You sorry for what took place? I was scared. So you stab him. This is 33-year-old Emirita Map. Just two days earlier, Emorita almost got away with a horrific crime. Map is accused of stabbing 20-year-old Zachary Gnau to death and trying to kill another man. All until one of her victims survived and told detectives everything. Something else happened in that room and for some reason you just don't want to tell us. If I killed anybody, if I hurt anybody, it wasn't intentional. But you freaking shake the dude. On the morning of April 11th, 2017, a quiet motel in Kism, Florida, became the site of a violent crime scene. Guests at the day's end had called 911 after spotting two young men collapsed in one of the rooms, both covered in blood. One of them was 20-year-old Zachary Gano. He'd been stabbed multiple times, and by the time deputies from the Oyola County Sheriff's Office arrived, there was nothing anyone could do. Zachary was already gone. And just a few feet away was Andrew Bickford, badly wounded and struggling to stay conscious. He'd suffered a deep cut across his throat, and his chances of survival looked slim. But Andrew survived, and when he was finally stable enough to speak, he gave detectives one name. 33-year-old Emirita Map, a woman from Orlando, who according to Andrew was a close acquaintance of his and Zachary's. So much so that the three were together in the hotel room that morning, drinking, talking, and hanging out before the murder. So, what could have driven Emirita to murder someone that was supposed to be a friend? And what exactly happened in that hotel room on the morning of April 11th? To answer these questions, detectives tracked her down and brought her in for an interview 2 days later on April 13th. This chair busted [Music] Amory, right? What's your god-given name? Emorita. Okay. I'm Detective Miller. My partner, Detective Human. Okay, I'm going to go over some paperwork first. All right, then we'll talk. While detectives read Emorita her Miranda rightites, they likely thought this case would be open and shut. After all, one of the victims had survived and named her directly. What they don't realize is just how prepared Emorita is because she's already built a story so detailed and rehearsed that it's about to give them an incredibly difficult time. Start from the beginning. Well, me and dude was cool or whatever, you know. I I went to go chill to hang out. I hung out. I hung out for a minute. Strang drugs, but with who? Um, Zack. Zack. Yeah. Okay. And you talking about the dates and you went over there to chill? Yeah. Okay. What time did you get there? I got there probably around 5 in the morning. 5 in the morning. Okay. And we chill. It was, you know, but later things start getting a little awkward. You know what I mean? It's like I don't want to go too fast. I'm sorry. Let let's You said you were doing drugs. What were you guys doing? Yeah, they were like they was like smoking like drinking and stuff. You know what I'm saying? So, we was chilling and I'm sitting on the bed like I don't know things start getting a little awkward making kind of gestures, you know, and um probably about 8 something said, "Okay, maybe it's about time for me to go, you know." So said, "Okay, I'm about to I'll let you guys about to leave." Whatever. So I left down the street. I forgot the room key. I turned around and went back. And as I went back, um other guy was gone. I don't know where he was, but he was just what's the name in the room? And when I walked in, I said, "Yo, I forgot my my room key." And he said, "Come on in." And I walked in and it wasn't on the bed anymore and he locked the door and I said um what's up? What's going on? And he was like, you know, coming out. He was pulling my clothes. He was I have bruises. I have bruises on my legs when he was, you know, holding me down. And we was like bouncing back and forth. He um he had a gun. He actually fired it off. But they had um on the table it was um a knife. It was cigarettes. It was beer bottles. And I grabbed the first thing. What was the first thing? The first thing was a knife. It was a knife. So first thing was a knife and I stabbed him. You stabbed you stabbed Sack. Yeah. How did you stab him? Like I got him stab in the front. In the back. In the front. And where were you? Where were you when you stabbed him in the room? He was um right in front of the door. Right in front of the door. And he chas me around the room. Still chased you around the room. The first thing I grabbed. Then he fell. He actually fired off. He fired off a shot. The first thing I grabbed. Um the second thing was a limp. I just impulse. It was all impulse. A lamp. Yeah. And swinging it. I started swinging the lamp. I was not sure. I swung it. I swung it. I swung it. I was so scared. I was so scared because I've never been in that situation before. Never. I'm like, I don't bother anybody. I'm not I'm not, you know, violent. Although Emirita claimed she wasn't violent, her criminal past proves otherwise. Prosecutors later went on to discover that she had been previously convicted and imprisoned because of a violent felony. Let's retract a little bit. Okay, you get there cuz we need to go step by step. We're going a little bit fast. Okay. Yeah, we're going real fast. Okay, let's let's retract. We're going to go back to You arrive there at five. Five. Is that right? Okay. You got there five to what? Do what? Just hang up. Just hang up. Okay. Now, you know Sack from another guy named John. This is the first time that you've seen Sack. No, it's the second time. This the second time. And what do you what do you know of him? I really don't know. Does he deal drugs to you? Does he What? I mean, he deals drugs. He deals drugs. Okay. So, what what do you usually buy off of him? I don't buy anything, which is cool. You don't buy no weed? No. You don't buy no You don't buy no You don't buy none of that. Okay. So, you guys go ahead and you guys start hanging out there. You just sitting on the bed just Yeah, we just chilling. It's like I would say me and you know. Okay. Chill. So, then at what time? So, explain to me from there conversation. What are you guys doing with Yeah, they was like listening to music. It was like normal, you know. The vibe was the vibe was good. Everything was good. The vibe was good. I was chilling, you know. I felt comfortable. And then it was like little gestures like, "Okay, have you ever you ever