3 steps to make a murderer confess

In 1987, the area surrounding this pump house and dirt road in Mascotte, Florida, became the scene of a crime with repercussions that are still being felt nearly 30 years later. Click through the gallery for details of the case, including more crime scene and evidence photos from CNN's "Death Row Stories."

Today, former Mascotte Police Department officer James Duckett faces execution for the rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa McAbee.

The night of May 11, 1987, Teresa left her mother Dorothy McAbee's home in Mascotte, walking alone to a nearby Circle K convenience store to buy a pencil.

Later, a resident reported a girl's body floating in nearby Knight Lake, not far from the pump house and dirt road. It was Teresa McAbee. An autopsy showed she had been raped, strangled and thrown into the water.

Investigators found tire tracks along that road near the body. The tracks matched the pattern of police cars driven by the Mascotte Police Department, including Officer Duckett.

When Duckett arrived at the crime scene, his police cruiser was impounded for further investigation. Fingerprints matching Teresa's were found on the car hood.

Police questioned Duckett, who denied that Teresa ever sat on the hood of his cruiser. He was charged with sexual battery of a minor and first degree murder.

The prosecution's lead witness, Gwen Gurley, testified that she saw Teresa outside the Circle K the night of the murder. She also testified that she saw Duckett drive off with "a small person" in his patrol car.

Duckett's police notebook appears to show Duckett visited another convenience store -- a Jiffy Stop -- around the time of the murder, providing him with a possible alibi. But the notebook was not introduced at trial. Veteran homicide detective Marshall Frank -- who interviewed Duckett for a crime novel -- told CNN's "Death Row Stories" the "Jiffy Stop entry wasn't in the same order as the other loggings. And I thought that was odd."

An FBI agent who also was an expert hair examiner for the prosecution testified that a pubic hair found in Teresa's underwear had "exactly the same characteristics" as sample hairs taken from Duckett. After a trial, jurors found Duckett guilty. He was sentenced to death. Later a Justice Department report said the FBI agent had falsely testified about hair analysis in other cases, calling his testimony in Duckett's trial into question. After more than 25 years on death row, Duckett maintains his innocence.

Although Gurley later recanted her testimony in a sworn deposition, she pleaded the Fifth Amendment at a formal hearing, fearing perjury charges. Gurley now claims she was coerced into recanting. "The last time I saw Teresa McAbee, she was in James Duckett's police car," she told CNN's "Death Row Stories."

"We have an innocent guy here. This is crazy." Duckett's appellate attorney Beth Wells told CNN's "Death Row Stories." Duckett and Wells await a decision by Florida's Supreme Court on their request for an evidentiary hearing. "I'm 100% confident that when they evaluate this evidence they're going to say, 'You know what? We got it wrong. We have to give this guy a new trial.'"

"I just want justice for my daughter. That's what I want," Dorothy McAbee told CNN's "Death Row Stories." "26 years -- I'm tired. I don't think I'm ever going to have closure, because he's never going to admit it."

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

• Veteran Miami homicide detective opens up about interrogating suspects


• Retired detective Marshall Frank writes crime novels and holds seminars


• Since his detective days, Frank has changed his mind about the death penalty


• Frank describes how he elicited a confession from convicted killer Paul Eugene Rowles

CNN's original series, "Death Row Stories," explores America's capital punishment system each Sunday at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Follow us at facebook.com/cnn or Twitter @CNNorigSeries using #DeathRowStories

(CNN) -- As a Miami-area homicide detective, Marshall Frank has met some really bad people.

Now retired, the 30-year law enforcement veteran reveals trade secrets about how he "made friends" with criminals and coaxed them to confess.

For example, take Paul Eugene Rowles -- a convicted murderer and sexual predator who died last year in a Florida prison. When he was with Metro-Dade Police in 1972, Frank arrested Rowles for the strangling death of Rowles' Miami neighbor, Linda Fida.

Frank, who spoke with CNN by phone, described the handsome, 6-foot, blue-eyed Rowles as "someone you trust right away, very pleasant to talk to, soft spoken, somebody you wouldn't think would be a dangerous killer. But these killers are the most dangerous of all."

Dead convict linked to '89 disappearance

'Here I am going to death row'

'The picture was innocent'

Breakthrough? A police notebook

For them, Frank said, killing is "like an addiction, like heroin, and they've gotta have that murder fix."

So, how did Frank get Rowles to confess? "I made friends with him," he said matter-of-factly. "It took half an hour."

But he didn't do it alone. "I had another cop in the room with me, and we knew each other's methods. The other detective just stayed quiet. He was there for support, but not to be a part of the interrogation."

Sitting close to Rowles with his knees almost touching him, Frank said he would lean toward him during the interrogation. "I was really appearing to be interested in him," Frank said. Then they started talking about how Rowles' life, family, father and mother had all affected him and "how that led to what he had just done."

