Blind Trust | FULL EPISODE | The New Detectives

in new mexico a university co-ed is missing police must piece together a web of evidence to catch those responsible if they ever hope to find her alive in virginia a killer uses the interstate as his personal dumping ground [Music] a woman's body is found and investigators have little time and few clues to lead them to a killer who could strike again [Music] perpetrators try to conceal their crimes yet savvy investigators can take the most obscure data and recreate a murder though killers treacherously lure their victims by gaining their confidence forensic science brings to light crimes committed and the betrayal of a blind trust [Music] in this episode some of the names have been changed the town of las cruces new mexico sits on the rio grande just north of mexico a vast desert surrounds the town the perfect place to conceal a crime 9-1-1 emergency operator in january 1998 9-1-1 dispatch received a call about a missing student named carly martinez the 18 year old freshman was beginning her second semester [Music] when campus police arrived at the dorm her roommate and parents were waiting [Music] they said it was unlike carly to be out of touch her father told police they hadn't seen carly since the day before he and his wife had taken both girls to dinner and then dropped them off at their dorm room about 6 30pm [Music] university police began a missing persons investigation [Music] her parents and roommate gave police a description and photograph of carly an extremely attractive girl with long dark hair and dark eyes she was five feet six and was last seen wearing jeans and a brown jacket [Music] desperate to find her they posted flyers around the campus hoping someone would recognize carly and contact police [Music] a massive search effort began officers and volunteers on horseback combed the surrounding desert area police gave dogs a piece of her clothing hoping the scent would lead them to her and investigators knew time was running out if carly were lost or wandering in the desert she would not survive for very long four days passed before they got the first break in the case a fellow student samuel sanchez saw the missing person posters and contacted police he said he saw carly with jesse avalos one of his co-workers at an off-campus bookstore according to sanchez he saw them at a local roller rink on the night she disappeared jesse and carly were skating together and holding hands sanchez told police the couple was later joined by jason des neuers one of jesse's friends they looked as if they were having a good time [Music] the las cruces police department was called in to assist the university in the investigation david cortez was the lead detective the co-worker said that they closed the roller rink early that evening of the 14th and that he saw the three of them leaving together campus police were the first to speak with jesse avalos hello how you doing they hoped he could provide some answers of the university police and i just wanted to ask you about your whereabouts and if you were hanging out with uh carly martinez the other night yeah you tell me avalos said he was with carly on a date and that his friend jason desnoyers had joined you know we them out after skating they had a few beers at a local bar he told police carly asked to be dropped off at a gas station near campus to use a pay phone he said he hadn't seen carly since [Music] detective cortez found the story odd he questioned why carly would use the pay phone at the gas station and not at her dorm the detective now wanted to speak with jesse's friend jason desnoyers maybe he could provide more information you're all ready jason's story started out much like his friends [Music] he said jesse avalos was out on a date with carly and he met up with them at the skating rink me and jesse and his girlfriend but then jason's story changed excited to go out and have a couple drinks he said they did not drop her off at a gas station he said they took her back to school so we drove her over to her dorm and dropped her out and where'd you guys drop her off at detective cortez grew suspicious he knew one or both of the boys was lying as far as your story goes because of the conflicting stories we felt that something wasn't right detective cortez asked for permission to search jason desnoyer's truck hoping to uncover something that would bring them closer to finding carly police noticed some scratches on the car's exterior on both the drivers and the passenger side they extended the entire length of the car other than that the car appeared to be spotless we noticed that the inside of the truck was very clean as if it had been recently washed several fibers were collected from the floor and seat using the chemical luminol they checked for blood and other bodily fluids if there were any present they would glow under the light upon performing the luminol test we discovered that the center bench seat area was lighting up this caught our attention along with the scratches some indicators to us that something just wasn't right when investigators examined the seat more closely they discovered a large reddish brown stain a portion of the seat cushion was cut out and sent to the forensic lab for testing at the new mexico state crime lab forensic scientist mark salvo tested the truck seat for human blood they had removed the foam cushion of the seat and on there you could see obvious staining on that i did presumptive examination for the