A Case 20 Years In The Making | The New Detectives | Real Responders

[Music] in small town maine police pursue the killer of a young mother for 20 years waiting for technology to match their perseverance a student disappears on his way to class bye a ransom is demanded is it a kidnapping con game or something far more sinister detectives in washington state must find a way to outsmart a killer who knows their every move before he slipped through their fingers murders of passion can often lead investigators straight to her killer but when the clues are few and the leads tenuous detectives know they are searching for something emotionless a killer who is cold-blooded [Music] [Music] norridgewock maine november 23 1976. police discover a car in the bushes near river road the engine's still running there was no one in sight the officer called in the license plate number the dispatcher said the car had been reported missing by the owner von stevens stevens claimed that his girlfriend had borrowed the car earlier in the evening to do some shopping but did not return inside the vehicle the officer discovered blood on the passenger seat [Music] vaughn stevens was contacted and asked to respond to the scene the officer continued to examine the vehicle [Applause] [Music] inside the trunk partially covered by a jacket he discovered the body of a woman she was wearing only a pair of socks homicide investigations in rural areas fall to the state police after being notified investigators began to scour the area for clues when von stevens arrived with a friend he positively identified his car his friend had to identify the victim in the trunk she was stephen's girlfriend 30 year old janet baxter distraught stevens was allowed to leave the scene [Music] maine state police detective chick love continued his investigation in the car we found the the groceries that she had purchased at the store that night we found the sales slip the cash register tape that told us what store she was in and exactly what time that she was there the coroner's autopsy revealed janet baxter had been shot in the head and chest with bullets from a 22-caliber handgun she had also been raped biological evidence from her body was preserved for testing on glass slides known as slide mailers the bullets and slide mailers were sent to the crime lab for further analysis the car janet had been driving also underwent a thorough investigation forensics experts dusted the exterior and discovered a set of latent fingerprints in the trunk a single hair was retrieved later examination showed it did not belong to baxter hoping to find witnesses detectives began canvassing the area near river road one resident clarice merrill said she had seen something odd the night before while driving home merrill saw two vehicles pull off the road at the same location where janet baxter's body was later found one of the cars was a yellow volkswagen merrill believed the other car was a ford ltd inside she saw a man and a woman the woman appeared to be asleep merrill helped create a composite drawing of the man in the ltd while police began making efforts to locate the yellow bug in most murder cases spouses and significant others are always considered suspects the victim's boyfriend von stevens was questioned in depth the next day he agreed to take a polygraph test he told police that janet baxter worked as a nurse and had recently been through a bitter divorce [Music] she had custody of her daughter julie around 9 30 janet decided to go to the store steven's car was blocking the driveway he gave her his keys janet said she would be back in a few minutes around midnight she didn't show up when she failed to return he phoned police the polygraph test indicated stevens was telling the truth detectives also questioned baxter's ex-husband but he had a solid alibi and like stevens he was dismissed as a suspect i was working investigators continued searching the area for a yellow volkswagen can i help you good evening i'm detective chick love i'd like to ask a few questions a local resident galen lassard owned a similar car i'm not involved in this when questioned he was uncooperative and refused to be interviewed you got the wrong person you see someone else okay bye investigators probed lasard's background though nothing in his records indicated he was capable of murder investigators learned he was friends with other men in town their records told a different story one was a suspect in the murder of a college co-ed five years earlier another slightly resembled the composite drawing merrill had helped police assemble but none of these men would talk to authorities the investigation threatened to turn cold on november 28th almost a week since the murder an officer noticed a white sedan parked at exactly the same spot where janet baxter's body was found a man was standing outside the car he appeared to be looking for something the officer noted the registration and passed it along investigators ran a check on the plates and learned the car belonged to a man named albert cochran a background check revealed that cochran had done prison time in illinois after pleading guilty to murdering his wife in 1964. any different despite a sentence of 50 to 75 years he was paroled after 12 years [Music] in early 1976 his parole was transferred to the same town in maine where janet baxter lived [Music] cochrane was brought in for questioning last night