Cops Make Horrific Discovery on Train Tracks After Call for Help
In today's true crime documentary, we're covering the case of Calvin Curtis White.
[Video] [Imagery] supplied by Getty Images.
We're a news agency committed to delivering factual information about police procedures and local news events. This video aims to educate the public without bias. Our goal is to empower viewers with a clear understanding of what's happening in their communities.
In today's true crime documentary, we're covering the case of Calvin Curtis White.
[Video] [Imagery] supplied by Getty Images.
We're a news agency committed to delivering factual information about police procedures and local news events. This video aims to educate the public without bias. Our goal is to empower viewers with a clear understanding of what's happening in their communities.
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FunTranscript
00:00Story County, emergency 911.
00:02Yes, my son is somewhere in Nevada.
00:05He's not really coherent.
00:07I knew it was going to happen somewhere later.
00:10Story County, 911.
00:11My baby is not breathing.
00:13I just came home to work.
00:14All right, all right.
00:15And how old is your baby?
00:16It's my baby.
00:17Please, please, please save my baby.
00:19Oh, my God.
00:20Why are you laying in this bed?
00:22I'm a cough and a breath.
00:23On January 29th, 2018, police in Nevada, Iowa respond to a call from authorities
00:29at Union Pacific Railroad, reporting that a black male is standing on the slope of rocks
00:35beside the train tracks.
00:36Officers head out to the location to conduct a search.
00:39However, after finding no one there, they return to the station.
00:44Roughly 30 minutes after the first call, a Union Pacific employee calls the sheriff's
00:48office once more with startling news.
00:52Hey, this is Travis at Union Pacific Railroad.
00:54I request an ambulance.
00:55I've got a trespasser who was just struck by a train.
00:58And so this just happened?
01:01Yeah, moments ago, reported by a Coltrane.
01:03Okay, all right.
01:04I'll go ahead and dispatch it on medical.
01:05This is 206.
01:07Police officers arrive on scene shortly after the call, ready to administer medical aid if
01:11they find the victim before the paramedics.
01:14We'll be on the south side of the tracks.
01:17Oh, stop.
01:18We'll be on the south side of the tracks.
01:20We're looking for you.
01:21We're going to start looking for a body.
01:33Is the radio up?
01:34Call 4th Street, Kelly.
01:37Go ahead.
01:38Just confirming for medical.
01:39Do you have the person on the south side of that creek?
01:43No, we are locating him right now.
01:46I'll be there.
01:48I mean, is he on the north side, maybe?
01:50I don't see him.
01:52I've been looking.
01:53I don't see anything.
01:55But a message soon comes over the radio to explain why they're not having much success.
02:00Despite the setback, first responders eventually find the victim beside the tracks.
02:27He's hurt, but alive and conscious.
02:30Soon, another 911 call comes in providing more details about the victim to the police.
02:35Stray County, emergency 911.
02:37Yes, my son has been hit by a train somewhere in Nevada.
02:41He's calling me now on Facebook saying he's been hit by a train.
02:44All right, unless there's a second person hit, he's already been located and has somebody with him.
02:49Do you have him on the line still?
02:51I have him on the line, but I don't know if he has anybody with him.
02:54He's not really coherent.
02:55He's just saying he's been hit by a train.
02:57Is he able to tell you exactly where he's at?
03:00They're out in the area and they've been looking for him.
03:02Can y'all tell us where he's at?
03:05Because somebody...
03:05He's going to a hospital.
03:06Where is he at?
03:07Has somebody...
03:08It sounds like there is somebody with him.
03:10Okay, so did you call an ambulance and everything already?
03:15They're already out there with him.
03:17Okay.
03:17I can't tell you where.
03:19Can you give me the location?
03:21I got 911 on the phone.
03:22Tanya?
03:23Don't worry about it.
03:25Tanya?
03:26Yes.
03:26I know you're upset, but we have all the personnel out and I believe the ambulance is...
03:31Tanya, Tanya.
03:32Don't be on the phone with him.
03:33The ambulance should already be out there with him.