had you ever did this or you know like questions that made me feel uncomfortable?" So the whole time Who was asking you those questions? Both of them. Both of us was asking like weird questions. You know what I'm saying? I never even seen the other guy. I was going to ask who all was in the room. Yeah. I don't even know the other guy. I I can't tell you his name. How many people were in the room? It was three. Me, me, two dudes and you. Okay. Okay. And then Yeah. So throughout the whole night, you know, that's how you know couple hours. Time flies by and then I felt uncomfortable and I said, "Okay, it's time for me to go." So you left. You left how on foot on in the car? So how far did you get down the street? And I which way? Cuz that street cuts two ways. You can go back like through 535 or you can go back to 192. Which way did you go? I made a left. You made a left. So you went under the paths that No, I went out the front. I made a left. You made out the front left. Okay. So, you're heading back to like and I made a U-turn. I I actually text and I said, "Hey, y'all still over there?" Mhm. And then I called and I said, "Yo, you text who s?" Okay. And what did you say? I left my room key. Okay. I said, "Um, you back at the room." You text him. I left my key. No, I called him. You called? I text him first and I said, "Hey, are y'all still y'all still in there?" Yeah. And he didn't text back. So, I called. So, you called? Who' you call? I called Zach. Okay. You called his cell phone? Yeah, I called his phone. Why did you leave your phone in the car? Um, it was in the car the whole night. Do you I mean, since I was in That's out of the ordinary. Most people's phones I had two phones. I didn't go on with two phones. I was going I was going to Britney car 5:00 in the morning. You what? I was going in Britney's car at 5:00 in the morning. You know, Britney, Emorita's girlfriend, had been with her for about 6 months. And it was in Britney's car that Emorita drove to the day's end to meet Zachary and Andrew. However, she will play a much more important role in this investigation as you will find out later on. So you cuz Britney would be blowing your like that. You know what I'm saying? You know so she'd be pissed off the phone and then you know some dudes in the background. Yeah. What the you doing? What you doing? You know any respect. Yeah. I respect it. So you called him. What did you say? When I called him, I text him first. Okay. I text him. I said, "Hey, y'all still looking." Okay. And he didn't text back. So I called. I said, "Yo, I left my room key. I wasn't going to be able to get back in the room. I stand at the Hilton the first door. I couldn't I got back to the room. He called Britney. Hey Britney." Yeah. Not good. He still wasn't good. You know what I'm saying? So um he said, "Yeah." And I walked in there and the room key wasn't there. It was on the bed. Okay. You know, I turned around like So he let you in. He let you in. Yeah, he let me in. Okay. Okay. What's going on? And he said, "So you going to have to You going to what? You going to have to suck some You going to have to suck this." Sack tells you that? Yeah. Zack. Yeah. He tells you that. Yeah. Why? It's the second time you've hung out. You hung out all night and now he's going to try and tell you to suck his Okay. And then and then what happened? Like I told you throughout on it was weird. I was asking weird questions like you know do you I'm not trying to make this it was making me very uncomfortable when you first start fighting. Where do where do you start market? Where where you standing? Okay. He open the door. I walk in. I'm put the door right here cuz that's kind of far right here. I walk in. This a table right here and the chairs. And the chairs I walk in. Okay. This is where I left the key at. This is where because I didn't move around in the room period. Okay. Okay. When I came in, this is where I sit. I sat at the whole time. The whole night. This is where I was. Okay. I called him. When I left, I left. I said, "I left my room key." I text him. I called him. He let me in. Okay. When I walked in, I walked towards the bed. I turned around and he was standing there. Okay. My room key wasn't there, period. I said, "What's going on, bro?" He said, "Bro, you going to have to suck some up." Okay. I don't know if he was insinuating to get my key or whatever, but before then, they were making me very uncomfortable. Okay. So, first instinct is get the up out of there. I need to get the hell up out of there. Okay. Cuz I'm going to get or he going to put this what's going to happen. Okay. So, you guys started fighting here. Okay. the table. All of this is close. This room's big. That room is little. Yeah. That room's That room's little. Okay. It's really little. So, you guys are fighting. Where do you guys go from the fighting here? I don't know. We We was all We was all over the room. But the first thing I grabbed was on that table. Was on this table. On that table was a knife. It was cigarettes. It was beer. It was drugs on that table. And that's the first thing I grabbed. That's the first thing you grab. And then and then so you're both fighting at this point. And then you stabbed them. And then when does the gun come out? Yeah, the gun was already out. So So our question I guess is when does the gun come out? At at this point. When I ran to the table. When you ran to the table, you run to the table because you guys are fighting and I guess he sees you're reaching for something. He pulls out the gun. Yeah. Okay. So then does he come after you here or do you go back over him or what? What the hell happened? Coming after me the whole time. We was going at it the whole time. So then you stab him from there. And it was in the front. Yeah. Okay. And he's still chasing me. Which hand you use? I use pushing. You're right hand. You're right. Are you right-handed? Yeah. Okay. So you stab him with the right. The stabbing starts happening here. Here we are. Okay. Um I jump. I'm running across. I'm running across the room. He's chasing me across the room the whole time. Okay. To his bed, around the room, across the floor. Okay. I pick up a lamp. And I swing it. I swing it. You swing it out. What happened? I think that's when he he fell. Where'd you hit him with it? I hit him on the body. Okay. And then after that, I don't know. Okay. So then where does he where does he fall at? Where does he fall at? Put