DNA Doesn’t Lie: The Atkinson and Derrick Todd Lee Cases | Double Feature | Forensic Factor
A six-year-old girl is found viciously raped and murdered. No witnesses, no murder weapon. It’s up to forensic science [music] to catch or kill her. But the science points to someone no one suspected. It was 7 weeks ago yesterday that Andrea Atkinson disappeared from her home. >> When the forensics [music] evidence started to turn his way, it surprised us a little bit.
>> The experts say their technology doesn’t lie. >> Would you expect to see this this profile again? No, you would not. >> One man’s innocence or guilt hangs [music] in the balance. It’s a case that had too much reliance [music] on science that certainly in some aspects we know today is is just flawed. >> This is the story of the tragic death of a little girl and the story of forensics on trial.
Time. Oh my gosh. October [music] 14th, 1990. A low rent apartment building in downtown Toronto. It’s a quiet Sunday morning on a holiday weekend. A six-year-old girl named Andrea Atkinson goes missing. Andrea’s single mom calls police. She describes her daughter as blonde, outgoing, [music] wearing a pink coat and blue stockings.
An apartment key is tied to a whistle around her neck. >> The police try to [music] calm her, saying Andrea will probably turn up at a friend’s. By the end of the day, there’s still no sign of Andrea. Police launch a massive search. >> Rick Goautier was a homicide detective in 1990. Andrea was not a kind of child that [music] ventured away from the building.
So, the fact that that she went missing suddenly disappeared, that was very unusual, and that made us start to think that there may be foul play involved. >> News of the missing child spreads like wildfire. More than 33 hours ago, six-year-old Andrea Marie Atinson told >> as day [music] turns to night, police classify Andrea’s disappearance a homicide.
>> Andrea never made it back to the >> after interviewing neighbors. Goautier gets his first lead. The first significant piece of information that surfaced in this case that that made us suspicious or concerned about foul play [music] was a sighting given by a resident nearby who said that in the early morning hours of Sunday, they had seen a young blondhaired girl who they thought was Andrea being forced into a blue van and driven away.
>> For the past 5 days, the search has been focused on wilderness areas such as >> the eyewitness is mistaken. >> Police have lost precious time chasing down a false lead. Police have already [music] searched the immediate area twice today and tomorrow plan to expand their search. >> Goautier calls in the forensic team, highly specialized CSIs who search for microscopic clues.
Detective Rick Bunting [music] was the CSI assigned to search Andrea’s bedroom for forensic evidence. His grim job is to find fingerprints to identify Andrea in case she is found dead. When you’re trying to find a missing young girl with adults, sometimes they have fingerprints on file with their company they’ve worked with, mil military service, something like that.
With young children, they don’t have a lot. They they’re young into the world. So, you would try and find something at their apartment and that would help you identify them if and when the need became uh apparent that you had to. >> Police still have no indication as to what may have happened to Andrea Atkinson.
And after each day goes by, police say fears of foul play are growing. >> Days stretch [music] into a week. It’s as if Andrea disappeared into thin air. The entire city swings between hope of finding her alive and fear of finding her dead. >> A missing child is a big concern [music] to the city. It’s more than just a regular missing person.
Particularly if there’s a fear of a sexual assault or homicide. It increases the intensity of of the matter. >> Nothing is spared in the search. Little do police know that Andrea never wandered far from home. >> Meanwhile, Andrea’s mom continues to hold hope that her daughter will be found alive. >> It makes me feel so good because I know she’s like a little miracle.
And I mean, everybody loves her and it reinforces us to keep hanging in there and be positive. >> This is their daycare doll. 9 days after she [music] went missing, Andrea Atkinson’s lifeless body is found in the boiler room on the sixth floor [music] of her apartment building. Well, right now we’re on the sixth floor at 33 Coatsworth, which [music] is the maintenance area.
The room behind us is the actual mechanical room where there are hot water tanks and heaters. Andrea was lying on her right side in her body was partially tucked underneath one of the hot water tanks. Approximately about a foot’s gap between the floor and the bottom of the tank. She was wedged underneath that.
And what I could see was it was the uh the body of a blonde girl, young girl. Next to Andrea was uh a series of uh cards that she used to play with and there were new kids on the block I think were the name of the the group. Those cars were scattered about the floor in front of her. Goautier summons the forensic identification unit.
The CSIs are experts at uncovering microscopic evidence that might help [music] him solve the mystery. >> Who killed Andrea Atkinson? >> Yeah, there’s a boiler room there. You’ll see it. It’s already marked off. >> You’re looking for body fluids. Could be semen, could be blood, could be uh saliva. We’re looking for hairs.
We’re looking for fibers. We’re looking for fingerprints on the floor, [music] different areas. And it’s a very systematic approach. You start at one end and you just work your way through. [music] You don’t jump all over in something like this. >> In a murder with no suspects and no [music] witnesses, >> forensic evidence will be their only hope of catching the killer.
>> That looks reasonably fragile. Take care of that. >> Tony Tesserolo is a forensic scientist who specializes in trace evidence. >> The transfer of hairs and fibers between locations or between individuals. uh all stems back to what was said by Dr. Edmund Locart, a French scientist, who said that the microscopic debris that covers our bodies are the mute witnesses, sure and faithful, of all our actions and all our encounters.
What he meant by that was that whenever two objects come into contact, there is always a transfer of material between them. >> A vicious killer is on the loose, and Goautier is determined to catch him. You do that by staying focused, not allowing your emotion to get in the way, and concentrating on the matter at hand.