03:36I'm not here and talk to you.
03:38Sir, you're being mean.
03:39That's my son.
03:40I just want to talk to you like that.
03:41Tanya, Tanya, talk to me.
03:43Give the phone to my son, sir.
03:44Tanya, talk to me.
03:45Okay, this sir is being so mean talking about this is not...
03:47As EMTs attend to the victim, police officers speak to the conductor.
04:12The conductor shows officers the area where he located the man after he was struck by the
04:17train.
04:18Here they find some splashes of bright red on the tall grass.
04:22They also find a lighter and a tube from an ink pen filled with what appears to be a
04:27white substance.
04:28The incident is made only more tragic when the victim reveals to EMTs that he has two kids
04:33at home.
04:34Back with the victim as the EMTs load him into the ambulance, they ask him if he hurt his
04:39children.
04:39But to this simple, straightforward question, the victim provides no answer.
04:44Just as emergency responders are getting their heads around this shocking incident, another
04:49harrowing 911 call comes in to throw the day into more unimaginable chaos.
04:54Okay, 9-1-1.
04:55I need an ambulance now!
04:58Where at?
04:59What's going on there?
05:00My baby's not breathing.
05:02I just came home from work.
05:02Okay, all right, all right.
05:03And how old is your baby?
05:05It's too late for a week, hurry!
05:07Okay, how long has your baby not been breathing?
05:11I don't know, I just got home.
05:13My husband was supposed to be lost.
05:15You're going to get a job!
05:16Okay, all right.
05:17So, is the baby in the crib?
05:20No, it's in my bathroom.
05:22Please, hurry!
05:22Just walk, hurry!
05:23Okay, all right.
05:24Take a deep breath for me, okay?
05:27Take a deep breath.
05:28Please, hurry!
05:29Okay.
05:30My partner's dispatching everybody.
05:31I will let you know when they're on their way, okay?
05:34They're in the area right now.
05:36The dispatcher's assurance is not an exaggeration.
05:39Several of the paramedics who responded to the train accident are rerouted to the apartment,
05:44which is only a few streets away.
05:46While this incident seems completely unrelated,
05:49it won't be long before an incredibly suspicious connection comes to light.
05:53Can you put the baby on a hard server so we can start CPR?
05:57Yes!
05:58Okay.
05:59Please, please, please, please save my baby.
06:02Please, please, please, please save my baby.
06:04Ma'am, ma'am, I need you to listen to me so we can help your baby, okay?
06:08Lay the baby flat on the back, okay?
06:11Okay.
06:12Okay, is this a baby boy or a baby girl?
06:15No!
06:16Okay.
06:18All right.
06:18Take a deep breath for me, okay?
06:21Yeah, I don't know how.
06:23Okay, I'm going to help you out, okay?
06:25I want you to take two of your fingers, your index finger and your middle finger,
06:31and put those on the middle of the chest right between the nipples, okay?
06:36And you're going to push down about one and a half inches.
06:39And you're going to do this.
06:40You're going to pump about a hundred times, okay?
06:44Please, please, please.
06:45Okay.
06:45Let me know when you started, okay?
06:49Let me know when CPR has started.
06:51So let's count together, okay?
06:52Ready?
06:53One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
06:57Keep going.
06:57She's turning blue.
06:59She's turning blue.
07:00Okay, keep pumping for me, okay?
07:02The dispatcher guides the woman through mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as well as compressions,
07:07but the mother's heartbroken, terrified voice is enough to paint the picture of how those efforts
07:12are going.
07:13Please, God, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please.
07:17Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please.
07:21Oh, my God.
07:23Paramedics arrived at the apartment during the call, and one of them would later describe
07:27the frantic scene she walked into.
07:28So there was an adult female that met me at the apartment steps.
07:33She took me to the apartment, walked into the living room, and saw mom doing CPR on the couch.
07:40The medics performed two rounds of CPR and used more advanced equipment to try and revive the infant.
07:45Meanwhile, the 911 dispatcher attempts to calm the mother.
07:49Hello, what is your first name?
