Fragmentary Clues Leads To Killer | The New Detectives | Real Responders

in suburban new york a young mother is brutally murdered in her kitchen police raced to identify her killer but fragmentary clues left at the scene are all that remain in idaho an elderly couple is found shot to death in their home eyewitness accounts vary police scour for clues and look to forensic science to identify a suspect when killers are bent on revenge [Music] nothing will stop them but forensic examiners can find the hidden messages in the clues they leave behind and bring justice to those killed at close range [Music] in this episode some of the names have been changed suburbs of new york city are more accustomed to a peaceful way of life generally untouched by violent crime in january of 1997 that would change pelham manor and westchester county police received an urgent 911 jim martin reported that he found his wife kathleen in a pool of blood on the kitchen floor [Music] police arrived and combed the scene [Music] they learned that the 32 year old woman had been shot in the face and stabbed [Music] because there were two weapons used during the homicide lieutenant christopher calabrese of the westchester county police department speculated that there were two perpetrators inspection of the the body revealed that there was wounds to the abdomen the hands he had defensive cut wounds and also a gunshot to the head so we were looking for two suspects from the very beginning normally you're not going to have two different types of wounds on the same victim with one perp investigators interviewed jim martin he was well known in the county he and kathleen owned a horse stable nearby jim told police the last time he saw his wife was earlier that day the two had met for lunch around 1 30 in the afternoon he went back to the stable and she took care of samaritans anything anything at all jim was cooperative and agreed to go to the police department later for questioning the body was sent to the medical examiner for autopsy police discovered bloody footprints on the kitchen floor [Music] [Music] they photographed and lifted the prints hoping that once suspects were identified they could match them to their shoes [Music] [Music] to forensic examiners the impression resembled a cowboy boot on the outside of a pantry door investigators found a bullet hole it had been partially hidden by a christmas card the bullet went through the cabinet door and landed on the shelf [Music] inside okay [Music] the area was photographed and the bullet collected for further analysis there was no sign of forced entry and the burglar alarm had not been triggered [Music] lieutenant al maziello of the pelham manor police department was disturbed by the violence of the crime well i was very surprised because pelaman is the kind of place that we don't normally have a homicide i was very concerned about the family at the police station lieutenant calabrese started by narrowing down the suspects jim martin was first on his list jim was obviously the closest relationship to kathleen martin is her husband he was the one to discover the body and in many cases when there's a wife that is killed we need to eliminate the husband as a suspect martin consented to taking a voice stress exam the test is similar to a lie detector it was not admissible in court police use it as a tool to eliminate potential suspects lieutenant robert jordano administered the exam is that wall white the science behind this particular instrument is that it measures a difference in your vocal response there's a pattern that is printed that is in in all our vocal cords and as stress increases there's a change in that pattern did you murder kathleen no through a series of yes or no questions giordano determined that it was unlikely jim martin was involved in the homicide he was cooperative and relayed information that might be helpful to the investigation kathleen's body arrived at the westchester county medical examiner's office dr lewis rowe performed the autopsy he x-rayed the body he determined that a bullet entered the left eye went through the skull and exited the back of the victim's head the bullet then went through the cabinet door and landed on the shelf gunpowder residue stippled her skin kathleen's killer wasn't more than a foot away when he pulled the trigger [Music] as roe examined the body he found a stab wound to the abdomen and what appeared to be defensive wounds on her hands from the size and shape of the gash it appeared that it had come from a curved shaped knife he found a nine millimeter shell casing tangled in her sweater it was another indication of just how close the shooter stood to his victim the victim's clothing was sent to forensic expert ted schwartz since kathleen's killers stood so close to her when she was murdered he examined the sweater looking for any fibers or hairs that were transferred from killers to victim during the crime the sweater was made of acrylic material the sweater i realized pretty early on was very sheddable so i knew that if i was going to eventually look at suspect items that the sweater fibers were would be a good starting point of something to look for in order to recognize the fibers on a suspect's clothing schwartz needed to clearly identify them he and his team used an alternate light source to separate the wavelengths of the colors in the sweater [Music] they each wore different colored goggles red orange and yellow when the color of light matched the color in the sweater the fibers would fluoresce and only one of the examiners would see them fibers from the victim sweater appeared fluorescent when viewed through the orange goggles and i knew it was going to make the analysis