Missing Loved Ones | DOUBLE EPISODE | The New Detectives

in Florida a young woman is hit by a train but what looks like a suicide might be a killer covering his tracks [Music] a woman disappears from her Arizona home with no body police must rely on a few drops of blood to determine her fate in California police are called to the scene of a grisly double homicide only forensic examiners can prove whether it was the result of self-defense or cold-blooded murder some Killers go to Great Lengths to manipulate a crime scene [Music] but the truth is hard to disguise and forensic examiners can see through the deception especially what's written in tainted blood [Music] [Music] foreign on December 5th 1993 a freight train was passing through the small community of Crestview Florida [Music] on an isolated stretch the engineer noticed something lying across the tracks up ahead body he practically sounded the whistle and struggled to stop the train underneath the 120-ton train he discovered the lifeless body of a woman the engineer quickly radioed in for help within minutes police and emergency Personnel from the Crestview Police Department were dispatched to the scene the young female victim had suffered massive head and chest wounds she was partially covered by a black trench coat that was stained with blood police began searching for any form of identification to tell them who this woman was they found nothing blood found pooled on the tracks and on some rocks just feet away from where the victim came to rest suggested the impact point a few hairs and tiny drops of blood were found at the front of the train but investigators found no blood smears on the tracks leading up to the victim's body when questioned the engineer told police that as he worked to stop the train he believed that he made eye contact with the woman lying on the tracks she never even flinched as the train approached she just seemed to be staring at him before leaving the scene evidence technicians photographed the area at autopsy the medical examiner determined the cause of death to be severe trauma to the unidentified victim's head and chest she had suffered multiple skull fractures and a broken rib to the medical examiner all of the injuries were consistent with having been caused by the train with no obvious signs of Foul Play noted during autopsy investigators began looking for other explanations behind the tragedy for chief Maxi Barrow there seemed to be only one we would were thinking that it could possibly be a suicide it could be somebody who was depressed and laid down on the railroad track and let a train run over to confirm their suspicions investigators first had to identify the young woman several local residents believed she was 24 year old Sherry Morrow who lived with her husband less than a mile from the train tracks police went to the address there they were met by John Morrow Sherry's husband and the couple's roommate investigators showed the husband a photograph of the victim John Morrow couldn't believe what he was seeing the woman lying dead on the railroad tracks was his wife Sherry [Music] Morrow said that he and Sherry fought the night before [Music] she believed he was flirting with another woman who was at a party at the couple's house she became enraged John followed her outside determined to convince her that she was mistaken [Music] they walked up the street to a payphone she was cold so John gave her his trench coat despite his efforts Sherry remained angry and seemed depressed John returned home believing the best thing he could do would be to leave her alone he thought that Sherry called a friend to come pick her up [Music] John never imagined that she would take her own life the couple's roommate corroborated John's story the husband's account in addition to the autopsy finding left investigators with no reason to doubt the suicide Theory the investigation into Sherry Morrow's death was ready to be closed the following day however Sherry Morrow's mother came in to speak with police she could not accept that her daughter had taken her own life John she said had had numerous Affairs that Sherry found out about as a result Sherry had decided to end the turbulent marriage recently she had begun searching for her own place so she could be closer to her mother this one will not make it and though Sherry was upset to learn of her husband's infidelities her mother was certain that she would never have killed herself in fact Sherry was prepared for a costly divorce which John desperately wanted to avoid it's not unusual for a family of a suicide victim to determine that or to to say that they didn't do they didn't commit suicide but in the case in the case of this victim her mother was pretty convincing to me that that that this victim didn't do that and uh wouldn't have done that despite their new suspicions investigators found no evidence suggesting that Sherry Morrow had met with Foul Play almost a month after she was discovered along the railroad tracks the young woman was laid to rest [Music] over the next several years investigators interviewed dozens of Sherry's friends looking to uncover proof that she had been murdered but they found nothing the investigation into Sherry Morrow's death ground to a halt the case was handed over to Crestview police Lieutenant Jerome Worley [Music] determined to Breathe new life into the investigation he began re-interviewing the couple's friends and Associates starting with their roommate the roommate again corroborated the story John had given two years earlier on the night Sherry died he said John followed her after she stormed out of the house in anger but he returned soon after and never left the house again detectives sensed that the roommate wasn't telling the truth under threat of prosecution he changed his story John he said was sick of his wife and he often bragged about how easy it would be to kill her and to make her death look like a suicide or an accident he said that on the night Sherry died John was gone for hours after leaving with her when he returned John was agitated his knuckles were red he told the roommate it's done though the roommate's testimony confirmed investigators suspicions that John Morrow was involved in his wife's death Lieutenant Worley knew it wouldn't be enough to prove murder the roommate would be contradicting himself with a new statement and it would just be his word against the husband's word in court so we knew we'd have to have some physical evidence to prove the case but with the victim laid to rest and little evidence recovered from the scene finding proof of murder would not be easy for nearly three years police in Crestview Florida struggled to make sense of the death of 24 year old Sherry Morrow though all of the evidence suggested she had taken her own life by lying in front of an oncoming train investigators suspected that her husband John Morrow had murdered her [Music] shred of proof investigators forwarded what little evidence they had to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement crime lab in Pensacola there examiner Jan Johnson an expert in bloodstained pattern interpretation began examining photographs of the scene and the victim's clothes starting at the place where Sherry was struck by the train Johnson began analyzing the bloodstains generally speaking if you would have a body lying on a rubber track and the body still there's no movement so therefore when the tri the train would strike the victim you would have spatter blood at that point of impact but in the photographs there was no blood spatter at that spot the blood was pooled for Johnson the only way to explain the findings was that Sherry was already bleeding when she laid down on the tracks the lack of any blood smeared along the tracks leading up to Sherry's body was also troubling if it was a train striking a woman lying on the railroad tracks I would expect to see a trail of blood leading from the point of impact to the final resting place in fact no bleeding