Uh, some of us call it keep your game face on, and that’s what it is. You stay focused on what your job is, and your job is to find out what happened. The boiler room is soundproof. Goier believes that the killer knew it was a location where no one would hear a little girl’s cries for help. Then the CSIs find a critical clue.
Dave, >> you want to bag this place? I think it’s a child’s bracelet. That’s exactly what it was. >> And as we stood back and looked, [music] um, we saw that there was a small bracelet on the floor just to the right of where I’m standing. that area is slightly. >> And when you got down to the floor level and looked a little closer, you could see that there was an in fact a a reddish color smear that had been dried upon the floor.
If it’s blood, this could be their best hope at finding out who killed Andrea Atkinson. At midnight, forensic detective Dick Bunting removes Andrea Atkinson’s body from the boiler room. He and his partner wear full protective clothing. Bunting says it’s critical to avoid contamination of the crime scene. >> We have to be able to collect the evidence so that we can say exactly where it came from.
Also, we have to be well aware that we don’t contaminate that evidence, add anything to it, take anything away or collect it in such a way that we may degrade it. You have to think of her as a crime scene. You have to be able to use her to have her tell you what happened in her own way. This is when CSIs sometimes make mistakes.
Leo Adler is a defense attorney who has pitted himself against forensic experts for three decades. I find that um scientists uh some scientists sometimes subconsciously come to accept what the police tell them. And like a lot of people, they come to resent when someone questions them and perhaps finds fault and uh with with what they do.
>> For Adler, the forensics surrounding Andrea Atkinson’s murder soon become an obsession. Late last night, the body of a small girl was carried on a stretcher from the apartment complex. >> The news of Andrea’s murder shocks the community, leaving a city paralyzed with fear. >> A killer is still on the loose.
>> Police say forensic identification confirms the remains. >> I wouldn’t let my daughter out. >> Paranoid. I feel paranoid. >> Andrea’s mother cannot face the reality that her only daughter is gone. Homicide detective Rick Goautier [music] admits police made a mistake in not finding her body sooner. >> The officers that were in charge of the search did not have in their possession a copy of the blueprints for the building.
And in hindsight, that turned out to be a significant error. >> What they did not realize is that on the sixth level, although it’s not a full floor, there’s a elevator room and a maintenance room. And that ultimately is where Andrea was found. >> For the CSIs, losing 9 days is a major setback. >> If we had found Andrea Atinson within a day or two of her being murdered, the evidence would have been probably a lot greater.
The physical evidence cuz the condition of the body lent to a lot of degradation of evidence. And we have those questions. You know, if only we could have found her a lot earlier. Goautier zeros in on a handful of maintenance workers who have keys to the locked sixth floor. He takes three men to headquarters for questioning. The first has a criminal record which is of interest to Goautier.
>> The first that we dealt with um was a gentleman who worked here as a cleaner. He was under suspension at the time that this happened. And we had several callers call into the police to advise that they knew him and that they knew he had a history of sexually assaulting children. >> The second knew Andrea well.
He used to sleep with her mother. >> The second cleaner or maintenance individual. Uh he also had been involved with with Andrea’s mother for some time in a personal relationship. So he was well acquainted with Andrea. The third suspect had access to the boiler room but has a solid alibi. >> That took us to the third one who actually worked that Sunday in the building, but he went home early because he said he was sick and uh he was somebody who had been in trouble with the law, but it was minimal.
>> All three deny killing Andrea. Goautier decides that the cleaner who had been involved with Andrea’s mom is his prime suspect. >> Take it, you know, take what you need. Get me out of here or just whatever. >> Homicide’s resources now focus on building a case against suspect number one. >> The truth. >> He takes blood and hair samples from all three [music] men.
At a time before DNA testing, blood typing, and hair matching are the best forensic tools available. Now, it’s critical for the CSIs to retrieve the killer’s hair, blood, or semen from the crime scene. Paul Culver is a crown attorney in Toronto. >> There’s very selom a witness to any murder and uh quite often with children uh particularly where you’re dealing with a stranger abduction uh there’s no one you can easily link to.
So a lot of times that’s all you have and it’s not so much any single piece [music] of the forensic science. It’s the combination of it. When you bring all the pieces of the puzzle together you see a picture. >> To collect hair and fibers. Bunting uses a mylar sheet, an electrostatic blanket that creates plastic snapshots of the crime scene.
>> We hit it with a static electricity charge and what it does is it attracts the dust and fibers and anything that’s underneath this piece of myar and it can give you fibers on the floor, footprints, markings, anything like that that is on the floor. The dust and fibers adheres to the myar so you can look at it later.
The remaining hairs and fibers are retrieved by hand in the painfully slow forensic process. Nothing can be overlooked. >> That night at the morg, a scan with a UV light revealed semen stains on Andrea’s clothes. Whoever killed her also raped her. Goautier is determined to hunt the child killer down. The morning after the discovery of Andrea’s remains, the autopsy begins.
The body is so badly decomposed that the coroner cannot determine the cause of death. A dead body often reveals clues about the crime and the killer. Not this time. Andrea’s body had been in the mechanical or the boiler room for approximately 9 days. The room temperature in there was fairly high. The water tanks themselves run a temperature in the 130 or 140° Fahrenheit range.
So, the room itself was very warm. Andrew’s body was very decomposed after a 9-day period being exposed to that extreme heat in a confined area like that with no air movement. The coroner speculates that the killer strangled Andrea with a shoelace that held her key tied around her neck. The next step is to send [music] Andrea’s clothes to the Center of Forensic Sciences in Toronto for detailed analysis.