he claimed that on the night of the murder he was smoking marijuana and drinking with three strangers in the parking lot of a local bar on my way back they invited him to a party but he didn't want to leave his car near the bar so he moved it to a supermarket parking lot the same one janet baxter had visited the night she was murdered cochran said he got in the stranger's car but made them pull over and let him out when he became suspicious of them he claimed he then walked several miles to his brother's home in norridgewock on the way he stated he saw police gathered at an area off of river road though he refused to take a polygraph investigators obtained fingerprints and samples of his hair for comparison with previously gathered evidence cochran's fingerprints were examined and compared to those lifted from the exterior of the car in which baxter was found his hair sample was compared against the hair found in the car's trunk neither the prince nor the hair samples produced a match there was no hard evidence pointing to cochrane as the murderer the investigation hit an impasse for the next 20 years the case was passed down through dozens of detectives each one running into the brick wall presented by the lack of hard evidence it seemed janet baxter's death would never be solved but her family refused to let it go twenty years had passed since the murder of thirty-year-old janet baxter in the small new england town of norridgewock maine during those years no arrests have been made robert mccleary janet baxter's father was determined to keep the case alive no matter how long it took to solve every year on the anniversary of his daughter's death he would call police headquarters my desire to continue my contact with the state police was deeply motivated by my desire to see that the somebody paid for what they had done to jan that somebody was not going to get away with murder uh and that to to continue to to seek the information to continue the investigation and to give us some sense of closure in 1996 the case was handed over to maine state police detective mike mitchell after reviewing the case files mitchell paid a visit to janet baxter's parents how do you do state police the detective had grown up near norridgewock and had been in elementary school when the murder occurred mr mcclaire mrs mcclary i'm a detective with the maine state police he promised he would do everything in his power to solve this case if you have any questions of me you know don't hesitate to call mitchell began by retracing the steps of the previous investigations he was struck by the loose ends presented by the owner of the yellow volkswagen galen lassard and his cronies who refused to talk to police despite those unresolved issues he decided to take another crack at albert cochran some detectives felt that albert patrick cochran was a suspect and was the person responsible for the murder of janet baxter some detectives felt that it was another group of people that socialized together so what i did is i took down all the names of all possible suspects that hadn't been alibide not to been in the area at the time and listed them all down on a piece of paper and by priority as to who was who looked like a better suspect than the others and albert patrick cochran was on the top of the list to make his case mitchell first had to inventory what evidence had survived over the years [Music] he contacted maine state police forensic chemist chris montagna my other roles were to see what was still around as far as evidence that had survived 20 years and second to reconstruct the notes and the work that had been done 20 years earlier and try and piece all that together and link it to a suspect that detective mitchell was working on as the murderer of janet baxter let's see what you've got we've got searching through the boxes of evidence investigators found the original slide mailers one looked blank but was thought to possibly contain swabs of biological evidence from the victim's body if the evidence had remained intact it might be possible to extract dna a technique not in existence 20 years before [Music] under the microscope the slide surprised everyone revealing the presence of biological evidence removed from janet baxter [Music] now investigators needed to find a dna sample from cochrane they did not have to go far to find what they needed the sample of cochran's hair collected in 1976 was also preserved in the file but would the hair have viable material for dna testing forensic dna specialist david munich was given the assignment these head hair samples were known head hair samples when they're collected they're actually plucked from the head and they have skin attached to the hair root as opposed to hairs that are cut or hairs that just naturally fall out of your head both samples provided apple material to perform the dna tests when the tests were concluded and the comparisons made the results were overwhelming the dna tests showed there was only one chance in 37 billion that janet baxter's killer was somebody other than albert cochrane munich called detective mitchell with the news when i come back a perfect match i can remember i was driving down the road i picked up my car phone and i just couldn't believe it my eyes filled up with water thinking that just it was you know something you'll never forget it's going to be in march uh march 17th 1938 maybe he's about 62 years old