where he falls at. Where does he fall? He fell over here. Okay. Put This is where he fall. Okay. So, he falls here. Okay. So, he falls here. Is that right? Okay. And then you see him falling. What happens? I hit him. You hit him. What you mean you hit him? Did you stab him again? You don't chase him no more. So he was down and you started kept stabbing him or hit him with the lamp. Okay. And then and then what happened was shot. According to Emirita, she arrived at the hotel around 5:00 a.m. driving Britney's car. For the next few hours, she, Zachary, and Andrew hung out, talking, drinking, and killing time until things took a turn around 8:00 a.m. Emorita left the room because of sexual remarks allegedly made by Zachary, but forgot her car keys inside. So, she texted Zachary, letting him know she was coming back to get them. This is when the main altercation broke out. Emirita claims that Zach tried to assault her. In response, she grabbed a knife and a lamp and killed him. With this version of events, she's managed to muddy the waters because on the surface, she's no longer the attacker. She's a victim who fought back to defend herself. That is until you notice two major problems with this story. Firstly, despite claiming she had to fight for her life during a violent struggle with Zachary, Emorita showed no significant or visible injuries that could support her story. Investigators were unable to find any defensive wounds or trauma that would be expected from a close quarter fight involving a knife and a lamp. This in turn directly contradicts her self-defense narrative. The second and even harder to explain problem comes down to Andrew. Because if Emorita was only defending herself from Zach, then how did Andrew end up with his throat nearly slit? The reasoning for which is about to be one of the most absurd things Emorita has said so far. There's more to it. So, what happens next? I don't think so. I was in the clear. Mhm. Dude came in. But you said you were hiding behind the door. No, I was I was I was on the wall. I heard him. I was on the wall. He walked in. No. Did he see you? Where'd you stab him at? In the neck. What you say? Is it like a stab? Is it a slash? Is it a punch? Yeah. Was it side to side or was it like a like this or was it like side to side? Yeah, it was a swing. It was a swing. Is that what was uh done to Zach, too? You're swinging at it. You cleared it. I know what I'm saying. You cleared it after the other dude. But with Zack, with Zack, I remember running from him, fighting with him. I remember him shooting. I remember stabbing. I remember hitting hitting with the That's what I know. Okay. Everything my turn, everything was red. It was even black out. It was like a get the hell out of this. Enraged impulse. What happened to the weapons? What happened to I took the weapon. I took the I don't know where the knife at you. And where's the gun at? The gun? It was in my book bag. Where's that at? It was in my bag in the trunk. It's in the car. Um why do that to the second guy? He didn't really show any aggression towards you. I didn't know that you had your chance to bounce. I didn't know that. You know up with the one. I mean, you know what I'm saying? I saw him. I didn't know he was going to do. I know what you want me to do. I didn't wait on You said no. I wasn't behind the door. I was on the wall. You positioned yourself behind the door so that you weren't you when I heard him, I stood on the wall. I was scared. You got to think about my situation. Think about me. I understand what you you trying to Yeah. So put yourself in my trying to justify that. We're trying to understand. You got to give us credit for that. We're trying to understand it and we're giving you an opportunity to tell your side of the story. However, he walk in. I ain't believe I was going to get out of here. But you had a gun and knife. They're friends. It don't matter. But you got the gun in his hand. And you know this dude ain't armed. I don't know where he is. I don't know where he is. But I'm saying you got the upper hand right now. He is. What I'm thinking is get the out of here. So So you stab him. Really? I mean like bro, you could you could have been like I'ming out. You know what I'm saying? Whatever it was, but you freaking shanked the dude. Why not shoot him in the leg or dude? Homeboy was I mean whatever happened between you and Zach was done. You know what I'm saying? This dude's just a straight up. Was it because you're like he he knows who I am or or what? I don't know who I am. Okay. So then that's that's gone. That excuse is gone. I mean like I was scared honestly. I was I didn't know what the he was going to come in there and do. I didn't know what he was going to do in my mind at that moment was defense. Defense had the I don't know what he was making both they was asking weird. They made me very uncomfortable. I came back. He was he was gone. Zack was in the room. know what the hell you going to come back and do regardless of anything. I'm just getting to to dude number two. I'm more I'm homeboy was straight up like an innocent bystander. I mean this guy's just at the defense and clear. How was it defense? Because I didn't know what he was going to do. So let me run a scenario about you. I'm walking down a busy street, a busy sidewalk. Dude comes by me. I don't know what he's going to do. Do I have the right to just stab him? But that's not a good scenario. Okay. I get into a fight with dude A. You're about to be, let's say you in jail. Okay. You in a cell. You f to be say room this big. Okay. Okay. You about to you defending yourself. You don't know what this man to come in here and do. You know he got a roommate. Mhm. You know all y'all in jail. You fighting for your life. You do what you I'm He gave you a scenario. You do what you you do what you going to do to try to get out of there. He come in. What's your first instinct? You're not thinking about anything. If I better off impulse a knife in my hand. It's off impulse. But in jail, you're in jail. You have the freedom to run out to push him out. Hell, there was a phone in the room. Off impulse. You know what I'm saying? There was a phone in the room. Impulse. Okay. It's all impulse. All right. But impulse is tough. Impulse is not I mean it's something that you've done before. We've already established that you're not a violent person. I could understand if you had been through eight million