And then Rowles began "blathering the confession out," Frank said. "He started crying."

Although Rowles was sentenced to life in prison, he was paroled in 1985. Nine years later Rowles was convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a minor and sentenced to 19 years. In 2012, DNA testing linked Rowles to the 1992 murder of 21-year-old Elizabeth Foster. Before Rowles died last year, police tried to interview him, without success, to determine if he was behind the disappearance of 20-year-old Tiffany Sessions in 1989. After his death, investigators found a journal in Rowles' cell with a note that read "2/9/89" -- the date Sessions disappeared. "No. 2" was scrawled on both sides of the notation. Police believe it's an indication that Sessions was Rowles' second victim.

Read more about Rowles

Crime novelist Marshall Frank served for 30 years as a Miami-area police officer and homicide detective.

In 2003, Frank played a very different role in another Florida murder case. While researching a crime novel, Frank began corresponding with James Duckett, a former police officer who was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1987 murder of an 11-year-old girl named Teresa McAbee. Duckett has been on death row for more than 25 years, as the appeals process plays out. Frank sat face-to-face with Duckett in a prison lunchroom, a conversation both men describe in CNN's documentary series, "Death Row Stories," airing this Sunday at 9 p.m. ET.

See more about Duckett and Frank

Successfully interrogating suspects one-on-one, Frank said, requires patience. "You can't come across as though you're personally involved," he said. "You can't come across like you're mad or angry or impatient or putting pressure on.

Real jailhouse police questioning doesn't happen the way it's portrayed by Hollywood. According to Frank, the cliché, the two-cops-on-one-suspect scenario with angry, screaming interrogators isn't part of the real world.

We've broken down Frank's method into three ideas:

1. "The most important thing is gaining their confidence, respect and cooperation." Frank repeated his theme: "I just kinda made friends."

2. "At the beginning of the interrogation you don't even go into what you're there for. You wait five minutes. Wait 15 minutes, 30 minutes. There's no hurry. What you want to do is get the person talking and feeling good about talking to you."

3. "Eventually you just work your way into whatever the issue is. Next thing you know, someone's just blathering a confession. Believe me that's how it worked."

'I just got a hunch'

During all his years on the force, Frank claims he never arrested the wrong person in a case. But he came close. Frank told a story about a case where he questioned a man whose aunt accused him of raping her.

I just got a hunch — something about the guy.

Marshall Frank, retired homicide detective

"During the interrogation he was adamant that he didn't do it," Frank recalled. "Well of course a lot of guilty people are adamant that they didn't do it. But I just got a hunch — something about the guy. So I started thinking, 'Maybe we ought to check this out further before we actually book him.' We went back out on the streets, and we found the aunt again, and we polygraphed her. After polygraphing her, she admitted that she had told a lie."

Frank said it turned out the aunt had "an ulterior motive about her wanting to have him arrested." He then freed the suspect.

The 'conveyor belt'

After three decades as a law enforcement officer, Frank has some opinions about America's justice system.

Public defender resources are overburdened, Frank said. Which sometimes contributes to less than fair circumstances.

"It's really an uneven system to have people who can afford a good attorney and other people who can only afford public defenders," Frank said. "I asked a public defender once, 'How do you keep up with the caseload?' And he said, 'It's like Lucille Ball and the conveyor belt: You just can't keep up with it.'"

A lot of public defenders are talented and would like to do a better job, Frank said. "But they're constrained by the enormous stresses and the pressures to keep up with their caseloads.

The death penalty

CNN's "Death Row Stories" draws back the curtain on how murder cases are investigated and prosecuted. It connects the judicial dots between the crimes, the evidence, the trial and the death chamber. Frank joked about his days as a "hotshot detective," when he used to favor the use of the death penalty in some cases.

But in the years after his retirement in 1990, Frank has turned a 180 on the issue. Now 73, Frank has been writing crime novels, which require many hours of research.

In 1972, Marshall Frank arrested Paul Eugene Rowles for the strangling death of Rowles' Miami neighbor, Linda Fida.

"The death penalty is something I researched a lot about," he said. "How many times do we find people who've had life sentences and 25 years later DNA proves them to be innocent? Those same people could easily have been executed by now. I'm sure that there have been people executed who are innocent."

That's just not acceptable, he said.

"I've realized that society can't sacrifice some innocent people once in a while just so it can get all the guilty ones."

Frank said society should consider alternative punishments for dangerous criminals. "Because, basically, putting someone to death is murder," Frank said. "It's intentional murder. Premeditated murder. Isn't it?"

