Misplaced Loyalty | FULL EPISODE | The New Detectives

[Applause] in northern california a fire rages in the middle of the night a woman's charred body is discovered in the smoldering aftermath but how she turned up dead remains a mystery detectives turned to forensic science in the hopes of uncovering the answers to their many questions when investigators start sifting through the ashes they have no idea it will lead to a trail of deception this is a case of out and out lies and not one but two cold-blooded murders [Music] when people trust their killer with their secrets their money and their lives it can very well turn out to be a tragic case of misplaced loyalty [Music] in this episode some of the names have been changed the city of berkeley california is well known for its hippie counterculture and bohemian lifestyle nestled in the rolling hills just across the bridge from san francisco it's a magnet for people of all walks of life [Applause] criminals can hide in plain sight making it a perfect place to cover up an insidious crime in the early morning hours of june 25th 1994 a loud explosion rocked the home of james hutchings it was four in the morning and his next-door neighbor virginia bailey's house was on fire he rushed to call the fire department but took consolation in the knowledge that bayley was out of town yeah there's a fire my neighbor's house is on fire yes do you know who is here virginia bailey is she at home right now she's out of town okay we're sending the fire department we're on the way thank you dispatchers immediately dispatched the berkeley fire department to the scene [Music] firefighters rushed to what they thought was an unoccupied home [Music] [Music] when they arrived shooting flames were visible through the window [Music] working deliberately for several hours the firemen extinguished the fire firefighters entered the house to make sure the fire was out they noticed the majority of the damage from the blaze was in the dining room deputy fire marshal wayne inouye was on the scene when i got on the scene i found a two-story residential dwelling i went in the first floor and the first floor wasn't that badly damaged i proceeded up to the second floor and that's where the majority of the fire damage was there was a lot of smoke damage on the second floor and in the dining room there was heavy fire damage you chuck shine you lied to me over to the right what is it [Music] it was there they made a shocking discovery a body lying face down in the smoldering debris clearly dead we've got a confirmed 8 900 this location notify the fire marshals better get the coroner started up this way they also noticed something odd about the scene the room was virtually without furniture and the body was found six feet from the fireplace when firefighters discover a body they are required to notify the coroner's office coroner technicians arrived on the scene they noticed the victim had severe burns on both her head and her hands james hutchings was shocked to learn that his neighbor might have perished in the fire [Music] he knew virginia was supposed to be in salt lake city for a wedding and if she were home he wondered why her car was not in the driveway you looked out the window did you see anybody out there no anybody running from the house nope just flames with what they learned from the neighbor investigators now turn to science to piece together the events that led to a tragic outcome [Music] an autopsy was performed at the state crime lab in berkeley california even though virginia bailey was reportedly out of town forensic experts identified the body using x-rays the victim was virginia bailey she was home at the time of the fire but other evidence quickly deemed the exam anything but routine [Music] upon looking at the body the first thing the emmy noticed was severe decomposition a finding inconsistent with the person who supposedly just died even more telling were maggots found in the chest cavity and on the clothing of the corpse maggots usually take somewhere between 24 to 48 hours to appear and do so only on dead bodies but there could be no logical reason they would appear on the charred body of a fire victim so soon after her death [Music] dr paul herman of the coroner's office reviewed the autopsy results and examined the photographs was something peculiar about this case because there was evidence of decomposition of the body even to the point that there were some maggots present on the body and in the clothing indicating that this person had died long before this fire had occurred since the autopsy revealed the presence of maggots entomologist jeffrey wells was brought in to help establish time of death due to their size he was able to determine that bailey died at least three days before she appeared to be killed in the fire if you estimate the age of a maggot found on a body this gives you a pretty good minimum time sense death the reason for this is flies almost never deposit their eggs or larvae on a live person almost always the person must be dead when that happens if i can estimate the age of a maggot that gives me a minimum time since death for example if i pluck a maggot off of a corpse and i am pretty sure that it is three days old almost certainly that person has been dead for at least three days dr wells definitively concluded that virginia bailey didn't die in the fire [Music] investigators worst fears were coming to light [Music] the case was now a criminal matter and at the berkeley police department inspector al birse was assigned the file things