Getting Away with Murder

0:04Erin Moriarty:Music

0:15When you have someone who is missing in your life, there is no answer.

0:22Erin Moriarty:They meet in a brownstone in Brooklyn, New York. I consider us all part of this lonely hearts club, these sad souls. But no one wants to be here. They didn't pay attention to her. She didn't count. Everyone here is related to a missing person. But we know that she did not, could not, and would not disappear voluntarily. And every story they tell is heartbreaking. I still feel that maybe somebody's holding her and that maybe one day they'll let her go or she'll escape. But perhaps no story is more mysterious and frightening than this woman's. I love Christine. I would choose to be with Christine over anybody.

1:08Erin Moriarty:Her name is Kathy Kupka, the organizer of the group. Her sister Christine disappeared. And by now, Kathy has accepted the sad fact that her missing sister was probably murdered. What she won't accept, she says, is somebody getting away with that murder. And Kathy says she knows exactly who it is. Like, this is so horrible that, you know, I know people try to understand. But it's so horrible that people can't understand. I think the hardest part is that someone could take someone away from me that meant so much to me and she didn't mean anything to him. Marshall, who's your favorite auntie? Come here.

1:49Erin Moriarty:In 1998, Kathy's sister Christine was 28 years old. You love your auntie? You love her auntie? A college honor student. She worked as a waitress. She had such beautiful long red hair. And dreamed of becoming a civil rights attorney. And a lot of freckles on her nose. Well, she actually tried to scratch them off. She had a scar on her nose. Somehow, she still found time to call Kathy every day. She was such a caller. She was really a caller, always calling. I talked to her a million times. She was with my mom. She was little. She called her mother back home in Wisconsin at least once a week. She was always forthright, honest, and she trusted.

2:28Erin Moriarty:But in the weeks before her disappearance, The main topic of conversation was always the mysterious new man in Christine's life. And he was flirting with her, and she was flirting back. His name is Darshanand Persaud, known to everyone as Rudy. He was Christine's chemistry instructor at college. Did this sound like a big deal? Um, not a... No, initially not a big deal, just that she had a crush on him. According to Christine's family, she and Rudy didn't date while he was her teacher. But when the semester ended, the relationship began. Oh, she thought he was so sweet and nice and, like, clean cut.

3:09Erin Moriarty:But when Christine brought him home to meet her roommates, not everybody was as taken with Rudy. What was your first impression of Rudy? My first? Don't like him. Uslam Akkadad was Christine's close friend and roommate. He's good looking. He's good looking. But his eyes, have you seen his eyes? His eyes are really cold. But if that's true, clearly Christine Kupka didn't see it. Marshall, give me. And in the summer of that year, Christine told friends and family what she thought was good news. And then that's Christine with one of her friend's babies. She was pregnant with Rudy Persaud's baby. Did she want that baby?

3:57Erin Moriarty:Yes, she did. Yeah, she did. But apparently, Rudy did not. And was he at all interested in being involved with either her or her child? Not at all. Not at all. In part, Usum says the reason was cultural.

4:19Erin Moriarty:Rudy Prasad's family are Guyanese immigrants, his father a Hindu priest. Rudy reportedly told Christine he'd be disowned, kicked out of the family's home if anyone found out about the pregnancy. He just went crazy and said, no, it's going to ruin my family. I want nothing more to do with you. But there was something more, something that took Christine entirely by surprise. I still can't believe that he was such a good liar. Rudy Persaud, that's him right there, was married. She was so shocked when he told her that he was married. It was shocking. I mean, we were all shocked. Did he ask her to get an abortion?

5:00Erin Moriarty:Yeah. And what was her reaction to that? She said no. It didn't make any difference how much she ranted and raved. She was going to have this baby with or without him. There was one thing Christine did want from Rudy. She was very clear that she was going to put Rudy's name on the birth certificate and that he might be responsible at some point when she went to law school for helping with money. And that, Christine told friends Nick and Susie, made Rudy Prasad absolutely furious. She told me, I talked to her four days before she disappeared, and she said if anything happens to me, it was Rudy who did it.

5:38Erin Moriarty:Just go to the police because Rudy did it to me. Why did she bring that up? Was she afraid of Rudy? She was afraid. She was afraid. But Christine's friends acknowledged that Rudy never specifically threatened her, and that some part of Christine was still in love with him. It was a rotten situation. She was in a definitely rotten situation. So despite whatever fears she may have had, on October 24, 1998, Christine Kupka agreed to meet Rudy Prasad one more time. She told friends Rudy needed her help cleaning his new apartment. She told him to pick her up here at her house in Brooklyn. I said, do you want to do that?

6:18And she goes, look, if he kills me, he's going to spend the rest of his life in jail.

6:23Erin Moriarty:Rudy arrived at Christine's house about noon. And I looked at him, he was pale. I mean, he was just pale. He's like, Rudy, are you okay? He's like, yeah, I'm okay. I'm okay. Rudy and Christine, then five months pregnant, left the house together. How could I have let her go? Why did I do that? Christine simply disappeared. I said he killed her. You automatically said he killed her. You didn't think she spent the night with him. She went off somewhere. Never even went through my head. Why were you so sure? I don't know. I don't know. I just knew it.

