The Interrogator

This kid, his only birthday wish was to spend

Christmas with his mother.

Your child is nowhere to be found.

Your mind just goes crazy.

What could've happened?

I love my boy. I love all babies.

I love you, baby. Don't give up.

We're looking for you.

Within minutes, fbi is mobilized.

It really takes a monster to do something like that.

I don't think any of us had any idea

What kind of evil was perpetrated.

Houston, texas, america's fourth largest city.

I served as a homicide detective

With houston's finest for over 23 years.

I've investigated over 400 murders

And solved 90% with a confession.

Once I have a suspect in the room,

I don't quit until I get justice for the victims.

I am homicide detective fil waters.

I'm a father.

I have a son, and this case involves a child.

I knew this was going to be tough.

There is a cacophony of questions going on in my head.

What do we need to do?

What did we not do that we should've done?

And when does this happen

Around the most joyous time of the year,

Christmas, where families are gathering together?

My nephew, jonathan, came to live with us in 2005

At the age of 6.

My sister, angela, was not able to handle him or life,

So we told my mom that we would be happy to take him

And raise him in our family.

Angela had had a rough past with relationships

And the different men in her life

And some financial troubles.

Raising three boys as is wasn't any different than raising four.

Jonathan would be the first person to come

And give you a hug and say,

"hey, uncle glenn. How was your day?"

Jonathan was living with us for 5 years until he turned 12.

His wish for his birthday was to go

And live with his mom here in houston

And spend that next christmas with her.

In November 2010, his mother, angela, had been doing better.

She had a new husband, and she had a good job.

I remember taking him to the airport

To send him on the plane to houston.

Jonathan told us that he loved us

And was going to miss us.

On christmas eve, angela was working

At a specialty food store as a cashier.

Her job was only a couple of minutes from where she lived.

Her last words to jonathan before leaving the house is,

"don't answer the door.

If you need anything, give me a call."

Sometime that afternoon,

The manager received a phone call from jonathan,

And he's asking to speak to his mom.

They're telling him, "honey, I'm sorry.

She cannot come to the phone. She's very busy."

And he's insistent, "I need to speak to my mom."

Jonathan did have a sense of urgency that did alarm her,

And then the line goes dead.

By the time angela got to the phone,

There was nobody there,

And so angela had tried to call back.

He did not answer.

I know that she tried to call him several times.

Angela got out of there as quickly as possible

And headed towards the house.

She was only about half a block away.

Angela rushes in and finds this empty apartment.

There's a video game still on the tv.

Nothing is disturbed except...

There's no jonathan.

She starts looking around the neighborhood

Trying to figure out where he must have gone,

And angela calls the police.

On christmas eve 2010,

Missing persons detectives are called in,

And their initial report was he may have run away.

He's a 12-year-old kid.

He could've just wandered off to play basketball

Or snuck off to play video games.

Police say they're looking for any clue

That may lead them to the little boy.

An amber alert has been issued,

And detectives want everyone to be on the lookout for him.

It was heartbreaking, and it really sort of captured

Everyone's attention at holiday time

That a 12-year-old would just evaporate.

I received the call on christmas day that he was missing.

All that went through our minds was,

"where's my nephew? Where's jonathan?"

Just kind of get thrown into a whirlwind.

It's just not normal.

Angela appeared on television distraught.

You know, she pleads with the community.

Find her son, jonathan.

Angela, you know, gets in touch with equusearch,

And houstonians know that when equusearch is involved,

Then it's a serious, serious case.

Everyone takes notice.

Equusearch is a search-and-recovery group.

Volunteers just come out of the woodwork.

Everybody wants to help,

Especially the day after christmas.

I was seeing 100 to 200 people.

If jonathan was still alive,

We were determined we would find him.

It was packed.

There were reporters and cameras and volunteers out the door.

There were too many people to fit in the church.

We started where jonathan had gone missing.

There was a abandoned apartment complex.

We spread out to the abandoned fields,

All the empty lots in those areas.

We were looking in barrels, ditches, dumpsters.

No one had seen him.

It was just like he just disappeared.

After the third day, my partner, brian harris, and I,

We received a call to meet missing persons detectives.

We know that, after 48 hours,

The results are not going to be good ones.

This was definitely a situation that my gut was telling me

It wasn't going to end well.

At the makeshift command post set up on texas equusearch,

Everybody we needed to talk to

Was essentially there at that church.

We're playing catch-up at this point.

The missing person detective is speaking with norma suarez

Who is the manager of the meat market

That angela davis, jonathan foster's mother, works.

Our spidey senses were tingling.

Something wasn't right about this case.

And all we know at that point is that a woman

With a angry voice might have jonathan.

On christmas eve 2010, 12-year-old jonathan foster

Has been reported missing from his home.

Detectives with hpd think someone snatched him

From this northwest houston neighborhood.

After the third day of jonathan missing,

We were all hoping and praying

That jonathan would be found alive.

At this point in the investigation,

Brian and I are behind the eight ball,

So we want to first talk to the most immediate family members.

We make a decision to bring jonathan's mother, angela davis,

And his grandmother, mary gifford,

To homicide for interviews.

Unfortunately, from the very beginning

Of the interview with angela,

It was quite clear that she was much too distraught,

Much too confused that was going to prevent a coherent interview

From taking place.

Your child is nowhere to be found.

Your mind just goes crazy.

I don't think you're ever prepared to be faced

With a situation like that.

And I interviewed angela.

Brian was going to interview mary.

I sat down with mary, the grandma.

"tell me about jonathan.

Tell me about angela."

Mary said that angela had a lot of problems in her history.

She had struggled with questionable partners

In her life.

Jonathan's father, he was not a very good person.

Mary tells a story to me about jonathan's young life.

I was about blown away.

Richard was eventually tracked down to a field

Where we actually found him asleep.

That was the beginning of his criminal career.

He's been handled for harboring a runaway.

He's been charged with burglary of a habitation,

And he's been charged with making terroristic threats.

We need to find richard foster.

We find out that richard foster

Is currently living in corsicana, texas,

Which is an hour or so south of dallas.

Because this particular case of missing child,

We take the resources from the fbi to locate richard foster.

Within minutes, the fbi is able to find him.

Richard foster explains,

"look, I haven't seen jonathan in years.

I was nowhere near houston, texas.

I've been here."

The fbi is able to alibi him out.

They're able to prove there's physically no way

Richard foster was in houston,

That he could've physically himself done the kidnapping.

They were able to completely clear richard foster.

Brian and I are both fathers.

Finding this child is paramount.

We learn that angela had married again.

That previous easter, before jonathan was abducted,

Angela had married jonathan's stepfather, david davis.

We had seen david at the church where equusearch was setting up.