HOUSTON – It was a horrific crime that stunned a southeast Houston neighborhood. Fifty-eight-year old Enayatolah Khorsand, Andy to his friends, was murdered inside his auto shop.
Late on the night of Aug.18, the husband and father of two was beaten with a baseball bat, stabbed with a machete and decapitated by his killer.
"This man was beaten and beheaded, and it was all caught on surveillance video," explained homicide investigator Alexander Vinogradov.
"And we knew that, based on the position of the body, the cameras would have captured the murder potentially," he added.
Vinogradov knew his team would need help accessing and enhancing the video, so he could get a clear picture of the attacker.
"We made the decision right then and there to call the video and audio lab," Vinogradov recalled.
Megan Timlin, an audio/video analyst with the Houston Forensic Science Center, took the call.
"Kind of just in shock at first. That call in particular, because I was told it was a decapitation. It's not a call you get often or ever," Timlin said. "It's one of the worst videos I've ever seen in my entire life. It was brutal."
But Timlin went to work quickly, enhancing the video from all five cameras on the property.
"As soon as the video started to unfold, you knew exactly who the subject was in the video," she explained. "So I took it back to my office and worked on still images, enhancing those for a better clarity and exported still images, printed still images and narrowed the time frame so investigators could look at that one individual camera from start to finish," Timlin added.
Within hours, detectives had clear pictures to show people in the neighborhood, who immediately knew the name of the attacker and where to find him.
"We didn't have time to go home. We worked through the night, because we believed that suspect was somewhere within the vicinity. And by the time I made it in that day, we already had tips coming in saying ‘hey we know where the suspect is at," Vinogradov said.
It didn't take long for detectives to arrest 62-year-old Raymond Jackson. They say Khorsand hired Jackson for odd jobs around the shop. Witnesses placed Jackson at the crime scene earlier that evening.
"By 3 a.m. I gave them the video; by noon he was arrested," Timlin added. "It makes you feel good because you know the work you were doing is for the victim, and they may not be able to speak but you are able to show what was their last,"
The community now trying to come to grips with the loss of Enayatolah Khorsand, a beloved business owner who was just trying to help his neighbors.
Jackson is charged with murder. Investigators won't discuss a possible motive. Jackson will be arraigned on Nov. 9.