Are overburdened defense attorneys breaking America's justice system? What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

CNN's Eliott McLaughlin contributed to this report

Andalucia Emergency service to have new heliports

In a bid to boost healthcare services throughout Andalucia there are plans to construct five new heliports in the region.

The Junta de Andalucía is planning to build five new heliports to improve emergency healthcare in the province of Malaga.

The heliports – which will be located in Alozaina, Campillos, Coín, Nerja and Vélez-Málaga – will improve the speed and ease of the evacuation of patients in cases of emergency.

The updated service will particularly help residents in the Axarquía, Guadalteba and Guadalhorce valley areas.

José Luis Ruiz Espejo, the regional government representative in Malaga, said: “In Malaga we continue to work to improve the public health services, not only with treatments and research but also with improved infrastructure.”

The heliports will be on the outskirts of the towns concerned and will be given suitable road access so that ambulances are able to drive directly onto the helipads.

Alicante airport drugs haul

Authorities intercepted forty-two kilos of cocaine concealed in film equipment at Alicante airport.

Packing cases full of cameras and other material for film-making were flown to Argentina in December last year, returning three months later.

An inspection by Customs officials at the airport working in collaboration with officers from the Fiscal Analysis and Investigation unit (ODAIFI) found that the crates contained rather more than appeared on the customs’ declaration.

Closer examination revealed false sides to the packing cases which, once dismantled, revealed 72 packages of a substance subsequently identified as cocaine.

Two men, aged 52 and 56, both of Dutch nationality, were later arrested in Campello in connection with the discovery.

Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria freed

Two Spanish journalists who were abducted on 16 September 2013 in Syria by a group with links to al Qaeda have been freed.

El Mundo correspondent Javier Espinosa, 49, and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, 42, were reunited with overjoyed family in Madrid yesterday (Sunday).

Spanish newspaper El Mundo has not given the full details of the release.

The men landed at Madrid’s Torrejon de Ardoz military airport after being handed over to authorities in Turkey.

Espinosa said: “We want to thank everyone who has worried about us and who has made it possible for us to return home, and as you can see, we are perfectly well."

The pair have made numerous trips to war-torn Syria – often together. And they have both been in similar situations.

Espinosa was previously kidnapped whilst covering a conflict in Sierra Leone, while Garcia was kidnapped in 2012 in Syria and held for 12 days.

El Mundo reported in December that the men had been kidnapped at the Tal Abyad checkpoint in Raqqa province, close to the Turkish border, as they were preparing to leave Syria after two weeks of covering the conflict.

They were travelling with Free Syrian Army fighters who were also kidnapped by the group, but released 12 days later.

The newspaper said the captors were reported to be members of a group linked to the al Qaeda-backed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

Initially, the group did not make any demands and reportedly they only wanted to ensure the two journalists were not spies, according to El Mundo.

Couple arrested for fraud in Algeciras

A 50-year-old American man, and his British partner, 38, were arrested in Algeciras, Cadiz, for allegedly fraud and credit card forgery.

The investigation began following a complaint from an international internet payment company which had been affected by an alleged fraud.

One of their users, whose full name they provided, had used credit cards copied and stolen in the US to obtain cash which he then sent to his own accounts.

The investigation, carried out in Estepona, Manilva, Guadiaro and Algeciras, led authorities to a couple living in the province.

They were located in Algeciras and their home was searched, resulting in four laptop computers, five external hard drives, six mobile phones, 19 credit cards and 4,500 GBP in cash being seized.

The detainee had accounts with payment management sites in the USA, the UK and Spain.

He had started the fraud with the accounts he used in the US to buy and sell products, which were linked to a US company owned by his partner.

He used the stolen and forged cards to supposedly purchase items from the company, sending the money, amounting to more than 348,372USD to his accounts in the UK and Spain.

Part of the money had then been transferred to an account in Manilva. The account, with €100,000, has been frozen by court order.

Positive outlook for Spanish tourism

Malaga is amongst the three Spanish provinces where overnight stays have risen the most so far this year.

In January and February, 207,203 people have visited the province from the rest of Spain and stayed in hotels, 28,411 more than the same period in 2013.

There have been 565,968 overnight stays, 22.57% more than in the first two months of 2013, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

Compared to the figures for Andalucia and Spain, Malaga comes out way on top, as the number of visitors has risen by 5% in the region and 6% at a national level, and overnight stays 2% and 6% respectively.

The President of the Malaga-Costa del Sol Tourism Board, Elias Bendodo, also said that the number of overnight stays in the province was the highest in four years.

Most of the visitors are from the rest of Andalucia (57.22%), Madrid (12.9%), Cataluña (5.8%), the Balearic Islands (3.9%) and Valencia (3.27%).

Last year, 3.7 million Spanish tourists visited Malaga, spending €1.76 million and staying an average 7.9 days. The average daily expenditure per person was €61.

