Reconstructing A Victims Face Through Human Remains | The New Detectives | Real Responders

paper was light gold in medieval times i want tobacco sugar [Music] that everything we thought we knew about the world might turn out to be completely wrong in texas an open field becomes a killer's makeshift burial ground to find their suspect investigators must first identify the victims from the tattered bones a teenager looking for stray golf balls stumbles upon buried human remains scientists try to reconstruct the victim's face to help solve the mystery a movie director goes missing in california but before police can prove murder they have to find the victim's body [Music] some killers choose to lay their victims to rest unceremoniously investigators must then rely on forensic examiners to uncover proof of murder and expose the killer's buried secrets [Music] [Music] in july of 1994 the city of austin texas was in the midst of a brutal summer heat 20 miles outside of the city in the small community of round rock an off-duty officer spotted an abandoned vehicle parked off the main road [Music] the officer ran the tag number and learned the car was registered to a woman named sandra dumont but there was no sign of the owner [Music] after noticing that one of the tires was flat the officer decided to continue on convinced the woman would eventually return for the disabled vehicle a few weeks later the same officer came across sandra dumont's name again according to an article in the local paper the young woman had been reported missing from her austin home the officer decided to return to the field where he had first come across sandra's vehicle the car had subsequently been towed but the officer noticed a foul odor he began searching the area nearby hidden in some overgrowth he found a woman's shoe then a few feet away the officer noticed an uneven sheet of plywood oddly placed in the middle of the pasture when he lifted it up he discovered the partial skeletal remains of a human body the officer immediately called for assistance officers from the round rock police department responded to the scene [Applause] police spread out and began scouring the field for any clues to tell them who this person was and how she had ended up here [Applause] a hundred yards away from where the skeletal remains were discovered investigators found another human skull [Music] police feared they had stumbled upon a killer's makeshift cemetery the team expanded their search of the field to cover the entire 110 acres more bones were found scattered around the area police recovered several items of women's clothing the garments appeared to have been cut with a sharp instrument police also collected a few menthol cigarette butts found near the remain as the search for evidence continued a young woman arrived at the scene wanting to speak with detectives [Music] she had been watching live media coverage of the search and feared that one of the victims was her missing friend sandra dumont [Music] she said the last time she spoke with her sandra was going out on a date with a man named roger the friend had never actually met sandra's new boyfriend and wasn't sure of his last name [Music] when sandra went missing the friend retrieved her address book when she found it it was open to the name of roger fame but until investigators could positively identify the victims the information was of little value using the dental records of known missing persons in the area the medical examiner was able to establish both victims identities [Music] sandra dumont was one of them the second victim was identified as darlene anderson a 38 year old round rock native who had been reported missing by her husband a month earlier [Music] both women appeared to be the victims of homicide to determine how they died forensic anthropologist dr susannah dana studied the bones [Music] you're looking for signs of trauma on the bones you're looking for evidence of any kind of blunt force injury to the bones it would have produced fractures you're looking for cuts in the bones it could be due to knifes or a sharp instrument you're looking for holes in the bones especially the skull which could be due to a gunshot wound [Music] sandra dumont's skull had such a wound she had been shot at point-blank range by a 22-caliber weapon dr dana also found a fracture to sandra dumont's jawbone and blood stains on the mandible suggested that the victim had bled as a result of the injury that meant the injury occurred prior to death [Music] it was consistent with a blow to the mandible directly to the mandible by some blunt object possibly a fist or a large stick or a large piece of wood or like a bat can produce that kind of [Music] injury looking for any trace of the killer that may have been left behind forensic examiner steve robertson carefully scoured the clothing found near sandra dumont's remains [Music] he found several tears and cuts [Music] but the lack of blood found around the holes suggested that the garments had been cut from her body prior to her death it appeared that sandra dumont had been tortured before being murdered [Music] detectives from the round rock police department feared they were dealing with a serial killer lieutenant dan lemay began looking into sandra's background for clues to the killer's identity sandra dumont was 39 years old and living in the austin area she had a degree and was a very well-educated woman she actually was employed as a blackjack dealer and was looking for better employment attempting to better herself from all accounts she was a very nice person everybody liked her quite a