had occurred from any of the wounds caused by the train that would only make sense if she was dead at the point of impact once your heart stops the blood flow ceases so therefore any injury that occurs after that fact you will have very little bloodshed but if the train hadn't killed her the question remained what had to find out Johnson began analyzing the blood stains found on the victim's clothes she found blood spatter on the victim's t-shirt that didn't correspond to any of the head injuries noted in the original autopsy report the size and the location of the spatter on the T-shirt was consistent with a specific type of injury [Music] if I had not known this was a train case and just received the clothing solely alone in the laboratory I would have clearly thought someone had been beaten just by looking at the clothing because again we've got this batter pattern on the t-shirt and this would be consistent with someone being beaten stabbed something of that nature Johnson passed on her findings to Crestview police the forensic analysis convinced detectives that Sherry Morrow had been murdered to take this case before a jury however they needed to find the Fatal injuries that had somehow gone unnoticed years earlier three years after she was laid to rest Sherry's remains were exhumed and forwarded to the medical examiner for a second autopsy a new medical examiner began looking for evidence of homicide [Music] on the back of the victim's skull he found injuries consistent with blunt force trauma the wounds were not consistent with any of the injuries caused by the train medical examiner Dr Michael Berkland next reviewed the original autopsy photos looking for any other abnormalities he noticed strange bruising on the victim's net that had not been noted in the original autopsy reports x-rays revealed the presence of a broken hyoid a bone in the neck located at the base of the tongue [Music] Dr Brooklyn didn't believe that the train could have caused the injury it would be extremely unlikely that the train could have struck her in such a way to fracture the hyoid and leave the jaw intact because it is such a protected structure up high in the neck back behind the Jawbone the most reasonable explanation for the broken hyoid was that Sherry Morrow had been strangled the blunt force trauma injuries found on the skull and the broken hyoid bone gave investigators the evidence they needed to prove that Sherry Morrow had been the victim of a homicide and though investigators suspected that her husband John Morrow had committed the murder they needed to find a way to link him to the crime scene interact with this couple though several years had gone by police tracked down all of the railroad Engineers who had passed through the area on the night Sherry was murdered one immediately recognized photographs of John and Sherry Morrow the couple he said were walking dangerously close to the tracks they appeared to be having a bitter argument and seemed oblivious to his warnings the engineers specifically remembered that the man identified as John Morrow had been wearing a black trench coat on April 29 1997 John Morrow was placed under arrest and charged with first-degree murder though he maintained his innocence police believe that when Sherry decided to end the marriage the stress of a divorce was too much for him to bear yeah well if you decide to answer questions now as the couple argued while walking along the railroad tracks John grabbed a blunt instrument and struck Sherry in the back of the head but when she failed to lose Consciousness he finished the job by beating and then strangling her breaking her hyoid bone in the process laid her bleeding body on the tracks and covered her with the blood-spattered trench coat Sherry likely died within a few minutes a jury convicted John Morrow of murder and sentenced him to life in prison without parole John Morrow tried to deceive investigators by disguising his victim's cause of death in a suburban community just north of Phoenix Arizona investigators would have to prove murder without the victim's body on the evening of June 4th 1989 Maricopa County sheriff's deputies were called to the home of Earl and Ruby Morris the couple's daughter Cindy was concerned that something had happened to her 49 year old mother Ruby the two had made plans to meet that day but Ruby failed to show up when Cindy stopped by to check on her she found her parents bedroom was unusually messy she noticed that their 22 caliber handgun was missing foreign she said that her father Earl was currently in Los Angeles California but he would be back early the next day neither Ruby nor her husband Earl had returned home Maricopa County Sheriff's Lieutenant Lee lugenbule was asked to look into the case after reviewing the daughter's statements he agreed to open a missing person's investigation well the daughter Cindy is supposed to meet her for lunch that day and she never showed up and this is kind of unusual for Mom Mom was a very uh prompt person would always meet her appointments and she was very neat around the house also so there were some things that were out of place at the house that was just not like Ruby later that afternoon the detective returned to the Morris residence to interview family members when asked about her mother and father's relationship Cindy told police that her parents 30-year marriage had turned ugly in recent months Earl had been caught having an affair upset and angry Ruby began threatening to end the marriage and vowed to financially ruin her husband Earl a successful 49 year old accountant promised her that would never happen but Cindy couldn't imagine that her father was capable of physical violence as the questioning continued Earl Morris returned from his trip Cindy commented that he wasn't driving his own car explained that his car and El Camino had broken down some 200 miles from home on the drive back from Los Angeles after several hours stranded on the road he managed to hitch a ride to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport there Earl said he rented a car to get home but almost immediately the detective was suspicious of Earl's story I looked at his clothes in his General demeanor too he was neat he didn't appear to be out you know trying to flag down a car he was all put together the detective also noticed new airport tags on Earl's luggage suggesting he had flown not driven from California and the luggage tags originated from San Diego not Los Angeles with his suspicions raised the investigator questioned Earl about Ruby's disappearance though he couldn't explain why the couple's 22 caliber gun was missing he seemed unconcerned about his wife's whereabouts [Music] Ruby he said would often take off for days on end without a word Earl told me he didn't think it was unusual for Ruby to be gone for a couple days that you know she had to wear with all credit cards be able to go out visit other people and and to leave so he again was saying like it was no big deal that she was gone investigators felt differently looking to corroborate Earl's story they began searching the interstates for his broken down El Camino but hours of driving turned up no signs of the vehicle and there were no records of it having been towed an APB was issued for the car a short while later Earl Morris's El Camino was located it was found nearly 400 miles away parked near the San Diego Airport San Diego authorities impounded the vehicle and arranged for it to be transported back to Arizona all right thanks bye for investigators it was now clear that Earl Morris's story was a lie find out what he was hiding they obtained a search warrant later that evening police returned to his residence having observed no obvious signs of Foul Play investigators began scouring the bedroom for Trace Amounts of evidence discovered several blood stains on the carpet near the bed Maricopa County Sheriff's crime lab supervisor James Serpa noticed something odd about their appearance we saw visible signs of