presence of blood on the material side which was you couldn't see anything and got positives on that as well as on the foam where you could see a stain and got a positive indication that there might be blood present on those items [Music] the seat cushion tested positive for human blood but the recent cleaning of the seat had destroyed any dna [Music] as the police gathered evidence the search for the young girl continued [Music] disappearance was reported throughout the southwestern states authorities hoped the media coverage would prompt someone with information to come [Music] victim forward just got dead this morning from the family and as the days followed or we had leads coming in hundreds of leads they were distributed to the task force and followed up on [Music] investigators spoke to an informant who had recently been arrested on a parole violation he was a neighbor of jesse avalos and claimed to have information regarding a jacket jesse wore the night carly disappeared the man said that jason desnoyers approached him several days after carly went missing and asked for a favor the subject told us that he took the jacket from jason and hid it under some rolled up carpet just outside the apartment police searched behind the apartment building where the witness said the jacket was located they found a roll of carpet where he said it would be and me unravel it inside was a military style jacket it appeared to be stained with blood more stains on here the jacket was bagged and sent to the lab for further examination [Music] after police obtained a warrant they also searched inside jesse avalos's apartment why don't you take the living a team of forensic experts arrived and scoured each room in the bathroom investigators noticed reddish-colored stains they believed were blood [Music] the shower curtain was collected for testing in jesse's bed investigators found one long dark hair [Music] some of avalos's clothing was also bagged and sent to the lab [Music] if the smudges found on the jacket and shower curtain were blood forensic scientists would need to compare it to carly's detective cortez asked her family for personal items that might provide them with a dna sample investigators were piecing together a case they knew the longer it took the hopes of ever finding the girl alive grew slim they hoped the evidence would be the break they needed to lead them to the missing student [Music] for five days investigators in new mexico searched for missing college student carly martinez so far the search yielded nothing the two men last seen with the young woman claimed they went roller skating had a few beers and dropped her off but investigators didn't believe their story blood stains found in the truck and on the shower curtain inside one of the suspect's apartments cast even more doubt the police secured a warrant to collect dna samples from jason desnoyers and jesse avalos jason here just need some body standards des neuers appeared with his lawyer a technician took hair blood and saliva samples detective david cortez supervised the procedure he looked for any signs that indicated that lawyers had been in a struggle one of the things i did notice at the time was that he had a large cut on his right hand which was in the healing process it was scabbing over but it was you can tell that it was very recent if it's not a search right now no i just just one vote does neuer's lawyer refuse to let police take photos of the cut body standards were also collected from jesse avalos all of the samples were sent to the state crime lab to be compared to blood stains found on both the jacket and shower curtain forensic scientist mark salvo conducted the examinations first salvo extracted dna from carly's personal items to compare with samples found on the jacket then he applied a chemical solution to the stains on des neuer's jacket it looks like there's some discoloration up here in this area i'm going to do a presumptive test on it and the presence of blood i have a colorless solution it's going to turn into a dark pinkish color if blood is present the jacket tested positive for human blood salvo also swabbed the shower curtain found in jesse's apartment using the same method he learned there was blood on both sides of the shower curtain these were collected and marked for evidence [Music] salvo then compared the blood found on the jacket and the shower curtain and was startled by the findings the blood on these items came from three separate individuals he discovered that the dna matched not only both suspects but also the victim i think it's just unusual in a case like that where you can link three individuals to a piece of evidence so i can show that either all three of these individuals were injured and bleeding and left their material on this item or that some of the individuals carried away dna and left it on that item police still didn't know if carly was dead or alive and they believed the only people who did know were their two suspects since jason desnoyers had cooperated in the beginning detective cortez hoped he would talk now when we attempted to contact jason desnoyers i learned through his attorney as well as his family that his whereabouts were unknown so we moved over to jesse avalos city police jesse cortez hoped with one suspect on the run he'd get the other to talk not wanting to tip his hand the detective played it cool and just asked jesse for his help in the case yes and we explained to him that we wanted to talk about carly and if he