Gadhafi's son to Libya: I'm sorry

• Libyan television aired a video of Saadi Gadhafi speaking from Tripoli jail


• Gadhafi's son says he is being treated well, moves arms and smiles in video


• The conditions surrounding the release of the video are unclear


• Human rights activists say they worry legal proceedings won't meet international standards

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- Libyan state television has aired a video of Moammar Gadhafi's son Saadi in which he apologized to the nation from prison.

"I apologize to the people of Libya and the brothers in the Libyan state for the disturbance and destabilization I have caused in Libya, and I admit those were wrong things that I should not have done," he said.

Saadi, one of Gadahfi's seven sons, has been in a Tripoli jail since his extradition earlier this month from neighboring Niger. The North African country had been seeking the handover of Saadi, who fled across the border to Niger when rebel forces toppled his father in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.

He has not appeared in court yet and no formal charges against him have been announced, but the government has said it has evidence linking Saadi Gadhafi to recent unrest in southern Libya.

"I call on all the people carrying weapons to disarm, weapons should only be in the hands of the state," Saadi Gadhafi, dressed in a blue detainee suit, said in the video. "They should resort to reconciliation."

In the three-minute video clip, he also asks the Libyan government and general national congress, Libya's legislative body, for "forgiveness."

The conditions surrounding the release of the video are unclear.

Moammar Gadhafi's son extradited to Libya from Niger

Reports of abuse

Saadi Gadhafi stated the date of March 27 in the video, and state television said it was approved by Libya's general prosecutor and aimed to discredit reports and rumors Gadhafi's son was being mistreated in prison.

The video aired a day after former Prime Minister Ali Zeidan had said in an interview in The Times of London newspaper that he had heard Saadi Gadhafi was abused and tortured in prison.

Saadi Gadhafi said he was being treated well. Reports he had broken ribs or bones were not true, he said, moving his arms around and smiling.

No one has independently had access to him to see how he has been treated.

There have been concerns about the legality of the video and what impact it may have on the case.

"If I ever had any hope that there might be some form of due process in Libya, it was shattered. ... Watching Saadi repent in a videotaped confession without any hint of legal representation made me realize there is no hope for a trial in accordance with international law in Libya," Jacqueline Frazier, an American former aide to Saadi Gadhafi, told CNN.

"I, along with his family, would like to emphasize that we believe this confession to be coerced and therefore nonadmissible in a court of law."

But many Libyans have little sympathy for him and other former regime members in custody. They complain the prosecution of former regime members has stalled and they want them to see them sentenced soon. The government has promised fair and transparent trials for all former regime members and other detainees in Libya.

Televised call

Saadi Gadhafi was a professional soccer player and businessman before his father's downfall. Unlike his brother Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, their father's heir apparent, he is not wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of war crimes.

In late 2011, rebel forces captured Saif al-Islam, who remains in a militia hands in the small western mountain town of Zintan, Libya.

Niger handed over Saadi Gadhafi after Libyan authorities said they had provided evidence of "communications and practices targeting Libya's security and aimed at destabilizing Libya."

In February 2012, he made a televised phone call warning of an imminent uprising in Libya, saying he was in regular contact with people in the country who were unhappy with the new authorities.

Authorities in Niger had warned him after that incident. He had been staying under tight regulation, including house arrest.

He is being held in al-Hadba prison in Tripoli, the same facility where other senior regime members are detained, including former Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi and former spy chief and Gadhafi's brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi.

Judicial standards

Libya's new rulers are keen to try Gaddafi loyalists at home to show that those who helped the dictator stay in power for 42 years are being punished.

But in a country where thousands of war prisoners remain in detention without knowing their fate, and where allegations of torture by the militias guarding them have surfaced, Libyan authorities will have to prove their capabilities.

Human rights activists say the worry that a weak Tripoli government and flimsy judicial standards mean that legal proceedings will not meet international standards.

Last month, Human Rights Watch released a report after visiting and speaking with senior regime members, including al-Senussi and Saif al-Islam Gadhafi.

According to the rights group, officials said they either do not have lawyers representing them or they do not have enough access to their legal counsel.

"The Libyan government should make greater efforts to ensure these detained former officials have adequate legal counsel and the opportunity to defend themselves fairly before a judge," said Nadim Houry, deputy director of Human Right Watch's Middle East and North Africa division. "The prosecution of these men will be no more credible than a kangaroo court if the authorities fail to provide these men with basic due process rights."

In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council earlier this month, Tarek Mitri, special representative of the U.N. secretary-general, raised concerns about continued human rights violations in detention.

Some trials of former regime members started more than a year ago, and another case against more than 30 officials, including Saif al-Islam Gadhafi and al-Senussi, is set to start next month.