fights, you've done this, you've trained, whatever it is. I I want to start somewhere though. I do want to start somewhere. You said that you text them before you went back, right? Just to just to make sure that we have a credibility, that we're building up some type of credibility here. Um we're going to go check that out real quick. I'm gonna be right back because right now there's some details missing and I just want to make sure we're going right down the right road. Okay, I am going to see that text message there. Right. Okay. This break in the interview may have happened because the interrogation had hit a wall. Emorita was sticking to her story and refusing to admit any malicious intent, but that didn't mean she was off the hook. Because soon investigators discovered evidence that painted a much, much different picture than what Emorita claimed. While searching Emorita's belongings, they found a stolen credit card, one that belonged to Zachary. This flips the narrative completely on Emorita, as instead of her vision of self-defense, it now looks like a robbery gone wrong. And by the time detectives return, they are finally ready to begin putting all the puzzle pieces together. Is there anything else you want to tell us further about happened in that room? Any other details? It's just some stuff we need to understand. So why So this just happened, right? Something traumatic, something that you weren't expecting. Correct. Why? Why take the lamp? Why take the I don't have enough time to put it on the bed. Why? I'm going to lose. I'm going to lose lose. That's what you're thinking. I'm going to lose. You're trying to clean up. Trying to try to get yourself out of there as much as you can. And then even if you try to do that, I'm in the system. My fingerprints everywhere. I don't have time for that. I grab that. I grab that and I deal. And even if you try to do that now, another guy, second guy comes up. Pretty much an innocent guy. It wasn't a thing. If you if you just look at none of that makes sense. None of that makes sense. It wasn't no thought about. It was all in reaction. Everything was in reaction. It wasn't like a oh, I'm going to sit. I'm going to contemplate. I'm contemplating this or it would have been cleaner then it would have been it would have been a my car would have been running it would have been I wouldn't have turned around I would have I would have left earlier than that I would have left you know what I mean it wasn't I believe that did you take anything else no did you take their IDs credit card ID you didn't take no letter you didn't take none no wallets from them nothing no I didn't take no you Sure. So none of their property will be in that car. Zack sat in the car because that's her car. That's Britney's car. Yeah, that's Britney car. You said Zach sat in the car. Why? When? Earlier. Earlier. I come. Cuz we had walked out. If you see Okay. If you see, he also text me I'm hungry. He text me I'm hungry. That's before I pulled up. So I walked in. Before that, I told you it was a vibe. this cool vibe. I know none of this ain't making sense. So, if you want to, we can we can start over. Let's start over. Yeah, let's start over. Let's start from the beginning. What's going on? Let's let's if we look through the text messages before we get there, he sent me he sent me a text. What room number he was in? Supposed to just go hang out. Okay. He text me I'm hungry. So, initially before I came, we supposed to go get something to eat. So, he sat in the car. Mhm. But we didn't we didn't leave. We just sat there. He talk for a minute. We went back inside. I hadn't even taken my beer in there yet. Then I took my beer in there. What changed? I don't know. Because just talking in the car. I'm hungry right now. We're talking. It ain't going. You know what I'm saying? He text me up. Okay. And I said, "Man, you still want to get something to eat?" Uhhuh. So he comes up in the car and we start talking about He start telling me about how he can how we can come up basically how he can show me the ropes, how he can, you know. So I'm like, you know, I can show the ropes like sound a little bit dope or whatever. Make a little money on the side. That's fine. Okay. So he's he's thinking maybe we can make this maybe you can make some money. He can make some money. It's all good. But it wasn't like no exchange. He it was just talk, you know? It was just talk. Yeah, that's it. You never agreed with him to pick up any weed. I better cook. Oh, no you don't. But you weren't getting weed for anyone else? No. Okay. He's talking to you about this business proposition maybe or just talking, right? Maybe make a little more money. What makes you guys go back in? It wasn't a competition like Well, you know, just talking crap, whatever. just talking, making plans, seeing where you were at maybe just And then you guys go back in in the room and this guy's in there, this other kid, he never came to your car also. No. Okay. And then when you decide when you decide to come back, this is after you leave. What's your frame of mind? Are you upset or anything? No. I'm like, I'm I'm in deep [ __ ] Britney going to kick my That's what I'm thinking to myself. I need that's what I'm thinking. She grown me up. I still don't want to answer the phone. You know, she gr me up. I been with Did you take any weed and transport it? Was it in your car? There was no weed in your car. If it's weed in there, it was already It wasn't his. It was I didn't take anything from saying you took anything from him. I'm just saying. Was there any weed that you were already transporting in the car? No, cuz I know I know Britney smokes weed. I mean, I'm not a drug cop. I'm not ask for that. I don't deal with dy bags and stuff. It's not like we do. You know what I'm saying? But I know but I know Britney smokes weed. I mean, she already told us she smoke weed. So, ain't no issue. But were you will you get some weed for her? No, I had already got something. You already got some for her. And it was in fact Britney who would go on to confirm the suspicions these detectives have. According to her, she was outside the room when all of this happened. At the time, Emorita had taken out a knife from her clothes, and based on Britney's description, it matched the murder weapon. While this might implicate Britney as well, she was let off because of her cooperation and truthful statements. Emorita, on the other hand, has