One Deadly Mistake

Narrator: A desperate call for help.

It was total carnage.

They had to be extremely careful.

The killer could still be inside the house.

Narrator: The brazen gunman leaves nothing behind.

- The person who was responsible

Made sure that they covered their tracks.

We knew that we weren't dealing with

Our typical type of suspect.

Narrator: Just six weeks later,

Two more victims are found dead.

A mother and daughter found burned inside a vehicle.

The fire clearly showed me

That this person was trying to destroy any evidence.

That's when the panic sets in.

I've got nothing.

Narrator: Detectives must race to catch a killer

Before he takes another victim.

- This is by far the most sinister case

That I have ever investigated.

He would've continued everything he was doing...

Had he not made that one mistake.

Narrator: Prince george's county, maryland.

This quiet community,

Just a stone's throw from washington, d.C.,

Takes pride in its neighborly ways.

These are single-family homes,

Immaculate communities,

And the people are just wonderful.

Narrator: But it at 2:00 in the morning in January 2009,

While most people sleep peacefully,

A teenage girl makes a terrifying call.

The dispatcher tried to get more information,

But unfortunately, she hung up.

Narrator: A police car arrives in just minutes.

When the patrol officers responded to the scene,

They found that all the doors and the windows

Were closed and secure

Except for one window on the ground level.

They found that it was closed, but it was unlocked,

So they were able to open that window

And enter the house.

Once they entered the house,

They realized that they could smell

The odor of burnt gunpowder.

Narrator: Officers move through the house

As quickly as they can,

Hoping to find the caller

In time to save her life.

They cleared the first floor,

And they worked their way upstairs.

- They had to be extremely careful.

The person could still be inside the house.

Narrator: On the second floor,

Responders find a horrific scene.

It was total carnage.

16-year-old karissa lofton

Was found shot to death multiple times

In her bed,

And the mother, karen lofton,

Was found in her bedroom on the floor,

Shot multiple times.

It's unusual for us

To get a double murder...

And the biggest question that we all had

Was why.

Narrator: Inside the victims' bedrooms,

Detectives see that the killer left something behind.

We had four 9-millimeter shell casings

That were found inside karen lofton's bedroom...

And in karissa lofton's bedroom,

We found two 9-millimeter shell casings.

Narrator: The forensics team looks for clues

Pointing to a motive for the shootings,

But the killer appears to have covered his tracks.

Whoever did this

Went through that same window

That the police entered the house

And closed the window behind them

To make look as if

Nothing was disturbed

Or out of the ordinary,

And they did not leave their own fingerprints

Or dna behind.

Narrator: And the chilling double homicide

Doesn't appear to be a robbery gone wrong.

We didn't find anything that was obviously missing.

Karen's purse was still downstairs

Near the front door.

Tvs and computers were still in the home.

It appeared that there was no rhyme or reason behind it,

So I knew that we had something major on our hands.

Narrator: News of the shooting

Spreads through the neighborhood fast.

20-year-old kion lofton

Is just a few miles away when he hears the rumors.

I was staying over

At my girlfriend's house,

And her mother saw

Something on the news about a double homicide,

Two women on my street.

Narrator: Kion quickly jumps in his car

And drives to the home he shares

With his mother and sister.

I'm just speeding, you know, running red lights,

Just pleading, "please don't let it be them.

Please don't let it be them."

When I get to the street,

It's swarmed with police cars.

So I get out of the car,

And I'm asking, like, "is everything okay?"

And the detectives ask, "what's your name?"

And I say, "kion lofton."

And he just talks in his walkie-talkie, like,

"yeah, we got the son."

Right then and there, I broke down,

'cause I knew it was my mother and sister.

I called my brother

And broke the news to him.

I also called my father too.

I just couldn't believe it

Because my mom and sister--

They were so peaceful.

It didn't make any sense to me

For something like that to happen.

Narrator: At home, 45-year-old karen

Was a beloved mother of three.

My mom was very joyful.

Her personality was god-fearing.

She just loved life.

Narrator: At work,

She dedicated herself to caring for others.

- Karen was a very great nurse.

She was very serious about her job

And very strict about her education

And her nursing.

Narrator: 16-year-old karissa

Was a junior at riverdale baptist high school.

The conscientious student

Was still her daddy's girl.

Karissa was very special to me,

And I used to sing a song to her,

"butterfly kisses," and I always called her my butterfly.

We couldn't figure out

Who would wanna, you know, cause harm

To either one of them

'cause they were just such model citizens.

- As far as enemies that karen or karissa may have had,

We couldn't find any.

Karen and karissa didn't have any issues

With anyone we knew of.

Narrator: The day after the murders,

Investigators head to the ballistics lab.

Through the markings that were left

On the shell casings and the projectiles,

They knew the same gun was used

To fire all of the rounds

At that scene.

Narrator: Police hope for more clues

When they review the autopsy report,

But it adds little more than details

Of how ruthless the killer is.

- The autopsy showed that karen was shot

At a trajectory

To indicate that the shooter was standing over her

While she was on the floor

And shot her several times in the face.

As far as karissa lofton,

We believe that the shooter

Stood at the foot of her bed and shot her.

Narrator: The cold-blooded attack

On an innocent mother and daughter

Shook even hardened investigators,

And the lack of an obvious motive

For the double homicide

Only made identifying a potential suspect

More challenging.

There were no signs of sexual assault.

It just appears that the shooting happened,

And the suspect immediately

Left the house right afterwards.

Narrator: During the first month of the investigation,

Police were able to clear everyone

In the loftons' inner circle,

And none of the dozens of tips detectives chased

Moved the case forward.

You run down all those leads

That you think are gonna lead you somewhere,

But you process all the evidence,

And you're left with nothing.

It was very scary.

We didn't know who did this,

And we didn't know if this person

Was going to do it again,

And that's just absolutely frightening.