Deep Secret

Was A Missing Teen A Runaway Or The Victim Of A Serial Killer?

(CBS) 

Four months after Jeff Klee's body was found, there was another surprising development. The man police suspect of pushing Jeff and his van into the C-14 Canal agrees to talk to Detective David Weissman.

"Nobody thought he would come in, and then we got the call he was down in the lobby," Weissman says. "All the investigators were stunned."

David Cusanelli, now 50, arrives without an attorney.

"It was extremely important," says Weissman, "because there was no physical evidence. And we needed David's confession."

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David Cusanelli Interrogation
Watch excerpts of Cusanelli's interview with Coral Springs, Fla., police.

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But if David knows what happened to Jeff, he's not telling the team of detectives who question him.

Cop: Tell me about that night. Do you remember what time you left?
David Cusanelli: It had to be…
Cop: What time did you arrive? Who drove?
David: Jeff drove. Me and my brother went. Dropped me and my brother off at my parents house and that was it.

It's the same story he has always told, except for one crucial difference: for the very first time, David admits that he and Jeff had argued that night about Ginny Healy, Jeff's girlfriend.

"David admitted that Jeff was upset because he had found out that Ginny and him slept together," Weissman says.

Cop: Were you scared Jeff was going to hurt you that night?
David: No, no, no.

While police continue to press him in one room, what David doesn't know is that in another room, his older brother Carl - who also agreed to talk - is being interrogated. Police are hoping to find inconsistencies in the brother's stories.

David is confronted with Danna Holmes' statement that he had confessed to her that he had killed his best friend.

Cop: Why would she say something like that?
David: I have no idea. I never told her anything. I never told her that I killed Jeff Klee... I did not hit him with no rock. I did nothing like that.

David sticks to his story, even as he is egged on for hours. Then both brothers begin to waver on whether Carl had really been at the Crowne Lounge the night Jeff disappeared.

David: I thought he was in the van. Maybe another night he was in the van.
Cop: Where were you?
Carl: I don't remember. I thought I went to the bar with the two of them and that was it.

Weissman says that's when he went from talking to David to talk with Carl.

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Carl's Cusanelli's Interrogation
Watch excerpts of his police interview.

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After 3 1/2 hours, Carl appears to break. Weissman asks if there was any malicious intent with Jeff's disappearance.

Weissman: An accident is an accident, OK. As long as you can tell me there was no malicious intent, I’ll be fine with that, I really will be…
Carl: There was no malicious intent.
Cop: Thank you.

"And at that point, I could see that we were getting somewhere," Weissman tells Erin Moriarty.

Carl: David called me up and told me there was a problem. I guess I went out and met him. I must have helped him dispose of the vehicle. If I helped him push it in.

Carl does not give details and insists he never saw Jeff's body in the van.

Cop: What did he tell you happened to Jeff?
Carl: I don’t know. I vaguely come up with pushing the van into the canal, and I’m not even, I wouldn’t swear up and down that…
Cop: Come on.
Carl: I can’t think of anything else.

When police push him for more, Carl suddenly ends the interview.

Carl: I’m not gonna make something up. I don't know!
Cop: Come on Carl.
Carl: Do I need to get a lawyer at this point? Is that the point we’re at?
Cop: Are you requesting a lawyer?
Carl: I can't give you guys the answers you want.

But Carl has given the cops the ammunition they need to press David. Weissman shows David portions of his brother's taped interview.

"When we brought the video in the actual room of Carl confessing, David started to freak out a little bit," Weissman says.

David: I did not do it!
Cop: David, by your brother’s own admission, he helped you.
David: No friggin way! No friggin way!
cop: it’s your blood. it’s your blood
David: I did not kill Jeff. I did not.

Then, David changes his story. He begins to tell police how Jeff might have gotten hurt.

David: The only thing that could have happened is he was chasing me around the van, he tripped, fell, he hit his head.

Weissman believes David reached his breaking point after seeing Carl's interview with police and "seeing his own brother confessing to something they probably were gonna keep a secret amongst themselves their entire lives."

Cop: What’s the possibility that you grabbed something and threw it at him?
David: (shrugs) I threw a rock at him maybe?
Cop: Is that more reasonable?
David: It's possible. But I don't know…

Cop: Do you remember if that rock hit him in the head…
David: No, I don’t
Cop: …or did he trip and fall.
David: I don’t know if the rock hit him in the head or if it caused him to trip and fall or if it hit him in the body and then he tripped and fell…

Cop: Where did you see an injury?
David: Forehead, I would think, it was on his forehead.
Cop: How big of an injury?
David: I think it was split wide open.