been put in a difficult position. Not only had she never mentioned that Britney was outside during the attack, she also claimed the knife had been picked up and that she didn't bring it. Now she finds herself in a tough spot as her carefully thought out story begins to crumble. This is the situation. Okay, she's involved. We don't want to involve her. We appreciate you being, you know, she's not she was too. Well, the the problem is you involved her whether you like it or not. And and I'm going to be honest with you. What's she going to jail? I don't know that. I don't know. Fact of the matter is I got stuff in that car. It's my stuff. It's her car. No, it's not. It's in her mom's name. And who's in possession of it? I am. She is. I am. She says it's me. When you pulled me out the car, I was in the driver's seat. And where was the stuff at? In the trunk. And my stuff. None of that was in her stuff. She's saying she smokes weed and it's her car. Was she going to get a misdemeanor weed charge? Well, no. We're we're we're trying to explain something way bigger than me and that's what you're trying to explain to us. No, what I'm trying to explain is why you keep throwing Britney up when Britney has nothing to do with my cuz you're not letting me finish my sentence. Can you let me finish my sentence? You understand what I'm trying No, I didn't say that. You said that. I asked if she was or not. I said I don't know. You know my regardless, I was at a lose lose when I went back. I was I'm trying to clear her right now. You're making it hard for me. I'm not easy. No, you're not. I really am. You think you are, but you're not. You're you're in the honest. Why would you be a lose-lose when you went back? I mean, because if I want to go back, then I wouldn't have been in that situation, right? But did you know was going to go south when you went back then? How did you How was it a lose-lose? I didn't know. And and I don't know if you understand this, but I know you don't like me mentioning Brady, but we literally trying to literally clear her to like get her back to her life. Britney was at a hotel. I understand that unfortunately you are you sure? Yeah. It's the Hilton by Seville Southwest. The second dude I probably the second guy I don't even know how I didn't even think about it but I thought I he was I heard him. I knew it was him you know. I knew it was him. I knew who it was. He didn't come in. It's me against him. It's like me. It's my life. That's what I'm thinking. This my life, man. It's It's my life. I'm getting out of here. That's feel like I'm in a box. Feel like I'm in a box like this. The room's that small. I don't see nothing else. This what I'm seeing. Yeah. But he walked past you and then you struggled. So ultimately, you could have let him keep walking and you could have got the out of dodge. He saw him. So, but he kept he was I didn't give him a chance. Did you hit Did you hit the second bed? He jumped to the second bed. Zach chased after you. Where did the uh where was he at when the majority of his uh injuries? Have you tried to quit drugs? I'm not even on drugs. I [ __ ] off sometimes. So, it's just a little chilling thing. But if you tried to like, hey, man, maybe I should do this. No. Cuz I don't do it. You don't do it too often. Ultimately, like if you wouldn't have been near these guys, it would have happened and you were probably there for the the wrong reasons. You know what I'm saying? Staying. Cuz you say maybe if the drugs weren't there, this the drugs are contributing factor to this happening. I think that was a contribute factor over what the hell he was thinking cuz he had like that when I first met him. So what else could it have been? You know, I know y'all might not believe that. No, we see the effects. I'm surprised like so seriously. It's like what's up, bro? We see we seeing this this what's up, bro. That's what I'm thinking. That's why I'm looking at this guy. What the like what? He in front of the door. What the Like what the hell are you doing? And you didn't get no weed from him that day. Did he do you know anything about him? He didn't talk about any anything about himself or any I know that he um he said he had a daughter like you know he Yeah. He Yeah, he had a daughter. Um he said he really been out there by himself his whole life. You know what I'm saying? You know I click with him because I don't I don't trust I don't trust people easy. You know, like I'm I'm by myself. I don't mess with anybody. I don't, you know, I don't have this people that I love people. Don't get me wrong. But when you came back, the same guy that you clicked with, the same guy that you thought he was cool betrayed you. He betrayed you. He fooled you. He He did something that you weren't expecting. And obviously, you had to fight back, right? He fooled you. And there's something there's something component to this, I think. Whether it's money or whatever the heck it is, the drugs, you know, but at the end he he was a drug dealer. And guess what? To move what he has, people give him money for that, right? That's what he does. Everybody we talk to, they know sack sack sack the deals go. They know. You know that you've got stuff from him before. We know that. We can prove that. It's only one. You know what I'm saying? The one other time that I talked about. We can prove that already. We already knew that. I didn't. Okay. Throughout this conversation, Emirita has claimed she acted purely out of self-defense. But Andrew's injuries proved otherwise. When he was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries, trauma surgeons made several interesting discoveries. There was a deep laceration across his neck and several other stab wounds present across his body. More importantly, the nature of these wounds suggested that they were not defensive. Rather, it was certain they were meant to be lethal. Unfortunately for Emorita and fortunately for Andrew, he survived. This in turn means that even if Emorita's story is to be believed, she can never explain why she attacked Andrew, a bystander with the intent to kill. That morning you went out to get some weed. And the weed wasn't for you. It was for I had been out all night. Whatever the case, I had been out all night long. Fact of the matter. I didn't got that weed. I didn't get it. The fact of the matter is you get Britney weed. It's not the first time. It's not from Zack. And you had I didn't say it