Detective Randall Meyer

You told us things that, unless you were there, you'd have no idea about.

I don't think they understand what the death penalty means. I'm going to walk out that door and I'm going to do my level best to hang your ass from the highest tree.

You consider yourself a man? Then stand up.

No, stand up and be a man, okay?

He had something he needed to weigh in on.

I've been just making things up to satisfy you guys.

The absolute truth is, I was never on the scene. I don't know if Nick is the actual person involved in that. I've been just basically fitting an answer to what you guys said. have been asking.

There's absolutely no doubt you are involved with this. And don't start over with me from the very beginning. You're telling me the truth, but now you're going to pull a jerking guys around deal? I mean, I wish I would have said that from the beginning. Yeah, from the beginning, you didn't say that. You had nothing to do with that. You took a polygraph yesterday.

I gave it to you, and you were 100% involved with it. I had no doubt about it. I just told you that. Right. But the truth is, I was never honestly into that. I don't know that Nick is involved in this because we never, I mean, you can check my phone records. We never talked on Thursday or Friday about it.

And the only reason I picked him, I heard through the grapevine that his brother's car was used. What are you telling me this now, or what do you think is going to accomplish this now? Nothing. I mean, I'm just trying to complain, I mean, you know. I don't believe you. You put yourself there. You were there. And you have told us things. But you told us things that nobody else even knows about.

You got some explaining to do. And I'm going to tell you right now, I am at the end of my rope over this whole thing between you and young Gregory. I am giving you one opportunity and one opportunity alone to come completely clean with every bit of your involvement in this. So you quit dancing around with me because I know the truth.

I killed someone. He was older. I loved it. I wish I could do it all the time. If Greg doesn't watch it, I'm going to just leave one day and go do it myself. You're in a lot of trouble, young lady.

You know what? 17 years old, and you've just thrown the rest of your life away.

I know you did.

Oh, I wasn't there to swear to God's truth.

I'm getting framed for something I didn't do.

Did you talk about it over the cell phone or did you talk face to face? Cell phone.

The reason I ask you is that the two people upstairs in their bed were shot to death.

What I'm telling you is you're telling us you're in this house, okay? Did you not tell? Oh, my God.

I didn't do it.

It was a great tribute. They were good people and loved by many.

I'd like to know why, but who, what, when, where, how, and why?

All I remember is sleeping in bed that night. I never did anything. Gosh. I mean, my goodness.

I'm telling you right now. I'm going to do everything I can. If I walk out that door right now and you don't cop to this, you don't admit to me exactly what you've done, I'm going to walk out that door and I'm going to do my level best to hang your ass from the highest tree. You're done. I'll go after the death penalty.

I'll push, I'll push, and I'll push until I get everything I need to make sure you go down hard for this.

You got a gun. Right or wrong? Right. And you took that gun back to your uncle in Aunt Charlotte's house, right? Right or wrong? Come on, Matt. Right.

You weren't alone that night. Is that right or wrong? Right. There was somebody else with you, wasn't there? Yeah.

at 6.51. Same stature, knees very high on the gas tank, wearing a backpack, which the subject was wearing a backpack on Goodrick Road. So at that point in time, we believe same motorcycle, same subject, but with a clothing change.

They were now called evidence. From Jonathan's residence, we were able to seize the motorcycle that was ridden. We seized two styles of helmets.

I checked in with the officer who was manning the crime scene tape and then stepped into the area and waited for the other detectives to arrive.

He entered inside the business to purchase some water and Gatorade with helmet on, sunglasses.

That evening, I believe we had four detectives at the time.

The supervisors felt at that point in time that we needed some follow-up investigative work done with Sabrina.

Correct.

Yes, definitely. From the information we gathered, we started looking into phone records.

That was the first homicide that I had arrived to and was assigned as the lead detective.

It is a big first case.

No smoking gun is what we would call it. She didn't admit to being involved or committing the murder of Rob Lamont.

During our walkthrough, we were able to approach the body. I noticed there was blood pooling underneath the deceased. It appeared that he had been shot twice. Cartridge casings on the ground? We did not locate any shell cases on the ground.

I actually had met with the district attorney that was assigned to the case at the time, and she had given me what we call a wish list. It's a list of items that they would wish or want us to get done. Before they can charge her. Yes. What were those items? Obviously, they wanted the admission, which we weren't going to get.