bit detectives traveled to the austin club where sandra was working the night before she disappeared [Music] co-workers said that sandra had received a call during her shift that night while on the phone she seemed agitated and upset the co-workers overheard her making plans to meet with someone they believed it was her boyfriend but they were not certain when sandra finished the conversation she asked the manager if she could take off early the manager agreed he never heard from sandra again police turned their attention to the name found in sandra's address investigators learned that roger eugene feign had been a suspect in the disappearance of darlene anderson the other victim unearthed at the pasture though police had been unable to tie into her disappearance something else now caught their attention [Music] roger fame lived in a neighborhood just a short distance away from where the two bodies had been discovered [Music] he claimed he didn't know anyone named sandra dumont and he couldn't explain why his name was in her address book insisting he had nothing to hide fane gave detectives permission to search his truck [Music] investigators recovered cigarette butts and a few stray hairs from inside the cat [Music] when asked about the injury to his arm bane stated he'd injured his wrist when the heavy lid of the large tool box and the flatbed of his truck fell shut on it [Music] but a rubber gasket which lined the lid of the toolbox made police suspicious of the story investigators forwarded what little evidence they had recovered to the crime lab trying to verify his statements investigators contacted fain's friends and associates mr fain told several people that he had injured his hand uh by dropping the lid of his truck tool box on it he also told at least one person i believe that he caught it in the hood of his truck i seem to remember that he told one person he injured it at work and it was some type of workman's comp claim i think that the total numbers were something like seven totally different stories to nine different individuals on how he injured his hand the inconsistencies convinced the police that fane was trying to hide something investigators hoped the hairs and cigarette butts recovered from fain's truck would tell them what that was examiners at the texas department of public safety crime lab compared samples of sandra dumont's hair to those found in roger fain's truck they didn't match [Music] the cigarette butts found in fain's truck however were determined to be the same menthol brand as the butts recovered near the buried bodies but the cigarette butts recovered from the pasture were too degraded for a more comprehensive dna analysis investigators turned their attention to the injury on feign's wrist believing that was somehow the key to exposing his guilt at a local hospital they tracked down the suspect's x-rays police learned he was treated for the break the day after sandra dumont disappeared the x-rays were sent to forensic anthropologist dr susanna dana [Music] after reviewing the evidence dr dana concluded that the fracture was consistent with what is called a boxer's break an injury that results from pressure on the bone resulting from punching a hard object recalling that sandra dumont's jaw had been fractured dr dana looked to see if fain's injury could have resulted from punching the victim in my opinion it's very consistent with that injury to her mandible occurring from a closed fist and he had a broken bone in his fist occurring around the same time that this individual i disappeared [Music] though circumstantial the information was enough to allow investigators to obtain a warrant to search feign's home [Music] there they recovered a leather pouch containing 22 caliber rounds the same size as the bullet hole found in both victims skulls police collected everything they could including a role of undeveloped film evidence technician steve robertson explains [Music] i collected it because we were hoping to find a photograph of the victim in this house since he had denied knowing her [Music] the search team sent the undeveloped role to the crime lab for processing to their disappointment the role contained no photographs of sandra but then examiners noticed something odd two of the pictures were of the pasture where the victims bodies had been recovered [Music] investigators noticed a dark mass in the middle of the photographs on closer look they realized it was the exact spot where sandra dumont's remains were lying [Music] like many other killers roger fein had been compelled to keep a memento of his crime that was incredible it was the first time that i really believed we would be able to get the conviction on that case roger fain was placed under arrest and charged with the murder of sandra dumont [Music] despite the overwhelming amount of evidence against him he continued to maintain his innocence police believe that on july 24th 1994 sandra left work early to meet with her new boyfriend roger fame but the killer had other plans fain lured sandra to the pasture where he beat and then shot her to death he buried her remains and then calmly walked home leaving sandra's car in plain sight on april 2nd 1995 a texas jury found roger eugene thane guilty of the first degree murder of sandra dumont he was sentenced to life in prison [Music] police are still searching for evidence to connect roger fane to the murder of darlene anderson we'd like to ask that if anyone knows anything about that murder that they contact us and they contact the round rock police department and pass that information on we're concerned