07:51My name is Melissa.
07:53Melissa? Okay, and you got first responders there, right?
07:56We're here. I don't even know where my husband is. I see where it is.
08:02The paramedics are unable to revive the baby on scene,
08:05so they get the infant in the ambulance for transport to a local hospital.
08:09It's a chaotic afternoon for Story County responders,
08:12but they have yet to learn the chilling connection between their two victims.
08:16Well, just visual observation. You could see that the baby was dusty, cyanotic, kind of blew around the mouth.
08:22These heartbreaking details weigh on medical responders as efforts to save the baby progress.
08:28But police are about to find that these two victims,
08:30the unresponsive infant and the man hit by the train, are not unrelated after all.
08:36As investigators share notes on both cases in a horrifying turn of events,
08:40they realize that the train victim is Calvin Curtis White,
08:44and in an inconceivable link, he's actually the father of the dying baby.
08:48It was his wife, Melissa White, who made the 911 call.
08:52And as the ambulance rushes the baby to the hospital,
08:55police descend on the neighborhood to look for witnesses
08:57that might shed some light on these disturbing events.
09:00Hi, how are you?
09:01Good.
09:03Hey, have you been home most of the day, or no?
09:08I've been at work until 4.30, but my husband went home all day.
09:11Okay.
09:11Did you or him see anybody suspicious in the area, or see anybody walking down the street by chance?
09:19Did you see anybody out there?
09:20Did you see anybody walking down the street today at all?
09:23Pretty much in between the timeline and, like, maybe any time later in the afternoon?
09:29No.
09:31Well, do you know many of the neighbors over there?
09:34I'm sure you see the normal ones that come and go all the time.
09:37Right.
09:38Um, probably a black male, about 5'5", maybe.
09:42You see him come and go at all today?
09:44No, we haven't.
09:46Despite little help from the surrounding neighborhood,
09:48the police do get some information from two women, Sarah and Christy,
09:52who live in the same apartment building as Calvin White and his family.
09:56Sarah recalls hearing the baby crying all morning,
09:59with the cries growing weaker throughout the day until they finally stopped.
10:03Christy tells police that Calvin once told her that sometimes they simply let the baby cry it out
10:09until it stops crying.
10:10Suspecting the worst, police get a search warrant for the White's apartment.
10:15That living room when you first come in,
10:18around the corner to the south side, you've got the kitchen.
10:22Straight back.
10:24You've got the parents' bedroom.
10:28You've got the kids' bedroom.
10:30This is where one of the baby cribs is.
10:32This is now officially a full-scale criminal inquiry,
10:36and when Calvin and Melissa White's baby is pronounced dead in the hospital
10:39at 3.43 p.m. that afternoon,
10:42it becomes a death investigation.
10:44What began as two seemingly unrelated tragedies
10:46has converged into a single horrifying case.
10:49To get to the bottom of what happened this afternoon in Nevada,
10:52police go out to Iowa Methodist Hospital to have a chat with Calvin White.
10:57So, why don't we kind of start with,
11:00why are you laying in this bed?
11:02What happened?
11:04It's a long time ago.
11:05I remember we were in a small club.
11:08You don't remember?
11:11I don't know.
11:12I was constantly getting a brother.
11:14You woke up in the grass?
11:17Calvin, do you remember why you were going,
11:19or where you were walking to?
11:21What's your last thing?
11:23Do you remember walking to the train?
11:26I don't know.
11:26Kind of?
11:29Yeah.
11:31I remember I was alone.
11:34You take your time, okay?
11:35I don't know.
11:35I don't know.
11:36I don't know.
11:36I don't know where I was somewhere else.
11:38Well, I was here as current.
11:40Do you remember walking to the train, though?
11:42Calvin's injuries won't make it easy to get answers, but the detective pushes forward,
11:47knowing all too well the importance of getting his story as quickly as possible.