There were thousands of contacts. They had multiple conversations via telephone calls and text messages. Clear evidence of an affair, to be sure.

They requested we speak to the friends again and find out if anybody had any idea that this was occurring, speak with Jonathan's friends to assist with the investigation.

abruptly stopped. Sometime in April, about the 25th of April of 2014, those phone calls stopped and a new phone showed up on Jonathan Hearn's phone records. When you run that number, who's it come back to? It came back to no subscriber information found.

How do you formulate that theory so quickly? It did not appear that somebody had gone through all the drawers in the business. And if they're there to do a burglary, they're going to take items of value. There was still a computer inside the office.

And basically with that story, King David finds a woman very beautiful, ends up being Bathsheba. The story of two people who have an affair. Right.

How many phone calls did you get? A lot. I would say in the 50s or more, there was a lot of phone calls.

They told me that Rob Lamone is somebody who would help anybody out if they needed help at any point in time. Good guy. Good guy.

There's conversations daily via either phone or text messages. Every once in a while, you'd have a day that there was nothing, but most of the days there was some sort of conversation going on.

Yes. Through their conversations, they believed they were doing what was God's work. And they talked about that many times.

Very difficult. Courts take that very seriously, and so it does take an substantial amount of effort to get that warrant.

That was the first.

This murder was God's work. They spoke about that many times. They were doing God's work.

Early November 2014, I was able to get a wiretap authorized, and so we were able to go up on the phones and listen to their conversations.

I'm guessing your bosses at some point said to you, you're killing us here. It is very expensive to conduct an operation like that. There's lots of manpower. You start actual surveillance on Jonathan. Yes. Just prior to the wire tap, we had surveillance out there, and they were typically on them while they were moving during the day.

Once the wire tap was initiated, the surveillance is 24 hours a day.

Yes, he was alone in the vehicle.

I provided Sabrina with the actual description that matched Jonathan, tall, white male, possibly riding a motorcycle when the murder occurred, and with a possible name of John.

Yes, that's what we were doing.

We had a lot of music, but it wasn't actually on a sheet.

We did show it to several people who worked there, and they were unable to identify the person.

Detective Meyer couldn't be sure. It did appear to be an older motorcycle, a street bike type. And... The rider's wearing a helmet? Yes, wearing a helmet. But appears to be a man? Appeared to be a man. The bike appeared to be a smaller motorcycle. You could tell his legs and knees were high up on the gas tank of the motorcycle.

Hi, this is Detective Meyer with the Kern County Sheriff's Office.

Right now, Sabrina, we're at the very preliminary stages of this whole investigation, and we don't have a lot of information right now. That's it. We just don't know. She sounded pretty upset. I could hear some voices in the background. Maybe some friends were over at the residence to console her.

She was crying, asked what happened to her husband, and I basically told her we didn't have a lot of answers. But you said it was a homicide. We didn't actually tell her it was a homicide at the time. I told her he was deceased.

I know you guys probably don't get our news channels there, but I just wanted to give you a warning just in case you see it on the news.

That was the first homicide that I had arrived to and was assigned as a lead detective.

It is a big first case.

some exciting news.

The crime lab just sent me an email and said they got a good DNA sample from what they believe was a sweat drop. It's the best news we've gotten so far.

Sabrina clearly found the whole thing a little unsettling. After months of hearing very little from the detective, she was suddenly hearing from him every day. What did it all mean?

She was very composed, actually. I think a couple times during the interview, she did get upset and began to cry. She seemed to be handling it pretty well.

We actually were prepared to go to trial on Jonathan starting January of 2017. That's lead detective Randall Meyer. Jonathan's attorney approached the district attorney and spoke with him and said that Jonathan could provide information that would lead to the possible prosecution of Sabrina Limon.

Early November of 2014, I was able to get a wiretap authorized. And so we were able to go up on the phones and listen to their conversations.

His wife said he was a great person, would help anybody if they ever needed help with anything. Did she mention anybody that might have a problem with her husband? No, she said that everybody loved Rob.

You guys ever have any problems or anything or any issues with infidelity or anything like that?

At any point in time, did you ever think that maybe Rob may have had a girlfriend or anything?