In the era before DNA testing, blood typing was the best way to narrow the list of suspects. Keith Keller is the scientist who examined Andrea’s clothes. Using a chemical called fast blue, he finds several semen stains and uh they were in the uh the seat area of the um panties dress and leotards um inside [music] and outside.
Uh, so several spots, several locations. >> The four universal blood types are A, B, AB, and O. The killer, seaman, tells Keller that he is blood type O. It is an important [music] clue, but not conclusive. 30% of the male population has the same blood type as the killer. And so here was evidence that was of some help, but that’s it.
I was able to to put it on the scale of inclusion and exclusion. The question now, are any of Goautier’s suspects type O? Then a twist. There is a new suspect, Andrea’s mom’s boyfriend. Ruth had a new boyfriend uh who had recently just moved in. Now his name was Doug. >> Police say Douglas Heinbach is to be interviewed regarding Andrea’s whereabouts.
>> In cases where children get sexually assaulted or or go missing and end up murdered, um we always start in the home and work our way out. And a new boyfriend um who had a history with the place was of interest to us. Two weeks after her murder, Andrea’s funeral draws so many mourners that loudspeakers are set up outside.
Her murder has cast a dark cloud over the entire city, made darker by the knowledge that her killer remains at large. Andrea, gift of God. Your life was much too short. Taken by someone who took what was not theirs to take. We weep with grief and hurt and anger and outrage because we could not protect you. The pressure is mounting daily on Rick Goier to find Andrea Atkinson’s murderer.
The city is beginning to think the [music] homicide squad is bungling the investigation. For 6 days, the CSIs have been waiting for blood expert Keith Kelder to examine the mysterious [music] stain on the floor. And so I arrived at the gray stains and I put my UV light on it and sure enough they fluoresed and uh and I tested [music] them to see if they were uh semen stains. They are.
But will it match the type O semen found on Andrea’s clothes? >> Off [music] to the races. Perfect. Meanwhile, another team of scientists analyze the hairs which bunting CSIs have retrieved from the crime scene. Tony Tesserolo is a leading hair and fiber expert. >> There are a significant number of microscopic features that can be used to distinguish hairs between and amongst individuals.
And in doing so, the hair and fiber examiner would look at a hair microscopically at a magnification up to about 300 times uh to examine in detail the root of the hair, the tip of the hair, the individual components of the hair on the shaft, something called the cuticle, the cortex, and medela, and look at these microscopic features that are present in variable quantities and degrees within an individual.
and between and amongst individuals. >> Of the hundreds of hairs retrieved from the crime scene, four are similar to those from 18-year-old Johnny Tersera. We >> found a piece of your hair at the crime scene. >> The hair is enough to convince Goautier it’s worth bringing Tersera back in. >> I don’t know.
Uh John absolutely denied [music] having had any sexual or physical contact with Andrea and certainly he denied having been involved in her death. >> Maybe somebody that goes into the boiler room super uh dragged it stepped on my my hair on the >> Butera makes a stunning statement. 2 days after Andrea went missing, Johnny went up to the sixth floor to smoke a joint.
He saw Andrea’s dead body and ran. He claims he never told the police because he was afraid of getting fired for smoking dope on the job. Goautier begins to wonder [music] if he’s been building a case against the wrong man. Defense attorney Leo Adler says that today he doubts this hair evidence would turn the focus on Tersera.
I don’t think that there is a scientist today who would dare literally hang somebody or convict somebody on a hair given uh what we now know and given the the fact that uh hair doesn’t have any particular characteristic except at the very root where you can get DNA. So that science I think has been if not discredited certainly diminished by today.
>> But in 1990 the hairs take detective Goautier’s homicide investigation in a new direction. >> Well to be candid I didn’t believe his story at all. Um things were turning John’s way and certainly I did not accept the fact that uh with the strong police presence, the community uproar over this missing girl that had been murdered, um if he was innocently there and did come up here for a cigarette and saw the body, um it would be important information for everybody to know right away, particularly the parents of a
missing child. Goautier also learns that the six-year-old knew Johnny. She thought of him as a hero for stopping other kids from picking on her, and she liked to help him with his cleaning tasks around the building. At the center of forensic sciences, tests from the smear outside the boiler room confirm that it’s semen and blood.
The blood is Andrea’s. The semen is type O. It’s a match for the samples found on Andrea’s clothes. The question is, are any of Goautier’s suspects type O? Kilder sends the crime scene samples over to the new [music] radical DNA department. The lab is about to start a revolution in criminal investigations. In 1990, DNA profiling had [music] barely been tested in the criminal justice system worldwide.
The rape and murder of 6-year-old Andrea Atkinson was Toronto’s first major case. Pam Newell ran the Center of Forensic Scienc’s groundbreaking [music] DNA lab in 1990. 99.9% of all of our DNA [music] is exactly the same. And it’s DNA that says build a human being. Put a head on the top, [music] two eyes, a nose, ears, fingers, toes, liver that functions, heart that functions, etc.
We’re not interested in that DNA. We’re interested in the DNA that [music] is different amongst individuals. We’re looking for DNA that’s in regions of the [music] DNA molecule that do not code for physical features or for physical functions. It’s DNA in a repetitive sequence. >> Veteran homicide detective Rick Goier was skeptical.