but where was albert cochrane and tamara cochran c-o-c-h-r-a-m checks tracked him down to an address in stuart florida on the morning of march 17 1998 detective mitchell and florida police arrested cochran at his home he was extradited to maine to stand trial for the murder of janet baxter based on the evidence gathered over 21 years earlier detectives believe cochrane had seen janet baxter alone in a deserted grocery store parking lot his prior history of violence reasserting itself cochran seized the opportunity to abduct his victim later raping and killing her on may 20th 1999 it took a jury only two and a half hours to find albert cochran guilty of first degree murder he was sentenced to life in prison this time without the possibility of parole murder is not the only cold-blooded crime in south dakota a mother's only son is held for ransom aberdeen south dakota may 8 1985. 20 year old michael kinney left the home he shared with his mother sandra mcneil to attend classes at northern state college all right i'll be back bye [Music] when michael didn't return by the following morning his mother became concerned [Music] she decided to look for her son near the house she found michael's car parked on the side of the road michael was nowhere in sight sandra mcneil contacted the sheriff's office [Music] brown county sheriff mark millbrandt is assigned to look into the disappearance [Music] we had some concerns due to the fact that michael candy's car was found across the roadway from his residence and had been parked there for we're assuming anywhere from 24 to to probably 35 hours 36. the following day sandra mcneil received a mysterious phone call from an unidentified man the caller told her to go to a bar in aberdeen later that evening and look for an envelope under the payphone if she wanted to find out what happened to her son she was told not to contact the police kinney's mother went to the bar and found an envelope hidden beneath the pay phone inside was a ransom note demanding 200 000 in exchange for her son despite the kidnappers warning sandra mcneil gave the note to sheriff's investigators who examined it for clues south dakota department of criminal investigations agent doug lake was brought in to assist with the investigation his first priority was to deal with the difficulties of obtaining the money grant some money was the victim's mother's money and it was on friday after the bank is closed and and the agents investigators went around to the different banks in town and gathered up all the cash that they had on hand [Music] three days after her son disappeared kenny's mother received a second phone call this time investigators were listening is my son okay sandra mcneil was instructed to leave the money in aberdeen park at 9 pm investigators traced the call to a public phone box but the kidnapper hung up and disappeared before the police could close in the phone had been wiped clean of princess investigators studied the tape the caller stated michael was not hurt but refused to allow him to talk to his mother until the ransom was paid the kidnapper described michael's clothing to authenticate his threat investigators felt they had no choice but to follow the kidnapper's demands the money for the ransom was bundled and placed into a briefcase investigators also placed a hidden tracking device inside [Music] an undercover female police officer made the ransom drop as scheduled a short while later the briefcase was retrieved by a man who then ran off with more than he bargained for police quickly followed the suspect drove to a residence where he parked the blue oldsmobile he was driving transferred the briefcase containing the ransom money to an orange camaro and was joined by an unidentified female from inside the residence led by the tracking device agents followed the suspects across the minnesota border just inside minnesota a roadblock halted the suspect's flight they were ordered out of their car and arrested the driver was identified as year 19-year-old todd miller the passenger was his 17 year old sister [Music] agents retrieved the briefcase from the camaro's trunk [Music] the car was closely examined for clues but there was no sign of michael kinney or any other leads to his whereabouts investigators questioned the suspect separately after a thorough interrogation investigators found that miller's sister genuinely appeared to have no clue about kenny's disappearance or the ransom money she was released [Music] todd miller told police a drug dealer named bob jacobs had asked him to pick up a package and deliver it to him in minnesota miller claimed that in return jacobs had promised to help him financially when asked if he knew kenny miller said he was a good friend but he had no idea jacob's job was in any way related to kinney's disappearance miller's story provided investigators with an opportunity they would use him in a sting operation to nab the drug dealer the ransom money was returned to him and he was transported to the pre-arranged delivery point [Music] jacobs never appeared [Music] detectives brought miller back to the police station [Music] the following day miller admitted that jacob's story was a lie the kidnapping had been a hoax [Music] claiming it was all michael kinney's idea miller explained he had helped stage the entire plot miller said he had been friends with kenny since high school [Music] alleging kinney dabbled