clearly didn't add up [Music] and bierce needed to find out what or who had killed virginia bailey [Music] if she had died naturally it would have been impossible for this fire to have occurred as a natural outgrowth of her death for example if she was walking across the room with some kind of a material and then suffered a heart attack fell started the fire there wasn't going to be any decomposition there beerus's first move was to meet with the victim's brother who had some questions of his own they began to create a timeline leading up to virginia's death when was the last time that you talked to her by phone he hadn't heard from his sister for weeks before the fire yes [Music] he always got a call from his sister on his birthday he didn't get a call that was totally out of character for her virginia and her brother were extremely close and had recently attended a friend's wedding her brother believed that something didn't sit right about his sister's disappearance both of you are just made for each other he said the two usually spoke all the time yet he had left messages on her answering machine and heard nothing back from her virginia's brother told inspector beerus that christine lloyd virginia's financial advisor had been house-sitting for his sister he also told him that some of virginia's furniture was missing from her house that's all i've got for now i know where you are down at the motel inspector bierce was faced with many questions [Music] he was at the beginning of a complicated investigation bierce needed to uncover evidence to find out if someone had killed virginia bailey and tried to make it look like an accidental fire death and perhaps what he was looking for was buried in the ashes of the fire [Music] a deadly fire ravaged the home of virginia bailey and investigators grew suspicious after only a preliminary investigation berkeley police inspector al biers thought he had a murder on his hands autopsy reports revealed the presence of maggots on a body found at the scene of the fire scientists conclusively proved that virginia bailey had already been dead for at least three days before the fire started [Music] inspector beerus decided to visit the scene of the crime first hand [Music] when he arrived the fire investigator pointed out burn patterns there's no charring on the wood or anything so police believe that this didn't start here at the fireplace things did not add up [Music] the body was discovered over six feet from the fireplace if the fire began in the fireplace there should be burn marks that led to the body there were none the area directly surrounding the body was suspiciously intact the investigator believed this was arson he hoped those closest to virginia could provide him with information as to how and why she died in the fire he asked christine lloyd the victim's financial advisor and best friend to meet him there she was house-sitting for virginia you were coming into the house you said you came in uh any irregularities when christine lloyd arrived she told inspector beerus she and virginia were close friends and she had been her financial advisor for about 10 okay years there was something else that i needed christine was watching the house while virginia was in san francisco the week before the fire but she said she never saw virginia's body in the dining room christine said she went back to the house right after the fire she and a friend were there trying to rescue virginia's items from the burned house it was then they saw something in the downstairs apartment that virginia usually rented christine said this was unusual because the apartment was vacant she showed beerus what she had found in the downstairs rental unit christine said she was worried that someone had been staying downstairs [Music] she told the detective she noticed something disturbing about the condition of the rental apartment's refrigerator my god how did this happen christine lloyd pointed out the refrigerator in it and she said that just a week before it had been totally clean and the shelves had been inside when she showed it to me the shelves were out of it and there was a residue on the bottom of the refrigerator suggestive of the fact that something had been stored there and she was telling me that nothing had been stored there the last time she had seen it [Music] in the bedroom beers found a terrible mess there was a mattress on the floor and bottles strewn in everywhere the uninvited resident had left the apartment in disarray the refrigerator contained what appeared to be a dark liquid residue that looked like blood to determine what it was crime technicians performed a luminol test also in the refrigerator what appeared to be a small clump of hair riddled with maggots inspector beerus had the technician remove the hair clump and take a swabbing of the red liquid swab that liquid the samples were sent to the lab for further examination but it was quickly determined that the substance wasn't blood and the hair did not belong to virginia and beerus made another unusual discovery the smoke detector for the downstairs unit had been unplugged [Music] oh yeah i went into that room with a very skeptical eye and it looks staged that was put there so that somebody would think that somebody had been crashing there and potentially the person who was crashing there was the person who'd gone upstairs and killed the victim bierce's suspicions continued to grow [Music] little things about the scene troubled him like how unusually neat strategic and organized the squatter's mess seemed that