How about yourself? Have you ever had a boyfriend or anything like that?

No?

We're not sure if maybe those are just photos from the internet or if they're personal photos. That's why we're asking. So there are some of you on there? Okay, all right. We're trying to limit the fact that if maybe he had a girlfriend, if her husband or boyfriend found out and was trying to harm him.

Did you guys have an open relationship then?

Just maybe out partying at the river?

Okay.

Yes, he said they had conversations and were worried about law enforcement looking at their phone records. And so he had talked to Sabrina and they felt that they would ditch the plan for now.

It obviously caused some suspicion for me.

That was the first. So did you guys have an open relationship? No? I just heard some rumors out there.

Sure.

Yes, it was a great feeling. Thousands of hours were put into the investigation, listening to phone calls and surveillance, and so it did feel good.

First, I wanted to talk to you about my meeting with the crime lab this morning.

He told me that he and some fellow friends went to a local bar and got into a small argument with some of the patrons inside the bar. That's the voice of lead detective Randall Meyer. Argument about what? I believe he said he bumped into somebody and then it caused some confusion and that's where it occurred.

We're actually the first county in the United States that started using the software. And since we started using it, some other counties have. And they've actually solved some cases and stuff they're working on.

Well, it's amazing. The mixing and stuff. It is. It is simply amazing.

Did it get to the point of, you know, punches being thrown? No, he said quickly once the argument started, he then left the bar with his friends and they went home. On the face of it, it doesn't seem like a big a deal. No, it didn't seem to be a big deal at the time.

He said the gentleman, Mark, was having issues with the firearm and asked the gunsmith to change out the firing pin.

Not very often. That was very suspicious to us.

It was not the gun that was used to kill Rob Lamone.

It was disappointing at first. Back to the grind.

I need to basically put it on the record that I didn't force you to come here, that you came here because you decided you wanted to talk to me, right? Yes. And I need to read your rights again.

You were probably upset and scared, and you didn't know what to say. So I know tons of stuff about all this that's gone on, and I want you to tell me the truth.

You said you really liked the party a lot? We just liked to have fun. We did a lot of stuff.

Which river?

Did you guys have an open relationship? No? No. I just heard some rumors out there.

viewed by maybe some. I think we typically call it swinging. Yeah, I know.

I asked him what was suspicious about the message. He said the message basically was him asking for forgiveness for some stuff he'd done in his past. which he thought was very odd.

We may never really know exactly why and what happened.

I had met the Bernatines at Sabrina Limon's house when I did my first interview with her in person. But that was just happenstance because they had to be there consoling her. Yes, it was just briefly.

Right. I know we've talked about your open relationship before, and you told me you didn't have one. I was dreading it.

We've been looking at a bunch of people.

Did you think this would ever come out?

Jason told me that he knew of a prior affair.

Yes.

Jason actually told me that he wasn't going to say anything to law enforcement at all about it. However, with the text message and then another text message and a voicemail, he thought it was very suspicious.

But he was a man.

So did you think it would be okay, I mean, with Rob, if you were seeing Jonathan? Because... You know, you guys kind of had that open relationship. I guess that's how I justified it.

You mean Jonathan?

So Rob's going to work, and then he's working overtime shifts and stuff, and Jonathan would be at your house? Sometimes. Late at night? Yeah. When the kids were sleeping or whatever?

From Sabrina's residence, we were able to obtain lots of documents regarding financial stuff from life insurance companies, from BNSF Railroad, letters from Jonathan to Sabrina.

How did Jonathan know that Rob was going to be working in Tehachapi? Well, he wasn't supposed to be working in Tehachapi, but I did tell him.

Happy New Year's.

You told them where the shop was at, off the freeway right there?

Did you give them the address or anything?

It's your husband's place of business. Why would you specifically tell him that it's a business rather than freeway in Tehachapi? That's where he works at.

You know what? I think if you would have never told him that, he would have never been able to find it because it's not on the map. You can't Google it and find it. I tried.

Yes or no? Did you ever suspect him of doing it?

Detective Meyer. After checking Jonathan's registration for that motorcycle, we went to the Yamaha website, checked out some other motorcycles similar in the same year, and was able to look at those motorcycles compared to the video that we captured from Goodrick Road, and they were very similar.