in various drugs and wanted to move to canada miller stated he was recruited into the kidnapping scam as a way to help kenny finance his planned relocation detectives put miller through an extensive polygraph test did you harm michael the results of the test were inconclusive but tended to show the overall truthfulness of his status that meant michael kinney was alive and on the run a warrant was issued for his arrest police in south dakota continued their search for 20 year old michael kinney what had initially appeared to be a kidnapping was now starting to look like a deception have anything to do with the disappearance kenny's friend todd miller claimed to be a reluctant participant in helping michael kenny stage his own disappearance and extort his mother as the result of miller's story a warrant was issued for kenny's arrest but his whereabouts remained a mystery [Music] detectives questioned kinney's girlfriend she told him she was with michael the night before he was reported missing he had dropped her off at her house after they had been out for a pizza and soda she had not seen or heard from him since weeks later an aberdeen farmer made a startling discovery after noticing a foul odor coming from an unused ice house on his property he entered the building there he found a body [Music] police were immediately called to the scene though the body was badly decomposed investigators found evidence of three bullet wounds and what appeared to be blunt trauma injuries to the victim's head the farmer had no idea who the victim was or how the body ended up in the ice house through dental matches police would soon learn the victim's identity they had found michael kinney it was a big impact on us you know also we went from a possible theft by deception warrant to a kidnapping murder a homicide at the autopsy the cause of death was determined to be a bullet wound to the aorta fibers perhaps from a rub were collected from the victim's clothing it was estimated he had been dead for two to three weeks possibly from the time of his disappearance with michael kinney dead the investigation shifted back to todd miller for investigators it was clear that he was the killer but now they had to prove it to determine if he had written the ransom note he was returned to the police station to provide handwriting samples while waiting for those results warrants to search miller's cars were obtained investigators discovered that the blue oldsmobile miller used to pick up the ransom money had been recently washed however detectives managed to find two hairs that had survived the cleaning fiber samples from the trunk were also collected next the interior of the trunk was treated with luminol this process revealed evidence of blood but the samples were too deteriorated for analysis [Music] the evidence was hand delivered to state crime lab analyst rex reese for comparison [Music] reese compared fibers removed from kinney's clothing to those removed from the trunk of miller's vehicle there was an association of the fibers that comprise the liner in the trunk and present as loose fibers on the metal part or the base bottom of the trunk itself these were black rayon synthetic textile fibers that comprise this liner present on mr kinney's clothing were a number of these same type of black fibers though the analysis was incriminating it was only circumstantial investigators needed hard evidence that michael kinney had been in the trunk of miller's car reese next compared the two hairs recovered from the oldsmobile's trunk with those taken from kinney's head during autopsy but reese could only make a general comparison the hairs recovered from the trunk were too damaged for a conclusive analysis the hairs had been severed at the proximal ano or near the scalp by blunt force so we couldn't see any of the root structures there but they exhibited human hair characteristics that were most similar to that of mr kinney reese's analysis brought investigators one step closer to making their case but it still wasn't enough experts conducted an extensive examination of miller's handwriting the unique characteristics identified in the ransom note matched those from miller's sample mr miller despite his protests miller was arrested and charged with first-degree murder detectives determined that miller had wanted to help his father get out of financial problems he turned to the person he called his friend on the night of may 8 1985 michael kinney dropped off his girlfriend and headed back home police theorize that he was flagged down by his friend how's it going hey todd completely unaware of what was about to befall him kenny was an easy mark for the cold-blooded violence miller had planned what's happening after striking kinney's head miller loaded him into the trunk of his car and quickly fled the scene miller drove to an isolated farm where he then shot and killed the still unconscious kinney to cover his tracks miller hid the body in a derelict ice house he then returned home and coldly set in motion his plans to extort kinney's mother at his trial todd miller was found guilty of first degree murder kidnapping possession of ransom money and forgery he received two life terms plus 20 years in a community near preston washington another missing person's case was to turn deadly on september 4th 1996 rex and shirley wren reported their son 35 year old james bradren missing they told police that their