>> Back in the fall of 1990, DNA was something that we had just barely heard about and we certainly had not had any cases in Toronto involving DNA. And there was even controversy about whether or not it was a science back in those days. >> Dr. John Wei helped conduct the DNA tests on the Andrea Atkinson case.
>> So in a case like this, uh, you’d be looking for blood, semen, saliva, anything that might contain DNA. Then you extract the DNA from those stains, and that’s just a a process of breaking open cells, releasing the DNA, purifying the DNA away from everything else that’s in a cell, a lot of proteins, etc.
and you end up with a pure preparation of DNA. Usually takes a week, two weeks to process that DNA and get it to a point where he can actually learn something from it and analyze it using the technology back in 1990. While Goautier waits for the DNA results, he continues to gather more forensic evidence. >> CSI Rick Bunting hopes to make the invisible visible with a forensic technique [music] called superglue fuming.
Now superglue is a process whereby you add uh cyanoacrylate and that’s a type of glue. We built a hood with plastic, put some of these uh glue fuming items that create the fumes inside this hood and then let it sort of fumes to sort of vaporize throughout this hood. Once the enclosure was removed by Marcel, we then used a type of fingerprint powder.
>> A few fingerprints [music] are found in the area around the stairs. The process works, but who will the prints match? 4 weeks after Andrea was murdered, the blood lab comes back with results of samples taken from the four main suspects. [music] Comparison samples were submitted uh from four suspects and these samples were subjected to [ __ ] typing and it was determined that uh one was an A secretreer uh two or B secretretors and one uh was an OCER.
A list of four is reduced to one. John Tersera moves to the top of Detective Goautier’s list. The homicide investigator is shocked. >> To be candid, the first two individuals on the surface were of great interest to us because of their backgrounds. Um, and then along came the 18-year-old who had a minimal police contact.
Didn’t seem to have any certainly had no history of anything like this. When the forensics evidence started to turn his way, it surprised us a little bit because we hadn’t really gotten to John Terser yet. Goautier now focuses all his resources on Tersera. [music] He gets a warrant to search his house, looking for clothing that might link him to the crime scene.
>> Once we got the early forensic results back, we decided that we were going to attempt to obtain a search warrant for John’s house. There had been a quantity of fiber found on Andrew’s body and her clothing that we thought would be of significance to this case. Johnny Tricera was wearing a pair of blue track pants that Sunday.
The police confiscate them and send them to the lab for analysis. First of all, um we do some microscopy to determine uh the diameter of the fiber, uh the overall color [music] and the cross-sectional shape. >> Exact colors are distinguished under different light sources. After that the fibers are tested for bioringence or distinctive molecular structures.
Finally the fiber is [music] heated to determine its melting point. And at the end of the application of this battery of tests if we find no significant differences with respect to the results from the question fibers and the known fibers then we must conclude that they are microscopically similar and could have originated from that same source.
Fibers from [music] Jon’s track pants are microscopically similar to those found all over Andrea’s clothes. Defense attorney Leo Adler calls this junk science. >> We’re not talking about some exotic handmade original Chanel creation that was worn by the uh by the uh [music] asalent [snorts] uh containing a type of fabric that only that dress contained.
We’re talking about ordinary [music] track pants of the sort. Very very common. Again, [music] I think today uh no scientist in his right mind would [music] say that and give the types of conclusions that were given at the the Terara [music] case uh as to matching and and the likelihood of of anybody else [music] having the same type of fiber in in their pants.
Back in 1990, it’s one more strike against Johnny Tersera. Then the final devastating blow. DNA testing confirms the forensic trail. >> The result of the analysis was number one, we were successful in generating profiles from the semen and from the blood in the uh blood semen stain from the concrete floor. And we were successful in generating uh profiles from [music] both the blood and from the seaman in the seaman stained blood soaked [music] leotards from the body of Andrea Atkinson.
And that the profile from [music] the seaman could not have come from three of the suspects and matched the profile from John Carlos Tersera. Newell calls Goautier. 7 million to one. Johnny Tersera killed Andrea Atkinson. In November [music] 1990, a cop, a scientist, and a lawyer decide to put DNA profiling to the test and try to put John Terca behind bars for murdering a six-year-old girl.
I remember very clearly meeting with Paul Culver and Rick Otier for the first time. Uh, bringing Autorad’s DNA films with me to show them what a what a profile looked like and and how easy it was to to read that there was a match. And I think that they were they were less [music] than impressed. >> The auto red is a piece of clear plastic, a human barcode.
The radical science claims that no two people’s genetic codes are alike and that the DNA found at the crime scene was left by John Terc. >> This is the profile that was found on the sperm on the leotard of the victim. And this is the profile of sperm blood found on the floor in the boiler room which matches Mr. Trera.
It doesn’t match suspect number one which was sampled twice. Doesn’t match suspect number two. Doesn’t match suspect number three. And then they gave me the same card. >> I can’t say that I ever got it. My background is definitely not in science, but I knew Pam Newell. I knew that she was a very respected forensic scientist, and she did her best in layman’s terms to explain to me.
>> Detective Goautier considers his options. >> Without the DNA profile, he’s not sure he’s got enough to arrest John Tersera. On the other hand, the homicide detective is nervous about trusting a science he barely understands. >> Well, back in 1990, the the thought of going to trial with DNA evidence with what we knew at that time, u we were concerned.
A homicide investigator knows that you only get one opportunity to prosecute these cases and you have to present [music] the best evidence you have and typically in these cases it’s hair and fiber and corology. uh DNA was new and [music] we did not know what impact if any DNA was going to have on our case. >> He and his partner consult crown attorney Paul Culver for whom the case has a deep personal meaning.