would help us out give us any information that he had or that he knew one of the things we explained to jesse was how the family was feeling not knowing the whereabouts of their daughter it looked like his tactic was beginning to pay off [Music] with that jesse out of the blues told us let's get in the car let's go for a ride the terrain around las cruces is so isolated that if a person wanted to hide something out there or someone out there they could very easily do it right there jesse avalos took detective cortez to a remote location in the desert jesse pointed out a site where desnoyers had burned incriminating items what cortes found in the ashes was chilling there were remnants of clothing and accessories metal zippers and rivets eyeglasses and a woman's lipstick and compact case one item was particularly telling the main thing that caught our attention was keys which uh did not burn they were keys that which we knew was carly's dorm room number two two and a half miles advised task force like if you can contact me jesse told detective cortez that jason killed carly and burned her personal items in an attempt to destroy the evidence this is his first statement that he really ties uh jason as far as getting carly and killing her jesse tried to retrace jason's steps on the night carly was killed but it was dark and they weren't able to locate the young woman contact me on my cell phone but even without a body detective cortez knew they were close to breaking the case at least here we have jesse talking to us and uh at least we have a location to work with detectives then had a difficult task they called carly's parents in to identify the items found at the burn site mr and mrs martinez confirmed the keys and the earrings were their daughters and then detective cortez got an important call [Music] get your hands up now down here behind your head step towards me keep walking lay down across the rails the early morning hours of march 17th i get a call that jason desnoyers had been located just outside of san diego california the deputy just happened to recognize jason from one of the flyers of the mugshots just by luck that we were able to locate and arrest jason jason desnoyers was transported back to las cruces and formally booked for the murder of carly martinez [Music] once jason was in custody they then arrested jesse avalos on tampering with evidence [Music] investigators knew that without a body it would be more difficult but not impossible to convict them of murder it's very important to find this body not only to the family which was a big concern for us because we still needed to prosecute these subjects police led an extensive search around the burn site hundreds of search personnel were on hand to attempt to locate the remains [Music] given the vastness of the desert authorities knew the search could take weeks and through it all detective cortes continued to pit one suspect against the other convinced it was only a matter of time before one of them broke down we decided that we would meet up with jesse and tell him hey we located jason he's putting the blame on you now jesse jesse tells us well i'll tell you i'll come up clean now and tell you where she is i'll take you straight to her body we told jesse okay here's your last and final chance we started in the grid search and uh we'll coordinate with us the three canines how we want to do it all right keep you ready one where we can communicate with you jesse avalos again showed detectives several areas where he thought the body was located even with the help of university police border patrol agents and search dogs they found nothing so detective cortez came up with one more strategy on our way out we made sure that jesse did see jason and that this was no bluff all right jason you're up good luck [Music] after seeing jesse avalos helping police jason desnoyers now began accusing his friend of the murder he claimed he could show police where avalos had buried the body [Music] jason now led detectives to various locations but carly's body was not found frustrated officials continued to search on their own finally the rescue team made a gruesome discovery not far from the burn site we heard over our police radio that one of our civilian search and rescue horsemen had located what he believed was to be a body cortez and his team of investigators quickly went to the scene they confirmed that it was the body of a young female after 67 days of investigation police had finally found the missing college student when we got there we knew it was carly finally finally we found her the body was exposed to the harsh desert elements for over two months and was badly decomposed it was removed for autopsy police believe the forensic evidence gained at autopsy would not only reveal how she died but also secure the conviction of her killers [Music] the las cruces new mexico police had arrested jason desnoyers and jesse avalos in connection with the disappearance and murder of college freshman carly martinez over two months of investigation came to an end after police discovered carly's body at a remote desert site the body was transported to the coroner's office for autopsy medical investigator patricia mcfeely's first objective was to make a positive identification of the body dental records easily confirmed the victim was carly martinez an initial assessment of the body revealed signs of sexual assault and 27 knife wounds well we were looking for the cause of death in her there were multiple