was from Zack. All I'm saying is that night. I had been out all night. You were you were you were going to bring Britney back some week. I didn't say that you went there for that. I didn't say that you got it from Zack. I said you have done that in the past. If Britney was up, I probably would have stayed at a hotel with her. Oh, no. She's asleep. I believe that. I didn't want to I wanted to chill. I tell you I said Brit put on some clothes. Yeah. I said I said put on some clothes, man. We going to ride. I passed out. I wasn't going to bother. So I left. I did. She tell you, I hang out by myself all night. I chill in the parking lot all night. I drank my beer, you know, and just chill, listen to music, vibe, cuz that's who I What were your plans for you and Britney if this wouldn't happen? We probably would have went and got something to eat. No, no, no. I mean long long term. Long term. What would you think? I just want to see how it happened. I don't You want to see what happen? Well, obviously I progress. That's it. Obviously, you knew something happened. Obviously, you knew this incident took place. What he's asking is like, what were you gonna do because you had to nervous myself? I couldn't. Huh? I couldn't live with myself. I probably would have I probably would have killed myself or turned yourself in. Would that been here? Would you were you guys I mean, were you running through your mind like goddamn I got to get out of town. We got to got to go back to Georgia. got to go. No. Huh? It's like am I going to turn myself in? I'm off myself. Have you ever tal to Britney about sex? She know about I talk to Britney about Chico. I call him Chico. Like I've been cool. He's cool, man. You call Zach Chico? No, I call John Chico. That's all. Okay. She don't know. She don't know nothing about anything that going on with me. I I don't involve her in nothing. That's why she don't go. If I do anything, if I do anything, then that's it's by myself. She's never in the car with me. She don't do nothing for me. Britney smoke a little weed and that's it. That's why I keep it. I don't tell her where I get no weed from. If I get it for if I Britney smoke weed before I met her. So me So me I ain't I have nothing to do with you know that. I don't smoke weed. I'm a drinker. I drink. So I said I don't with that. If I do, then it'll be I think I think you're telling the truth about pretty much about everything except for one thing. And the fact of the matter is I'm still kind of trying to figure out because I look Sack is dead. He's dead. Okay? And obviously, you know, when somebody's dead, there's going to be an autopsy done, okay? And we're going to find out what was in the system. We're going to find all that out. Okay? And maybe but listen maybe he wasn't maybe when you were going you came back right for whatever reason if it was a hotel key that hotel key whatever the fact of the matter is that when you go to leave okay you're saying hey you ain't let me leave okay that's fine but something else happened there because according to everything that we know now and the room okay it's not being consistent with everything that you're saying. It is cuz I'm telling you my story. My story is not going to change cuz I'm telling you the truth. The truth is the truth. And I can't change what's in the room. You can't change what what I'm telling you. Okay? Because I was in there and I knew what I did. I didn't lie to you guys when y'all came in here and asked me anything. I mean honest with you from Well, your story changed a little bit. I didn't try to hide anything, right? You your story changed just a little bit details. Like I said, couple that's taken away. I took I took the lever and I took the wood back and I tossed that on the highway. You go down there, I'm pretty sure you'll find it cuz it wasn't like a it wasn't premed. It was like it wasn't premeditated. Where was I throwing that at? I don't know. I drove I told you I drove for a long time. I need to get this out of here. Was there any gas stations nearby? Was there any businesses? Burger King, Crap Donald, anything like that? That's like it was like some buildings and then it was like it was a country and it wasn't even I know where I was going. I was like did this really it was surreal. Everything was surreal to me. I believe everything I'll tell you right now what he just said about autopsy. I was there he was stabbed more than once. I don't remember him stabbing more than I remember eating with that lamp. That lamp was not did not cause those injuries. I was hitting him in the head with Okay. The lamp. A lamp. Remember the knife? Well, it was really I told you. Could you think you had the lamp or you were looking at the lamp? Could it possibly been the lamp in my hand? Who was the lamp? Cuz that's how we So, how do we explain all these cuts then? No, I can't. Stab them. I don't even remember. Do you know where you do you know where else you coming? No, I remember stabbing. People you stabbed them many times. Listen, you stabbed him so many times. It's almost too many times to count. Impossible. No, it's it's possible. We have a body. That's possible. I remember the I remember stabbing him once. Well, no, cuz you said earlier twice cuz you said you hit him on directly once and you hit him on the side. No, I didn't sit inside the back. No, I didn't. I sit in the chest. Yeah, you did. Replay. Look, it was a hard moment. We understand. It was a moment where you I don't remember stabbing him more than that one. Was overkill. I don't remember. There's such thing shouldn't be killed. I would have done that. But you did. You did. You did it. You did. I'm here. We know. I mean, there's I'm just trying to let you I'm trying to give you who did it. Was it Was it Was it somebody waiting outside? Was there a driver? Right now, there's no reason for me to lie to you. I'm telling you the truth. There's no reason for the people. No, there's no reason for less than. No, there's no less than nothing. I ain't asking no lawyer. I ask I came here voluntarily. I ain't saying [ __ ] to you. I ask for nothing. I ain't asking my mom. I love no mother to death. Yeah, you hear me? I got you. Seriously, I'm sitting here by myself. Okay, I am cooperating. Absolutely telling you the full truth. I don't tell you the truth. Okay. Shortly after this, detectives would give Emirita another break and step out for several minutes. But before moving on to