It wasn't about the affair. This is about him concealing the fact that he murdered your husband and he didn't want people to find out about it. And he thought he was doing God's work because you were living a life of sin. And he wanted to save you from that.

Jonathan Hearn also owned guns. The firearms that were registered to Jonathan matched the same or similar caliber bullet that killed Rob LeMond. Big bullet, big gun. Yes. He had a couple .45 caliber firearms that were registered to him.

What do you do now? You tell me everything you know. Because I'll be honest with you. What I get out of this interview is going to make a huge decision on if you ever touch and see your kids again, ever, in your entire life.

Highway 58 and Highway 395, there's a couple of gas stations located on that corner there.

About an hour's drive.

Jonathan's going to tell me that you started all this and you talked him into it. Well, that wouldn't be true. He's going to tell me exactly what happened.

Which is your legal right.

You move on, you're accountable, you finish what you started. Don't look like a fool. Comes down to two options, Mark.

Mark, I'm asking you a question. What do you wish to do? What do you want to do right now?

So option two, you're receptive to option two.

Okay, so option two would mean we go out during daytime hours, cover the body, put a closure to it, and then move on, and finish the script, and then it's done. You're okay with that, Mark?

I make it up. You got water? No, I'm good, yeah.

Any questions about anything? No. Concerns? Issues? We'll see you in the morning. Have a good night's sleep. Okay. Okay.

There's nothing we can do about this. Entirely coincidental. They have a right and a... You didn't call them? No. They have a freedom to be here and there's nothing I can do about it. We can leave if you tell us where we should go.

What would you like to eat? Do you want a sub sandwich, a hamburger? What would you like?

We can get Mr. Sub, Subway, McDonald's, whatever's down the street.

Okay, what do you like, chicken, turkey?

Steak and cheese, Sub? Sure. Do you prefer Subway or Mr. Sub?

And what do you like to drink?

Coke.

And anything else?

Okay.

You're obviously a bright guy. You're very intelligent. You know, you're in the movie industry, trying to make a goal of it, writing some scripts. People are accepting your work. You're getting people to work for you.

It's a fabulous script. It's actually fascinating, okay? And that's what I'm saying when I talked about this being a movie. You could send this off and get your foot into the door, whether it be at Paramount, Fox, Warner Brothers, whoever. I mean, you could send this to the Dexter people. Maybe this will be an episode.

This story was based on true events. The names and events were altered slightly to protect the guilty.

This story was based on true events. The names and events were altered slightly to protect the guilty. This is the story. You're saying that's fiction?

The fact that I was one of the guys that said, this could be a hoax. Okay? There's a lot of investigators in the office that thought this was just a hoax that was going to be a movie. Let's say it was a hoax, okay? And you get arrested, you're charged, and the police do a thorough investigation. All of a sudden, Johnny Altinger appears on the scene.

That would make a pretty good movie as well, right?

Why do you ask? Oh, it's... Yeah, there'd be a couple charges. Strike justice, public mischief would be another one.

It's not done, Mark. The script's not done. How do you want this to end? Do you want me to tell you what happens at the end? Mark, the police, they go out with the person responsible. They go to the body. And that's what we're going to do. Mark, you need to finish the script. We can do this tonight. We can bring some lights. We can do it first thing in the morning. It's up to you.

You think sitting there waiting it out is going to make a difference?

I'm thinking this guy's involved in this guy's disappearance, wherever he may be, somehow. I know that.

And, you know, that's a big part to prove, is this true or not? It was a huge part of it. And surely, if somebody had been attacked that way, you would have heard about it. Well, exactly. I mean, we would have expected someone to come forward, but we got nothing. Yeah. No call, no nothing that even matches similarity.

So this seemed to be one part of that story that just didn't... Didn't make sense.

Except by going public. So we thought, we'll put the goalie mask out to the media, and that'll tweak somebody's memory about, yeah, that was me, and hopefully they'll come forward.

And the very next morning... In comes a guy. off the street. He says, I think it's one of my employees.

And I'm going, like, I got to speak to this guy.

Got to find this young fella. So he gives me his name and all that. I says, I'll tell you what, you're going back to work. Ask him to call me. Let's keep it low key. I won't approach him. I'll give you time to talk to him first. Well, it worked.