11:51Officers bring Calvin's wife, Melissa, for questioning as well. She says the day started
11:56like any other. She headed off to work at 5.30 a.m., at which time both her 18-month-old son
12:01and her 2-month-old daughter were fine. She texted Calvin at 2 o'clock that afternoon to
12:06see if he wanted her to get anything on the way home. Calvin texted back, asking that she stop
12:11and get supplies to bring home for dinner.
12:14What did you ask her to pick you up from the store?
12:17I want a little chicken. I want a 15-month-old beer.
12:20You want any chicken and beer today?
12:22Yeah.
12:23Okay.
12:24Okay.
12:25In her own interview with police, Melissa says that she texted Calvin to see what kind of beer
12:31he wanted, but he didn't text back. When she called him, he was short with her. She tells
12:36the detectives that she heard a crackle in his voice, but he said he was fine. At 2.30 that
12:41afternoon, she finally received one last message from Calvin apologizing for hanging
12:45up on her.
12:46Where do you work, Calvin? Do you have a job? Do you stay home?
12:52Yeah.
12:52Do you stay home? Okay. Do you stay, do you watch your kids? Are you home alone?
13:00What's that?
13:01Three.
13:02Do you work for kids?
13:03Okay.
13:04How many kids do you have, Calvin?
13:07Okay.
13:08Do you have two kids?
13:10After confirming with Calvin that he's the primary in-home caregiver, the detective emphasizes
13:16how much pressure this has to put on the 30-year-old father.
13:20That's, I mean, you guys got to be tired. You know, no sleep. How is with waking up in
13:27the middle of the night?
13:30She's gotten better?
13:31Yes.
13:32Who would normally get up with her?
13:36I don't know.
13:37You get up with her?
13:38I get up with her.
13:40So she works quite a bit. So essentially you do a lot of the parenting roles by yourself?
13:48Yes.
13:49After your wife leaves for work and you get up with the kids and do home all day with both
13:54kids under a year old?
13:56Mm-hmm.
13:57That's pretty impressive.
13:59It's a lot.
14:00It is a lot. It is a lot. Yeah.
14:04Calvin's workload as a parent has been under additional strain for the last month or two
14:08because both kids have been struggling with illnesses.
14:11What were they doing? What did the sickness consist of? Were they vomiting, puking?
14:17Cough.
14:18What's that?
14:19Cough.
14:20Just a cough?
14:21Coughing and wheezing.
14:23Coughing and wheezing.
14:24They hear this as well from Calvin's wife, Melissa, who says that her daughter has been
14:29fighting a cold since the beginning of the month, right after her older son suffered from
14:33a nasty round of bronchitis. But if these sound like the typical struggles of a family
14:37raising two young babies, it won't be long before chilling information comes out that
14:42sheds new light on the reason behind these illnesses. The detective at the hospital soon
14:47discovers that there's another element at play in the white household, addiction.
14:51Do you have any history of drug usage?
14:55No.
14:56You do? What is your history?
14:59No.
15:01Meth.
15:02If I went to your house right now, would I find any meth at your house?
15:06No.
15:07When's the last time you've done meth?
15:11No.
15:12You did meth yesterday or today?
15:16Yeah.
15:17How do you normally do it?
15:19I don't do meth.
15:19Oro.
15:22Spoil.
15:23Spoil.
15:24Melissa confirms that this usage has been an ongoing source of strain in the marriage.
15:29She says that she confronted Calvin about his addiction more than a year ago, at which
15:33time he agreed to go into a treatment facility. In an exclusive interview with EWU, Calvin said
15:38this ultimatum came at a low point in their marriage.
15:41It was a nine-month program that I was supposed to do, but the center that I went to, it turned
15:48out to not actually be like a rehab place. It was more like this military place that was
15:54for like, it was for like people that, uh, that were, they were waiting to go to trial and
16:01if they completed this program that like they would get a lesser vision. It wasn't for, you
16:07know, it wasn't like a 12-step program or some type of stuff like that for rehab people. So I ended
16:13up like not wanting to stay there and I left after a week.
16:16Though Calvin didn't complete his rehab, he claims that he remained clean for a year.