a lot easier for me because of the fluorescence and the fact that i would be able to spot these type of fibers quite easily on things that i would eventually look at investigators hoped that somewhere in westchester county invisible fibers were clinging to the killers but who they were and how the police would find them was still a mystery [Music] detectives went to the stables that the martins owned and operated a worker told him that kathleen was a popular writing instructor but there were signs that someone may have wanted to harm her a few months before the murder a horse trailer was vandalized and set on fire kathleen's name was spray painted in graffiti on the side [Music] the staff believed the vandalism was the act of an ex-employee named carlos cahigas have a great day thank you but there was no evidence linking him to the crime and no charges were filed against him carlos cahigas was brought in for questioning [Music] kathleen he said was like a mother to him he would never harm her besides he had an alibi for the night of the murder he was at a friend's house cleaning carpets he described in great detail how they cleaned the rugs and then hung them out to dry the one thing that struck me initially was he was extremely cooperative to the point where his cooperation became a question for us and initially when you talk to somebody or interview somebody people fall into two categories people who are going to relay information to you and people are trying to convince you of information and he fell into the category of trying to convince me [Music] he agreed to take a voice stress exam as jim martin had days earlier again lieutenant giordano administered the test do you know who murdered kathleen no giordano wasn't impressed i gave him the exam and right off the bat i knew he had failed the test was not admissible as evidence in court investigators believed they had a suspect but they still had to connect him to the crime authorities in suburban new york had identified one of two suspects in the murder of kathleen martin [Music] his name was carlos cahigas he was recently fired from the horse stable kathleen and her husband owned he failed a voice stress test but it was not admissible in court police had no real evidence they needed more before they released him he consented to a search of his car police collected several articles of clothing and vacuumed the interior for any loose hairs or fibers investigators questioned the friends and alibi of cahigas the reason why we stopped by this evening the couple said he spent the afternoon with them cleaning rugs and did not leave until evening investigators reminded the two that they were still looking for another suspect in the homicide [Music] three of you doing his carpet cleaning here yeah and he was here but the couple stuck by their story appreciate your cooperation if we need to talk to you again we'll be in touch okay feel free lieutenant calabrese was suspicious [Music] their version of what he had done or what they had done in cleaning this rug was completely different from what his version was lieutenant calabrese was certain he had identified one of the suspects but there was no evidence against he'll be him to you they ran a background check on kahigas and found that he had a rap sheet for grand larceny and possession of stolen property and he had a frequent accomplice a man named michael fernandez authorities did not have much to go on but picked up michael fernandez for questioning and knew he was involved [Music] the x-con cracked don't take fernandez admitted that he and cahigas had been planning to rob the martins for weeks he said he waited in the car while kahigas went in the house [Music] he told him he shot and stabbed kathleen because she went for the alarm handed him a nine millimeter gun and a knife to get rid of police didn't think fernandez was telling the whole truth it was rare that one person would use both a gun and a knife [Music] still he cooperated and took them to where he hid the gun and the knife [Music] police retrieved a curved knife it was consistent with the weapon used to stab kathleen were no identifiable prints or blood on it [Music] mike fernandez was arrested he was charged with criminal facilitation of a murder [Music] police also recovered the gun from the home of one of his friends the ballistics examiner found no prince or blood residue on the weapon [Music] [Music] the handgun was fired into a water tank and a bullet was collected to compare with the bullet found in the pantry at the martin's house [Music] [Music] there were enough lands and grooves created on the bullet as it traveled through the gun barrel to make a consistent match with the ballistic evidence and fernandez's testimony police had enough to arrest carlos cahigas he denied any involvement in the crime police had the murder weapon but there were no fingerprints tying it to cahigas and their key witness had a shady past police needed to crack kahikis's alibi lieutenant calabrese paid another call on the friends who said he was with them on the day of the murder he pressed the woman for more details reminding her that she could be held as an accessory to the crime if she lied to police you know that he's involved in this murder you don't want to get involved in a murder investigation she retracted her story [Music] carlos she said was at her house on the day of the murder but then he got a page and left to pick up a guy named mikey that was around 2 40 p.m she said he returned a few hours later carrying a backpack a few days later she overheard kahigas telling her boyfriend that he shot some woman she still had the backpack and turned it over to police dna expert mary eustis examined a