the carpet nap and the master suite had been Disturbed in a circular pattern which could indicate the use of a carpet cleaner technicians also found a fine mist of blood spatter on the headboard of the couple's bed the evidence was collected and forwarded to the crime lab for analysis for investigators the discovery of so much blood was not encouraging [Music] the amount of blood in the master suite was a significant amount of blood and someone would have been at least direly wounded if not deceased though investigators believed that someone was Ruby Morris they soon learned that the blood recovered from the house was too degraded for a definitive DNA analysis technicians began scouring Earl Morris's vehicle for Clues the search revealed the presence of several large blood stains on the passenger side carpet the samples were collected and sent out for DNA testing though the analysis would take time police speculated that Earl Morris had murdered his wife then transported her body in his El Camino and that meant Ruby's body could be anywhere between Phoenix and San Diego [Music] as investigators began the daunting task of trying to pinpoint Ruby's remains one of the couple's daughters came forward with information Earl owned a boat and he kept it docked in San Diego believing there had to be a connection police contacted authorities there a few days later San Diego Harbor Police forwarded a video cassette to Maricopa County investigators the tape shot the same day that Ruby was reported missing showed a boat burning at sea and authorities had positively identified it as belonging to Earl Morris for detectives the significance was clear we speculated that Earl rented another boat to tow out his boat and actually set it on fire to hide the body of Ruby and also the murder weapon at that time the boat ultimately sank in treacherous Waters too deep to be recovered [Music] despite the clumsy lies Earl Morris was telling police it looked like he just might get away with murder detectives in Maricopa County Arizona were convinced that Earl Morris had murdered his 49-year-old wife Ruby and then entombed her in a watery grave several hundred miles away off the California coast without a weapon or the victim's body they would have to rely on the forensic evidence to prove murder first they would have to show that blood found in Earl's El Camino belonged to his wife with no known samples from Ruby to compare to the evidence examiners turned to a process called reverse paternity typing which isolates strands of DNA that pass unchanged from mother to child Maricopa County Sheriff's crime lab supervisor James Serpa then compared the genetic profile of the samples collected from the El Camino to those generated from Ruby's two daughters and from her siblings the blood stain on the carpet of the El Camino was the mother of Ruby's children and The Sibling of Ruby's brother and sister [Music] though their case was largely circumstantial investigators arrested Earl Morris and charged him with murder through his lawyer Earl refused to make any statements as the trial approached investigators struggled to come up with more incriminating evidence against Earl Morris found little else then word came in that Earl Morris wanted to talk [Music] admitted he had been lying to authorities but he said it wasn't to cover up his wife's murder Ruby he said had killed herself Earl said that in the early morning hours of June 4th he entered the master bedroom and found Ruby dead clutching the couple's 22 caliber pistol in her hand blood was everywhere wanting to spare the family the embarrassment of the suicide he cleaned up the room and drove her body to San Diego where he then disposed of the remains he thought it would be easier for the family to accept that Ruby had decided to just up and leave [Music] though the account sounded ridiculous to police they realized that Earl's suicide story had the potential to create Reasonable Doubt in the minds of jurors unless investigators could come up with hard evidence to prove otherwise Earl Morris could be a free man without the ability to examine the victim's body it s proved Earl's story Lieutenant Commander Rod Englert an expert in bloodstain pattern analysis was brought in to assist in the investigation okay Englert and Serpa began by re-examining the headboard collected from the couple's bedroom when luminol was applied angler had no doubt that the blood spatter present which appeared as fine Mist had resulted from a specific type of injury well when there's crimes of violence blood is categorized into three major categories the low category which is termed low velocity impact spatters just drops of blood smears of blood transfer stains the second category is from blunt trauma which is termed medium velocity and the third category of which we're dealing with in this particular case is high velocity which is a specific uh easily identified pattern which is atomization of blood and that comes from gunshot the location of the spatter on the headboard also allowed examiners to determine the position of the victim's head at the time she was shot Ruby had been lying flat in a sleep-like position if that's the case though the finding was suspicious on its own it did not contradict Earl Morris's suicide story after thoroughly photographing the bloodstains Englert began looking for any abnormalities in the patterns something immediately caught his attention as you look at the headboard a left to right direction you have a pattern of blood going up that direction you have another pattern of blood over overlapping it and going another Direction so you have their two conditions that don't occur at the same time the blood stain patterns indicated that Ruby had been shot at least twice and if she had taken her own life as Earl claim that would have been difficult to do well first of all ruby Morris would have been able to the hammer on the gun which I'm told was single action revolver 22 after a shot to the Head to a large source of blood would have to be able to it again and possibly even a third time and that's not likely [Music] investigators agreed based on the forensic analysis there could be little doubt that Ruby Morris had been murdered police believe that to avoid the financial ruin from a divorce Earl Morris chose to kill his wife as Ruby lay sleeping in the couple's bed he pulled out the 22 caliber pistol and shot her several times in the head after cleaning up the crime scene he loaded her bleeding body into his El Camino and drove several hundred miles away to San Diego [Music] once there he loaded her body and likely the murder weapon onto his boat he set the craft on fire returned to Shore and began the process of covering up his crime with the help of Rod englert's blood spatter analysis Earl Morris was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison Earl Morris tried to explain his wife's death by creating a story about suicide but sometimes murderers admit killing their victims the story they tell investigators is one of self-defense [Music] around 1 30 a.m on October 18 1984 the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department received a frantic 9-1-1 call [Music] 24 year old Brett Harris said that his mother Barbara had been murdered his stepfather Bob Geisler was also dead [Music] distraught Brett was threatening to take his own life Sacramento County sheriff's deputies raced to the scene as they approached the house they made a bizarre discovery a man identified as Brett Harris was hiding in a tree after talking him down one of the officers made his way into the residence come on over here come on out [Music] master bedroom discovered a gruesome scene a woman lay dead on the mattress and on the floor nearby was another lifeless body [Music] officers from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department were dispatched to the home of 52-year-old Bob giesler and his 55 year old wife Barbara the couple had been brutally murdered investigators questioned Barbara's