because the type of offender that mr fein is that there may be other victims that we're unaware of there may be other criminal behavior that we don't know about though roger fein never told anyone about his crime he betrayed himself with the lies he told and the photographs he took but even when killers brag about a murder police must still rely on solid physical evidence to win a conviction on may 8 1996 a teenager near fort worth texas scoured the wooded areas of a golf course looking for stray balls he noticed something unusual protruding from a dirt mound as he approached he realized it was the skeletal remains of a human hand in tarrant county texas a teenager searching for stray golf balls had stumbled upon buried human remains when investigators responded to the scene it was clear they had unearthed the clandestine grave one constructed to conceal a violent murder the male victim had suffered massive trauma to the skull [Music] advanced decomposition made it difficult to discern any identifiable features technicians began scouring the dirt in and around the grave searching for any clues to the man's identity they recovered a metal cross necklace still draped around the victim's neck but little else was found frustrated investigators left the scene unsure who they had unearthed and why he had been murdered with only bones to work with medical examiners began searching for answers in addition to the blunt force trauma to the skull there were several nicks observed on the victim's ribs this led the team to conclude that the male victim had been stabbed to death other than a red scorpion tattoo on the victim's shoulder no identifying features remained examiners knew that determining when this victim died would be critically important in helping to establish his identity tarrant county chief deputy medical examiner mark krauss looked to the victim himself for clues the deeper parts of the body were turned to adipocere which is sort of a rancid soap-like material that takes in this part of the world here in that time of year takes a minimum of about five to six weeks to begin to accumulate to the degree we were seeing it tarrant county police released the few details they had on this john doe to law enforcement agencies throughout texas hoping that the information would spark recognition from the public the tactic appeared to work several people called in hopeful their missing loved ones had been found but in the end none of the characteristics of the body found at the golf course matched details of known missing persons according to tarrant county detective mike hargis until police could give this victim a name making a case for murder would be difficult it's very frustrating not to know who your victim is because it doesn't really give you a starting point your starting point is usually their identity so you can start tracing their background we'll have to do a victimology find out who your person is what their risk level is who who they associate with where they hang out at things of that nature and that can also tell you a lot about who might have been involved in their murder and so it's very frustrating not to know where to start they turned back to forensic examiners for help [Music] forensic anthropologist dr dana austin was asked to create a biological profile of the victim and though there wasn't much to work with dr austin can learn a lot about an individual by studying their skeletal structure from the width of the brow ridge and other facial features dr austin concluded that the victim was a caucasian male next she needed to determine the victim's age in this case in order to estimate the age it was obvious that this person was not fully mature skeletally there are gaps in between these bones that in an adult it would be completely fused dr austin concluded the victim was between 17 and 21 years of age [Applause] to bring this victim to life dr austin next attached tissue depth markers to 21 different points on the skull [Music] these markers reflect the average thickness of skin for people of similar race age and sex [Music] after the skull was photographed from various positions a forensic artist was brought in to create the contours of the victim's face from that a composite sketch was developed and then forwarded to tarrant county investigators police released the sketch through the media but again nobody was able to identify john doe number 87. years passed without a break in the case chances that the mystery victim would ever find justice dwindled and detectives began to believe that his killer may never be found for three years police in tarrant county texas struggled to solve the murder of a young man whose skeletal remains were found buried in a shallow grave though forensic examiners had given john doe a face his identity and the circumstances surrounding his death remained a mystery [Music] then on december 3rd 1999 police finally got a break a woman in nearby fort worth came in to speak with police she believed she knew the identity of the man found buried in nearby tarrant county years earlier she explained that around that time she and her boyfriend james moore were in the process of moving into a different apartment while packing up their belongings james and his best friend eric tadana began laughing after finding a newspaper article they had saved from a few months earlier when the girlfriend asked what was so funny the men showed her an article about a body found buried at a local golf course they told her the unidentified victim was an acquaintance of theirs a 20 year old man named patrick zaca [Music] fort worth police