16:21In her conversation with police, however, Melissa says that she'd already realized that afternoon
16:26that her husband must be off the wagon. The telltale sign was the tinfoil being out on the
16:31counter with a piece torn up and folded up, a sure indication that he'd been using that day.
16:36Calvin says that his illicit substance usage doesn't affect his household responsibilities,
16:40an answer that gets police no closer to understanding what led to Calvin's train
16:45incident, nor to the tragedy that ended his daughter's life.
16:49Once you do a hit of meth, you do what?
16:51Clean the house and take care of the kids.
16:56Back with Melissa, police ask if there's anyone Calvin may have been in contact with over the
17:00last 48 hours that might have supplied him with illegal substances. She readily gives them a list of
17:06names, the last of which is Calvin's ex-girlfriend, Melissa B.
17:10Melissa B.'s name also comes up in the interview with Calvin, who shares some disturbing facts
17:16about the events surrounding their breakup.
17:18So what happened with your ex then?
17:21She died in five minutes.
17:31So how did you handle that? How long ago was that?
17:36Like seven years ago?
17:41How did you handle that situation we had?
17:45What did you do?
17:47I dropped out of college.
17:49You what?
17:50I dropped out of college.
17:52You dropped out of college?
17:54I don't know.
17:55I had a two-year-old now.
17:57In a shocking twist, police discover that a friend named Brett
18:01took Melissa B. to Calvin's apartment the same day these tragedies occurred.
18:05Brett tells the police they first drove past the parking lot
18:08just to make sure that Calvin's wife, Melissa's car, wasn't there.
18:12You're saying, to the best of your knowledge,
18:14Melissa didn't enter the apartment that day?
18:17Not that they were still in the same spot.
18:21Yeah.
18:22And you said you heard Dosha give his wife's work schedule.
18:26Yeah.
18:26And the other...
18:27It was just common conversations.
18:29Obviously, she hadn't been there for a while,
18:31so they were talking about what had been going on.
18:33The police also spoke to Melissa B. about that day.
18:37She says Calvin was trying to figure out the time schedule for the train
18:41hours before tragedy struck.
18:43That was the first day my wife went back to work from maternity leave.
18:47And, you know, I got up in the morning with both our kids like I did every single day.
18:53Changed diapers, fed them and everything, you know.
18:56And my daughter was only two months at the time.
18:59So, you know, I had her swaddled up in her little swing that we had.
19:03And, you know, I was sitting on the floor that morning playing with my son.
19:07We were playing with our Legos together, and I hear a knock on the door,
19:10and I automatically knew who it was,
19:12because there's only one person that comes over at that time of the morning
19:15when my wife is gone.
19:16I knew it was my ex.
19:18That's when the first bad decision came in, is that I opened the door for her.
19:21And she was there, and a couple of other people came with her.
19:26Calvin says that his visitors came bearing gifts.
19:29My ex-girlfriend pulls out, you know, a bag of drugs, a bag of meth,
19:34and she's like, do you want to smoke?
19:36And that was my second bad decision.
19:39This story differs considerably from what the police are hearing
19:42during the act of investigation.
19:44The case turns over its head when investigators come across
19:47some unsettling rumors circulating within the community.
19:49Apparently, Melissa has told people that she saw the children that day
19:56and they were fine.
19:57Do you know why she would say that?
20:00I'm fairly certain that she had seen the little boy,
20:02because he tried to open the door and let us sit,
20:04and she's like, no, just sit.
20:05And that's when I went back up to the top step,
20:07and I stood there at the doorway and talked.
20:09It was obvious that this wasn't, you know, the first or second or third meeting,
20:13but the life we had gone.
20:14As investigators gather more information from Brett and Melissa B.,
20:18The reporting officer claims that as Calvin's family visited him in the hospital
20:22on the night of his train collision,
20:23they allegedly asked the hospital worker to hand over Calvin's cell phone
20:28to erase data that police don't need to see.
20:31When police hear this, they place the phone in a security department safe at the hospital
20:35to make sure that no one has access to the device.
20:38The contents discovered in Calvin's phone
20:40will have stunning ramifications in the days to come.
