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48 HOURS
Air Date: Saturday, January 16, 2021
Time Slot: 10:00 PM-11:00 PM EST on CBS
Episode Title: "The Murder of Jackie Vandagriff"
[NOTE: The following article is a press release issued by the aforementioned network and/or company. Any errors, typos, etc. are attributed to the original author. The release is reproduced solely for the dissemination of the enclosed information.]

WAS A YOUNG WOMAN MURDERED BECAUSE SHE RESEMBLED THE KILLER'S EX? THE EX-GIRLFRIEND SPEAKS OUT FOR THE FIRST TIME ON TELEVISION IN "48 HOURS: THE MURDER OF JACKIE VANDAGRIFF"

Caitlin Mathis tells Correspondent Jim Axelrod: "I Think He Really Wanted to Kill Me - I think That He Wanted Me Dead"

Saturday, Jan. 16

A 24-year-old Texas college student was found murdered the morning after meeting a man in a bar. Was she killed because she looked like the killer's ex-girlfriend? In her first television interview, Caitlin Mathis, the ex-girlfriend of killer Charles Bryant speaks out about her relationship with Bryant and her fears for her own safety in 48 HOURS: "The Murder of Jackie Vandagriff" to be broadcast Saturday, Jan. 16 (10:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Jackie Vandagriff's body was discovered in a weeded area near a footpath next to Grapevine Lake, in Grapevine, Texas, on Sept. 14, 2016. Police soon uncovered video of the man she was last seen with in some college bars in Denton, Texas. That man was Bryant. The investigation into what happened to Vandagriff shook the Dallas metro area.

"There are a lot of things that will shock you, and this by far is the worst thing that I have seen," Grapevine Police Captain John Luna tells 48 HOURS.

It's a story of one relationship that went bad and a young woman who happened to walk into a bar looking for a job and made a connection that would end up being the last in her life. The case raises the question of whether Vandagriff was targeted because she resembled Bryant's ex-girlfriend.

"I think that he really wanted to kill me," Mathis says in an exclusive interview with correspondent Jim Axelrod. "I think that he wanted me dead."

Mathis and Bryant began a relationship in June 2016, but she soon saw warning signs that he was manipulative and a narcissist. She broke up with him for good when she moved away to college. But Bryant was not giving up - showing up three times on her campus in two weeks. Caitlin had a protective order put in place for her safety. Bryant was undeterred.

After bonding out of jail for stalking Caitlin, Bryant showed up at bar across for Mathis's campus a week later. This is when he had the chance encounter with Vandagriff.

"How he was stalking me was completely related to Jackie Vandagriff's death," Mathis says now.

"After the murder - right after the murder, he took Jackie's phone and used it to add me on Facebook," Mathis says

Police had the video of Bryant and Vandagriff together but didn't have enough to arrest him right away. But, because he had violated Mathis' restraining order for emailing her repeatedly after the murder, Bryant was arrested. Was the case closed? Not even close. Bryant initially denied knowing who Vandagriff was. Investigators then brought in Texas Ranger Jim Holland, who specializes in interviewing serial killers and working through tough cases.

"A lot of these people actually will tell you," Holland says. "They want to tell someone."

48 HOURS: "The Murder of Jackie Vandagriff" is produced by Sarah Prior. Claire St. Amant is the development producer and field producer. Lauren A. White is a producer. Ken Blum, George Baluzy and Michelle Harris are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.

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