quickly forwarded the information to authorities at the tarrant county sheriff's department homicide detective mike utley assigned to the cold case squad jumped on the lead to verify the information he began searching the database for a patrick zaca though no one with that first name was in the system several other zakas were listed [Music] one a man named david zucker turned out to be patrick's father [Music] detectives believe they were closing in on john doe number 87's identity 10-4 i'll be in route father's location to find out investigators drove to nearby parker county to interview david zaka about his son detective mike ugly once we located patrick zucker's father we met with him at his home and he described the patrick zocca that we thought we had as his son it was indeed his son he positively identified him what did he have to say mr zaka explained that the relationship with his son had been a troubled one you saw patrick and he feared it had been irreparably damaged three years earlier they had a bitter argument over patrick's irresponsible behavior though he loved his son david zaka kicked patrick out of the house and told him not to come back until he grew up the last david heard patrick had gone to live with his mother in alaska he had not heard from his son since to confirm the identity of john doe number 87 forensic anthropologist dr dana austin compared known x-rays of patrick saka to those taken from the murder victim she found a perfect match investigators now shifted their focus to finding patrick zacca's killer [Music] they began by questioning the witness who believed her boyfriend james moore and his friend eric tadana had been involved in the murder though she was now reluctant to cooperate investigators persisted finally she explained that moore tadana and zaka were members of a loosely organized gang known as the blp the gang dealt drugs committed burglaries and partied together but according to the witness patrick soon fell out of favor with his peers and other crew members felt that patrick zocco was a little too preppy too good looking he dressed too nice he just didn't really they determined didn't fit into their their plans for their crew [Music] according to the witness in the spring of 1996 james moore and eric tadana decided to do away with him one evening the three went to the golf course to collect hallucinogenic mushrooms that grew nearby [Applause] they took a shovel as well as a baseball bat for protection [Music] the girlfriend told detectives that moore and tadana returned a few hours later without xhaka the information was incriminating investigators realized that for the witnesses statements to be useful they needed to find a way to corroborate the story in a local jail detectives tracked down a former member of the blp currently serving time on a drug charge he had information about patrick's murder [Music] he said that soon after patrick disappeared james moore had shown him a baseball bat on it were teeth impressions that moore claimed were from the victim detective mike hargis james moore would point out marks on the bat and say these are the marks that were caused by skippy's teeth and they all had referred to patrick zach as skippy so they he would show it to him and laugh about it and just generally brag about what he had done and how he'd done it the information provided investigators with enough probable cause to take james moore and herrick de donna into custody for suspicion of murder [Music] police also obtained warrants to search their homes after placing james moore in custody police began searching his residence for proof of murder they collected several baseball bats detectives were certain that one in particular was the murder weapon the reason i knew it was the same one because of the teeth marks about halfway down that was important again because we any time we conduct investigation we're always looking for corroboration we always look for the proof that what people say is actually so and when we found the bat that showed us that we were in the right place the evidence was forwarded to the crime lab for a closer look [Music] a few miles away police spotted eric tadana driving his vehicle he was also taken into custody and transported to the tarrant county jail for questioning while the suspects awaited interrogation criminalists inspected the baseball bats forensic anthropologists positively identified the gouges on one of the bats as human teeth marks though they could not say with certainty that the marks had come from patrick zacca's teeth the finding corroborated the inmate's testimony investigators had no doubt that they had patrick zucker's killers in their custody when presented with the charges of murder and the evidence amassed against him james moore refused to make any statements instead he requested the presence of his lawyer but eric tadana was a different story fearing that his friend james moore would accuse him of being the killer in order to avoid the death penalty tadana agreed to talk he confessed to being a participant in the murder of patrick zacca and he was willing to testify that it was all james moore's idea according to tadana he and moore took xhaka to the golf course not to look for hallucinogenic mushrooms but to kill him when they were in a secluded area moore struck with a baseball bat hitting zaka several times in the head tadana joined in stabbing xhaka repeatedly finishing the kill the killers then dug a shallow grave with the very shovel zaka had carried they buried their secret and left to go to a party james moore and eric tadana pled guilty to the