areas of injury she had stab wounds of the chest and she had stab wounds of the head and she had some blunt trauma also in the head area dr vince stefan a specialist in skeletal biology and forensic anthropology was asked to examine the wounds he was asked to determine the type of weapon used at the time the decedent had been out in the desert for a couple months so she was in an advanced state of decomposition so looking at the outer wounds on the skin may not necessarily have given a good indication of what actually happened in those areas mcfeely and stefan ordered x-rays of the wounds they discovered a tiny piece of metal embedded in the skull it proved to be the tip of a knife then there was a second pattern of trauma that was consistent with some other type of object it left a clear impression that it was not made by a knife stefan and mcfeely speculated that the other instrument matched the pattern of a set of needle-nosed pliers two weapons could mean two attackers and any one of the wounds could have caused carly's death it would suggest that either two people were doing something or one person had one instrument for some reason put that one down and picked up another investigators knew the second scenario was unlikely with this analysis and the other evidence police reconstructed how the murder took place that evening after skating des neuers and avalos took carly out into the desert to continue their drinking and then raped her desert we believe that when they got carly with them in the truck sitting in between them they were in control they figured they could have they could have their way with her which consisted of raping her because of what they had done to her that that point that they couldn't just let her go they then killed her and left her body in a remote location hoping she'd never be found come here it was not the ending detective cortez had hoped for here we had an 18 year old college girl just starting her life away from home for the first time and just saying you know how this could happen to any one's daughter anyone's child jesse avalos was convicted of first degree murder he received a life sentence jason desnoyers was also convicted and is currently serving a life sentence some killers prey on those they know gaining their trust and making the crimes easier to commit others rely on the vulnerability of strangers in need virginia's highways offer scenic views of the surrounding countryside but on the morning of january 23 1995 along a remote stretch a grisly discovery was made 9-1-1 was emergency shortly before dawn 9-1-1 operators in washington county received a call about a lifeless body near interstate 81.835 nature respond to i-81 northbound just before exit 10. [Music] the responding officer found a half-dressed female lying in the middle of the road [Music] the washington county crime scene unit processed the area prime techs photographed the site and canvassed for evidence [Music] investigators were unable to identify the victim at the scene [Music] they did not find a purse or any identification police also recovered a plastic grocery bag it had been partially wrapped around the victim's head more evidence was found close by a pair of pants believed to be the victims three pieces of paper in the pocket was a slip of paper on it was written two phone numbers both out of state gainesville 304 the pieces of evidence were bagged and sent to the state crime lab investigators also found another important piece of evidence a set of bloody tire tracks detective kenneth wilson investigated the case there was some obvious uh tire tread marks that led from the lady's body out toward the northbound ramp of i-81 north and on down the ramp uh it became obvious that the vehicle had run over the ladies legs forensic technicians photographed the tracks it was evident they were made by a very large truck detective ross sheets also worked the case the tracks left on the roadway when he ran over the victim's right leg left marks that appeared to be that of a tractor and trailer the diameter and the revolution of the tire led us to believe that in fact it was a tractor and trailer detectives canvassed the rural area to see if anyone had heard anything unusual police found one man who remembered hearing a truck around 3 am he told police he heard the truck idling for several minutes then he heard it turn around and drive back onto the interstate [Music] the man was a mechanic who worked on tractor trailers he did not see the vehicle but he was confident the engine was a peterbilt motor thinking the trucker might still be in the area police moved quickly they advised way stations along the interstate that a possible murder suspect might be traveling northbound in a semi truck with a peterbilt motor we also notified the virginia state police the west virginia state police maryland state police and north carolina state police to also be on the lookout for any tract controller may have signs of blood or hair or human tissue on that vehicle at the weigh stations attendants looked closely at each tractor trailer the search turned up nothing unusual [Applause] [Music] the washington county coroner's office conducted the autopsy of the body officially noted as jane doe the medical examiner determined the victim was between 40 and 50 years old [Music] there were marks on her neck that indicated she was strangled [Music] x-rays revealed the victim's neck was broken the m.e also suspected sexual assault but no foreign dna was recovered the