In my career was probably the most spellbinding interview I've ever had with a witness. I was sitting there. listening to Gilles Tetreault tell me his story, and I had chills going up my spine as he's telling it to me.

I mean, the big thing came, I don't even remember the day, but our computer guy called up late in the afternoon and two of the detectives went upstairs and they come out, I believe it was at that time, with a 32-page diary called the SK Confessions.

It might be a fantasy. The little bit I knew at that time, I thought it was true.

As we started to tear apart, and every day, and we're working long hours, we're working 12 to 16 hours a day, going home for six, eight hours sleep, and we're back at work. I think our total investigation, we had 112 officers involved in this thing at one time.

Give me an example of proving something in the diary was true. One of the big things that came out was he had mentioned in his diary about getting a speeding ticket.

So we tracked that cop down, and that cop remembered it. And it came right back to me. He knew the conversation he had with him. And it was basically word for word what that diary told us was exactly what the sheriff told us.

So far, every day I say we're proving different things are true. You know, we're going on and on. Everything's turned out to be true. So we got no reason to disbelieve this. Did you feel sometimes like you're in the middle of, you know, Alice in Wonderland or The Matrix or something? My feeling was like, I can't believe the evidence we're getting.

I love what I do. From the first day that I stepped on the set, that was when I knew that I just slept down. There's no going back. Anything else is crap. Nothing else would make me feel fulfilled in what I was doing, and I love what I do, so I just chased it with everything I had.

I always believed that story to be true right from the start. I was thinking he had filmed whatever he had done to Johnny.

Did you not think that kind of strange? I mean, I have to ask this. You're paying $40 for a car.

We had huge discussions in the office about this. There were guys that were, after reading it, going, I'm 50-50, you know. I don't know, you know, don't get tunnel vision. Sure. Guys, don't get fucked in on this. There's another explanation here. You know, is it false, is it true?

I mean, a lot of what I did in the first part, I was just acting. Sure. You know? Of course. Playing the role. Letting him believe I believe in every word he's saying.

Well, you're reading him during that interview. He had been reading you. No doubt. And you probably had made some judgments about your ability as an interviewer, about, I don't know, your intellect.

What did he think of you, do you think, during that interview? I don't think he, I think he didn't think I was that smart. I think he thought he was smarter than me.

But... Nothing untowards about the car. Johnny's not in the car. The guy who got the car has given a statement. And it's basically what Mark told me in the interview that... He bought it for 40 bucks. He bought it for 40 bucks. And that's what he told his friend. And he had his friend drive it over to his house.

So what, suddenly your big down arrow is starting to turn up again?

Well, I mean, no, I wouldn't say it's turning up, but at least I know he hasn't lied about how the car got to his friend's house. So we discussed strategy at that point. And then I know, I says, you got nothing else. I says, I'm going to have to go in and confront him. And the whole idea of that confrontation is to see his reaction. And see what his answer is.

Because an innocent man, we expect you to say this. Look, I didn't do it. You got the wrong guy. We've done the good cop routine. Now my forte, the bad cop's coming out.

Your forte.

This is what you like. This is what I like. This is what I relish. Now I'm going to start with the... Hammer him with what I know. Problem is, I know very little. And I know I know very little. And he must know. By the way I talk, I don't know much.

There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved in the disappearance of John Altinger. No doubt in my mind at all. Why? I have no idea what the hell is going on. And then his response is like it's, he goes, well, what do you mean? Or something like that. He goes, it's like. I can't believe this. Yeah, I'm going like, holy, this is our guy. Now we need to know what he did. I know then.

I got him. Like, I know he's done it. He's done something to him. I don't know what. I don't know how. Just based on his reaction to your accusation. Absolutely. I don't understand. But you do understand because you know what I'm talking about. You're involved in this. I just don't understand.

You can see a whole change in demeanor. Sure, certainly he shut down. He shut down. And, you know, I'm looking in his eyes. I'm watching him. He's leaning back at times. He's tightening up a little bit. All signs, you know, he's uncomfortable. I got him uncomfortable. But I...

You know, I don't have any evidence to confront him with, to really push him on the points and get him to make any confessions or any admissions about anything. Why can't you give me your version of events that night? Because I'm scared.