despite all the bottles strewn about there were no bottle caps there were also no fingerprints on the bottles to him the whole scene felt manufactured [Music] jeffrey wells examined the hair found in the refrigerator for the presence of maggots the maggots he found were alive types of maggots vary those found in the downstairs refrigerator were scuttle fly maggots different from the flesh fly maggots found on virginia bailey's body the ones in the apartment were insects attracted to rotting food as well as human remains all this information troubled inspector beerus but perhaps the most puzzling was the fact that christine lloyd said she hadn't seen virginia's body after all she had been dead for at least three days if the body was in the refrigerator that would support christine's story but the science wasn't adding up if the body was not hidden in the refrigerator where had it been [Music] i'm saying okay some part of this doesn't make any sense either she's aware that the body is there and some played some role in in the body being there or somebody is coming in after the fact and planted the body there it's not going to make a great deal of sense to me inspector beerus was beginning to think christine lloyd knew more perhaps she could shed more light on virginia's whereabouts before the fire started he decided to look a little harder at christine's story [Music] virginia bailey was found dead in her berkeley california home and the circumstances surrounding her death were suspicious [Music] the presence of maggots on the body proved she had been dead for some time before the fire and the story told by the victim's friend christine lloyd was not adding up it looked as if inspector al bierce was piecing together a murder how can i help you well as we talked about the detective met with her to ask her some follow-up questions to find out what i can about her her habits she put herself in the house every single day she put herself into the house as late as 14 hours before the fire i've got a coroner who's telling me or who has told me that the victim's dead for at least two days she's found in an area where christine lloyd would have had to have passed through the room within feet of the body to feed the cats and to get the mail i'm gonna leave my card it seemed unlikely to beers that virginia could have died of natural causes and lay there for days before the fire ignited you can call me or have them call me it was time to do some legwork to learn more about the victim bierce began questioning friends and business associates of virginia's he started with her co-worker mary cates who said virginia wasn't scheduled to go to san francisco as christine had said mary also told inspector bierce that virginia had been missing work lately since this was completely out of character she said she called virginia to make sure she was okay she left a message on her answering machine but never received a call back from virginia she informed me but said christine lloyd called her to tell her virginia was out of town bierce spoke to several of virginia's friends and they all had the same story when they would call virginia they'd get a call back from christine lloyd good i uh since bierce determined virginia had many friends who were concerned about her whereabouts he found it odd that no one had actually been able to reach her in the days prior to the fire she had missed appointments on the 17th 18th and 19th one friend alicia jackson was so concerned she headed over to her house to make sure she was okay [Music] but there was no answer only a note on the door saying she was in san francisco she thought this was odd but left her own note hoping to hear back from her missing friend fierce was puzzled although all her friends were being helpful no one offered anything that gave the investigation focus okay okay thank you okay [Music] virginia's brother came back to the police station and offered up a charred piece of evidence it was virginia's answering machine presumably full of messages from concerned friends fire damage set pretty well warped inspector beer sent the tape to the doj crime lab in the hopes of salvaging the burned cassette perhaps the messages on the machine would lead to answers as to why every time someone tried to make contact with virginia they made contact with christine lloyd instead bierce ran a background check on christine lloyd she came up clean except for a minor traffic violation since christine was virginia's financial advisor inspector beerus decided to get a warrant to examine the victim's financial have a records um bierce went to virginia's bank for answers years of experience taught beerus study a victim's finances and you'll likely uncover a motive virginia's bank activity had reached a fever pitch in the weeks before her death large checks were written against virginia's account not only to christine but also to a woman named myrtle lloyd about 50 of the proceeds of that account went to christine lloyd one peculiar thing bierce noted was a certified foreclosure letter dated the 13th of june christine was responsible for making sure all of the bills were paid on time certified mail and she had given him no indication that virginia was in such severe financial trouble and another red flag something that made no sense for a woman who was in dire financial straits and about to lose her home a flurry of checks written in june the end of a six-month spending spree totaling thousands of dollars in total four checks were made out to christine and myrtle lloyd some dated after virginia's