medical examiner concluded that due to the presence of insects and the level of decomposition the victim had been dead for about 12 hours before she was left on the road forensic specialists took fingerprints and palm prints of the victim hoping to identify her both sets of prints were run through several national databases a match was located in bloomington indiana the victim was identified as 45 year old wanda jean turner [Music] police learned her prints were in the system due to a prior arrest on a trespassing charge authorities now needed to locate wanda's family and notify them of her death when they spoke to them they also hope to gather additional information about her background to aid the investigation she was uh known to hang out at various truck stops and would travel from various parts of the country just by means of riding with truckers [Music] but her family didn't give detectives much to go on they have not seen or heard from her in months with very little to guide them investigators would have to trace wanda's movements in the days and hours leading up to her death they look to the phone numbers found in her pocket [Music] one of the numbers was a taxi cab company in gainesville florida investigators contacted the gainesville police department and asked for assistance they hoped someone at the cab company would remember wanda [Music] gainesville police showed photographs of wanda to the cab drivers one man recognized her the cab driver told police he took her to the bus station around 11 a.m on january 22nd he remembered that she only carried a plastic grocery bag but wanda did not mention where she was headed [Music] we lost her trail then and everything went cold but last place we could place her alive was in gainesville florida getting on a bus [Applause] detective sheets believe the victim's body was dumped in virginia about 16 hours later the investigation expanded to five states stretched the resources of the washington county sheriff's office and we sent detectives out in different directions going to every truck stop basically from roanoke virginia to gainesville florida distributing these posters and requesting any and all information they hoped someone had seen wanda turner with a truck driver but no one remembered seeing her and the case slowly grew cold then less than a month after wanda turner's murder a body of a woman was found off an interstate near greensboro north carolina the crime scenes were eerily similar once again the victim was partially nude and her body had been run over by a truck if the same killer was responsible for both crimes there could be more to come police knew they needed to work quickly before more women turned up dead as virginia detectives were piecing together the murder investigation of 45 year old wanda gene turner another body was found in north carolina the newly discovered victim was found partially nude abandoned near an interstate both crime scenes were similar and investigators believed they were looking for one killer the medical examiner determined this victim was strangled like the first the victim's fingerprints were processed through the national database and like the first victim she too had a record for a minor offense she was positively identified as cindy barkley from georgia police tracked down cindy's family they said cindy was living in florida and didn't keep in constant contact although the last time she called she said she was going to visit relatives in maryland that was about two months before when she phoned she was at a truck stop and said she was doing fine i'm gonna just be like you know if you you know a couple weeks and then i gotta go i really yeah since the phone calls home were so infrequent no one reported her missing and there were no more leads [Music] exactly one month later in kingsport tennessee another woman was found dead off an interstate she was discovered 30 miles from the first victim to detective sheets there was no doubt the murders were all related crime scenes were similar the girl seemed to be positioned on the roadway and her clothes were pulled down the victim's prints were processed she was identified as tina madsen and like the previous two victims tina had been strangled [Music] police from five states organized a task force to compare evidence by working together they hope to speed up the search leading them to a suspect we have the address but so far they had nothing although investigators believe the killer drove a truck with a peterbilt engine they had no idea who he was or how to find him extremely difficult to identify a suspect in this case these million or so truck drivers in this country and millions of trucks and just like a long shot to find a suspect at the virginia state crime lab in roanoke forensic scientists poured over the only physical evidence they had a receipt a piece of paper and a plastic bag fingerprint specialist andrew johnson examined the evidence but was unable to develop any prints on the receipt or piece of paper he then looked at the plastic bag found wrapped around the victim's head actually a plastic bag is a surface very conducive for latent prints it's rather slick it's non-porous and if the individual that touches it has perspiration or an oily substrate on their hand will leave a very good latent print johnson placed the bag in a sealed chamber he then put cyanoacrylate or super glue in a small tin and set it inside a chamber to heat and release the vapors [Music] the glue evaporates and