son's roommate emmett marcel the parents told police that two months before marcel became enraged at their son while the two were working on the house they shared together left the residence so marcel could cool off when ren returned later that night marcel shot him in the leg oh my gosh their son had refused to press charges the information was enough for police to open a missing person's investigation a background check revealed that police had been dispatched to marcel and wren's residence several times before to settle angry disputes between the two men [Music] on august 10 a month after the shooting ren called he had 911 been seen since assigned to the major crimes unit of the king county sheriff's office detective denny gula headed the investigation to locate the missing man the last time he was seen was with a king county police officer there was a disturbance at his house and sergeant bockmeyer the patrol supervisor at that time had contacted him at home and transported him to the falsity substation gula began by reviewing the responding officer's log of the august 10th incident records showed that sergeant matt bachmaier had taken ren to a nearby police station taken a statement then released him hoping for more detailed information detective gula put in phone calls to sergeant bachmeier while waiting for a response he continued his investigation he questioned wren's neighbors one richard pettygrove recalled that the last time he saw ren was on august 10th he reported seeing wren driven away in a police car following a fight between ren and his roommate emmett marcel the real real angry richard described him at marcel as a dangerous and angry person all of the neighbors felt certain marcel had something to do with ren's disappearance on my business cards detective gula ran marcel's name through the law enforcement database marcel had recently been put in a tacoma jail for an unrelated traffic violation for investigators it was time to pay a visit to the prime suspect in james wren's disappearance ccu police in king county washington searched for 35 year old james brad wren reported missing by his parents wren's roommate emmett marcel was quickly becoming the prime suspect police went to question him in a tacoma jail where he sat for unrelated traffic violations is your name emmett marcel yes marcel agreed to take a polygraph he appeared unconcerned and claimed to have no idea about where ren might be [Music] on the evening of august 10th the day ren was last seen emmett claimed he was with a friend in nearby tukwila washington you did not know why the polygraph strongly indicated he was telling the truth investigators were unconvinced [Music] they obtained warrants to search marcel's car the floorboard investigators found a prescription bottle with wren's name on it they also found a hammer with a reddish brown substance on it in the lab samples of the reddish-brown flecks on the hammer were tested but no conclusive results could be reached the samples were too deteriorated the case against marcel seemed to be going nowhere a search warrant was obtained for marcel and ren's residence inside a suspicious stain on the carpet drew the investigators attention samples of the stain were preserved on swabs detectives hoped this was the break they needed we're thinking this is a pretty substantial piece of evidence we sent it off to the crime lab for processing what we find out is that it's bovine or cow's blood with no physical evidence tying marcel to wren's disappearance he was eliminated as a suspect they hoped that officer bockmeyer who had taken wren's statement on august 10th could shed some light on the [Music] disappearance he apologized for the delay saying he was under a lot of pressure which was recently compounded when his home had been burglarized and set on fire in fact he explained that when he responded to the 911 [Music] wren was the person he had seen fleeing from his house after it had caught fire when ren was brought in to file his complaint bachmaire confronted him about the arson ren admitted to the crimes but after writing out his confession wren stormed out of the station for detective gula bachmeier's story seemed odd you know people just don't sturm off and walk out of the police station uh especially when this person has just admitted to you to have burned your house down okay now let's try that though it was unclear if bachmaire was involved in ren's disappearance investigators decided to take a closer look into the arson and burglary at his [Music] home detective gula met with the renton pd arson investigators who had been the first to look into the fire at bachmeier's house [Music] after first believing the motive behind the fire was possibly an act of revenge by a criminal they were now convinced bachmaire had set the fire himself the arsonist had used flares stuck in plastic containers to start the blaze a method that would give the perpetrator plenty of time to leave the scene before the fire actually caught the investigation further revealed numerous valuable items including jewelry limited edition prints cds and leather jackets had been removed from the house prior to the fire and stored in the garage to avoid being damaged king county sheriff's detective sue peters also worked the investigation basically renton police detectives were concerned and thought bachmeyer possibly could be a suspect because one of the neighbor