death beerus believed he found a motive embezzlement [Music] now he needed some kind of smoking gun bierce asked virginia's manager for atm surveillance tapes at virginia's bank [Music] he also poured over every financial document he could find yeah do we have one for bleaching and there among the detailed receipts from virginia's account came a startling discovery inspector beerus found receipts for both an accelerant and a garden hose given the date of that purchase and the fact that an accelerant was very possibly used in the ignition of the fire provided a nexus between that purchase and the fact that the fire had occurred it looked as if christine had been using virginia's account and the purchase of two 40-ounce cans of lighter fluid and a hose on her account just days before the fire was quickly turning friend into suspect pierce's next step was to watch the surveillance video provided by virginia's bank have you cued this up already yeah this is already it contained no surprise clear as day there was christine lloyd signing virginia's checks and deposit slips on checks made out to herself the checks were in the exact amount of virginia's missing mortgage payments one of the checks was dated three days before virginia's death yet it was cashed three days after her death it was made out to myrtle lloyd bierce needed to know who this woman was and if she and christine were working together to steal virginia's money since their last names were the same he presumed the two were related [Music] bierce did a records check on myrtle lloyd what he found out was perhaps the most disturbing thing yet in this perplexing case myrtle lloyd was christine's mother and myrtle lloyd was dead it appeared that christine was not only signing checks on virginia's account for herself she was also signing checks made out to a dead woman her own mother bierce visited with the oakland police who looked into myrtle lloyd's death he wanted details [Music] captain ralph laser of the oakland police department remembered her story he told beerus that myrtle had been found dead in her bathtub with severe bruises to her face and lacerations to her head and she was doing some financial things for her and it's looking right now like she was taken because there were no obvious signs of foul play and police believed christine's story the coroner ruled myrtle's death an accident after finding no sign of forced entry in the residence there was no loss in the residence or no one appeared to have kind of rummaged through the residence it came out that we didn't see anything that showed it was a hands of another and at this point they they ruled it was an accidental death it may maybe would have come across as an accidental death but knowing then beerus learned that christine lloyd had found her mother's body she had seen the mother the day before and that she had left and done some shopping and then she was bringing some groceries back to the house according to the july 1991 police reports christine lloyd said she returned home from the grocery store [Music] she was surprised when her mom was nowhere to be found mom [Music] it was when she entered the bathroom that she made the startling discovery of her mother's body then things just clicked for the detective he instinctively knew he had a second murder on his hands and he was determined to get the evidence necessary to prove it while investigating the death of virginia bailey that was my first impression inspector al bierce believed he had uncovered another murder and he was convinced the same killer committed both crimes the woman who had been so helpful from the beginning was now a suspect at that point in the investigation i knew that she'd killed my victim in berkeley and i knew that she had killed her mother three years before and i knew that she had done a very good job of concealing that death three years to years ago to make it look like an accidental death nut burger he was beginning to put it all together but there were still some unanswered questions bierce went to the oakland coroner's office to find out more dr paul herman performed the autopsy on myrtle lloyd when i walked in the bathroom i would have expected to find a great deal of blood spattered about in the bath in the bathroom because of these injuries to the head this was not what he thought he'd find after all the victim had severe head wounds there should have been blood everywhere but then dr hermann saw the smallest of clues he also noticed more signs that the scene had been meticulously cleaned this bathroom was clean the water had been drained from the tub and there was some debris from decomposition and probably blood at the bottom of the tub but no spattering of blood around there at all and and that's what i would have expected to see and expose the bone right but there are lloyd was killed by seven separate lacerations to the back of her head christine explained that her mother was prone to seizures and said that she had fallen in the bathtub and in addition she had a laceration of her forehead fierce knew things were not adding up and after visiting oakland his suspicions about christine escalated he believed the crime scene was too neat almost in direct contrast to the scene in berkeley but both appeared staged nonetheless across the back of the head to test their suspicions investigators spoke with myrtle lloyd's doctors to determine if she had been ill or had any known conditions that would make her unsteady on her feet physical exams what they found out would break the cold case wide open myrtle