son Brett Harris who had called 9-1-1 after some time he was able to recount what had happened Brett said that around 1 30 a.m he heard a commotion and then a scream coming from his parents bedroom when he entered their room he saw his stepfather standing above his lifeless mother he saw an ax handle lying on the floor as he went to grab it his stepfather then attacked him with a box cutter Brett said he managed to overpower him and self-defense he beat his stepfather to death the young man was transported to the police station evidence technicians made their way into the bedroom according to Crime Scene unit investigator Brian Kennedy both victims had been savagely beaten their heads and faces were grotesquely disfigured and there were blood stains all over of every surface at one time the air must have been filled with atomized mist of or droplets of blood falling out of the air it was quite a horrendous sight technicians began looking for evidence to help them reconstruct what had happened inside the room in addition to the ax handle investigators also recovered a blood-stained box cutter found resting on Bob geisler's chest all of the bloodstain patterns were carefully photographed as the search of the house continued officers followed a trail of bloody shoe prints that led from the bedroom to the kitchen Trail stopped in front of an opened utility drawer unsure what to make of the findings officers created a visual record of the evidence at the police station investigators struggled to obtain coherent answers from Brett Harris he was unresponsive to their questions and began rambling on about the devil and other things that made little sense officers photographed several superficial wounds on his body [Music] police also collected his blood-stained clothes with so many unanswered questions police hoped autopsies of the victims could tell them more the medical examiner concluded that Bob and Barbara giesler had both died from massive blunt force trauma to the skull the beatings had been so Savaged that both the victim's arms had been broken while defending themselves during the assaults Special Assistant Attorney General David drewliner followed the investigation for him the autopsy findings were troubling the viciousness with which the two individuals were killed Harris's mother and his stepfather was very extremely similar and so had had the stepfather been the killer of the of his own wife and then Harris been the killer of The Stepfather you wouldn't have expected necessarily it to have been in such an identical manner authorities couldn't ignore the possibility that one person had committed both murders if Brett Harris was responsible for the vicious double homicide investigators needed to find out what could have motivated such rage [Music] return they turned to family members for information Brett's stepsister told detectives that her stepmother and father had always maintained a good relationship with Brett though Brett would sometimes find himself facing legal problems his mother and stepfather would always look out for him bailing him out of jail on a number of occasions Brett's stepfather even employed him at his tool making company in hopes that the young man would find himself [Music] though Brett suffered from a psychiatric condition his stepsister said that he had made progress in recent months and with the help of medications his prospects for the future were promising she added that Bob and Barbara's relationship was strong and she could not imagine that her father would ever hurt her stepmother nothing investigators had learned jibe with Brett Harris's version of events believing the 24 year old was hiding something they turned to examiners at the Sacramento County Sheriff's crime lab for answers [Music] there examiner Brian Kennedy looked to the blood evidence to help him reconstruct the crime this was an interesting case where we had three people in a house where only one person came out alive and he had a story the story was not completely and totally uh impossible in piecing it all together um I tried to support his story I actually looked at it to see if I could prove him correct but in one of the photographs taken in the bedroom Kennedy noticed something odd though the entire room had been saturated with the victim's blood the carpet underneath the stepfather's body was clean for Kennedy there seemed to be only one way to explain that fact he goes down onto the floor and he's incapacitated and shields the floor from any blood that would come from his wife and so we know that he's down first because she's then attacked and her blood covers the rest of the room and we can we can put her blood on top of him but we can't put it underneath him the finding contradicted Brett's story that his mother had already been bludgeoned and was bleeding by the time he entered the room with the evidence now pointing to Brett Harris as his mother's killer Kennedy began analyzing blood stains on his clothing for proof [Music] but serological tests showed that all the blood on his clothes had originated from the stepfather Kennedy now wondered if it was possible for Brett to have bludgeoned his mother while avoiding getting her blood on him to find out he devised a blood spatter experiment simulating the assailant's position he began striking sponges soaked with blood with a wooden instrument looking to see how the resulting blood spatter would stain his clothing the result surprised him the first couple blows I actually turned my head to the side of you know so I wouldn't get a full face of spatter I found out I wasn't getting anything I just started um relaxing and letting letting it go I started beating it even harder and it was all going out to the sides very little was coming back at me if any Kennedy had successfully demonstrated that Barbara's assailant could have avoided being spattered by her blood and coupled with the other findings it was clear that Brett Harris's story was a lie so the bottom line is the two deceased people who couldn't speak for themselves spoke volumes with the bloodstain patterns that were produced from them and I was unable to support or substantiate anything that the defendant had said after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder Brett Harris underwent a psychiatric evaluation he now admitted to both killings but claimed it was in self-defense after explaining that his parents were possessed by warlocks Brett Harris entered a plea of Not Guilty by reason of insanity though Brett had been previously diagnosed with a mental condition prosecutors believed the story he was now telling was just a desperate attempt to escape Justice he wasn't insane and by that I mean did he know what he was doing did he know that he actually was killing human beings and did he know that it was wrong and there is no doubt as to the answer to those questions was yes and yes he knew it was wrong otherwise why'd he call 9-1-1 immediately after it he knew it was a crime but to win a murder conviction authorities needed to find physical proof that the cold-blooded murders were not the result of an insane mind forensic examiners in Sacramento California had proven the 24 year old Brett Harris had brutally bludgeoned his mother and stepfather to death after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder the suspect told psychiatrists that warlocks possessed both Bob and Barbara giesler and he killed the couple in self-defense [Music] Brett Harris entered a plea of Not Guilty by reason of insanity prove that he was lying in order to avoid the death penalty authorities turned once again to the forensic evidence examiner Brian Kennedy began looking at all the physical evidence recovered from the crime scene looking for anything that could demonstrate that Brett Harris knew what he was doing at the time of the murders he focused on the box cutter found on Bob giesler's chest [Music] after reviewing the autopsy reports Kennedy believed it was unlikely that the box cutter could have been