Detectives Must Prove That A Death Was No Accident | The New Detective | Real Responders

an elderly woman is pulled from the murky waters of a rural pond in alabama a few scraps of evidence are all investigators have to link her to her killer [Music] in texas the body of a woman swept away in a flash flood is found downstream can forensic scientists wash away deception and find proof of murder a car crash on a country road in wisconsin claims a woman's life [Music] detectives must wade through ambiguous evidence to prove her death was no accident [Music] once water could dissolve evidence linking murderers to their crimes but today scientists can look beneath the surface for proof of homicide even when the victims are found dead in the water [Music] [Music] grand bay alabama may 21 1994 two teenagers boating on a pond known locally as blue hole noticed something floating in the water as they approached they realized it was a human body they fled the scene and alerted their parents who called the police when the mobile county sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene they recovered the body of an elderly woman it was clear that this was not an accidental drowning the victim had a tire jack chained around her waist and her hands had been removed as investigators began documenting the scene detectives contacted the sheriff's department for a missing persons check they hoped a search of ncic a database containing descriptions of people reported missing could help them identify the victim sergeant harold bolster explains all missing person reports are or missing persons are placed on on the ncic and we we look for any local matches anything close to mobile or moss point pascagoula anything in the in the general region that might match up to what we had only one name fit the description of the victim 85 year old irma williams had been reported missing the day before in nearby moss point mississippi dispatchers contacted detective john jay gaffney who was investigating that disappearance and they advised that the mobile county sheriff's office had discovered a body in grand bay alabama which is the next jurisdiction over from us and that they believe the body was could possibly be my missing person detectives from the moss point mississippi police department were dispatched to the scene after getting a detailed description of the victim from deputies the detectives believed they had found irma williams it appeared that their missing persons case was now a homicide [Music] investigators began searching the surrounding area for any evidence that would help them identify the killer but a large amount of trash and debris had collected at the pond determining what was evidence and what wasn't would be difficult as investigators scoured the area near the water's edge they found fresh tire tracks imprinted in the sand [Music] unsure if these tracks had been left by the killer plaster casts were made [Music] as the search of the area continued detectives noticed a cigarette butt with a flattened end hidden among some overgrown unlike most of the trash in the area it didn't appear to have been there very long it was collected and sent to the lab for further analysis though investigators believe that the victim was irma williams they needed a positive identification [Music] they contacted her relatives james and sharon williams confirmed that the victim was james's grandmother irma williams okay i know this is hard but i'm gonna have to ask you a couple questions james told the officer he and his wife were very close to irma he described her as a vivacious woman who loved life and her family [Music] though her husband of more than 50 years had recently passed away his estate had allowed her to remain independent [Music] but james said that his father henderson williams was not close with irma [Music] in fact sharon added that henderson hadn't seemed very worried when she told him no one could locate his mother sharon said she'd gone to henderson's house around 11 pm the night before and found him burning trash in the yard when told his mother was missing henderson seemed distracted and unconcerned he was preoccupied by the fire the entire time despite henderson's lack of concern sharon and james could not imagine that he was involved in his own mother's murder [Music] the autopsy on irma williams was performed by dr j.c upshaw downs the chief medical examiner for the state of alabama the official cause of death was listed as severe blunt force trauma to the head [Music] irma williams had died well before being placed in the pond and for dr downes the manner in which the victim's hands were removed was also telling this was a clean cut obviously a sharp instrument like a knife or a razor had been used there was no hemorrhage or bleeding into the soft tissues that told me that these were post-mortem injuries and from that information it became apparent that somebody was trying to obscure her identity [Applause] by going to such great lengths to hide the victim's identity investigators were confident the killer was someone close to her they went to irma's residence to search for answers on a section of vinyl flooring in irma's kitchen investigators found reddish-brown stains that appeared to be blood [Music] a plastic bag recovered from underneath the sink also looked bloodstained convinced they had found the murder scene investigators continued searching for evidence of homicide [Music] on the table they noticed an ashtray full of cigarette butts [Music] the ends of the filters were flattened just like the one