20:44Later that night, a patient care technician tells police
20:47that several members of White's family said,
20:49quote, it was an accident he didn't mean to.
20:52However, all of the evidence so far suggests a more menacing intention at play.
20:57One way or the other, police are determined to resolve this mystery.
21:00When you left the apartment today,
21:04where were the kids at?
21:08What's that?
21:11They were still at home?
21:14Was anybody ever, did anyone come to your apartment at all today?
21:21No, it was just you?
21:22Did you leave the kids alone at any point
21:26prior to leaving your apartment today, this afternoon?
21:31No.
21:33No?
21:35You didn't have any friends over.
21:36It was just you and your apartment?
21:39No.
21:40If the detective is skeptical about this part of Calvin's story,
21:44she lets it slide.
21:45However, there is at least one aspect of the afternoon
21:47that doesn't seem to make sense.
21:49So you are in your apartment all day, alone with the kids.
21:53You text your wife for some chicken and beer.
21:56Why would you text your wife for chicken and beer
21:58and then leave your apartment?
22:01I don't know.
22:02No, Calvin, don't give me the I don't know,
22:04because I know you do.
22:05You're remembering a lot more.
22:07Indeed, Calvin would remember much more about that afternoon.
22:10In his exclusive 2024 interview with EWU,
22:13he said that when his ex and some friends showed up at the door,
22:16he put the kids away so they wouldn't be witnesses to his relapse.
22:20I grabbed my daughter and put her down in her crib,
22:24in the back bedroom also.
22:26They shared rooms, the crib, and his bed was in the same room.
22:30And when I laid her down in her crib,
22:32she has a pillow in her crib,
22:34and I laid her on top of it.
22:35I unswaddled her, and I laid her on top of it
22:38because I didn't want her to get hot.
22:40So I left the swaddle off of her.
22:42So then I went, I set the door, the bedroom door,
22:45and I went back into the living room where my friends were,
22:48and we sat there and smoked for maybe an hour, hour and a half or so.
22:54And then they were like, we gotta go.
22:57And they got up and left.
22:59Calvin will soon reveal what happened next.
23:02But in her own interview with police,
23:03his wife Melissa explains what happened when she got home that day
23:07at around 2.45 p.m. and found the front door unlocked.
23:11When she went inside,
23:12she found her son screaming and her husband missing.
23:14She also noticed that her daughter was not in her usual baby swing in the living room.
23:20As she went into the back bedroom looking for the infant,
23:23she found something straight out of a living nightmare.
23:26Her two-month-old daughter was lying on the bed,
23:28wearing only a diaper, her lips blue and her eyes half closed.
23:32That was when she called 911.
23:34Were you depressed over something?
23:37No, I don't think very much.
23:40I suppose you bought it.
23:41I was supposed to do it.
23:42The only thing you're depressed about is your drug use?
23:45It seems that the detective suspects she isn't getting the whole truth out of Calvin.
23:53In an attempt to have Calvin reveal the truth,
23:55she begins to share gut-wrenching information about her findings at the apartment.
23:59And details that should get a reaction.
24:02Unless, of course, he already knew those details before leaving the apartment that day.
24:07We've been in your house, right?
24:09Mm-hmm.
24:10We've been in your house.
24:12Fine.
24:13Right.
24:14You know that.
24:14I mean, you got hit by a train.
24:16We gotta do our due diligence here, right?
24:19No.
24:20And we can see that something is not right.
24:24Something's wrong, right?
24:26Was it something that was an accident?
24:28Oh, that's quite a nice thing.
24:32Calvin's injured.
24:34I was looking at that.
24:36That's what I'm asking you, Calvin.
24:38You're the only one home alone with her.
24:40Do you remember picking her up?
24:42Out of that swing?
24:44Calvin, look at me.
24:46Do you remember picking her up out of that swing?
24:50You laid her on the bed.
24:52Probably changed her diaper.
24:54Took her onesie off.
24:56She was crying.
24:57And I don't think that...
24:58Calvin, she didn't make it to the swing, and you know that.
