What the >> As officers chase the silver Impala, they have no idea they're about to stumble into one of the city's most devastating cases. >> Um well, you you don't have a tire. >> Well, I know. I'm going home right now. >> You going where? >> I'm going home right now to get >> Okay, where is home? >> Um just down the block. >> Put your hand on, buddy. >> I was just >> Soon the detectives get Julissa out of the car for further questioning, but her explanations remain vague, raising more questions than answers. But what really alarms them right now needs a definite answer. >> You see this? This is blood. >> No, it's not. It was deer meat. >> Deer meat? >> I get venison burgers from a video. >> Let me see your hand for a second. Can you just show your hand to me? How about the other side? It's like death in there. What looks like blood in there? And >> It's not blood. It's deer meat. I have a big bag of venison from a butcher that sells deer meat and hamburgers. So I get fresh venison from them. >> Detectives feel their suspicion sharpening, most of all toward the trunk she keeps avoiding. >> What do you have in your trunk? >> Nothing. >> Nothing in the trunk at all? >> Nothing. >> There's no deer meat or anything in the trunk? >> No, sir. Can you guys let me go? >> I know. >> Can I just drive a little bit more to get a ticket? >> As Julissa grows increasingly impatient, demanding to be let go, the detectives hold firm. Detectives decide to detain the vehicle, noting the condition of her car and inconsistencies in her story, and offer her a ride back home. And while some detectives drive Julissa home, others stay behind to examine the vehicle. After careful discussion, detectives finally decide to open the trunk unaware of the shocking discovery waiting inside that will turn the case upside down. >> Woah. Uh Woah. Holy [ __ ] All right, let's cover it. >> Inside the blanket in the trunk, detectives are met with a shocking sight. A young boy's body, his head gone. >> Go grab her. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, bring her here right now. >> What the It's like a kid. Right? >> Holy [ __ ] >> That moment, detectives realize they made a mistake letting Julissa go. And while some detectives drive Julissa home, while the others storm back to her apartment, this time to put HER IN HANDCUFFS. >> POLICE, COME TO THE DOOR. POLICE, COME TO THE DOOR. >> BUT WHEN THE DETECTIVES step inside the apartment, they notice that Julissa has vanished. And as they move through the rooms, one detail in the home immediately grabs their attention. >> Yeah, there was a washer going. >> Where's the washer? >> It's right here. >> Get it. Seal it. Don't let it drain. >> Inside the washer, detectives discover bloody clothes tumbling in the drum. And the machine, still running, tells them that Julissa can't have gone far. To pin down her timeline, they pull the building's CCTV, hoping it shows when she walked out. The footage shows that Julissa isn't alone. She's seen leaving with an unidentified man just 30 minutes before detectives arrive. Now detectives have two urgent questions. Who is he? And where are they headed? Detectives quickly collect the trash bags and expand their search to every nearby dumpster, leaving no stone unturned. And what they uncover inside will change the course of the investigation. >> I'm so pissed. >> The search uncovers horrors across multiple dumpsters, each one revealing something worse than the last. In one, detectives find a child's booster seat soaked in blood and torn apart by a shotgun blast. In another, they discover a backpack, blood, [music] bone, and what appears to be more brain matter. And scattered in a different bin his kindergarten homework. But it's what's inside the backpack that finally stops everyone cold. A school ID card of a 6-year-old kid named Eli Hart, and his mother's name, Julissa, printed right beneath it. Piece by piece, the child's identity and the brutality he faced becomes unmistakable. Minutes later, detectives spot both of them near the complex. >> PUT YOUR HANDS UP. HANDS UP. GET ON THE GROUND. GET ON THE GROUND. ON THE GROUND. LAY ON THE GROUND. >> WHAT AM I UNDER ARREST FOR? YOU HAVEN'T on there. You want to read me my Miranda rights? >> What the [ __ ] is going >> We'll explain to you at the police department. >> I'm being 920. >> No, what the [ __ ] is going on? Seriously. >> You'll be explained to at the police department. You're being detained right now. >> For what? >> The investigation is getting increasingly disturbing