was in excellent health and had no history of seizures by now detective beerus was convinced of christine lloyd's guilt he was ready to make an arrest what he needed was a charge at this point there was not enough direct evidence to make a murder arrest since christine had signed virginia bailey's name on checks his best bet was forgery he turned to handwriting expert verl truman [Music] a forensic document examiner with the u.s postal inspection service and ask him to look at the checks for fraud handwriting examination is basically a side-by-side comparison [Music] the basis for the identification of handwriting is the fact that no two persons share the same combination of individual identifying handwriting characteristics we look for various features and habits of the writer we look for the way the person makes beginning strokes ending strokes or connecting strokes between letters and letter combinations we look at things such as the relative height ratio and proportion of letters and in relation to other letters he found subtle differences between their handwriting styles which truman said were patterns and traits that every individual develops over the years [Music] now these characteristics it's very difficult to cast off your habits when you're either imitating the handwriting of another person or if you're trying to disguise your own writing usually some of your habits will still show through and christine was unable to completely disguise hers but perhaps the most telling sign was not an actual letter or a word she makes a star but a unique and personal signature symbol virginia bailey used a star as a dollar sign in her writing and she constructed that character beginning and ending at the lower left corner or seven o'clock position christine lloyd on the other hand did it completely opposite she began it and started it at the lower right that was a feature that she just happened to to miss [Music] inspector bierce now had proof of forgery but what he needed was proof of murder beerus decided to take another look at the days prior to the fire christine was the only one with virginia's house key and the only one who seemed to know anything about virginia's whereabouts she'd even been returning virginia's phone messages at the state crime lab technicians worked to restore the message tape from virginia bailey's answering machine investigators were now able to retrieve the messages although they had no idea what they'd find [Music] by comparing the phone records to the voice messages inspector beerus was able to piece together the chain of events leading up to and following virginia's murder [Music] the calls reflected a growing concern about virginia's disappearance on june 13th 12 days before the fire and oddly many of the outgoing calls bierce found on virginia's phone records began on that very day there was information that came to me during the course of the investigation that suggested that the victim had died on june 13th that was the last time anybody ever talked to her and it was the time through phone records that i showed that she had made a call to christine the pieces were falling into place beerus felt he was close to being able to make an arrest he paid a visit to another one of virginia's neighbors sam watson watson told of helping christine carry a large dining room table as well as other items from virginia's house before the fire she then sold them at a yard sale christine had denied having any idea what had happened to that table [Applause] every part of christine lloyd's story seemed suspect [Music] investigators believe she was in a frenzy of greed [Music] intent on fully taking over her friend's assets through any means possible step towards me ma'am step towards me keep walking you just stop turn around with your back towards me face the house in early december of 1994 inspector al birse arrested christine lloyd for murder and took her into custody was convinced that christine lloyd had masterminded two murders but he only had enough evidence to bring her in for the murder of virginia bailey he believed she was motivated by money and greed you have the right to remain silent and he wanted to see christine lloyd behind bars i have the right to an attorney to have that christine lloyd refused to speak to police she refused to take a polygraph test i understand those rights instead she asked for her attorney she was processed into the system [Music] although christine lloyd was sticking to her guns regarding virginia bailey when asked about her mother she shook her head and told beer she was wrong she said she was a loving daughter who doted on her mother and would never do anything to harm her apparently christine lloyd was convincing at the time of the arrest the district attorney's office didn't feel comfortable going ahead and prosecuting the case they didn't feel the evidence was strong enough to get a conviction her immediate release was ordered please check and make sure everything is there as she walked out of the jail inspector al biers despaired i knew that she had embezzled from her mother leading up to the murder of her mother i knew that she had embezzled from my victim leading to her murder and from a personal standpoint that wasn't something i could let go of [Music] convinced he was dealing with a murderer who had already killed twice inspector bierce wasn't about to let it rest he needed more evidence [Music] he turned to forensic scientists to help him bring this killer to justice berkeley county investigator al birse pieced together a story of