25:10I don't think I would be on death.
25:14I'm proud to be on the phone.
25:16But the detective doesn't let up, knowing that she may have to push beyond Calvin's boundaries
25:21to get to the truth.
25:22I think something happened to...
25:24And I don't think that...
25:27I don't think that you intentionally did it.
25:31Calvin, that is a lot to handle.
25:35Think about running up and down your hallways, yelling and screaming and getting everything
25:39out after you just put it away.
25:40All you want is that one hit of meth.
25:43That's all you want.
25:44Why can't they stop crying?
25:45Why can't they stop screaming?
25:47Why can't they just stop?
25:50Right?
25:51That's all you want.
25:53I know you're thinking about it.
25:55And you're just replaying that in your head over and over and over again.
26:02That's a huge burden to carry.
26:05Calvin, that's a huge burden to carry.
26:07Are you sorry for what you did to...
26:10What's that?
26:13I'm not with DHS.
26:15No, I'm not with DHS.
26:18Are you sorry for what you did to...
26:20Calvin is no longer willing to talk to police, and he ends the interview.
26:28But in his interview with EWU, he shared his version of what happened when his friends
26:32left that cold January day, and the moment he claims he made an unthinkable discovery.
26:37And then I go to get my daughter up, and I noticed that she had rolled over face down
26:44into her pillow, and, you know, and I picked her up, and I felt her body was limp, and I
26:50just kind of lost it.
26:52I absolutely lost it.
26:54I didn't know what to do, so I set her down on the floor, and I tried to give her CPR,
26:59and that really didn't work.
27:02And that's really all I can remember that happened to that point.
27:06I don't remember exactly, because I had kind of just blacked out, so I don't remember
27:12exactly what I did.
27:14The next thing I remember doing from the time of trying CPR, I remember being at the train
27:21tracks, and I decided to make that video that I made.
27:25Calvin's current version of the events of that day differs wildly from the one he told
27:29police.
27:30It also seems to conflict with the detailed calendar police found on the White's refrigerator,
27:35which indicated that Calvin's wife, Melissa, went back to work on January 2nd, almost a
27:40full month before the tragedy.
27:42In contrast to what Calvin had told them.
27:45That was the first day my wife went back to work from maternity leave.
27:49But perhaps most importantly, it's contradicted by the very video that Calvin mentions making
27:54in the moments before the tragedy.
27:56It's a video that police discover on his phone only a couple of days after the incident, and
28:01it provides them with the damning evidence they need to secure a warrant for his arrest.
28:05I'm sorry.
28:08I'm so sorry.
28:09I didn't mean to.
28:11I'm like a monster.
28:13I can't even control myself.
28:15I knew it was going to happen sooner or later.
28:18I had plans to get myself out of the house first.
28:21I was just going to leave and go to Florida because I knew I was going to do something.
28:25I was going to go overboard one time.
28:27I'm the reason she's dead.
28:31I'm the reason why the kids were always sick.
28:35They weren't sick.
28:37I was just killing them slowly.
28:40I'm so sorry.
28:42The video is damning, but in his interview with EWU, Calvin insisted that much of what
28:47he said in that message was misunderstood, and his confession about the kids was only a
28:52reference to his substance abuse.
28:53One day, you know, my wife is going to find out, you know, she's going to kick me out
28:57of the house.
28:58I'm going to lose custody of my son.
29:00But all that, that's what I meant for, like, I was making the kids sick because I just felt
29:05like I was being really neglectful to my children by doing that every morning.
29:10That's all I meant for that.
29:11I wasn't doing anything to make them sick.
29:14It's not like I was, like, poisoning my child or anything.
29:17I wouldn't even know how to do that.
29:19But that wasn't all Calvin confessed to on that video, and not all of it will be
29:23so easily explained.
29:24Oh, Melissa.
29:27I was cheating on you the whole time.
29:29I was doing drugs the whole time.
29:32Truth is, I couldn't stand living with you.
29:34I hated you.
29:35You were just sexy, so it was a little easier to put up with you.