with each step. But talking to Julissa is about to be an absolute roller coaster for the detectives. >> WHAT THE HANDS UP. GET ON THE GROUND. GET ON THE GROUND. >> RIGHT NOW YOU'RE being you're being held and arrested for suspicion of being involved in a homicide. >> And what homicide would that be? Specifically, what what you think I did? And and who is this person? And if you can answer those two questions, that would be awesome. >> What do you think was found in the trunk of that vehicle? >> I'm not sure. What was in there? >> There was a dead body in the trunk of that car. A dead juvenile body. >> Really? And who was it? >> The reason why we don't know who it was is because their head was missing. >> What? In my car? >> Shortly into the interview, Julissa refuses to even accept that she was driving with a child's dead body and blood in her car. >> Do you have any kids? >> I have a son. >> You have a son? How old is your son? >> Um, six. >> Six years old? >> Yeah. >> What's your son's name? >> Eli. Can I go home and check on my baby? Can you check on my house and everything? >> Still, Julissa fails to explain how a child's dead body ended up in her car. But, what she doesn't know is that officers have reviewed CCTV footage from the night before the discovery, which shows Julissa at 11:22 p.m. walking out of the garage with her son Eli, then placing him gently in the back seat of her car. This is the last time anyone saw the 6-year-old boy alive. But then, Rob mentioned something that could prove to be the missing link. >> She killed him. I know she did. >> How do you know that? >> I just know she did. I don't know I know for a fact she did. >> In the autopsy report, it's confirmed that the dead body is that of Eli Hart. He was shot around nine times, likely while he was helplessly strapped in the car. Authorities also learned that Eli was pre-lingually deaf. Even while acting to show remorse, Julissa is already preparing another excuse to distance herself from the crime. >> Did you find out people who look at this? >> A lot of this a lot of this head brain tissue because we think >> important person in the world. >> Because we think he deserves that. >> He deserves everything. I really need a lawyer, but I want you to know that this baby boy is the most important person in the world to me. I would never hurt him. I would never do anything to him. I protect him. You have to believe me. This is my baby boy. >> They're sure from her cell records that Julissa drove her son to Lake Minnetonka Park, where she ruthlessly shot Eli nine times while he was strapped in his child safety seat. But the investigation that follows regarding Eli's earlier childhood leaves everybody speechless. A young boy's body, his head gone. In the autopsy report, it's confirmed that the dead body is that of Eli Hart. He was shot around nine times, likely while he was helplessly strapped in the car. >> I never hurt him. I would never do anything to him. What happened to him? You have to believe me. This is my baby boy. >> There's shirt from her cell records that Julissa drove her son to Lake Minnetonka Park, where she ruthlessly shot Eli nine times while he was strapped in his child safety seat. But the investigation that follows regarding Eli's earlier childhood leaves everybody speechless when proof implies that the little boy's death could have been prevented by child protection services. Dakota County Social Services had received numerous warnings about Julissa being a serious drug addict whose substance abuse also led Eli to Townes-Brocks syndrome by birth, resulting in hearing loss. Detectives also learned that Julissa bought a shotgun and bullets on May 17th, 2022, [music] 3 days before Eli's murder. Furthermore, disturbing findings come to light from Julissa's internet search history, which are enough to paint a picture of what was going on in her mind. >> [music] [singing] [singing and music] [music] >> The jury deliberated for less than 2 hours. They returned a guilty verdict on Julissa, convicting her of first-degree murder. >> Your Honor, I would like to say something. >> Go ahead. >> Um I'm innocent. You all, you're garbage. >> The case still sparks dispute on the child protection system completely overlooking the early warning signs with Julissa Thaler, and many believe that Eli's death was preventable. >> Where did I go wrong? I lost [singing] the feeling somewhere alone in the bitterness. [music] I would [singing] have stayed up with you all night had I known how to save [music] a life.