7:04Erin Moriarty:24 hours later, Christine's sister Kathy went to the police. I was in such a shock that I didn't know what I was. You know, I was just desperate. She told them about Rudy, said he had the motive and opportunity to murder Christine. I mean, hello, is anything getting through? But with no physical evidence linking Rudy to Christine's disappearance, no body, no eyewitnesses, no proof a crime had even been committed, the police could do nothing. I said, well, what am I supposed to do? They said, I don't know, go find the guy, ask him what happened. Rudy, that's how we found Rudy. There's his name.

7:43Erin Moriarty:As it turns out, finding Rudy was the easy part. If you have a suspected murderer that lives on your block, I think you should know. Now, Christine's friends and family are taking their accusations... Who do no fair? ...right to his doorstep. Next. You can't get away with murder. You can't get away with murder. Can't get away with murder.

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9:25Where is Christine? Where is Christine? Where is Christine?

9:32Erin Moriarty:One year after Christine Kupka's disappearance, her friends and family are asking the same nagging question. We want the truth now. This time, outside the house of the man they think has the answer. Rudy, Rudy, you can't hide. We charge you with homicide. Rudy Prasad. Now a dental student, Rudy lives here with his parents, his wife, and their two children. The protesters know Rudy Persaud was the last person seen with Christine. They say he was the father of her unborn child. You can't get away with murder. And they insist that gave him a motive for murder. What about a stranger kidnapping? What about a stranger killing her?

10:23Erin Moriarty:I don't know, the day that she went with Rudy finally? I don't know, too coincidental for me. Christine's sister Kathy says she became instantly convinced of Prasad's guilt. What if you're wrong? No, I'm not wrong. There's no what if I'm wrong. I'm not wrong. Because she says he has behaved like anything but an innocent man. Did Rudy ever call? No. And ask about your sister? Wonder what happened to her? Show some concern? Never. No, he got a lawyer. That was his concern. His concern was with himself. After Christine's disappearance, Rudy Prasad refused to talk to Kathy and for 10 days wouldn't even talk to police.

11:08Erin Moriarty:When Prasad finally did agree to answer police questions, with his lawyer present, he reportedly told them that he had driven Christine here to this mall, that he had stayed in his car while she shopped, and that he had later dropped her off near her house. Police have not been able to corroborate his statement. But without hard evidence, they can't disprove it either. Here. Oh! Christine has no rights. And if I weren't here, do you think anything would be going on? No. Rudy would just be fine. Here, where are we? Irving and Hart Corner. So she's hired her own private investigator, Gil Alba. This is the toughest time of the case right now.

11:49This is the hardest part of the case. He's right there. There's the third car. One, two, three, four. He's the fourth car up.

11:53Erin Moriarty:A former New York City police detective. I come into this situation and they tell me that Rudy did it. Am I to believe them that Rudy did it? Of course not. Gil did his own inquiry. After I do this, I can figure it out. And now he too believes Christine's friends and family are right. He got rid of the girl and got rid of the baby. He got rid of what he wanted to. So he's totally satisfied. Let's go out and look out there, okay? Okay. Let's go. See the lights on in the back? Yeah. Now, he's looking for maybe blood on the walls. He's looking for hard evidence. We're going to search up here in the back over here in the woods.

12:28Erin Moriarty:And Kathy has put her life on hold to help him. It's an isolated spot. Nobody's been up here in a long time. Together, they've crisscrossed New York City. There's an industrial district and it's all real canals and stuff and then Rudy doesn't live so far from there. Talking to Rudy's friends and family. My name's Kathy. I've been here before. They don't want to believe Rudy did it. and at the beginning they were adamant about Rudy not doing it. And now, I've got to tell you, they're not so adamant anymore. We searched in here, but where was it? I thought it was down here, all the way down. No, we were just on Elm.

13:00You think it would have been on that side?

13:01Erin Moriarty:But so far... Oh, man, it looks closed, isn't it? Uh-oh. There's nothing definitive. Are they coming back today? Because of hard work, you get the luck comes in where you get that one call. Nick, you remember how to get there? Until that call comes, Christine's friend Nick, along with Kathy's husband Kevin... Yes, good afternoon. I need directions how to get to your school from New York. ...are pursuing a different strategy. I want people in his class to know that he's murdering. ...making their accusations in a very public way. Like that?

13:39Erin Moriarty:They're hanging up posters, complete with Rudy's picture, all over the campus where he's enrolled in dental school. Guy in the picture? Here. This student right here, and we believe he murdered my sister-in-law, this woman right here in this picture. They admit it's less about uncovering information… This is something small, but it does disrupt his life a little bit. …and more about pressuring Rudy. We're out here in the cold putting up flyers and he's there in a nice warm classroom taking notes. So, when they finish handing out flyers at his school, Nick and Kevin decide to head a little closer to home, literally.