ladies had actually seen what she believed was sergeant bachmar leaving on his motorcycle in the middle of the night and then several minutes later his house is on fire due to all of the conflicting circumstances bachmeier's insurance company had refused to pay his claim unless he took a polygraph something he refused to do he was stripped of his badge and gun and was suspended from the department he was now the prime suspect in wren's disappearance but police had no motive and no body to suggest a crime had taken place investigators would have to outsmart a man who knew how to hide evidence police in washington state were beginning to suspect that fellow officer sergeant matt bachmeier was responsible for the disappearance of 35 year old james brad wren according to bachmeier wren had confessed to torching and burglarizing the officer's home just before he disappeared a copy of ren's confession to sergeant bachmeier was obtained each page bore ren's signature the statement and the signatures however appeared to be written in a different hand but it was not unusual for an investigator to write out a story and have a suspect sign it to be sure the confession was sent to a handwriting expert [Music] examiners determined that the signature at the bottom of each page was in ren's handwriting while the statement itself was in bachmeier's but the analysis revealed something more interesting though the entire statement was written in the same color ink one type of pen had been used to write the first two pages which pertained to rand's complaint about emmett marcel but pages three four and five had been written with a different pen those pages contained ren's confession to the arson and burglary investigators a clearer picture was beginning to emerge it was my belief that brad wren was going to be used as the suspect of the arson which he was according to sergeant bachmar and you know the case is really all tied together that sergeant bachmar was becoming the focus of the arson of his own home and so he needed to find someone that he could say set his house on fire to clear him so he picked brad wren who led a very simple life warrants were obtained for the patrol car sergeant bockmeyer used on the evening of august 10th small reddish-brown stains were found on the back seat and armrest of the patrol car the rear seat covering was removed [Music] investigators were shot to discover a much bigger stain in the foam padding it appeared a large amount of substance had seeped through the upholstery and into the cushion samples of each stain were taken to the crime lab they all tested positive for human blood when confronted about the evidence bachmeier stated ren had experienced a nosebleed while in the patrol car you being the one police didn't buy it examiners developed experiments to determine how much blood it would take to leave such a large stain under the patrol car's rear seat by using different amounts of human blood to soak back seats from similar patrol cars criminalists ascertain the absorption rate of the foam padding and the amount of blood needed to make a similar size stain [Music] they determined that a minimum of 200 milliliters or nearly a cup of blood was involved far more than even the worst nosebleed would produce [Music] examiners had to prove that the blood in the patrol car came from wren but without a body there were no samples to compare it fell to forensic chemist kim duddy to find a way around that problem both his biological parents were still alive and were willing to give blood samples so the our dna unit took the blood samples from both his biological mother and father and tested it to the question stain on the seat from bockmeyer's vehicle the dna analysis showed that the blood from bachmeier's patrol car had come from the biological child of rex and shirley wren even without a body the evidence was now overwhelming that sergeant matt bochmeier was responsible for the murder of james wren the veteran police officer was arrested if any doubt remained it was cleared up on february 2nd 1997 less than three months after bachmeier's arrest bone and clothing fragments were found near a secluded cul-de-sac in cougar mountain park among the most identifiable pieces were a skull and a red white and blue cast keys to the gated park were found on bachmeier's keychain police believe that sergeant bockmeyer's scheme to make some easy cash by setting up a phony arson of his home backfired when his insurance company became suspicious he needed to prove to them that criminal forces were out to get him wren became a patsy in his twisted plan sergeant matt bachmaier was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole killers who strike without remorse whose motives are obscure can frustrate detectives in their efforts to solve the case but dogged investigation coupled with patients and the ever-advancing scientific methods of the crime lab can often produce results no matter how cold-blooded the crime

Channel: Real Responders

Views: 655,254

Keywords: real responders, real responders documentaries, the new detectives, crime, investigation, murder, cold blooded, police, police investigation, new detectives documentary, true crime, new detectives, crime documentary, new detectives full episode, crime documentaries full episodes, crime stories

Id: yRyx4ru6Y8w

Length: 49min 41sec (2981 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 01 2021