The detectives finally feel like they are getting somewhere as David begins to reluctantly talk about that night. But he is never clear about how Jeff died or how he and Carl put the van in the water.

Cop: Did he jump back in the van with you and go down or did he follow you?
David: He would have followed me in his car…

David: If he was breathing, I wouldn't have put him in the canal, no way
Cop: Did you think there was a chance he could have been brought to a hospital?
David: If I thought there was, I would have.

48 Hours Mystery showed Jeff Klee's mother and sisters some of David's taped interview. She asks the family, "Do you think it's possible that Jeff wasn't dead when he was put in the-"

"That was one of the first questions I had," says Flossie. "How did they know he was dead? He could have been unconscious - totally unconscious." "And then drowned," adds Cyndy. "They aren't paramedics," says Flossie.

David: I thought it was a bad dream. So I woke up the next morning, I was like, no way did that (expletive) happen. No way…
David: Oh, my God! What did I do?

Weissman calls David Cusanelli's statement a confession. More than 9 1/2 hours after he arrived, David, now sobbing, goes home. The detective was hoping to charge David with homicide, but did not arrest him, explaining, "We wanted to review the case with the state attorney and make sure we had all our ducks in a row."

[wyo-kid]

I'd say the Cusanelli brothers will pay for this crime with troubled consciences for the rest of their lives.

[p_rowe]

I am still absolutely stunned. I was 13 in this circle of friends in Coral Springs when Jeff went missing and we all figured the pressure of having so much responsibility at such a young age had caused him to leave. As an adult, I believe in retrospect that we all knew deep down something was very wrong but, with a kid's optimism, wanting to believe our friend was alive and well, it was easier to romanticize it.

I cannot imagine how David has lived with this all of these years. I was closer in age to his younger brother Peter and even noticed a change in him, a troubled sadness (at the risk of sounding melodramatic). I just hope that, now that the truth is out, everyone, especially Jeff and David, can find some peace.

[enough-already]

"You will be judged by God almighty in the end. A suffering is in store for you that no man can imagine . God bless the family and bring them peace. Posted by mypatch

Well, which is it? Is you god a loving and forgiving god, that would bless the family and bring them peace? Or is your god an evil, vengeful god that will cause this person suffering that no man can imagine? Sounds like a pretty messed up god, if you ask me. Can't decide if it's good or bad, mean or loving and forgiving. That's why I think the whole god idea is a silly crock.

[stickdog3]

What never has been explained and likely wont, is what did the guy in Attica State Prison want to tell the daughter?

[stickdog3]

This is a very sad case. That girlfirend of Jeff at the time is the biggest culprit in all this. Shes the puppet master, who put this whole thing in motion. As far as the two brothers, they have died a thousand deaths already and since this has gone public they really will be tortured by their own selves. David will continue to drink and tell women about his involvement. Moral of the story - never be to trusting of anyone, Anyone. Nothing personal, but theres some scandalous women in this World. His girlfriend probably didn't think nothing of this at the time. I see this type stuff on the show "Cheaters" every week. They look at these guys as paper towels are sponges, soak 'em than toss 'em away. Be careful out there.

[cjhappycat]

Are u kidding. Yes a very sad case. But why would infidelity equal murder. There is no excuse for murder. Sounds like you have been burned by a woman so you are making excuses for a murderer.

[MiddleClassWorker]

Where does the "serial killer" part come in?

[mypatch]

My condolences to the family and now the mystery is solved. As for the perpretrators of this horrible act. You will be judged by God almighty in the end. A suffering is in store for you that no man can imagine . God bless the family and bring them peace.

[Dgunner]

Before you can finish reading this article the same thing happened 50 times elswhere and will not be discovered for years. It is upon our bother and sisters that we place the in humanity that is human. Sigmund Freud.

[ibsteve2u]

This appears to be a killing over an unfaithful girlfriend. But as the transcript shows, there appears to be no independent recollection, remember both had been drinking, of how the killing occurred. Obviously, there was no premeditation.
Posted by bajajohn1 at 10:20 PM : Jun 3, 2009

Concur...there appears to be plenty of personal guilt to go around, but not so much legal guilt.

Would have liked to have seen a picture of the two side by side - the victim, who the story reports as "strong", and the suspect, who the story describes as physically...de nada.

Makes a difference, when you're potentially talking about one strong, angry guy who is displaying an intent to wreak havoc over the infidelity of a woman.

[gramto8]

Wow, these people really got ripped! How sad that such a horrible crime can have a statute of limitations at all, let alone a measley three years! ...SNIP...

Posted by galsmiley at 1:02 PM : Jun 3, 2009

Did you notice in the article that it was stated that the law that was in place in 1977 when the crime occurred has since been changed?