used as a weapon against Brett as he had previously claimed both of our def our victims had broken arms if you're defending yourself with your arms and you've got us holding something and it's severe enough to break the arm you're going to lose control of whatever is in your hand most likely I doubt seriously you can hang on to it for somebody to have their arm broken and then place it on their chest is not likely believing that Brett Harris had staged the crime scene to throw investigators off his Trail Kennedy next looked for a way to explain the box cutter wounds found on his body this looks like somebody has self-inflicted these injuries because they're in the right place for for right-handed person to cut himself on the left arm to cut himself on the right cheek to cut himself from left to right across his chest so it's all very consistent with staging his own injuries the forensic findings provided irrefutable proof that Brett Harris had gone to Great Lengths to conceal his guilt for prosecutors those are not the actions of an insane man he physically changed the crime scene in anticipation that the police are coming to the crime scene so he tries to fool law enforcement why do it why come up with any sort of explanation he wouldn't have to though unsure of the motive police believe that on October 18 1984 Brett Harris snuck into the couple's room as they slept in their bed using an ax handle he bludgeoned Bob and Barbara giesler to death after finishing the kill he made his way into the kitchen sliced himself with a box cutter he took from the utility drawer and returned to the bedroom to plant the evidence [Music] confronted with the evidence Brett Harris withdrew his Insanity defense he pled guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder [Music] he was sentenced to 41 years to life Killers skilled at the art of deception hope to confuse investigators by manipulating a crime scene but forensic experts can find Justice for victims of homicide by seeing through a murderer's lies which are written in tainted blood [Music] in rural Michigan a search for a missing man ends in cold-blooded murder [Music] investigators call on a team of forensic scientists to establish the victim's time of death and bring his killer to Justice in Salinas California a couple finds a skeleton in a shallow grave under their house [Music] a missing person's report filed 14 years earlier may have covered up a murder bones of lost victims May lie hidden for years time and the elements can destroy evidence when those remains are finally discovered the deceased have a chance to speak and the tales they tell reveal grave secrets [Music] in this episode some of the names have been changed the quiet agricultural town of Salinas California is known for its abundant produce a town of hard-working people it hardly seems the place for a murder [Music] but on January 14 1998 the owners of a house discovered something that would change that impression forever Jim Olson told his wife Sandra and her sister that he discovered something strange in the crawl space under the house while installing heating ducts found a pair of tennis shoes sticking out of the dirt with the toes pointing upwards large to reach them in the cramped space to Jim it looked as if someone may have been buried in a shallow grave [Music] was a prank there right under the kitchen you know what I'll go but Sandra volunteered to check just to make sure right over here [Music] something was holding the shoes firmly in place in the dim light Sandra could see that the shoes were attached to a skeleton Jim called 9-1-1 officers from the Salinas Police Department responded to the call [Applause] Sergeant Miller and detective McLaughlin were among the responding officers police confirmed that the bones were human and the area was declared a crime scene foreign as you can see this is exactly to properly preserve the site and recover the skeletal remains investigators called in Dr Alison Galloway a forensic anthropologist at the University of California Santa Cruz campus remarkably Galloway found the skeleton to be complete and undisturbed by animals [Music] the initial examination determined that the bones were likely male and that they had been there for a number of years we could tell the order there was no grease in the bone there was no soft tissue left so we say usually that takes about five years minimum but it then can go anywhere up to 50 years so we have quite a long range we did see a lot of exfoliation of the bone the bone itself wasn't disintegrating but it wasn't a very protected environment [Music] decomposed jeans and underwear suggested the victim had been fully clothed at the time of his death and burial as Galloway carefully sifted through the remains she found a 38 caliber bullet police now believe they had uncovered a homicide as they scoured the area around the body they uncovered some personal items including a set of keys and a cigarette lighter Sergeant Miller of the Salinas Police Department spoke with the family that currently owned the house they said that they had lived there for two and a half years [Music] this was the first time anyone had been in the crawl space [Music] now investigators had to determine who this victim was without the victim's identity police would not be able to track his killer [Music] The Remains were sent to the UC Santa Cruz anthropology lab there they believed Dr Galloway could provide Vital Information okay I'm gonna go with the right femur measurements confirmed that the remains were that of an adolescent male of European descent approximately five feet ten inches tall two five foot ten the bullet found among the remains indicated the victim had been shot to verify the cause of death Dr Galloway looked for any peculiarities on the bones [Music] discovered two gunshot holes in the victim's skull so it looks like we have two entry wounds over here this victim we had a whole series of injuries we had two gunshot injuries to the head and at least one and possibly two gunshot injuries to the rest of the body first of the head ones came in on the right side sort of around the ear and probably exited through the left eye and then the second injury came in a little bit further forward and that moved and came out on this side over here there was also evidence of at least one entry wound to the victim's back seven we also have some breaking pairing water this is around Earth Dr Galloway reported her findings to Sergeant Miller thank you very much he cross-referenced the address where the victim was found with missing persons reports dating back from five years earlier he came up with a promising match [Music] a teenage boy named Chris denoyer was reported missing from the same residence in 1984. Sergeant Miller reviewed the report there was a picture on file and Dr Galloway's assessment was consistent with the missing boy's description it was last seen January 13 1984 and it was his mother who had notified police that in fact her son was missing at that time investigators obtained Chris's dental records Dr Kevin Landon performed the analysis [Music] he compared the x-rays from Chris's file to slides of the victim's Dental remains [Music] he noticed something [Music] I found that there was a retainer an orthodontic type retainer on the lower jaw from extending from his left canine tooth to his right canine tooth with an orthodontic band around it during the time that this individual was alive that was a standard type of orthodontic retainer to place nowadays they are made a little different bonded in the back of the teeth so that they're not so visible Dr Landon had found a positive match I concluded that the dental remains from this individual under the house matched the dental records that I received investigators finally had a name and a face for their victim now they needed to find out who had murdered Chris denoyer but after 14 years the Killer's Trail was cold little evidence remained police were uncertain they would ever solve