greed lies and murder he was convinced christine lloyd killed both her best friend and her own mother now despite nearly a year on the case hundreds of hours of legwork and compelling evidence he was watching her go free i knew she was guilty and i couldn't let go al biers was now working all hours trying to plug any holes in what he thought was an airtight case against christine lloyd let's go the district attorney's office refused to prosecute the case stating the evidence was circumstantial and it would not hold up in court [Music] but al beerus had worked too hard to let this one slip through his fingers by the time i got through when i was at that point in the investigation i knew that she'd killed my victim in berkeley and i knew that she had killed her mother three years before and i knew that she had done a very good job of concealing that death three years to years ago to make it look like an accidental death nut murder bierce approached thomas rogers the head of the trial staff at the da's office in alameda county after hearing the details of bierce's investigation he too became determined to bring the case to justice i made a commitment that i was going to try the case in our business many of the cases are much more interesting than what we see on television there's a tremendous human drama involved for anybody who's curious you have a woman who's 55 years old with no record why did she kill her best friend this was the question puzzling investigators for over a year [Music] hello al tom rogers but as beerus and rogers discovered it all came down to money went through the receipts christine lloyd had been cashing her mother's civil service pension checks [Music] and the men believed that once virginia bailey confronted christine about the house foreclosure it was only a matter of time before authorities began looking into christine's finances and found out about myrtle lloyd but despite all the circumstantial evidence the clear motive of embezzlement and the testimony of the handwriting analyst it would be a tough case to try [Music] there was no cause of death no eyewitnesses no smoking gun d.a rogers decided to take one last look at the pile of evidence inspector bierce had uncovered after weeks of combing through the findings he was convinced the final link to justice and punishment would come down to a tiny piece of living evidence the most compelling evidence was the entomology evidence if we did not have the endemology evidence we never would have been able to prove the case the fact that maggots will only feed on a dead body was the only piece of conclusive proof that virginia was dead long before the fire but it was the proof that made rogers feel comfortable enough to try the case and it was the one hole in christine lloyd's story which all the other lies would come rushing through she placed herself in the house during the time of virginia's death and the time of the fire this would be the crux of the prosecutor's case that christine lloyd had committed virginia bailey's murder and spent two weeks manufacturing an elaborate crime scene to cover her tracks in july of 1995 one year after the fire that killed her best friend virginia bailey christine lloyd was once again arrested are there any weapons but this time she was headed to trial [Music] once again lloyd refused to speak to the man who had made it his mission to put her behind bars [Music] and d.a rogers had fully patched together what had happened to virginia bailey and the events leading up to her murder near trial we reinvestigated and were able to prove through statements and and circumstantial evidence that clearly christine lloyd had killed her mother and that the motive then for killing virginia bailey was to avoid a re-examination of the mother's death virginia bailey had no idea her dear friend christine lloyd had been embezzling from her so when she came home on the afternoon of june 13 1994 to find a registered foreclosure note from her bank virginia was undoubtedly surprised and angry [Music] she panicked she found christine and she said you know you're my financial advisor what is the deal here there was a three and a half minute call to christine's house in martinez at that point christine knew she was caught and it wouldn't be long before everyone knew the deadly secrets she had been hiding for three years she showed up at the house in tent on murder using a blunt object she brutally struck virginia until she was dead [Music] it would now be up to a jury to determine if christine lloyd was the murderous woman al biers was convinced she was but al birse also wanted justice for myrtle lloyd and uncovered that christine was the sole beneficiary of a 100 000 life insurance policy so as christine sat in jail awaiting trial for one murder the investigation continued on the second this was enough to indict once again for murder driven by the same greed christine had inflicted a beating on her elderly mother christine lloyd was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson she received two consecutive life sentences in planning executing and covering up their crimes sometimes murderers think too much sometimes it is this over planning that leads investigators to their front doors and as long as those investigators are listening for clues they'll have the forensic resources to back up their hunches and clever killers will continue to be brought to justice 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: mgNt6WITIPc

Length: 49min 52sec (2992 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 30 2021