Andrea [music] Atinson who was uh ironically born on the same day as my daughter um the same day and year. She was exactly the same age. Uh, so a lot of the things that we saw in Andrea’s [music] life as a six-year-old at that time, the Barbie dress, the new kids on the block card, the wanting to be out uh playing with her friends on a Sunday morning, um, became much more personal.
>> Culver advises them to make the arrest. 18-year-old John Carlos Tersierra seen here moments after being handcuffed by homicide officers Tom McNamera and Rick Goce. >> Defense attorney Leo Adler takes Johnny’s case. He believes the 18-year-old is innocent. You get to know your client. You get to know your client very, very well, especially in a case such as this.
Uh Johnny has been consistent throughout that it wasn’t him. >> No matter how I crossexamined, >> he was consistent in what he was telling me and the fact that he hadn’t done it. >> In the [music] months leading up to the trial, Pam Newell’s lab conducts further DNA tests. We had a frequency [music] of occurrence of 1.
18 million for the semen found on the leotard from Andrea Atkinson. And we had a frequency of occurrence of 1 in7 million for the semen sample found on the concrete [music] floor. >> According to her tests, there is no doubt that John Terser raped the six-year-old. Now it’s up to her to explain the science to a jury.
Two years pass before the John Tercer murder case goes to trial. By now, scientists are bitterly divided on the accuracy of DNA profiling. >> At that time, there was still a controversy raging uh particularly in the United States. And there were two groups of scientists uh that sort of traveled around North America really testifying.
One group testifying for the crown or the prosecution and one group testifying for the defense. For Pam Newell, the case is a chance to prove that DNA profiling works. >> This was a very significant case for me personally um and for the Center of Forensic Sciences in the DNA unit. This was one of our early cases. This is a case that had a tremendous amount of of media coverage and a enormous amount of of interest from the general public.
>> Leo Adler puts the entire forensic team on trial. I saw problems. The computer dates, for example, were out of whack. The times were out of whack. It wasn’t scientific to me, at least in my view. Uh, and I felt that uh that for this [music] particular case that the center was really biting off more than it could chew.
The >> trial process here was strictly about forensics. It was an attack on the credibility of the police service. It was an attack on the center of forensic sciences. It was an attack on the sciences themselves. Uh and what was not dealt with was what happened with John Tersier that day. He testified he had nothing to do with this, but the trial was all about the forensics.
Adler humbles the forensic scientists one by one. Despite superglue fuming and days of examining one partial print, Detective Bunting could not prove without a doubt that the print was John Terseras. The ridges were there, the fingers were there. We spent a couple days trying to enhance, trying to get more out of those fingers, and we just could not get enough to identify them to anybody.
>> Adler argues that because John Terca had regular access to the boiler room, it’s no wonder the CSIs found hairs similar to his. He even reveals that the blood Terra voluntarily gave to police [music] took an extra day to reach the lab, trying to create reasonable doubt whether it’s his blood at all. >> I mean, ultimately, I think I hope >> Leo Adler is making a compelling case that forensics aren’t foolproof.
>> I think people have to realize that science is not always infallible. >> The head of the DNA unit at the Center of Forensic Sciences, [music] Pamela Newell. >> Up next is the prosecution’s star witness. and Goautier’s last hope, >> DNA expert Pamela Newell. >> Yeah. Wow. >> For 3 days, defense attorney Leo Adler grills Pam Newell and her DNA evidence.
To this day, they are bitter rivals. Well, Pam Pam was um [music] the head and the scientist at that time. She was she was the DNA uh department at CFS and she very much wanted uh for DNA to [music] not only be accepted but for the CFS to become um accepted. there was no accreditation system at the time and [music] um she saw this as the case that would make her in retrospect um I I thought that if I cross-examined her at length that the jury would see the problems with the case.
>> I think that [music] I think that Mr. Bradler’s approach was that this was black magic that uh we didn’t know what we were doing >> and his attack [music] was if he couldn’t break down the DNA science that he would break down the DNA scientists. >> In the final days of the 4-month trial, John Tersera [music] himself takes the stand.
His story never changes. He didn’t kill Andrea Atkinson. The forensic scientists have [music] made a mistake. The >> forensics are the forensics. They don’t change. They don’t lie. The facts stay the same. Um, in John’s case, he was an 18-year-old that had raped and murdered a six-year-old girl.
It’s not something that is easy to admit to. >> After two days of deliberation, the jury returns their verdict. Johnny Tersera is found guilty for the murder and rape [music] of Andrea Atkinson. 20-year-old John Tersera left the court a convicted child killer this afternoon. >> To this day, he declares his innocence. >> I can’t believe that if Johnny [music] did this that he wouldn’t have faced up to it by now.
I’ve, as I said, I’ve come to know him. And um I’ve [music] been doing this for almost 29 years. and maybe uh maybe I’ve fallen for a [music] story that isn’t true and that and my assessment of him is wrong. >> But it’s a it’s a case that had too much reliance on science that that certainly in in some aspects we know today is is [music] just flawed.
>> Rick Goier has worked more child murder cases [music] than any homicide cop in Toronto. He’s certain he got the right man. >> A successful homicide investigator [music] has to have the ability to detach their personal feelings from the case. And that is so important. It’s too easy to get wrapped up in [music] in the community problem, the family issues that are surrounding it.