this case police in Salinas California struggled to track the killer of Chris denoyer whose body was found 14 years after he was reported missing a 38 caliber bullet was the only evidence the killer left behind the investigators now needed to reconstruct the events that led up to his death first they wanted to make sure there was no access to the crawl space from the outside of the house they found none there's only one way in and one way out so the two possible scenarios are either it's a stranger or it's somebody that lives in the residence now if you try to play out the stranger scenario you'd have to say the stranger came into the house murdered Chris and then hoped that they would have enough time to drag this body under the house dig a grave cover it over and crawl out before anyone comes home and that didn't seem likely to the police in my mind the people that were suspects in this case were anyone that had access and control to the residents in January of 1984. and the only access was from inside you know I'm not sure but Sergeant Miller wanted to be certain that Chris hadn't been murdered after he went missing [Music] he made another call to Dr Kevin Landon one of the questions that detective Andy Miller of the Salinas Police Department asked of me was that would it have been possible for Christopher to have actually run away and returned a few years later possibly been murdered by someone and placed under the house and I could tell him that that was impossible due to the fact that his wisdom teeth had not developed any further it was proof that Chris was murdered just before the missing persons report was filed the police report indicated that Chris had a girlfriend at the time of his disappearance [Music] they hoped she could give some insight into the family so she was the first person we decided to contact primarily because since she didn't live in the house she wasn't as likely in our eyes to be a suspect she was dismayed to hear the news of Chris's death [Music] she stated she first met Kristen oyer in 1983. they dated up until his disappearance in 84. Chris she said was her first love when asked about Chris's relationship with his parents she said that Chris and his stepfather Jackson viarta constantly fought the arter was always on him about something she said she never believed Chris ran away he wouldn't have left without saying goodbye to her da detective Miller from slaves PD we talked on the phone thank you investigators decided it was time to speak with Chris's mother have you found him they tracked her down at her current residence she was shocked by the news that Chris's body had been found it's very important that we begin our investigation on the day Chris disappeared she was at work her husband Jackson viarta called her and told her that Chris had run away he'd been convinced he was still alive in fact they had received a telegram from him a few days after he disappeared Chris she said was an average teenager but they had their problems with him [Music] he and his sister were having trouble adjusting to life with her new husband Jackson viarta investigators asked if anyone in the family owned a gun she said that Jackson viarta had one for Home Security but she didn't know the kind Miller didn't believe that Chris's mother had anything to do with the murderer at the time of this murder Chris's mother was pregnant and she's a heavyset woman to begin with so the idea of her going through this very small crawl space and digging you know a six foot trench in her house and dragging 180 pound victim under there I mean that's pretty much out of the question [Music] but they did have a suspect in mind Chris's stepfather Jackson viarta [Music] we felt that the only person that could possibly benefit from burying a body underneath a resonance was the person who was in control of that residence and in this case that's Jackson viarda viato worked for the telephone company they found him on his route [Music] as investigators approached they noticed he had the right size and build to dig the six foot trench in the crawl space he agreed to accompany them in for questioning he was cooperative and admitted that he and Chris had had their troubles but he said that was normal teenagers often have conflicts with their step parents but uh one other thing I'd like to explain to you A lot of times when people come down to the police department the artist said he worked from noon to 8 pm on the day Chris disappeared when he got home his wife told him that Chris had run away story contradicted what his wife had told investigators earlier a few days later he said they received a mail gram from Chris saying he was sorry for all the trouble he had caused and that he had moved out investigators were suspicious viarta admitted that he had two guns a 22 caliber rifle and a 38 caliber revolver the caliber of the handgun interested Sergeant Miller the rounds we'd found in the grave that Chris had been murdered with a 38 caliber weapon so it was a very significant piece of information the police needed to get a search warrant to examine the revolver uh they went to viarta's house to prevent him from entering and removing the handgun with a warrant in hand police searched the home where viarta now lived they collected the 38 caliber revolver and some ammunition while they waited for the ballistics testing to be completed they checked out the art history accured all of his personal records for January of 1984. we got a call there was one small detail that piqued their interest hey Bob the mailgram that was supposedly sent by Chris three days after he disappeared was ordered from and billed to viarta's home phone Chris had already been murdered police knew that viarta had written it oh there was definitely somebody home the one sentence in the mailgram that completely gave it away that Jackson was the author was when the statement was that in some ways Jackson was right and you're talking about a 16 year old kid who hated his stepfather is he going to write in this letter that he thinks that his stepfather was right the only person that would write that was Jackson so the whole idea of the Milgram right from the beginning was preposterous the circumstantial evidence against Jackson viarta was mounting but investigators would need one more piece of evidence to make an arrest detectives in Salinas California had identified Jackson viarta as the prime suspect in the murder of his teenage stepson Chris tenoyer but they still needed physical evidence to link him to the scene of the crime a 38 caliber revolver and ammunition were collected during a search of his house Scott Armstrong senior criminalist with the California State Department of Justice examined the gun people [Music] he fired the weapon into a water tank [Music] and collected the spent bullets the gun whether it's a revolver or pistol will have two kinds of markings that they impress on the bullet class characteristics and individual characteristics the class characteristics would be things that would be common to all guns of that make and manufacture the individual characteristics are unique markings called lambs and grooves which are left on a bullet as it travels through the Gun Barrel they are as individual as fingerprints [Music] using a comparison microscope he compared the bullets from the crime scene to the bullets fired from viarta's weapon side by side the bullets matched there were class markings and individual markings that were sufficient that I could identify the bullet as having been fired from the revolver it was the hard evidence investigators needed Mr viarta hey I've slowly reach out and opened the door from the outside slowly step out of the vehicle and face away from me take two steps to your left stop put your hands behind your back and interlace your fingers get down on your knees on February 6 1999 Jackson viarta was arrested for the murder of Kristen oyer 15 years earlier under questioning he denied all charges and maintained his innocence at trial