras were not allowed to record witness testimony inside the courtroom where Sonia biest stacked up her evidence against magdi she showed the jury how in the months leading up to the murder magy slowly drained his joint accounts with ariette leaving her with almost nothing and Sonia said the crime scene evidence showed this wasn't just some random murder it was a
bout silencing somebody who defied him but then on the witness stand Richard who had once helped his father persuade ariette to back off her story now defied magdi just as ariette had done Richard testified about the abuse his mom had suffered at his father's hands he testified about coming home and finding his mother battered and bruised Richard recounted the story to the jury but it seemed he was really speaking to his father we caught up with Richard after court it was really a good experienc
e for me just to be able to actually finally face him face to face and be able to look him in the eyes and actually like know be able to confront him for what he's done but magd faced an even tougher confrontation from the words of his now dead wife ariat's testimony from the preliminary hearing in the domestic violence case had been saved and now the prosecution read it into the court record how important was ariat's testimony from the previous case it was huge it was as if [Music] for an after
noon she just came back to life and take the stand Ryan would need to channel that same strength of his mother's for what came next he took the stand with magdi just feet away a Father's Eyes bored into his son I really felt like if he had me oneon-one he would beat me down he just wanted to anything to get me to to shut up this time Ryan refused to keep quiet telling the jury and his father about that terrible September night when two men broke into his home beat him up and repeatedly stabbed h
is mother in the Next Room then Ryan faced cross-exam examination and defense attorney Rudy Lowenstein had already told the jury he planned to put Ryan on trial the killing of ariet gergus was because she interrupted a robbery or a drug transaction or a collection of a debt of some kind between Ryan and these two suspects the defense argument ariat's murder was tied directly to Ryan's criminal activity I think that the evidence suggests that he was involved with people that were dealing hardcore
drugs Ryan admitted that he smoked and sold weed but Lowenstein told the jury Ryan was doing much more than that he pointed to the drug paraphenalia police found in Ryan's room tinfoil and what Lowenstein said was a pipe with white residue which he said was consistent with heroin and methamphetamin use evidence that police had failed to test the defense said it showed Ryan's drug dealing was bigger than he'd let on then the defense directed jurors to those threats Ryan had received on his compu
ter just weeks before the murder you better watch your back I know where you live and the taunting message that came after the murder how did you like your gift LOL LOL did anybody follow up not really no they just said oh well we know who who did it Magie did it they focused on Magie they never left magdi could the threats be the reason Ryan's friend offered him a knife the fact that he was offered a knife for his protection by his drug dealing friend just minutes or at the latest hours before
the murder of his mother by someone using a knife suggests to me that there was some reason for him to be afraid for his own safety in his own home the defense also attacked Ryan's credibility remember what Ryan told us that one of The Intruders said I know your circumstances I know what you're going through I'm not going to kill you it turns out Ryan did not tell that to the 911 operator why the defense argued because those words were never spoken and said Ryan made them up later to deflect sus
picion from himself and his drug connections one thing was irrefutable and hard to explain the defense told the jury Ryan did not check on ariette before he fled the house how does a young man whose mother has come to save him not look in and check to see whether or not he could save his mother before running out of the house what does that say about his character after two days of brutal cross-examination Ryan says he felt dejected and betrayed I feel like I'm getting backed at my my own father
that he's claiming that his son is such a trouble to you take my number of course the defense also had a huge problem those videotapes of Magie taking the phone number from the undercover up tomor calling them the next day and then showing up with $1500 all of it made Magi look very very guilty I would like him to get up there on the stand and try to explain what what he meant when he said I already paid everything on it turns out the defense did have an explanation and documents too which migh
t prove mag's innocence coming up would that undercover tape convict him or clear him a defense surprise he's playing along with them in order to be able to apprehend them and the verdict would that be a surprise too this is it I didn't want to let those boys down when dat line [Music] continues in spite of the damning testimony against magdi by his own Sons defense attorney Rudy Lowenstein tried to show jurors magdy did everything to provide a better life for them and his wife ariette his life
was dedicated to his family and to making the American dream work for him he was an immigrant who came with nothing and made something of himself magy had his flaws and he had done some bad things the defense said but he did not have ariet killed but then what the make of those undercover tapes and mag's apparent admission would magd take the stand to explain what he meant on those tapes no apparently he felt he'd done enough talking instead the defense attorney showed the jury evidence which he