And if you don’t do that, no one else will. >> Leo Adler has appealed Johnny Tersera’s murder conviction at the Supreme Court and has been denied. He’s still convinced [music] the CSIs were wrong. I think that that there were problems with this case. I think that um what I would like to see is not a reanalysis of the extract of DNA, which apparently may still be around, but I would like [music] to take the uh the leotards, which was the key [music] piece of evidence because it’s the leotards that that the little girl wore, and do a
modernday DNA analysis. >> Newell says she has conducted this test. >> We went back [music] to the extracted DNA from the samples in this in this [music] case and uh used the most current DNA analysis system that’s available. the profiles matched. Uh the frequency of occurrence is now with 13 different lossi [music] is uh less common than one in the population of the world.
So it’s less common than [music] one in six billion. In other words, it’s virtual identity. Would you expect to see this this profile again? No, you would not in anyone who has ever been born or ever will be born. I think that’s the end of the case. Joan Tersera’s life sentence brings no comfort to Andrea Atkinson’s mother.
>> During the futile search for her daughter, she never gave up hope. >> We have a bond and I can’t get through life without her and she can’t get through life without me. >> In 1994, her words prove prophetic. She commits suicide on what would have been Andrea’s 10th birthday. Situated on the Mississippi River, Baton Rouge boasts the best of Louisiana’s vibrant culture.
Southern hospitality laced with French Savoir fair. But beneath the city’s vital surface, a killer lies in wait. I didn’t know that there were people capable of doing such evil. >> Random acts of violence. >> Baton Rouge was was in fear. An outbreak of panic. >> It was almost like a Scud missile. Like where could this happen? You know, where could this hit next? >> No woman is safe.
>> I often tell people that this serial killer stole my innocence. >> But the race is on. And who will win? In this case, forensic [music] science was everything. >> As the death toll rises, only a revolution in forensic science can reveal the killer and stop the madness. [screaming] Y, home to Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge is a big city Famous for its small town feel, locals take pride in
southern hospitality. So when Gina Green, a 41-year-old nurse, fails to show up for work, her concerned co-workers call police. >> Miss Green. Police, are you home? Detective Ike Vaviser is struck by the trail of clothing scattered throughout the house. What at first appears to be a scene of seduction is something far more sinister.
The fact that uh Miss Green was found nude in her bed, it it certainly made you think as an investigator that perhaps that there was a sexual assault. >> A closer look at the body reveals severe bruising on Gina’s inner thigh. >> The fact that she was covered suggests to me that he had time there, that someone obviously wasn’t in a hurry to leave.
>> By the bed, Vafer notices that the phone is missing. The only trace of blood at the scene is found on Gina’s blouse. The single spot is sent to the lab for analysis. Heavy bruising on Gina’s neck indicates she was strangled. Investigators examine the windows and doors, trying to determine how the killer gained access to the house.
But there is no sign of forced [music] entry, hoping to capitalize on the neighborhood feel. Police canvased the area looking for information. >> We had no eyewitnesses. We had no suspect vehicles. I mean, uh, virtually whoever had taken her life had slipped in and slipped out unnoticed. >> Investigators questioned Gina’s friends and family, >> asking those same questions.
Who last saw her alive? What were her plans yesterday? What was her plans tomorrow? >> But Gina’s reputation is clean and the neighborhood is shocked by her murder. >> It is as out of place and which made in my mind made her death as unusual. Investigators comb through the evidence and quickly discover that Gina’s purse and her cell phone are missing.
Do police finally have a fast track to their killer? We were able to determine through the service provider of the phone that the phone was still on. To know that her cell phone was on and to truly believe that her cell phone was taken by the perpetrator, that was very exciting. [music] and you begin to think, well, hey, this is this is maybe the break we need.
When you turn on a cell phone, wherever you are, it has to hit a tower. So, you’re able to in your investigative efforts tell what tower did that phone last hit. >> Vaviser manages to isolate the last [music] hit near a tower at the city’s edge. Using a program called Triggerfish, a high-powered cell sight simulator, police locate the cell phone’s unique signal and follow it to its source.
The evidence is undeniable. The items belong to Gina Green. So does the phone. >> You ask yourself the question, why’ he take it? Why he discard it? Why did he discard it? Here. >> Steps ahead of police, the killer has vanished. This time, leaving his calling [music] card behind. With no leads, no suspects, [music] and no motive for murder, police have no way to track their killer until they get another call.
Darren, can you tell me what happened? A man reports finding his wife dead. >> Man’s house and [panting] that blood everywhere, man. Like >> inside the family home, investigators find 21-year-old Gerilyn Dodto. She is brutally beaten, her throat slashed. District Attorney Tony Clayton joins detectives at the scene.
>> You have to take your heart out of your body and leave it at the doorstep as you walk into a crime scene because if not, then you can’t do your job. That was blood splatter throughout the hallway. The neck was cut from ear to ear. That was a streak of blood and it had drippled down as if she was dying as losing the power from her body and in the end grabbing her neck and holding her neck trying to put it back together.
The eerie marks of those blood prints were absolutely riveting. >> Gerilyn’s husband Darren tells investigators that his wife committed [music] suicide. >> He said he found the body around 7:00. Of course, he grabbed her, so his fingerprints were on her. Uh, the fact that Darren bloody prints were in and out around the body, we knew that he obviously was walking in and around.
>> Darren says he couldn’t find the phone, so he went to the neighbors [music] to call 911. Police wonder why Darren was so quick to tell them his wife had committed suicide. >> Why? She killed herself, man. Why? He said suicide because he saw the gun and he said he initially thought that she had shot herself.