investigators presented a videotape that proved it wasn't likely an outsider broke into the home killed Chris and then buried him in the crawl space an officer matching the artist's physical description dug a hole in the confined area the experiment was timed it took a little over an hour so getting back to the fact that if an outsider had come into this place done the murder and decided this was how he's going to dispose of the body he would have had to commit himself to minimum of one hour in sort of the danger zone because if someone had come home while he was there they would have been discovered based on the evidence investigators believe Jackson viarta and Chris argued that day [Music] in a rage viarta grabbed his 38 caliber gun and shot Chris twice in the head and once in the chest then he hid his body in the crawl space under the house [Music] on February 1st 2000 Jackson viarda was convicted of second-degree murder he was sentenced to 17 years to life Jackson viarta thought that burying his victim under the house would permanently conceal the evidence of his crime but some Killers believe time and the elements will erase the evidence for them in June 1995 the Lansing Police Department in Michigan was working a difficult case detective Jay trust led the investigation 29 year old Mark bosum had vanished anyone got any questions on him or anything like that be careful at this point I wouldn't really consider it Mark's wife Cindy reported him missing three weeks earlier if you find anything anything about him anyone who knows always bother leave me a message I'll get back with it he's been missing for the longer Mark was missing the more detective trust suspected Foul Play to find out if anyone had seen him or knew of his whereabouts officers were sent to interview his relatives friends and acquaintances they learned that the day before Mark disappeared he cashed his income tax check and was paid from his job [Music] but dozens of interviews turned up nothing else the police could find no one who'd heard from him since his disappearance he wasn't seen anywhere couldn't find anyone that had any kind of contact we couldn't even find anyone that had even seen him or could remember seeing him anything like that so he just like vanished Sergeant Mark Murray was eager to speak with Mark bosum's wife Cindy the last person known to have seen him she admitted to him that she and her husband had their problems and were separated as a result [Music] claimed that both of them wanted to save the marriage [Music] she appeared to me to be a very loving and caring mother she and Mark had had a daughter and she seemed to be trying to keep the the family together so they were trying to iron out their differences and and get things worked out and patched up she told the sergeant that a few nights before his disappearance Mark visited her at the bowling alley where she worked as a waitress [Music] when he arrived a man named Tom Hart was talking to her Mark was uncomfortable with heart and believed that he was interested in more than just a friendship with his wife according to Cindy Hart was infatuated with her foreign she told Sergeant Murray that on several occasions she noticed heart following her after work in fact her husband insisted that she take out a restraining order against him but Cindy considered heart a friend and couldn't believe that he had anything to do with Mark's disappearance [Music] Sergeant Murray wasn't so sure what I thought was that that led a little more credibility to the fact that some foul play could have been involved in his gone missing as opposed to him just leaving on his own investigators decided to take a closer look at Tom Hart [Music] when questioned by investigators art was cooperative the 52 year old claimed that he and Cindy bosom had more than a friendly relationship he said that Cindy was planning on divorcing her estranged husband and moving in with him but was apprehensive about telling mark Hart admitted that the last time he saw Mark was the night before he disappeared foreign he had met with him in person to inform him of their intentions while Mark wasn't happy about this news the conversation ended cordially he had asked Hart for a ride to a nearby convenience store [Music] Hart agreed and dropped him off as Mark walked toward the store he approached two men who were standing outside he seemed to know them when Hart asked if he wanted to ride back Mark declined saying he'd get one later [Music] [Music] that was the last time he saw him police asked if he would be willing to take a polygraph test though he insisted he had nothing to hide Hart refused claiming he had no idea where Mark bosum was investigators didn't believe him by his his tone and his mannerisms and his uh basically it's not that he wouldn't answer questions but he was very evasive in his answers he wasn't real forthcoming with a lot of information we had to pry everything out of him he would give you an answer to a question but he never gave you any meat investigators knew hark was covering up for something there was still no evidence of a crime police in Lansing Michigan worked to solve the missing person's case of 29 year old mark bosum Hart the last person to see him the night he disappeared said he dropped mark off at a convenience store investigators doubted his story [Music] they contacted the manager of the convenience store to see if there was a surveillance camera in the parking lot there wasn't one and no one remembered seeing either man that night with no evidence of a crime and only their suspicions that Tom Hart was involved in Mark's disappearance investigators met to discuss their next move the investigation was going nowhere but then they caught a break at that point there was some information that Tom Hart owned a farm well from the time that Mark bolsom came up missing to like within a week and a half Tom Hart decided to till up his land if heart was involved in Mark bosum's disappearance it was also likely he would hide the evidence he could have taken him out to the farm and disposed of the body and tilled him up in the soil with the assistance of the Michigan State Police Sergeant Murray conducted an air reconnaissance of Tom Hart's Farm we were looking for where the ground had been tilled up and Disturbed maybe a grave had been dug that the the furrows would be different in the ground it was a promising lead but after hours of searching there was no evidence of a burial or a recent grave without a search warrant all investigators could do was wait after approximately a month we there was nothing and on a missing case like this it starts to go cold there wasn't a whole lot more that could be done what we needed to do is either find him alive or dead and then go from there we were unable to find anything the investigation had hit a dead end trust had been down this road before and knew that someday a clue would turn up he just had to be patient [Music] almost a year and a half later in nearby Shiawassee County a man walking his dog made a terrible discovery foreign [Music] among some brush lay a human skull he called the police detective trust and crime scene technicians from the Lansing Police Department responded [Music] investigators hope this was the lead they had been waiting for until now they had a suspect but no hard evidence of a crime they collected the decomposed skull then carefully searched the area how long ago would you say you got here how long has it been nearby they recovered articles of clothing a blood-stained blanket and more human remains [Music] they also found a spent 22 caliber bullet casing [Music] from the level of decomposition vines that had grown through the tattered clothing and some insect larvae they determined that the body had been there for some time but their search of the area yielded no clues to the victim's identity investigators forwarded the skeletal remains to Michigan State University for analysis there forensic anthropologist Dr Norman Sauer looked to