recovered from the crime scene i had observed an ashtray that had a lot of cigarette butts in it with a real distinctive bite mark on them i questioned the family about these cigarette butts and they advised it that was their father's cigarette butts that he had a real distinctive way he bit on the filter now detectives wanted to speak to irma's son henderson williams when they arrived at his home he wasn't there as they prepared to leave investigators noticed a woman leaving the trailer on henderson's property excuse me [Music] she identified herself as brenda rowell she rented the trailer from henderson williams [Music] though she stated that she and henderson were close she was unaware that irma had been murdered investigators sensed that the news made brenda uneasy they asked her to accompany them to the mobile county sheriff's department to answer more questions detectives asked brenda if she'd seen anything unusual at henderson's place recently she mentioned seeing henderson washing his car the day before he'd scrubbed it inside and out even the trunk brenda thought it was odd that henderson would suddenly take such pride in the old car's appearance investigators showed her a picture of the tire jack recovered from irma's body yes brenda was surprised it looked like hers she said she had led it to henderson recently but he had not returned it investigators turned their focus toward henderson's relationship with his mother she's very sweet lady arguing a lot brenda said that henderson and irma had been arguing over money from his father's estate irma felt her son was greedy and lazy and decided to cut him out of her will and denied him access to money left to her by his father henderson became irate in fact brenda admitted that a few weeks back she and henderson had a bitter argument no i i don't like doing this i i just i don't want to be henderson wanted her to sign irma's name on checks he had taken from his mother brenda was reluctant to do it but henderson threatened to evict her from the trailer if she didn't she felt she had no choice she forged irma's name on the check [Music] for detectives a motive for murder was beginning to take shape and henderson williams was now the prime suspect in the death of his mother now investigators needed to prove it to corroborate brenda raul's story detectives contacted the manager of irma's bank not only did she confirm brenda's account she said that just before irma's death irma had filed forgery charges against her son though the information didn't prove murder it was enough for investigators to obtain a search warrant for henderson's property police waited until henderson was away from his residence before executing the warrant an inspection of henderson's vehicle revealed the presence of small reddish stains on a rear taillight and larger stains on the trunk's carpet all of the samples were collected and sent to the state crime lab for further analysis [Music] investigators also took inked impressions of the car's tires to compare to those recovered at the pond [Music] as the search of henderson's property continued investigators located the burn pile described earlier by sharon williams sifting through the rubble they found several small bone fragments mindful that the victim's hands had been removed and never found investigators collected the remains all of the evidence was pointing to anderson williams as the killer but until investigators could physically link him to the murder he would remain a free man police in alabama and mississippi struggled to solve the murder of 85 year old irma williams found floating in a local fishing pond though the circumstantial evidence pointed to her son anderson williams as the killer investigators had no physical evidence tying him to the murder items collected from a search of henderson's property were sent to the alabama department of forensic science [Music] medical examiner dr j.c upshaw downs started with bone fragments found in the burn pile we were concerned at the time since her hands had been removed that those potentially could have been bones from ms williams hands so they were examined by our anthropologists and also examined for dna in order to determine if they were human and if they were human were they ms williams it turned out that they were non-human remains still examiners had other items recovered from henderson's property serologist elaine scott analyzed stains taken from the trunk liner of henderson's vehicle to determine if they were of human origin tetramethylbenzodine a chemical that reacts to protein in human blood by turning it blue is applied to the swabs the initial screener confirmed the stains found in henderson's trunk were human blood [Music] scott then repeated the process on the stains found on items from the victim's kitchen they too were of human origin now examiners needed to determine the source of the blood dna testing was performed on all of the samples after extracting and isolating specific genetic characteristics in each sample examiners determined the blood found in the victim's kitchen was genetically consistent with the blood found in henderson's car when those results were compared to dna samples taken from irma williams at autopsy the results were indisputable the bloodstains in this case were at the house and placed the victim bleeding in the house and also they placed the victim bleeding on the car though the evidence was powerful it was not iron clad [Music] to make their case investigators needed to physically link henderson williams to the crime scene and there was