>> But the wounds on Gerilyn’s body tell a different story. >> The way that her face had been just beaten. You would have thought that she had run into a fight with some vicious vicious madman. >> Suggesting that Gerilyn went for the rifle to defend herself. >> She grabs a gun. He grabs the front barrel of the gun, >> but she is no match for her attacker.
The killer slits her throat and then [music] clubs her with the weapon. >> Whether she was beaten unmercifully, you would have thought that she had been in a wreck with a train. >> Much like the Gina Green crime scene, Clayton sees no sign of forced entry. >> We thought to ourselves, there’s a problem here.
There’s a pattern here. And once again, the telephone is missing. >> I remember very much having the the feeling, gee, there’s a lot of similarities here. >> Whoever murdered Gerilyn Dodto walked effortlessly into her house. Trying to piece together her last known movements, Clayton searches Gerilyn’s desk and finds her diary.
I cannot handle the pain and anger and disgust he puts on me when he curses me worse than he curses his own enemy. You never get used to the mean outburst and pushing around, slamming [music] against walls, throwing things. Never. >> There was so much foreshadowing of what would happen to her in that journal.
She was so beautiful and so intelligent and her life was surrounded with unhappiness. Yo, where you been? >> All of Jaylen’s friends spoke of incidents of abuse. He was a jealous husband. >> Where you been? >> I’ve been shopping. I told you I was going shopping. >> I seen you smoking in the car. >> I wasn’t smoking in the car.
>> Police suddenly have a motive. >> You smoking in the car. >> Was the commonplace violence in the Dotto home a precursor to murder? >> Get on in there and cook me some dinner, woman. YOU HEARD ME. GIDDY UP. With a prime suspect in hand, do Baton Rouge investigators have enough evidence to prove that Darren Dodto is their killer? The winter of 2002.
Evil continues to lurk in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Two women are violently murdered in their homes, and evidence suggests the victims knew their attackers. When investigators find [music] male DNA beneath the second victim’s fingernails, a prime suspect emerges. The DNA belongs to Gerilyn’s husband, Darren Dodto.
>> Oh, man. I didn’t do it. I was Come on, I was eating lunch, man. >> Suspicion grows when Darren fails a voice stress analysis. A test that picks up increasing micro tremors in the voice and detects when someone is lying. >> He denied abusing his wife. He suggested that she might have committed suicide. Darren Dotto did a lot of things that made police suspicious of him.
>> Suspect in our mind was her husband that had a rocky relationship and I was close to wanting to indict him from circumstantial evidence. >> But investigators need concrete evidence that places Darren [music] at the trailer when Gerilyn was murdered. They start with her computer. Gerilyn was a student at LSU [music] working on an assignment that morning.
>> She was on the computer at 11:42 a.m. in the morning and at 11:43 she logged off the computer. >> Telephone records show that an outgoing call was placed from the house phone at 11:44 a.m. Police learned that Darren is a shift worker at a local factory. His time sheet proves that he punched into work early the morning that Gerilyn was killed, punched out for lunch at 11:00, and returned to work at noon, leaving more than half an hour unaccounted for.
>> So then we went to him and we asked him, “Where were you from 11:30 to 12:00? >> I loved her, man.” >> He told us that he had gone to a local restaurant to buy a hamburger and said, “Well, we asked him just a shot in the dark. How can you prove that?” But Darren has an alibi, >> man. Come on. >> He said, “Oh, I paid for it with my visa.
” And I said to him, “What man would buy a hamburger with a credit card?” Sure enough, we went to that restaurant to that corporate office, pulled up their paperwork, and he had paid for [music] the hamburger with his credit card, and that was like 1150 or somewhere thereabout. >> One possibility remains. Could Darren have left the restaurant, raced home, killed his wife, and punched back into work for noon? There’s no way humanly possible.
It was about an hour and 10-minute drive. We drove it. >> All right, Derek. Free to go. >> We didn’t have enough evidence to indict him, so we knew that may be another murder out there. >> DNA testing further exonerates Darren Dodto. The blood recovered from Gina Green’s blouse doesn’t match to Darren’s DNA. If Darren isn’t responsible for the murders, the question remains, who [music] is? Armed with the killer’s DNA, detectives search the [music] national database.
If the killer has a criminal record, police finally have their man, but the search comes up cold. >> And the only thing that we had, although uh very powerful evidence, was an unknown male profile. Baton Rouge investigators go back to the drawing board desperate to make a connection between the murders. >> We looked at the case in depth.
We looked at crime scene photographs, the facts of the case. >> There were a lot of things we need to explore in terms of commonalities between the victims, things such as that. >> Both victims live in the same area. Their phones were taken and there was no sign of forced entry. What is there there between these two ladies that you need to know? I mean, there was nothing that suggested that they were close friends or they even knew any each other.
There has to be some connection or you certainly want to eliminate that. Or is this really a random act by some unknown person? >> Investigators are about to get their answer. >> Hi there. >> Pardon me, miss. My uh my cards broke down the way there. >> On May 31st, 2002, the two seemingly separate murder cases are suddenly connected when Charlotte Murray [music] Pac’s roommate discovers one of the bloodiest crime scenes in Mississippi history.
[screaming] Two women are brutally murdered in their homes in Louisiana. Similarities between the crimes link the horrific acts. No closer to catching the killer, he strikes again. >> [screaming] >> Baton Rouge Detective Chris Johnson is dispatched to [music] the scene. He turns to the [music] evidence and begins to recreate the crime.