murder of patrick zacca james moore was sentenced to 20 years in prison eric tadana received 45 years [Music] moore and tadana's crime had been discovered because they buried their victim in a shallow grave in california a more ambitious killer tried to permanently entomb his secret in concrete on july 26 1995 ken adamson entered the indio california police department to report his brother al adamson missing he described his 66 year old brother as an intelligent man [Music] as a director of low budget horror films dating back to the 1960s al adamson enjoyed a cult celebrity status after making movies for nearly 30 years his career was starting to make a comeback [Music] home video releases of his earlier movies had sparked a new generation of fans worldwide as a result he was now able to continue his passion for independent filmmaking [Music] detectives learned that ken last spoke to his brother by telephone six weeks earlier al was having his house renovated and he had discovered that the construction foreman a man named fred fulford had made over four thousand dollars in unnecessary purchases on his credit card [Music] ken told police that his brother was not happy indio detective jack anderson adamson had planned to confront the uh person mr fred fulford the following day and uh the brother was concerned uh for his welfare he was not sure if there would be any violence involved and he didn't really know this fred fulford very well ken told the detective that he traveled to india the following day to check up on his brother when he arrived fred fulford answered the door al he said had just left when ken asked to use the bathroom fulford refused to let him in saying he had just retiled that floor and it needed time to settle ken returned home and hadn't heard from his brother since those six weeks had passed since anyone had contact with al adamson there was no evidence suggesting he had met with foul play still indio police agreed to look into the case they went to al adamson's home to look around there they were met by a man who identified himself as the property caretaker he said that fred fulford had hired him to watch the place while the renovations continued fulford he explained had left on a trip to florida in al adamson's pickup truck a few weeks earlier [Music] he hadn't seen al in a while either but believed the director was away scouting locations for an upcoming film detectives asked to look around the residence the bedroom closet was mostly empty and the lack of suitcases led the officers to speculate that al adamson had simply gone on a trip investigators examined the master bathroom that fulford had prevented the director's brother from using six weeks earlier the floor of the large room was covered with new tiles we were able to get permission to walk through the house and did not notice anything out of the ordinary there was no no unusual activity or signs of any struggle or anything like that began interviewing adamson's neighbors one nearby resident a woman who cleaned al adamson's house had information [Music] she said that the day after al adamson was last seen she saw fred fulford and some of the workers removing a jacuzzi from the master bathroom she watched as they loaded it into a truck and carted it away the following day she noticed a cement truck parked in front of the residence [Music] this was odd she said because the jacuzzi was one of al adamson's most prized possessions mr adamson had really enjoyed this jacuzzi inside the residence and he would use it almost on a year-round basis even though there was another one next to the pool outside for some reason he seemed to prefer the indoor one and this raised a lot of suspicions about why it would be taken out if in fact he did enjoy it that much only al adamson and fred fulford knew the answers and neither of them could be located weeks passed without a break in the investigation police were beginning to suspect that al adamson had not gone missing on purpose but without a body they had no way to prove that a crime had been committed [Music] police in indio california continued their search for cult movie director al adamson reported missing six weeks earlier by his brother though investigators suspected that fred fulford the man hired to renovate adamson's house was involved in the disappearance they lacked proof that a crime had taken place and fred fulford was nowhere to be found while reviewing statements made by adamson's cleaning woman one peculiarity caught investigators attention al adamson had two jacuzzis in his residence and the one that he used regularly located in the master bathroom had been removed by fred fulford the day after adamson disappeared a jacuzzi that had been inside the residence had been removed and subsequently the floor was filled in and tiled over this raised our suspicion that he possibly was buried inside the residence investigators obtained a search warrant for al adamson's home all right we'll meet you out there armed with ticks and shovels the team returned to the residence looking to uncover proof of murder [Music] they focused their efforts on the newly tiled bathroom floor as we were doing the excavation we were stirring up a lot of dust and dirt and there was about 10 of us crammed in this little 12 foot square room along with our excavation equipment very miserable [Music] normal foundations range from four to six inches in depth detectives found several feet of cement where the jacuzzi used to be a layer of building material sat under that by 8 30 the next morning the team had been digging for 18 hours 42 inches below the floor