29:40I didn't mean to kill.
29:43All I did was throw pillows on top of her face so you couldn't hear her scream.
29:49That's all.
29:53She must have suffocated.
29:55I'm sorry.
29:56It's apparently nothing short of a full confession.
29:59And though Calvin's story about what happened to his baby is shocking enough on its own,
30:03it's not the only incriminating statement he makes in the video.
30:06He also mentions an incident involving his ex-girlfriend, Melissa B's son, a subject that
30:11came up briefly in the hospital interview as well.
30:14Who hurt him or what happened, I guess?
30:21I don't know if he had a word.
30:25I don't know if he had a phone call.
30:30He had no charges were filed.
30:32No charges were filed?
30:33Great, but who...
30:36I guess I just want to know what happened to the kid.
30:38Did he have a skull fracture?
30:47Yeah.
30:47Though Calvin denied any responsibility for this injury when speaking to the detective,
30:52he told a much different story in the self-filmed video hours earlier.
30:56The reason why Melissa lost her kids is because I gave her kid that skull fracture.
31:02I just...
31:07The drugs changed me to this monster that even I couldn't control.
31:14As for his confession about his ex-girlfriend's child, Calvin had this to say in his interview
31:19with EWU.
31:20When I made the video, I was thinking of a couple of things.
31:22I was thinking of the two girls that I still love, which is my wife and my ex.
31:26So I was thinking of ways to help them, you know?
31:30And I thought that one way I could help my ex is if I could help her with, you know, her
31:38kids.
31:39Because of that incident, her kids got taken away, and that's when the whole med thing
31:43started.
31:44So I'm like, all right, if I admit it that I did it, then they would go ahead and give
31:50her kids back.
31:51And maybe then, if she gets her kids back, she'll get off drugs, you know?
31:54So that was the whole plan behind it, but honestly, I didn't hurt that child.
32:01On February 2nd, four days after the infant's death, police go back to Iowa Methodist Hospital
32:06to take Calvin, the self-described monster, into custody.
32:11So if you would just go ahead and stand up, come right over here.
32:14Yeah, we'll get your coat for you and go ahead and put your hands behind your back here.
32:18Calvin, I'm placing you under arrest for murder in the first degree and child endangerment,
32:26causing death.
32:28This officer here, once we get these cuffs on you, he's going to read you your Miranda
32:32rights so that you know you don't have to talk to us at any time during this trip up there.
32:36We're going up to Sturdy County Jail, okay?
32:38When police later told Melissa White what they learned from her husband's confession video,
32:42she simply said no and began to cry.
32:46Mom, you want to give him a hug?
32:47Yes, tell him.
32:48All right.
32:49See you, huh?
32:50Calvin White made a plea deal with Sturdy County prosecutors and the charge of first-degree
32:55murder was dropped.
32:56As part of the agreement, Calvin entered a plea of guilty to the charge of child endangerment
33:00resulting in death.
33:02In his interview with EWU, Calvin said that he didn't believe he could get a fair trial
33:06in the mostly white Iowa County.
33:08He also said that police and prosecutors misconstrued what he meant in the self-recorded video.
33:14I know that the media and I know that the VA or the prosecutor or whatever had explained
33:21it to my wife as if I smothered my daughter with a pillow and that was absolutely not what
33:28happened at all.
33:30And they came to that conclusion because in the video, I had said that something along the
33:37lines that she had her face in the pillow or something along the lines like that.
33:44So they took it as I put the pillow on her face when really all I was trying to say is
33:49that I found her face down in the pillow and I couldn't hear her cry because she couldn't
33:54lift her head up so I couldn't hear her cry.
33:56In July 2018, roughly six months after his daughter's death, Calvin was sentenced to 50
34:02years in prison.
34:03This included a mandate requiring that Calvin serve at least 30% of the total sentence before
34:08becoming eligible for parole in 2033.
34:12Calvin Curtis White is currently serving his sentence at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility
34:16in Iowa.
34:18Melissa B. and Brett were not charged with anything in connection to this incident.