So by the end of the night... I got nothing. I got no evidence. My gut instinct at that time is, this guy's involved. He's involved up to his neck in this. What exactly he's done to him, I don't know yet. But I'm going to find out.

I know he's lying to me. No doubt in my mind. I know he's involved up to his neck. I still don't know what he's done.

And knock on the door. His wife answers and says, I tell her who I am and she goes, yeah, she was not happy I was there. And she tells me that, yeah, my husband called me. He's at his lawyer's office and he told me not to talk to you guys. So I'm trying to schmooze her because I want to talk to her a bit and find out anything I can and how much he's been around the house and that type of thing.

What were your impressions of his wife? Besides the fact that she was agitated and upset, seemed like a nice person?

Yeah, she seemed really nice. I mean, she's got a little baby. I think it was the child was six months old, little daughter. And I'm feeling bad for her now. How did she react to this? Mad. Mad at me. Didn't like the police coming.

She just struck me as a parent that her son does nothing wrong. Whereas the father wanted to listen to me. He wanted to hear what I had to say, and he listened. But he got overridden.

I agreed with everything he said. Like I didn't, this wasn't the time of the interview to start pushing him on it. It wasn't the time to start confronting him. That would come later on.

They were now called evidence. From Jonathan's residence, we were able to seize the motorcycle that was ridden. We seized two styles of helmets.

The supervisors felt at that point in time that we needed some follow-up investigative work done with Sabrina.

No smoking gun is what we would call it. She didn't admit to being involved or committing the murder of Rob Lamont.

I actually had met with the district attorney that was assigned to the case at the time, and she had given me what we call a wish list. It's a list of items that they would wish or want us to get done. Before they can charge her. Yes. What were those items? Obviously, they wanted the admission, which we weren't going to get.

They requested we speak to the friends again and find out if anybody had any idea that this was occurring, speak with Jonathan's friends to assist with the investigation.

We actually were prepared to go to trial on Jonathan starting January of 2017. That's lead detective Randall Meyer. Jonathan's attorney approached the district attorney and spoke with him and said that Jonathan could provide information that would lead to the possible prosecution of Sabrina Limon.

Yes, he said they had conversations and were worried about law enforcement looking at their phone records. And so he had talked to Sabrina and they felt that they would ditch the plan for now.

Yes, it was a great feeling. Thousands of hours were put into the investigation, listening to phone calls and surveillance, and so it did feel good.

I need to basically put it on the record that I didn't force you to come here, that you came here because you decided you wanted to talk to me, right? Yes. And I need to read your rights again.

You were probably upset and scared, and you didn't know what to say. So I know tons of stuff about all this that's gone on, and I want you to tell me the truth.

Right. I know we've talked about your open relationship before, and you told me you didn't have one. I was dreading it.

Did you think this would ever come out?

But he was a man.

So did you think it would be okay, I mean, with Rob, if you were seeing Jonathan? Because... You know, you guys kind of had that open relationship. I guess that's how I justified it.

You mean Jonathan?

So Rob's going to work, and then he's working overtime shifts and stuff, and Jonathan would be at your house? Sometimes. Late at night? Yeah. When the kids were sleeping or whatever?

From Sabrina's residence, we were able to obtain lots of documents regarding financial stuff from life insurance companies, from BNSF Railroad, letters from Jonathan to Sabrina.

How did Jonathan know that Rob was going to be working in Tehachapi? Well, he wasn't supposed to be working in Tehachapi, but I did tell him.

You told them where the shop was at, off the freeway right there?

Did you give them the address or anything?

It's your husband's place of business. Why would you specifically tell him that it's a business rather than freeway in Tehachapi? That's where he works at.

You know what? I think if you would have never told him that, he would have never been able to find it because it's not on the map. You can't Google it and find it. I tried.

Yes or no? Did you ever suspect him of doing it?

It wasn't about the affair. This is about him concealing the fact that he murdered your husband and he didn't want people to find out about it. And he thought he was doing God's work because you were living a life of sin. And he wanted to save you from that.

What do you do now? You tell me everything you know. Because I'll be honest with you. What I get out of this interview is going to make a huge decision on if you ever touch and see your kids again, ever, in your entire life.

Jonathan's going to tell me that you started all this and you talked him into it. Well, that wouldn't be true. He's going to tell me exactly what happened.