It was Labor Day weekend 2003 when Matt Scribner, an area horse farrier and coach who additionally competes in long-distance horse races, was on his traditional journey in a distant a part of the Sierra Nevada foothills — only a few miles northeast of Auburn, California —when he observed a freshly dug gap alongside the path that piqued his curiosity.
“48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales revisited the location on horseback with Scribner, who instructed her, “The remainder of my journey, I stored attempting to justify why [the hole] was there.”
“It kind of haunted you, it seems like,” stated Morales.
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“It did,” Scribner agreed. And it might hang-out him for years to return as Scribner tells Morales in “Justine’s Voice,” an all-new “48 Hours” airing Saturday, Feb. 15 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Scribner had returned along with his horse to journey the identical path every week later. He noticed a search staff gathering on the park and journey close by. Like everybody locally, Scribner was conscious that native teen Justine Vanderschoot had been lacking. As he rode previous the world the place he had seen the freshly dug gap, he now noticed a mattress. Scribner says he did not suspect something for the reason that space was used as a dumping floor of types. It could be one other week-and-a-half earlier than he would understand he was a key witness in a homicide case, when the native paper reported that Justine’s stays had been discovered, and her boyfriend, Danny Bezemer, and his roommate, Brandon Fernandez, had been arrested and charged along with her homicide.
“The Auburn Journal had a photograph of simply the comb … the place Justine had been buried,” Scribner stated. “I went, ‘Oh my gosh.’ … I noticed the freshly dug gap three days previous to her disappearance. … I instantly … contacted the [Placer County] sheriff’s division.”
Retired Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner instructed “48 Hours,” “That was a giant piece of proof … that is completely coldblooded, premeditated.”
Lynnette Vanderschoot
Justine’s mother and father, Don and Lynnette Vanderschoot, had reported her lacking on Sept. 2, 2003, after Lynnette had awoken within the early morning hours to search out that Justine wasn’t in her bed room and her truck, usually parked within the driveway, was gone. They reached out to their group for assist discovering her, however greater than two weeks handed with no signal of Justine.
“It felt sinister,” Bonner instructed “48 Hours.”
Sheriff’s detectives spoke with individuals inside Justine’s interior circle, and shortly zeroed in on Bezemer and Fernandez. Bezemer was identified to be jealous and possessive, and, in keeping with Justine’s buddies, he believed she was dishonest on him.
“There’s a perception instantly,” Bonner stated, “that [Bezemer and Fernandez] are concealing one thing about Justine’s disappearance. … We wanted to separate them, primary, however to have one roll on the opposite.”
Placer County Sheriff’s detectives enlisted the assistance of the FBI. On Sept. 17, 2003, FBI agent Jeff Rinek and his companion Chris Hopkins interviewed Fernandez on the FBI constructing in Sacramento whereas Bezemer was questioned by detectives at sheriff’s headquarters.
Rinek — who had earned a status for eliciting confessions, notably in instances involving kids — requested Fernandez a key query: “Have you ever ever seen anybody die, Brandon?” Below stress, Fernandez confessed and led investigators to Justine’s grave — the identical spot the place Scribner had seen the opening freshly dug, then coated up. Fernandez stated Bezemer had strangled Justine and made him assist bury her. Her post-mortem would later point out she was nonetheless respiratory when she was buried.
Bezemer admitted to detectives he strangled Justine, however alleged Fernandez was the mastermind. Placer County District Lawyer Morgan Gire instructed Morales, “Brandon does a reasonably good job incriminating Danny, and Danny does a reasonably good job of incriminating Brandon.”
Placer County Sheriff’s Workplace
Bearing in mind Justine’s household’s needs to keep away from a painful, extended trial, each males have been supplied plea offers. In 2005, Bezemer pleaded responsible to first-degree homicide and acquired a sentence of 25 years to life, whereas Fernandez pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide in alternate for a sentence of 15 years to life.
However after a 2018 change to the regulation of homicide in California, Fernandez petitioned to have his homicide conviction thrown out. The brand new regulation diminished the culpability of defendants who did not really do the killing and did not intend for anybody to die, like a getaway driver in a theft gone incorrect. Fernandez requested to be resentenced as an adjunct after the actual fact. His protection lawyer Steve Defilippis instructed “48 Hours” his consumer just isn’t responsible of Justine’s homicide and insists Bezemer threatened him into serving to him after the actual fact.
“Clearly Brandon was … within the incorrect,” Defilippis stated. “He should not have participated within the cover-up of this, and that is what he did.”
Either side must current their case in an evidentiary listening to in Might 2024. If Fernandez’s petition is granted, he could be launched on time served — a terrifying thought for the Vanderschoots, who say he’s nonetheless harmful.
“He nonetheless has not taken any duty,” Lynette stated. “He is responsible simply as a lot as Danny.”
“We’re combating for her, Justine’s sister, Christine, instructed Morales. “She does not have a voice, so we’re her voice.”