the next round of questioning, it is important to understand the kind of layout the hotel room likely had. Dayen can offer either a bedroom with one king-size bed or one with two queen-siz beds like shown in this diagram. Both with an attached bathroom. The one that Emorita, Zachary, and Andrew booked was the ladder with two beds. Repeatedly, Emorita has stated the entire altercation with Zachary happened somewhere close to the beds and she escaped immediately afterwards. What does not match up with this is the fact that blood was found inside the bathroom sink, which means that Emorita tried to clean herself and maybe even the knife of the blood. Now, detectives will return and go through one final confrontation in order to point out more holes in Emorita's story. Just took a little break. T's been wrong the whole time anyway, but it's 3:37. Um, got your cigarette, everything like that. Hope that went well. Um, just a couple little things here. I know we talked about round three or whatever it was, whatever you want to call it. Um, you said you've been honest and everything just for the labeling of this ugly room here that we got going on. Door said it was small. Oh, I believe me, we know. I mean, it's it's small room. So, to the best of your recollection, what you I know you said it went red, um, blacked out. What some of the words used that type of stuff, right? How many times do you think you actually stabbed? I remember stabbing him the first time. Okay. The lamp. So, those are the two big things that you remember. And a stab took place at the front door. Swinging at the other door. Where did Where did he go after that? He chased me. I jumped over the bed. I jumped on my bed. Uhhuh. And he was even like tustling on the second bed on the wall. I jumped off. Back up a little bit. What did you just say? We was even like tussling on the bed. Mhm. Over here. Like on the wall. It's a wall, right? Yeah. In the corner next to that other bed. Okay. That that makes sense based upon what we saw in the room. That makes absolute sense. That's where I was trying to go earlier with the second bed. And uh so you end up over here in the corner. By the corner, I mean by the second bed over here furthest in the corner by the bathroom. Where did you That's why you asked me about this cuz I Well, this is more over here. I'm talking about this specific right corner. I like that because that makes a lot of sense. So, and when we ran back, when we ran back, I ran back to work. All I know is I was running scrambling around this damn room. Yeah. Okay. Remember jumping over the beds? Mhm. I remember grabbing that damn lamp. I went hitting him with that damn lamp. Remember jumping over this damn bed. Where? Okay. Where was that that lamp at? Was it on this bed or nightstand thing in between? And when you say lamp, was it how tall was it? God us. Yeah, it was it was ones that taller. Yeah, maybe a little bit taller. Okay. It was silver. Silver. All right. Um, you ran around the room. He ends up here in between the beds. Yeah, cuz I kept in like knife. Yeah, with the lamp. With the lamp. Where was the knife at at that point? I don't know. So, I said, "I don't." So, he said, "I don't." But you later got the knife cuz it was used on the second dude at that at that point. I picked the knife up. It was on the floor. I don't know. Okay. And then at what point did he fire the gun? When he was on the floor when he was on his back when he fired it up and it hit you. Were you wearing those same pants? No. Where are those pants at? They bag. The book bag that you threw out or the So, what' you wear home? Long pants. All my clothes in the car. So, the pants that would support your story basically are gone. Can you think of maybe where those pants to help you out a little bit would be found? Really? You understand what I'm trying to say? If there's a freaking bullet, if there's a graze, you know, they can prove he shot you. Yeah, it is. You You want to see the woman? What were you? We'll get to that. We'll get to that moment next. Can you think of where those pants could be found? Them guys on the side of the road. But you understand if it's if it's the road that I'm thinking of. If it's a six lane road, right? 192 from the way. It was four. Four. Okay. Four. Whatever it is. But there's a lot of businesses, a lot of red lights and all sorts of [ __ ] That was like in cuz I cuz I drove for I I just but you know out there where that hotel's at the days ends out there in the tourist corridor a lot of like the ID dryish you know bunch of businesses tourist it was not okay but that's where that place is initially located and then you got to keep going. It sounds like you went east if you hung a left there at the light and then you said you saw signs for St. Cloud. You're heading east. Um, this is an important confession from Emorita as the location of the bag with a knife and gun is something that only the killer would know. When detectives are able to recover this, it will only build the case further against Emorita. We're going to keep going a little bit. So, he fires a shot. I keep that. Keep Yeah, I thought he was passed out. I thought he was just So, I grab everything. Grab him. Do you remember seeing blood? Where was blood at? There was blood like on his hands. Blood on the ground. I remember seeing blood. I remember seeing blood on that wall. I thought it was I thought it was for me. I don't know. On this corner wall, do you remember seeing blood over here by the initial by like the air conditioner and all that stuff? No. And it was tling over there cuz that's where I grabbed the tussling. Were you tussling in this corner over here too? I started the door. That's where the table was. That's where the window was and this was tussling. That's where I saw the dude at now and that's where I saw the dude at and the dude because was in front of the window was tling. Was the curtains closed or open? They was like shuffling but they were but you know you know they down the curtain was being moved. Yeah. So he had to see bro like he had Were you screaming? Yeah. I was like I was like like stop bro stop. That's why I kept stop bro like what you doing? Stop. Yeah. All right. I'm a good person. Like I'm I feel bad but I was like did he deserve this [ __ ] like you know you have a lot of thoughts in your mind like I I had a lot of thoughts in my mind like you know especially like past day you know like [ __ ] I don't know what's going on. Um what's your what like let's I know we talked about phones and all that [ __ ] earlier but what's your phone records going to show? Who have you talked to over the last day or two? Said nobody. You didn't call that hotel after when you left that when you left after those two dudes after that that that incident. You never called back to that hotel. We were honest with you. We've been truthful with you. What did you say? You said you'd say back, right? Did you call that hotel after transfer to see if anybody else? Okay. You try to get I'm sorry. Just for clarification, you tried getting transferred to that room to see if anybody answered. Why? Were you hoping it was going to be one of us that answered or one of those guys? It was going to be one of them guys. What you said to them? I mean, either they picked up, right? You got a guilty guilty conscience at that point. When you called, did you what did you tell the operator? Do I you didn't identify yourself and was anybody else? You only called back one time. How how how quick after the incident was that? It was a minute. I know. I know what like street minute is like. Yeah, it was a while. Couple hours. Hour. Hour or two. Okay. Cuz that's when everything start settling. You know what I'm saying? I was zone for a minute saying, "Okay, what what happened?" You know, sometimes everything was so real. I understand. First, dude, whatever whatever the story is behind that. What about number two? I mean, would you say 1,000% innocent bystander in that situation? I'm not trying to put words in your mouth. I'm just What do I say to his family? Like, I mean, it don't seem like he did anything, you know? I I we got to say something. I didn't know what he was. There's no just Yeah. There's no justification. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. You know, I'm I'm not trying to like justify my actions. I told you that kid right there had nothing violent like at that time. I don't know. Like I told you, I don't know. But we're we're talking about the second guy cuz we're really trying to understand and we got to explain to his family cuz his family's like [ __ ] I mean his family's like what what happened? Like this kid's never done it in his life. This kid didn't even get to you know what I'm saying? this good wrong place, wrong time I guess maybe. You know what I'm saying? That's a horrible excuse that we have to say, you know, it's horrible. Like imagine being us like saying nothing. Yeah. You know, comfort a mom like you know what I'm saying? Like we're just trying to understand that, but at the same time it's kind of like there was there was some time there. So it's like, okay, where's the line to stop? You know what I'm saying? All right, he's down. Is he down for sure? We don't know. But you're going to make sure he's down, right? So at that point, this all happens. You hear the door. Next kid comes in and it's like he had a plate of freaking omelets in his hand. You know, he had omelets in his hand. He didn't have no gun. Knife. What we had talked about was you were armed. Yeah. You know, think about it. You know what I'm saying? You think you think he was scared? You think he was scared? What the hell is this? But imagine being him. You walk, you know, understand, you know. Okay, it's me. I'm here. You know what I'm saying? I'm the What if what if it wasn't? What if I was in too and other guy was in he get the same question, right? Everybody get anybody who survives. Exactly. So, but do you ask these questions? You know what I'm saying? Because it's kind of like that. That's what process we go through, you know? And and this whole thing has been about us understanding this better. And to be honest, there's still probably some stuff in there that we we really can't explain. like the sink. What happened over by the sink? Something happened over by the sink didn't go there. So something happened by the sink. You know what I'm saying? There was no same mind there. There was there was no I was still in I was still in the fence. Like seriously, there was no point of of I didn't think about anything. I thought about me getting the hell up out of there. This dude going to come in here. I hear this dude coming in here. I don't know what he capable of either. I ain't think this dude was taking away anything. I'm in here I'm in here tussling like this dude is looking at this dude. See me help somebody help me. Somebody help me. Well, but when it was all said and done, you had enough sense to take the out of there. Like you talked about the lamp because of you touching it. You got your prints on file and all that. I mean, you were able to Yeah, it's My parents probably My parents were already in I know. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. But you you had enough mind to take that and take whatever you could and get the out of dodge and then throw that out somewhere. You know what I mean? So, I understand in the heat of the moment type of thing, but then came back and I won't say cover it up, but tried to cover it up a little bit, you know, trying to delay the inevitable. I didn't come back and cover. No, no. I'm saying no. No, no. I'm saying you took the you took some stuff with you when you left and then discarded it. You know what I'm saying? Threw it away. So, what we're going to do, um, we're going to collect some DNA. All right. I know you probably already thought about this. Um, I got an order to signed by a judge. Oh, that's cool. Okay. You've been highly cooperative all day today. everything like that except for you don't like our pizza, whatever. But uh joke. So I took the car about you. That's kind of messed up. I appreciate you. Yeah. You sure you're not going to eat it? Despite her elaborate story, Emirita's self-defense claims fell apart under forensic evidence and witness testimony. Zachary Gano, remembered by friends and family as a kind-hearted father, lost his life in what many described as a robbery disguised as self-defense. Originally, prosecutors sought out the death penalty against Emorita. However, on December 8th, 2017, Emorita avoided capital punishment by entering a no contest plea to the charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Consequently, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2024, she appealed the sentence, but Florida's appellet court denied the motion, affirming both her conviction and the punishment.