said proved magy was not guilty magy had written down the serial numbers of the $15 $100 bills he had given the undercover officers and he tried to write down the license plate number of their vehicle which said the defense cast that undercover video in a whole new light he's playing along with them in order to be able to apprehend them and so when he says to them just tell me the name of the middleman so I know I can trust you he's bluffing he doesn't really know the name of the middleman he's
just trying to get that information out of them absolutely Lowenstein said the only thing Magie was guilty of was trying to play detective the police have never left their vision of him as being the suspect and because of that he he's got to essentially solve the case on his own what would the jury think on the day of closing arguments Richard and Ryan walked to court together they had brought something for prosecutor Sonia baste a religious tile belonging to ariette Sonia wanted me to bring li
ke an item like from our mom and stuff to have right there that she could hold on to they learned the evidence-driven prosecutor had a superstitious side she wanted to have something of ariad's to touch during her last closing argument to channel ariad's spirit and courage she took the witness stand in a preliminary hearing and faced evil and for the first time in her life stood up to him she knew exactly what he would do to her for it he's done some bad things in his life but he didn't hire any
body to murder ariot gergus he's innocent there was nothing left to do now but wait I this has been right a lot of anxiety built up right now um I'm just wondering when the verdict is going to come in this I mean going to be like any moment Sonia already at her new job waited for the phone to ring she had played the waiting game numerous times it wasn't any easier this last time I didn't want to let those boys down so um yes I was probably a little bit more nervous than usual it was definitely a
gonizing after two days the jury had reached a verdict were you worried there was going to be a not guilty verdict the only thing that had worried me was um all it takes is one person to not see things the way that everyone else he's it You' never know what a jury's going to do you never know what a jury is going to do all right Council remember bring the jury and when they filed back of the crowded courtroom Ryan didn't look at his dad instead he held on to his brother I was just embracing the
moment that this is it this is all writing on this we the jury in the above entitled action find the defendant magnifi gurus guilty of the crime of felony conspir to commit a murder as oh hit it hit us this what we've been waiting for for 9 and 1/2 years in the gallery the brothers cried and as the hearing continued Richard's sobs grew louder and louder until he couldn't contain himself any longer I couldn't hold myself back I was trying not to like say anything but it just was pouring out I I t
old him in Arabic I was like why dad why why why dad why like I just I still can't fanthom the reason of why he would do such a thing why he would throw away our family why he would throw everything away what was Magie trying to tell his son we'll never know mag's thoughts at his sentencing were somewhat clearer I had nothing to do with the killing of my wife I did to my best ability to work hard sec your future and advise my kids not to get involved with all this gang activity or anything I'm n
ot a bad father and maybe ICT but uh I love them they are my kids magdy gurgis was sentenced to life in prison without parole if magy had not taken the bait if he'd gotten the phone number from your two undercover officers and thrown it away and just said I don't know who you are I don't know what you're talking about and if you call me again I'm going to call the police would he be in custody today probably not so he ended up giving you your whole case his greed gave me my H [Music] case magd g
urgis had worked tirelessly to build the dream and then by his own hand destroyed it well perhaps not all of it these two brothers may have lost both their parents but they still had each other it's my little bro yeah in April 2018 accused Hitman Anthony Bridget was found guilty on several charges including the murder of ariet gerges in August 2020 the two most serious convictions conspiracy to commit murder and first-degree murder were upheld on appeal the court reversed two others aggravated a
ssault and false imprisonment because the statute of limitations had run out before Bridget was brought to trial he is serving life without the possibility of parole the second Intruder has never been identified and despite investigators suspicions neither has the mysterious middleman you never found out who that was not yet been 10 years that's true true took me nine to get magd you have to be patient in this line of work there's still a reward for information leading to the arrest and convicti
on of the remaining suspects Richard and Ryan hope someone will come forward in the meantime they are keeping their heads down and working hard just as their father always taught them to do when we last interviewed Ryan he said he planned to do some things differently you picture yourself as a dad some some day I do what kind of Dad are you going to be I'm going to be the opposite of my father I'm going to be there when my kids leave me and that's the beauty of the American dream there's always
a new beginning no matter where you came from that's all for now I'm Lester hold thanks for joining us
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