one piece of evidence that had to be tested the cigarette butt found at the pond with only microscopic traces of saliva to work with examiners determined there was sufficient dna in the cigarette butt to perform the analysis elaine scott then compared those results to dna taken from other cigarette butts known to be hendersons the saliva did give us a dna profile that matched to mr williams indicating that he had smoked the cigarette at the crime scene the information was enough to arrest henderson williams for the murder of his 85 year old mother in custody anderson maintained his innocence claiming he hadn't been near the pond in recent days but all of the forensic evidence suggested otherwise investigators had matched the tire tread impression recovered at the scene to attire on henderson's car police believe that henderson williams anger raged out of control when his mother cut him off from his father's estate [Applause] [Music] investigators believe that henderson williams went to his mother's home where he beat her today he then removed her hands hoping to prevent identification then placed her body in the pond in april 1996 henderson williams stood trial for the murder of his mother irma williams this was right there in front of your house this was in your car he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in alabama there was no doubt that a woman pulled from a small pond had been murdered but in texas police would have to wade through the evidence to determine whether a woman's death was an accident or murder in this story some of the names have been changed [Music] fort worth texas may 3 1987. [Music] francis and jesus dela rosa were settling in for the evening when they heard screams outside their suburban home somebody out there a man soaking wet and distraught stumbled inside my girlfriend he pleaded for them to call 911. he said his car had been swept away in a flash flood and his girlfriend was missing the fort worth fire department swift water rescue team received the call for them these emergencies were becoming all too familiar torrential rains had pounded the fort worth area during the previous month destroying property and worse according to fire captain richard ward many people have lost their lives while attempting to drive through flash floods the people are on their way to wherever and they decide to try to cross the water or across the road where the water's going and they get swept downstream because just looking at it they can't tell how deep the water is and they always underestimate how powerful the water is [Music] this night two people had made that mistake and now one of them was missing the rescue team searched the area near the bridge crossing where the car had been swept away divers scoured below the creek surface for any signs of the missing woman or the vehicle but after several hours of exhaustive searching rescuers found nothing as the search continued police questioned the driver 40 year old domingo turo a cuban immigrant who spoke broken english turo told police he had tried to drive through the water on the road detective mike garvin reviewed toro's statement he didn't realize how how swift the water was he tried to back up and it was too late it started washing him off into the creek and that he tried to get out and was in fact able to he and the victim about to get out of the car turo told police that he grabbed his girlfriend 20 year old janice walters as the car filled with water and went tumbling downstream in the currents but the raging water broke his grasp and she was lost as the floodwaters began to recede several hours later searchers were finally able to locate turo's car it was carried more than a mile from the crossing before being washed up on an embankment [Music] police retrieved the vehicle but there was no sign of janice walters we performed a search around the vehicle thinking that she might have stayed close to the vehicle whenever it was swept off the roadway our our search around the vehicle and in the vehicle didn't turn up anything rescuers continued looking for her but with each passing hour hopes of finding her unharmed grew dimmer the search continued into the following day around noon searchers discovered a body washed up on the shoreline the woman matched janice's description the lifeless body nude except for a small chain necklace was found a mile and a half from the spot where the vehicle had been swept away it seemed that the violent texas storms had claimed another life rescue workers in fort worth texas believed that they had recovered the body of 20 year old janice walters killed when the car she and her boyfriend domingo turo were driving got swept away in a flash flood [Music] authorities contacted turo and janus's sister kelly hill and asked them to identify the body [Music] kelly confirmed that her sister had been found [Music] investigators noticed that she seemed distant and cold toward domingo turo in a statement taken later that day kelly confirmed that no one in her family was happy about janice's relationship with turo janice's body was transported to the tarrant county morgue to undergo an autopsy chief medical examiner dr nizam pirwani was immediately struck by the condition of the body one of the strange things that that we discovered at the autopsy was that the body was totally nude and the um and the story given to us was that she was wearing a blouse and and a pair of blue jeans um in 20 years time i've never seen a case that body where the body has been totally disrobed a necklace still clasped around the