14:19We pick the flyers up and his relatives take them down.

14:21Erin Moriarty:And hang their posters right in front of Rudy's house. You have a suspected murderer that lives on your block, I think you should know. But by the time they worked their way down the block... The guy that passed by is taking him down, see? Someone has already torn down most of their flyers. We got tape. Let's put him back up. Last time we were there, he called the detective that's on the case and complained that we're bothering him. Let him sue us. It's worth noting that despite all those posters... Hi, we're trying to get some information about this guy. We think he murdered my sister-in-law.

14:58Erin Moriarty:Despite Kathy and Gil's late-night visits to his friends and family. Mr. Kumar? I mean, that's his last name, like, pro - Despite the regular protests outside his home. Yeah, I knew he was in there. His car's there, and the doors open, and the windows open upstairs. Yeah, I'm just sure they're home. Rudy hasn't sued anybody for slander. So I guess they're not going anywhere today. And according to Kathy Kuka, it's not because he's a nice guy. If he sues us, he's going to have to talk, and he doesn't want to talk, so he's not going to sue us. In fact, since his initial statement more than two years ago, Rudy Persaud won't say anything about Christine's disappearance.

15:36Erin Moriarty:Not to the police. So now we're just going to hang out all day. And definitely not to Kathy. Oh my God, they called the freaking cops. But what will he say to us? 48 hours. Rudy, can I ask you a question? That's next.

15:59Erin Moriarty:Christine always dressed in overalls. She didn't have any use for dresses. I made her a beautiful bonnet and made her put on a dress. She was so unhappy. Since her daughter Christine disappeared... Look at that hair. Just, she had the most beautiful golden auburn hair. All Elaine Bodell has left... Her one favorite day of the year was Halloween. ...are photographs and questions. I don't especially want to know how he killed her, but there is a body. I mean, where is her body? But the man she believes can answer her questions, Rudy Prasad, isn't talking. 48 Hours requested an interview with Rudy repeatedly when he didn't respond.

16:43Erin Moriarty:Rudy, can I ask you a question? We went to his house. If you didn't have anything to do with her disappearance, why won't you talk about it? Did you kill her? Rudy, did you kill Christine Kupka? Why won't you talk about it? Why not talk about it, sir? Rudy isn't answering anyone's questions, the police included. I had no idea you could just say, I don't want to talk to you and close the door. So, but you can. Christine's sister Kathy is irate. The police can't do more. My sister's gone and her baby, and you're telling me that you can't go talk to Rudy? Wait, that does not make sense. But since Christine's disappearance, police have said only that Rudy Prasad may be responsible.

17:28Erin Moriarty:But as they told Kathy... It's not illegal to be the last person seen with somebody. It's not illegal to have an affair with somebody. All police will say now is that their investigation continues. Hi, I'm trying to find out if you guys scheduled the public hearing for un-missing persons yet. So Kathy is taking her case to the New York City Council, testifying at their hearings about missing persons. These guys that are going to testify today are like the higher up, so they don't hear it directly from the people. Good morning, everybody. Speaking first, Inspector Joe Resnick, head of the NYPD Special Investigations Division.

18:06Erin Moriarty:I'd like to start out by giving you the definition of a missing person according to the police department's guidelines. He knows Christine's case. Today, Kathy hopes to persuade him to go after Rudy. 98 % of the cases have been cleared. But by the time it's Kathy's turn to speak, My name's Kathy Kupka. The inspector has left. I just want to start, I have like a little thing here that I'm going to read from, but I want to start by saying that Inspector Resnick left, and I think that kind of shows you what kind of priority this is. Kathy gives her statement anyway. Christine met Rudy at Baruch, he was her professor.

18:39Erin Moriarty:His name's Rudy Persaud. A story she's told hundreds of times before. Christine then became afraid of Rudy because he seemed so desperate for her to end the pregnancy. But it never gets any easier. Oh my, I'm sorry. I knew I would do this. I'll be okay in a minute. So thank you for caring. And you never know who's going to be in this situation. Because I certainly never thought that I would be. Since we first aired this story last January, New York's Cold Case Squad has taken over what they call this high-level missing persons investigation. For now, her sister can only go on investigating. Her mother go on wondering.

19:22Erin Moriarty:As Rudy Prasad goes on with his life. Refusing to talk about Christine Kupka's disappearance.

19:44The people here in Grafton County, New Hampshire are surrounded by beauty. But they're haunted by the possibility one of their own has gotten away with murder.

19:57Erin Moriarty:I want the truth to come out. I always promised Stephen that I would never forget him. If he was going to break my heart, it should have been by the way kids break each other's hearts. It shouldn't have been by the fact that I woke up one day and he's dead. Kelly Sutherland still cannot accept the fact her high school sweetheart, Stephen Dow, is dead. We were seniors in high school. We had our entire lives in front of us. We were starting to put those lives together. He was the first guy that I brought home that my father instantly liked and trusted. He was a typical teenage boy with a passion for cars and sports.

20:40Erin Moriarty:He worked after school three days a week. He had more energy than three people put together.