pair of gloves found among the items in the backpack discovered several dark stains that looked like blood they tested positive for human blood the sample was sent for dna testing but the results would take time police hope that ted schwartz could shed some light on the evidence all of the items including the gloves and the vacuum sweepings from cajus's car were sent to him for analysis if the gloves had been in contact with kathleen sweater fibers from the sweater likely transferred onto the gloves strands from the gloves were exposed to the alternate light source he knew the specific wavelength of fluorescent light that would make the fibers of kathleen sweater glow they lit up like a neon sign [Music] amid the vacuum sweepings from kahiga's car there too the debris glowed with the telltale fibers 41 fibers found on the suspect's items were consistent with the victim's sweater and that wasn't all a double transfer had occurred fibers from kahika's gloves were found on kathleen's clothing the evidence proved that cohegus had committed the murder but investigators believe that michael fernandez was also involved in the crime and they still had no proof police had arrested two men for the murder of kathleen martin carlos cahigas denied all involvement in the crime fernandez only admitted to waiting in the getaway car when the local news reported that two men were arrested for the slaying witnesses came forward neighbor of the martins recalled seeing carlos cajus running away from the house on the day of the murder her son saw michael fernandez we had two different subjects exiting the martin residents and in fact later on when mike fernandez's pitcher was on the news and our witness identified him or said to said to his parents that that's the person i saw exiting the martin residence michael fernandez was inside the house based on the evidence police believe that kahigas bent on revenge went to the martin house to rob and kill kathleen kahigas was the trigger man his accomplice michael fernandez stabbed her there's no doubt in my mind that when he went to the martin house that his intention was to kill kathleen martin and kathleen martin knew him he went there without any type of map i mean a mask or disguise and she could identify him obviously so his intention was to leave no witnesses on february 3rd 1999 michael fernandez pled guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in november 1998 carlos cahigas was convicted of first degree murder he was sentenced to 25 years to life in new york carefully collected forensic evidence helped bring swift justice and put two killers behind bars unfortunately sometimes analysis and interpretation of the evidence is more difficult and a killer may go free for years bonneville county is located in eastern idaho in the upper snake river valley there residents enjoy clean air and wide open space in early march 1992 leo downerd a retired plant worker and his wife mary went about their daily lives the downer children had married and left home but they still lived close enough to drop by leo and mary love nothing more than spending time with their grandchildren [Music] it was a time in their lives when they learned to appreciate every day [Music] on march 24th neighbors of leo and mary were concerned when they found several days worth of newspapers on the couple's lawn and the front door slightly ajar inside leo they learned the gruesome truth leo downer lay motionless on the living room floor the neighbor also noticed some blood he called 911 investigators from the bonneville county sheriff's office responded to the scene sergeant kim marshall and detective victor rodriguez were among the officers leo downard was dead on the floor in the living room he was in his pajamas it appeared he had suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his head and chest [Music] police scoured the room for clues a trail of blood spatter extended around the body three shell casings were scattered across the floor the casings were photographed and collected upstairs mary downer's lifeless body lay on the bed it appeared she too had been shot multiple times [Music] there were no signs of forced entry the intruder had not left any fingerprints sergeant marshall had a theory when we arrived at the residence we found uh mr downer was downstairs he was next to a couch up the stairs and in the master bedroom we located mrs downer the conclusion i had at the time was they opened the door to somebody they knew because they were shot during the night it was obvious they were in bed and they had a routine that they went through locking the residents up when they went to bed and somebody had to get them to open the door for them detective victor rodriguez looked for any clues i turned the flashlight on and put it on the ground and i showed the the beam light across the floor next to the door he found a tennis shoe print in the dust we didn't know whose it was we thought maybe it might have been one of the paramedics so immediately before the paramedics left we looked at their shoes and found it's not the same shoe print that was our suspect the prints were photographed for a more detailed examination rodriguez collected three shell casings from the bed [Music] [Music] outside investigators found an almost perfect print in the mud it appeared to be the same type of print found in the bedroom they made a plaster cast of the impression once they had a suspect in custody they hoped to match his shoes to the scene the medical examiner performed the autopsies [Music] he confirmed that leo and mary downer were each shot three times several bullet fragments were collected from leo's skull and upper chest mary had also been shot in the