adheres to the oily prints which glow under an alternate light source [Music] after three long months and just as many victims andrew johnson made the discovery he believed would turn the case after photographing the latent print i took the photograph and made a five-time enlargement of the latent print and then a tracing is done of the minutia on the latent print and transferred to a piece of acetate investigators ran the prints through virginia's fingerprint identification system but to their surprise the database didn't turn up anything missouri alabama the fingerprints were their only link to the suspect police believe they were looking for a trucker and now they needed to find another way to track him down similar crime scenes have been observed okay we've developed a media release they made copies of the fingerprints taken from the plastic bag and submitted them to jurisdictions across the country for phone calls with this particular evidence we have a lot of them and just when they were losing hope of ever finding the killer their life changed across the country in arkansas investigators got a hit a serial killer was on the loose three murders were linked to the same perpetrator who traveled the interstates in search of unsuspecting women the only clue connected to the crimes was a fingerprint found on a grocery bag and after months of coming up empty investigators finally got a match the suspect had been arrested in arkansas on a minor charge several years earlier the print belonged to sean goble of ashboro north carolina investigator sheets of the washington county virginia sheriff's office was optimistic that he was their killer he was a tractor and trailer truck driver so we thought we had her man hey charlie listen i've got some things i got to take care of i'll get back detective kenneth wilson went to north carolina and questioned the suspect's supervisor gobel was out on the road and was due back at any time the supervisor confirmed that gobel not only drove a tractor trailer he drove one with a peterbilt engine individual but global's co-workers could not believe he was a cold-blooded killer gobel was known throughout his department as a calm easy-going friendly but somewhat lonely truck driver but he had a good reputation investigators obtained the trucker's travel logs to see if there was any correlation between the location of the bodies and the suspect's whereabouts we determined that he was in the vicinity of a lot of murders that occurred across the country especially the ones that we were looking at here locally when goebbels showed up detectives were there to meet him [Music] please come here he did not seem surprised there was very little reaction from him but once we told him he was under arrest and the charge he was being arrested for he was somewhat surprised gobel denied any involvement in the murders mr gerbil as we've told you before he told police he never met any of the victims i think i've seen her while gobel was detained at the winston-salem police department investigators processed his truck inside they found a purse containing the driver's license of the last victim tina madsen they also collected numerous strands of hair and they found what appeared to be blood when detectives confronted gobel with the evidence found in his truck and on the plastic bag he admitted he had picked up the women but claimed they were alive when he dropped them off police then obtained a search warrant for his home inside his bedroom closet they made a gruesome discovery police found purses women's shoes and underwear and other personal items investigators believed global was collecting souvenirs from each victim with evidence mounting against him sean goebbel ultimately confessed to the three murders there was a plastic bag he looked at us for just a moment or two and then he conceded that it was him his reaction from then on out was somewhat subtle he was very cooperative his response was really i'm glad this is over but i'd like to just get it behind me and get back out on the road but detective wilson knew he wasn't going anywhere gobel told police what happened the night he picked up wanda turner near virginia wanda asked the trucker for a ride he said he agreed and killed her then he put the plastic bag over her head to keep the blood from getting on the scenes the confession gave investigators more than they needed to bring the killer to justice [Music] we started a crime scene with three pieces of paper and two telephone numbers and a plastic bag like a million in one shot trying to locate this individual his confessions allowed gobel to avoid the death penalty he received three consecutive life sentences killers can lure unwitting victims blindly gaining their confidence and trust in order to commit murder yet forensics can reconstruct the details of their crimes and piece together the evidence needed to convict exposing the perpetrators lies and bringing them to justice [Music] you

Channel: The New Detectives

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Keywords: The New Detectives, New Detectives, New Detectives Full Episode, Full Episodes, New Detectives Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True Crime Daily, Unsolved, FBI, FBI Files, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Unsolved True Crime, Mystery, Solved, Investigation, Police, Criminal, Forensics, Forensic Science, Science

Id: P5TpwNqY9UM

Length: 49min 54sec (2994 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 09 2021