the bones to help establish the person's identity after analyzing the shape and dimension of brow ridges on the skull Dr Sauer concluded that the victim was male likely in his late 20s to early 30s [Music] from the measurements of the femur he determined the individual stood between five feet six inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall [Music] he also discovered marks on one of the vertebrae evidence that this victim had been shot in the chest inclusion was that this was probably a homicide but detectives couldn't be certain that this victim was the long missing Mark bosum the physical description roughly matched bosomes but it also matched countless other missing persons to catch the Killer and determine who the victim was investigators would have to find a way to pinpoint exactly when this victim died oh it is frustrating very frustrating at this point there's no way to for us to say for sure who this person is the victim's clothing and the blanket recovered from the crime scene were sent to forensic entomologist Dr Richard Merritt as an expert in insect growth and development Dr Merritt analyzes the life cycles of bugs found on a corpse and estimates how much time has elapsed since a person's death the time of death can be determined using the life cycle of an insect so basically when someone dies the insects are attracted immediately to the body within hours [Music] Dr Merritt began by identifying each of the species found on the shirt and blanket among the various insects present Dr Merritt observed an adult parasitic wasp though other insects are attracted to a corpse within 24 hours of death research has shown that wasps will not appear and lay their eggs for several months [Music] then it takes time for the WASP larvae to hatch and mature into adults adding in the Wasps maturation process Dr Merritt narrowed down this victim's time of death the entomological findings showed that this body had been around from four to eight months maybe longer since the person died Dr Merritt's findings held promise this victim hadn't been killed recently forensic botanist Dr Frank ewers analyzed the grapevines found growing through the victim's clothing by examining the internal structure of the wood stems Dr ewers was able to calculate the age of the Vine here you can see a growth ring from this we can tell that there is quite a lot of growth the previous year so that meant that it had to be at least 15 months old and so it told us that the body should had to be there at least 15 months it was the break investigators were waiting for the bosom put them in touch with Mark's dentist his dental records were sent to Anthropologist Dr Norman Sauer Dr Sauer compared Mark's dental X-rays with the post-mortem x-rays taken from the victim's remains once the police had an idea who the remains belonged to they went to that person's dentist and were able to get a hold of dental records and dental X-rays and that allowed us to do a side-by-side comparison and positively identify the remains as those of Mark Allen Bosman with the help of forensic examiners police had finally identified the victim now they needed to tie Tom Hart to the crime looking for answers they began questioning all known associates of the suspect acquaintance of Hearts told police that Hart owned a 22-caliber gun [Music] in fact he and Hart had used such a gun for target practice prior to Mark bosum's disappearance [Music] okay great too the information was enough to get a warrant to search Hart's property [Music] investigators paid particular attention to Tom Hart's gun collection [Music] [Music] [Applause] they recovered a Winchester model 94 and a Remington 16-gauge shotgun detective Jay trust knew that neither gun was of the caliber used in the homicide I was looking for a 22 Handgun something like that I did collect some rifles I didn't really in my heart believe that they were involved but you got to collect everything and then sometimes stories change so we we took what we could find but there wasn't much there [Music] teen months after Mark bosum's murder investigators had a suspect but still no evidence against him in Lansing Michigan police were investigating the murder of Mark bosum their suspect Thomas Hart was obsessed with Mark's estranged wife police had a motive but no evidence a search of his property turned up nothing investigators learned that the vehicle Hart drove at the time of Mark bosum's disappearance was parked outside his work they impounded it for a closer inspection although the car had been thoroughly cleaned they detected Trace Amounts of blood when we went through it we were able to determine with aluminol that there was actually Blood on the passenger seat and that wasn't all when they cut the seat open they discovered that the cushion below was covered with dried blood it had been there a year and a half and it was degraded I mean it smelled like degraded blood when you looked down and went whoa I thought you know I was expecting little Trace Amounts of blood there was like a big puddle of dried blood so with that that was very very good and exciting evidence for me because now with this Blood we got somewhere to go we can figure out whose blood it is I am assuming at this time that it's probably Mark mozam's blood now I got to figure out how to get that analyze investigators knew that if both parents were alive a DNA match could be established I knew that the mother was alive I called her and she was able to tell me that the father was in fact alive so we actually drew blood from both those people it was turned over to the crime lab along with the evidence they had at the scene and they were able to analyze that and hopefully get DNA they were in luck it was a match the blood in the car matches both parents blood which in turn is Mark bosom blood so now we got an exact match and in my mind right now we got enough probably to get an arrest warrant for murder police finally had the evidence they needed to arrest Tom Hart but Hart was hiding out at his farm [Music] because of his violent history they didn't want to rush the house and it was only a matter of time before he came out police watched and waited he was pretty much aware that there was a warrant out for him by now and he was hiding out he actually walked out got in the vehicle and left and and he didn't even go on the road I'm guessing if he didn't go out on the road maybe thought police were going to get him but he drove to the field when they saw that they just swooped in on him keep your hands or where you can see him put your hands on top of your head turn and face the female officer now walk backwards towards me walk backwards towards me that's it keep walking keep walking get to the corner of the car stop he was arrested for the first degree murder of Mark bosum [Music] hey have a seat please at the police department Tom Hart was informed of his rights do you understand you've been arrested for first degree murder before we get into that and I'll talk to you about that he refused to answer any questions and demanded his attorney we're ready we can get someone to come in here ready and take him down to the jail [Music] he was placed in the Lansing County Jail to await trial [Music] take him downtown when it became clear that Cindy bosom only wanted to be friends a jealous heart confronted mark bosum he lured him into his car then he drove Mark bosum to a deserted area where he shot the unsuspecting victim in the neck heart disposed of the body believing that no one would find it [Music] on January 9 1998 Thomas Hart was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison [Music] some Killers believe they can get away with murder hiding a body may seem like the best plan but even when many years have passed and only bones remain forensic science can find the truth and uncover grave secrets [Music]

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: -zw1t006-Jk

Length: 98min 36sec (5916 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 04 2023