they broke through a layer of dirt onto something soft someone had buried a comforter under the concrete [Music] wrapped inside police found badly decomposed human remains as we removed the body from the excavation hole we were able to determine that it was a male probably in his mid 50s to 60 but we were not able to positively say that it was mr adamson the remains were transported to the riverside county coroner's office investigators needed to determine who they had found and how he had died before starting a homicide investigation examiners quickly noticed that the skull had suffered repeated massive blunt force trauma this victim had been beaten to death i wanted to show you this deputy coroner paul trujillo performed the autopsy injuries were circular defects of approximately one and three-quarter inches of irregular edges which would be consistent with being struck with something similar to this i not necessarily this particular instrument but something of this nature the body's state of decay put the time of death between six weeks and two months earlier this matched the time frame during which adamson disappeared but investigators needed a positive identification they had no dna samples from adamson to match to the body and fingerprinting was impossible because of the advanced deterioration this left only the use of dental records forensic odentologist dr gordon freeman was brought in to help but there were no known dental x-rays of al adamson's teeth that could be used for comparisons [Music] all investigators had found were written records made by adamson's dentist a few years earlier but fortunately he had meticulously documented the condition of adamson's teeth though it wasn't a lot to work with dr freeman began his comparisons the first thing we check for are the teeth present the teeth might be been extracted they may be present if they are present what we check for is dental fillings whether they're silver dental fillings they may have had done some crown work whether gold crowns or porcelain crowns in the case of the adamson case what we had to work with we also had two removable partial dentures both on upper and lower partial denture all of the unique features of adamson's teeth noted in his charts matched those of the victim found buried under the tile floor [Music] there was no doubt that al adamson had been found police believe that fred fulford was behind the macabre murder and burial but with no weapon and only circumstantial evidence pointing to his guilt investigators were a long way from proving murder human remains found buried beneath several feet of concrete in an indio california home were positively identified as missing film director al adamson the 66 year old had been murdered and police believed that fred fulford the man hired to do renovations at the director's home was responsible but with no physical evidence linking fulford to the homicide police struggled to make their case [Music] investigators contacted the owner of the concrete company who had delivered cement to adamson's home a few days after he disappeared he positively identified a picture of fred fulford as the man who accepted the load [Music] and he said fulford paid with a check pre-signed by al adamson he never saw adamson himself the man explained that fulford had ordered a full four yards of concrete to fill in a hole left by a jacuzzi that had been recently removed [Music] the workers offered to help him wheel in the load but fulford declined the man thought it was odd that fulford insisted on wheeling all of the heavy concrete into the house by himself but for police it made perfect sense crawford was trying to keep everyone away from a crime scene though circumstantial police believe that all of the evidence pointed to fred fulford as the killer to find him they tracked recent activity on the murder victim's credit card it's gonna be a long problem the charges were being made 3 000 miles away at a florida motel a warrant was issued for the construction foreman's arrest when florida police spotted fulford still driving al adamson's pickup truck they moved in and placed him under arrest though he was dressed in the victim's clothes he denied any knowledge of the murder [Music] he was extradited to california where he stood trial for the murder of al adamson police theorized that when al adamson confronted fred fulford over the excessive credit card purchases and threatened him with legal action the contractor became enraged [Music] using a blunt instrument likely one of the many cameras lying around the residence he beat adamson to death [Music] to conceal his crime he removed the jacuzzi from the master bathroom and buried his victim in its place he filled in the grave with concrete re-tiled the floor and then left town believing the eccentric director would not be missed on march 3rd 2000 fred fulford was sentenced to 25 years to life for first-degree murder to cover their tracks some killers choose to bury their victims in unmarked graves but the dirt cannot always hide their crimes [Music] with the help of forensic scientists investigators can unearth the smallest of clues and uncover a killer's buried sequence

Channel: Real Responders

Views: 248,847

Keywords: police documentary, the new detectives, forensic science, investigation, detectives, police investigation, cold cases, criminals, crimes, true detectives, sherlock holmes, real crimes, real detectives, private detective, first degree murder, suspect, murder, motive, united states, human remains, forensics

Id: sv8xpdnEyhQ

Length: 50min 4sec (3004 seconds)

Published: Mon May 24 2021