head the last shot surprised the medical examiner the bullet had entered through the back of her head just behind her left ear at point-blank range [Music] sergeant marshall questioned the downer's children to see if they might know of someone who held a grudge against their parents their son said he couldn't think of anyone who would do this the two were beloved in the community and were devout churchgoers marshall they were brutal senseless slayings the ballistic evidence was sent to the oregon state police forensic lab in ontario oregon lieutenant rocky mink examined the evidence in the downed case we were actually comparing fired bullets from the deceased to fired cartridge cases recovered at the scene he determined that the bullets and casings had come from a 22 caliber firearm the shell casings were consistent with a 22 caliber rifle [Music] he reported his findings to the bonneville county sheriff's office a rifle suggested that the killer may be a hunter who had the gun in his collection it would have been hard to conceal police wondered if the perpetrator was concerned about hiding it at all idaho police struggled to find the gunman who shot down leo and mary downard in their home shoe impressions left at the scene and 22 caliber bullets and casings were all that pointed to a killer investigators canvassed the downard neighborhood looking for answers hello sir did you take it right right from the bottom of the county sheriff's office one neighbor had seen a man at the house on the day of the murders his name was robert buchanan a local lawn care worker who had his own business buchanan did lawn work for many in the area including the downers sergeant kim marshall ran a background check on buchanan to see if he had a record the report indicated that buchanan had threatened his ex-wife with a 22-caliber weapon the same caliber firearm used in the downard murders he quickly became sergeant kim marshall's prime suspect we looked at him as a suspect at the beginning of this homicide due to what we learned from our neighborhood interviews and doing some background checks we found that there was some violence in his history armed with a warrant investigators searched buchanan's apartment they collected several articles of clothing including a pair of white tennis shoes but there were no guns of any kind the shoes were sent to the idaho state police crime lab there senior criminalist donna shepherdson mead compared the photographs of the shoe prints found in the bedroom to buchanan's tennis shoes [Music] but making an accurate comparison to the pictures was difficult the photograph was color it was slightly out of focus the camera was canted at a slight angle to the impression and also there was no scale included in this picture normally we would use the scale to make a one-to-one enlargement shepherdson mead was able to determine that the print in the bedroom had the same brand design as buchanan's tennis shoes but buchanan's shoes seemed to be too big she hoped the cast taken outside the crime scene would make for a better comparison a print was lifted from the shoe using dusting powder and transparent paper [Music] shepherdson mead overlaid the print on the cast taken outside the residence [Music] again the design matched but the shoes seemed to be larger than the ones at the scene [Music] it wasn't what investigators hoped but they still believed robert buchanan was their killer [Music] police widened their search witness testimony had revealed that buchanan's father had a gun collection and buchanan was a frequent visitor at the house [Music] his father owned several rifles including a 22. [Music] permission was granted to take the firearm the gun was sent to lieutenant rocky mink at the oregon state police crime lab [Music] to determine if the bullet casings recovered from the crime scene and the bullet fragments collected at autopsy had come from this rifle mink had to fire off a few rounds [Music] he then collected the fired bullets and their casings [Music] he examined the bullets through a comparison microscope the test fires from the known remington rifle were examined and compared to the bullets removed from the decease based on the microscopic detail that was present in the land and groove impressions i was able to draw a conclusion that these bullets were fired from the suspect remington rifle investigators had proof that the 22-caliber rifle had fired the deadly shots robert buchanan was charged with both murders but a judge was not impressed with the police findings the gun had not been found in buchanan's possession and the match of his sneakers to footprints found at the scene was inconclusive the case was dismissed for lack of evidence life in the town of ammon went on uneasily and the police could not let the crimes go unpunished they had the murder weapon but no evidence to tie anyone to the crime fifteen months later bonneville county authorities reopened the investigation okay kim and bud once you go back to the house and start on the on the crime scene again victor rodriguez was assigned to the case some of them said this is the shoe that we that we saw investigators poured over the evidence looking for one small clue they must have overlooked rodriguez knew it wouldn't be easy it's one of the most difficult cases i handled because you had to start from the very beginning you had to go back to the very beginning of this homicide and omit everything else that was learned and proceed with who could have been the suspect at that time investigators re-interviewed the downard's neighbors and friends a neighbor did recall seeing a man drive by the house several times that day [Music] it was lanny buchanan robert buchanan's younger