victim's neck and inexplicably remained intact though there were numerous other injuries in the same area dr pirwani also noted the lack of tell-tale signs usually associated with drowning victims in most cases of of drowning one sees a purging of frothy fluid which is usually blood tincture and this comes out from the nose rules and the mouth and it's also present in the trachea and the bronchioles and this frothy fluid is due to add mixing of air and water water which is being inhaled in a person who is drowning we didn't see such frothy fluid anywhere that meant there was no water in the victim's lungs janice walters had not died of drowning as dr pirwani struggled to make sense of his findings he examined injuries found on the victim's neck [Music] he noticed what appeared to be curvilinear abrasions injuries typically caused by a victim's fingernails in a struggle to break a stranglehold [Music] none of janice's injuries were consistent with a drowning death [Music] dr pirwani stopped the examination and contacted fort worth police he wanted to be certain that he had not misunderstood the circumstances surrounding janus's death but investigators had no reason to believe that her death was anything but a tragic accident and the tragedy didn't end with janice's death alone as dr pirwani proceeded with the internal examination he discovered that she was in the early stages of pregnancy [Music] the examination held one last surprise there were deep hemorrhages of the muscles in the victim's neck [Music] for dr pirwani there was only one way to explain all of the injuries we were not able to show any water in the lung no frothy fluid no blood tinge fluid in the trachea or the bronchial tree uh so the negative findings of of of lungs as well as the positive findings of the neck were consistent with the manual strangulation dr pirwani's routine post-mortem examination had uncovered a homicide after reviewing the autopsy results detective mike garvin wanted to speak with janice's boyfriend domingo turo [Music] to overcome any confusion caused by the language barrier he enlisted a translator for the interview [Music] toro claimed that recently his relationship with janice had been rocky but on the night she died they had reconciled and were looking forward to starting over [Music] he said he and janice were returning from dinner shortly after 9 00 pm he started crossing the low water bridge when a flash flood swept the car into the creek he struggled to keep the car from being swept downstream but as the car began to fill with water he panicked and stated he may have grabbed janus by the neck to keep her from drowning but ultimately the powerful currents tore them apart and she was lost if turo had grabbed janus by the neck it seemed unlikely that the thin gold chain necklace would have remained intact dr pirwani's findings coupled with turo's statements led investigators to suspect that he had murdered janice walters but so far they had no real physical evidence to prove it the landmarks investigators in fort worth texas believe that the death of 20-year-old janice walters was a deliberate act of murder and her boyfriend domingo turo was the prime suspect [Music] but police had little physical evidence and no motive to make their case detective mike garvin reviewed statements made by janice's sister kelly hill kelly described janice as a warm young woman full of fun who'd always been very close to her family she was excited at the prospect of being a mother but turo the father of the unborn child had become abusive and didn't want the responsibilities that came with having a baby for the sake of her unborn child janice had no choice but to end the relationship with turo she moved home to be with her family but kelly stated that turo refused to let her out of his life a few days before janus died turo called the house and they argued bitterly i know you are still thinking kelly stated she listened to the conversation on another extension turo threatened to kill janice if she left convinced that turo had followed through on his threat investigators still needed proof they poured over turo's statement looking for any clue they may have overlooked [Music] said that he and janice were returning from dinner when they were caught in the flash flood [Music] looking over maps of the area detectives realized the couple had been heading in the wrong direction on a dead-end street paul dixon assistant district attorney for tarrant county explains the importance of the discovery the neighborhood used that dead end area as sort of an illegal dumping ground old mattresses old tires trash that sort of thing the police had informed us that from time to time a body would be recovered from that place for investigators it was now clear that turo was on his way to the dump to dispose of janus's body with his story discredited detectives now had enough evidence to arrest domingo turo for the capital murder of janice walters police believe that when janice returned to turo's home to pick up her belongings his possessiveness inflamed by janice's rejection of him exploded into violence you will stay here after killing her he removed her clothes and then tried to hide her body along with any trace of the crime he was traveling across the low water bridge through the rainstorm through the flood and nature intervened and kept him from getting to his goal domingo turo was tried and convicted for the murder of janice walters he was sentenced to 45 years in prison forensic science was was very important because without dr pierowani being able