Predator Lures Teen To Her Death, Thinks He's Getting Away

A 14-year-old girl named Alianna DeFreeze vanished on her way to school in Cleveland one January morning in 2017. Her body was found days later in an abandoned house. The man who killed her, Christopher Whitaker, was caught not because of a witness or a confession, but because of a detective who refused to accept his story. The interrogation transcript, which makes up the bulk of this episode, reveals how a predator who thought he was getting away slowly talked himself into a corner.

The interrogation begins

The transcript opens with a detective asking Whitaker routine questions about his whereabouts. Whitaker, a 44-year-old with a criminal record, claims he was doing drywall work at a house on East 84th Street. He says he was with a friend named Will, that they woke up around 10:30 or 11 in the morning, and that they mostly sat around because they had no money for materials. He insists he was nowhere near Fuller Avenue, where Alianna was last seen.

The detective is calm and methodical. He asks whether Whitaker has seen the news about the missing girl. Whitaker says he first heard about it when he saw a woman passing out flyers on Friday. He even took a flyer. He denies knowing Alianna. He denies ever seeing her. He says he had no reason to speak to a 14-year-old girl.

The scrap metal admission