brother that's the last i saw lanny lived in the neighborhood and he saw him often detective rodriguez realized that lanny had access to the 22-caliber rifle the investigation took a major turn the more that i followed this case the more that i investigated this case when i focused on lanny halfway through the investigation everything opened up like a puzzle and lanny put the pieces in that puzzle and the more they learned about him the more suspicious they became many people described him as a slow learner with a violent temper there was more when word got out that lanny was now a suspect in the murders police received some unusual information all the women that we spoke to all the friends we talked to all the men that we talked to all said that lanny would visit older ladies continually now to me that was a red flag one woman said that shortly before the murders lanny came over to her house upset and agitated when she asked him what was wrong he said that he had given mary downer to hug and that mary had told him not to come over anymore lenny was very upset detective rodriguez brought lanny in for questioning he denied any involvement in the murders and didn't recall the incident with mary the downers were great people and he frequently stopped by their house to say hello when asked if he used his father's gun he said he did to go hunting on occasion on the night of the murders lanny said he was at a friend's house watching a basketball game he was released rodriguez contacted lani's friend to confirm his alibi [Music] lanny was there that night but he left abruptly saying he was going hunting police obtained a search warrant to search lanny's house in his bedroom closet they discovered a pair of tennis shoes identical to his brother roberts [Music] [Music] they sent lanny's shoes to forensic expert donna shepherdson mead she compared them with the cast taken outside the downward residence the tread the general wear pattern at the ball of the foot and the heel were consistent with lanny's shoe and these were one size smaller than the pair worn by robert buchanan a direct match with the plaster cast taken at the crime scene i eliminated the larger pair of shoes the size nine and a half's i could not eliminate the size eight and a half pair of shoes the plaster shoe print placed lanny buchanan outside the downard home but he admitted he stopped by their house often investigators would need evidence that he was actually inside the house to make an arrest idaho police had a new suspect in the brutal murders of leo and mary downer lenny buchanan's shoes matched impressions found outside the residence but they had to place him inside the house to be certain they had the right suspect investigators weren't going to take any chances with the photographs taken inside the house they sent the crime scene photos to l eric greenwade a leading mathematician at the idaho national engineering lab first greenwade scanned the images into his computer he corrected the pictures taken in the bedroom so he could accurately compare them to lanny and robert's shoes there were several problems with the photographs that were originally received the first of which were the angle from which the photographs were taken which was not directly above the footprint secondly there was no objects directly related to measurement within the photograph so that accurate measurements were difficult to take he needed to see the print head on next he used a special software program that created a mathematical reference and measured the grain in the wood floor the wood grain provided several points that we could measure very accurately those measurement points were then very carefully computed to form a background grid those background grids were then compared against the scanned photographs and provide the reference points for which the image could be corrected a computer then converted measurements into mathematical equations that corrected the problems created by the poorly taken photograph using the corrected images green wade easily identified features such as nicks in the soles of the shoes lanny's shoes matched the measurements that were obtained from the image matched one of the pairs of shoes this established a very strong connection to one set and yet not the other in addition there were several imperfections noted in the dust impression left on the floor that matched imperfections that were in the same pair of shoes over a year and a half after the downer murders lanny buchanan was arrested and charged with two counts of murder in the first degree based on the evidence police believe that lanny buchanan went to kill the downers because mary had rebuffed him he forced his way in carrying a 22-caliber rifle leo had nowhere to run mary was upstairs stirred awake by the gunshots but she never got the chance to get out of bed [Music] in november 1996 lanny buchanan was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder he was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences without parole when killers are desperate for revenge it takes the hard work and determination of forensic professionals to provide the scientific facts that prove innocence or guilt and ultimately provide justice to those who are victims of violent crime

Channel: Real Responders

Views: 159,233

Keywords: bombs, bomb, bomb disposal, mail explosive, explosive disposal, 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, the new detectives 2020, the new detectives full episodes, the new detectives 2021, the new detectives new episodes, the new detectives serial killers, the new detectives real responders

Id: QEEoKemVbzE

Length: 48min 34sec (2914 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021