to do the autopsy and and prove that it was a strangulation we wouldn't have had a case even though no matter how much the family thought probably that he had done something foul we would have had no proof of it at all in texas forensic science exposed a murderer who tried to submerge evidence of his crime in a flash flood but in wisconsin it took an attentive forensic pathologist to recognize a homicide disguised as an accident berlin wisconsin august 22nd 1990 a blasting company employee was locking up for the day when he heard someone screaming for help a man covered in mud said he'd just been in a car accident and his ex-wife was unconscious okay all right after calling 9-1-1 the two rushed back to the scene within minutes the green lake county sheriff's department and berlin emergency medical units arrived [Music] they found a white car in a water-filled ditch resting against a muddy embankment get one of you guys in here let's go a woman face down in the ditch was pulled from the water [Music] emergency technicians who rushed to her aid discovered that she wasn't breathing they immediately began critical life-saving procedures including cpr to resuscitate her the efforts paid off the victim began breathing on her own barely clinging to life she was rushed to the hospital as the ambulance pulled away police took a brief statement from the other accident victim [Music] he identified himself as daniel egan and the woman as his ex-wife darlene he said she'd swerved suddenly to avoid a deer and the car plunged into the ditch egan told deputies he'd gone for help and returned to find darlene face down in the water [Music] darlene was taken to the emergency room at berlin memorial hospital where doctors fought to save her life [Music] a green lake county deputy met darlene's family at the hospital as he was explaining details of the accident a doctor came and told them darlene had not survived her injuries [Music] the family was devastated by the news [Music] and they couldn't understand why darlene was with her ex-husband sheriff's deputy ron click explains when i informed them that dan eagan was a passenger in the vehicle when it had gone off the roadway the family indicated to me that because of the rather stormy relationship that they had that it wasn't likely that she would allow dan egan to be in her vehicle the deputy contacted investigators at the scene and passed along the information wisconsin state troopers began their routine accident reconstruction by measuring the angle and dimensions of the tire marks left on the road investigators estimated that the car had been traveling at approximately 49 miles per hour slightly under the speed limit okay but the marks left on the pavement were not the result of braking they were the result of a deliberate high-speed turn according to state trooper dennis mcconnell that fact was unusual an operator in a vehicle faced with a hazard such as a deer almost 99 of the time the first driver reaction to that hazard is to step on the brakes and there was no indication of braking whatsoever the findings were enough for investigators to request that a thorough forensic examination be performed on the vehicle the car was towed to the police impound block the hospital pathologist performed an autopsy on darlene egan [Music] from the amount of water in her lungs the official cause of death was ruled a drowning but something about the victim's condition was troubling there was an excessive amount of mud found under her eyes and in her nose and ears the coroner requested that darlene egan's body be re-examined by a forensic pathologist [Music] that evening evidence technicians began processing the vehicle for clues [Music] they noted the condition of the seat belt it was stretched over the steering wheel still in the buckled position [Music] technicians also observed a lot of mud plastered on the front of the car that wasn't unusual but a closer inspection of the bumper revealed a hair embedded in the mud not knowing its significance the hair was collected and sent to the lab for further analysis examiners would later determine that the hair did not belong to darlene egan investigators interviewed dan eagan the following day [Music] yes sure they wanted a moment by moment account of the accident [Music] dan said he and darlene were going to his mother's house to pick up their two children when the accident occurred [Music] egan told police his ex-wife suddenly yelled deer and swerved hard to the right off the road next thing he remembered was the car in the water filled ditch darlene was unresponsive and slumped against the driver's door [Music] egan said he climbed out of the car and ran to the blasting company for help he returned to the scene within a few minutes [Music] he couldn't explain how darlene ended up face down in the ditch maybe she'd come too struggled out of the car then lost consciousness again [Music] for wisconsin division of criminal investigations agent rick lewell the amount of time necessary for that scenario was at odds with the facts we soon realized that there wasn't enough time involved for him to get out of the car to run and get help for her to get out of the car for her to fall in the water and drown before he returned to the scene so it wasn't passing the smell test something stunk here something was wrong we had to take a lot deeper look at this entire accident for investigators the circumstances surrounding darlene egan's tragic death were raising too many questions they hoped the forensic pathologist could give them [Music] answers [Music] police in wisconsin investigating the drowning death of darlene egan killed after the car she and her ex-husband dan were driving crashed into a ditch suspected foul play and dan egan's statements to police weren't adding up [Music] to find answers detectives enlisted a forensic pathologist to conduct a second autopsy dr robert huntington iii a forensic pathologist for the state of wisconsin was given the assignment when we do a forensic autopsy we've got three ends in view we want to see if we can determine a cause of death we want to see if we can rule out other causes of death and we want to see if that body itself can tell us anything about how that death arrived to that body the pathologist agreed with the original cause of death listed as drowning but the injuries noted during the examination appeared inconsistent with injuries caused by a car crash they looked like something else when we got bodies out of a motor vehicle crash they are definitely banged up and she wasn't that banged up and the really disturbing feature were scratches on and around the face now yes you can get scratches in a car crash but the some of these had a semblance to fingernail enough to worry the presence of fingernail scratches found on the victim's head suggested the car crash hadn't caused the drowning in the final analysis dr huntington believed that darlene eagan had been murdered now suppose somebody was holding her head under the water now that might explain fingernail marks and such like that dr huntington's analysis gave investigators insight into how darlene eagan died but to make a murder case against her ex-husband they now needed to find a motive they turned to the victim's family for answers her sister denise krauss told police that darlene divorced dan egan in 1988 after five years of marriage dan had become physically abusive and darlene lived in constant fear of him but she was putting her life back together darlene had recently taken a job as a state police dispatcher and was a devoted mother to her two daughters she had also become engaged to a police officer denise added that darlene and dan had been involved in a vicious custody battle up until the day before darlene's death as the elements of a motive began falling into place police contacted darlene's attorney in the custody dispute yes she told investigators that darlene had been granted primary custody of the children and she confirmed that the ruling came down the day before the accident i want to take this opportunity to let you know in fact she had met with the couple to discuss the arrangements when told of the court's ruling dan became irate he also resented having to pay child support [Music] he vowed to keep his children no matter what armed with this information investigators went back to question dan egan but this time as the prime suspect in his ex-wife's murder mr eagle knowing darlene took great pains to avoid being alone with dan eagan investigators wanted to know how the two ended up in darlene's car [Music] together dan stated that on the day of the accident darlene came by his home to pick up the kids [Music] but dan's mother had taken the kids that day and was unable to bring them back to his house and dan didn't have a car to go get them himself he admitted that darlene was upset when she arrived and learned she'd have to pick the children up at his mother's darlene and dan's mother didn't get along so according to dan she asked him to go with her he claimed that's where they were going when the accident occurred before they left egan agreed to provide investigators with a hair sample [Music] the hair was sent to the wisconsin state crime lab for analysis dan egan's hair was compared to the hair found on the bumper of darlene's car [Music] they matched [Music] for investigators there seemed to be only one explanation for how his hair ended up on the bumper and that explanation was consistent with the excessive amount of mud noted on the victim's face during autopsy darlene may have pulled hair from her ex-husband while she's fighting to keep from being pushed under the water and if she did have a handful of his head here and she's pushed under the car she would then grab the undercarriage of the car and try and free herself to get out from underneath the water and in doing so she would have transferred his head hair to the undercarriage of that car as darlene struggled to save her own life she left behind proof of murder investigators finally had enough evidence to arrest dan egan for the murder of his ex-wife based on the evidence police believe that as the couple drove down the road dan wrenched the wheel to the right sending the car into the ditch darlene still buckled into the driver's seat was ripped from the car in the struggle darlene grabbed dan by the hair but he finally overpowered her forcibly holding her head underwater until she drowned [Music] for the first degree murder of his ex-wife dan egan was sentenced to life in prison once killers could escape detection by washing away evidence of their crime but today advances in forensic science can bring proof of murder to the surface even when the victims are dead in the water

Channel: Real Responders

Views: 305,587

Keywords: police documentary, the new detectives, forensic science, investigation, detectives, police investigation, cold cases, criminals, crimes, true detectives, sherlock holmes, real crimes, real detectives, private detective, Alabama, Murder, Forensics

Id: 3D9XUcMvHrg

Length: 49min 44sec (2984 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 15 2021