The blood in the hallway was was transferred near the the floor itself on the wall. Uh which may that may have fall on the on the ground. She struggled a very long time to to save fighting for her life. Uh she had defense wounds on both sides of her hands. There was blood on all four walls in the bedroom as well as the ceiling and also the floor as well.
The pace autopsy enumerates 81 stab wounds. Although the cause of death is different, Johnson is struck by similarities to the previous crimes. >> The perpetrator took u [music] trophies or items from the residence. Miss Pay’s uh purse, her car keys, and also a handset from a cordless telephone from the resident was taken as well.
We weren’t sure if he’s taking these things because there are trophies or he’s taken these things because he’s trying to uh hide what he may have touched. >> And once again, there is no sign of forced [music] entry. The rape kit reveals a clear male DNA sample. The crime lab delivers news investigators have long suspected.
The male DNA found on Charlotte Murray Pac’s body matches to the blood stain on Gina Green’s blouse. >> Withholding their suspicions from the public until now, police [music] make a grim announcement. >> They are chasing a serial killer. >> The whole climate in Baton Rouge changed because of one man who had women terrified.
Women were afraid to look out of their windows at night because they were afraid of what they would see staring back at them. >> July 10th, 2002, a joint task force is formed, combining the efforts of four Baton Rouge police [music] agencies and the FBI. With no suspects and the death toll rising, police turned to the FBI behavioral analysis unit for answers.
Profiler Mary Ellen Tulle revisits the crime scene to learn more about the killer. >> You have to be on site, which is what we were. And it took days just to [music] get an initial sense for the kind of offender that we were looking for, knowing that it was very likely he was going to do it again. >> Otul tries to put herself into the mind of the killer.
How is he selecting his victims? >> That choice of them as a victim may have come pretty quickly. I’ll do her because she’s right here right [music] now. >> How is he gaining access into the house? >> These were women who were raised don’t open your door to strangers. But the reality is everybody opens their door to a stranger.
It also told me the offender came across as [music] very non-threatening. >> Hi there. >> Pardon me, miss. My uh my card just broke down up down the way there. Was be able to use your phone. >> He was going into situations that were very high risk for him, but it was also exciting for him at the same time.
And that told me something about his personality. >> You know what? Be a great help. Sure. Thank you. Thank you very much. In [music] the mindset of the killer, Otul begins to play out the crime. >> How was he choosing his weapon? >> If you’re highly impulsive um as a serial killer and you didn’t bring a weapon of choice with you, you just go and you do it.
I’m a non-threatening individual was really a roost to get to the victim and then the mask comes [music] off. >> Please. It was my sense that this this individual was highly impulsive. He could have thought of himself as omnipotent. all powerful. He could have thought of himself as that’s what I want. That’s what I’m going to get.
>> Police dig into the lives of the victims looking for a common thread. They note that the women were all students at Louisiana State University and they discover that Green once lived on the same street as Pace. Police follow up on their first concrete lead. Geography. the offender is comfortable in a certain area.
We called it the hot zone and we felt that there was a reason he went back there. [music] >> He wasn’t sure that if he worked down there, if he went to school in that particular area or he had family down there. >> Investigators take no chances and beef up police presence in the hot zone. But the impulsive nature of the killer makes it difficult to anticipate his next attack.
>> I think he was constantly looking at women and thinking in terms of maybe her could be her, but maybe her. >> July 12th, 2002, Pam Kenmore leaves her antique store and heads home. At 10:00, [music] Detective Tommy Rice responds to a missing person’s report at the Kinnamore residence. Byron Kinnammore has returned home to find his wife missing.
>> I came home. I was just gone for a little bit. >> So, as I walk in, I see Mrs. Kenmore’s purse on the counter, keys in the door, which I’m being told by the family is a routine occurrence that she would do that absent mind to leave them in the door. The bells and whistles are going off. >> Keys are in the door.
The bad feeling that I got at the time was [music] that here here’s a lady who just doesn’t routinely have long periods of absences. She’s always been accountable. >> Evidence suggests that Pam Kenmore was following her regular nightly routine. And what looks like blood on cotton balls is actually red nail polish. >> It hits me like a car.
There is an open window. Here you have a female [music] in a position where she would be almost defenseless, nude, bathing, and being able to look through that window, you could tell that there were nobody, no one else home. Those curtains, not closed, told him all he needed to see. [snorts] [screaming] >> Investigators publicize the case, hoping witnesses will come forward.
>> We get a call from a truck driver. today. >> He observed a white pickup truck uh with what he believed to be a nude female in the front seat. Uh she appeared to be somewhat incapacitated or could have been intoxicated. He sees a white male driver. As he slows down to get a better look, the truck exits at Whiskey Bay.
You know, this might be the first tangible lead we’ve got that can identify a person Police search the area hoping to find Pam Kenmore alive. And then a transportation worker testing soil erosion makes a grizzly discovery near Whiskey Bay. Wired [music] foam cord that you’d have in any home in America.
It was a rounder net. could have been used for control where it could have been tightened at any time. Toenails had red toenail paint. Some of it, some of them didn’t. The date inside a wedding ring worn by the victim confirms her identity. She is Pam [music] Kinnamore. But the recent murder puzzles investigators. Kinnammore lived outside of the killer’s hot zone.
She is a working mother and is older than the previous victims. Most disturbing, this time the killer moved the body. >> Taking a woman who may have been nude out of her home in a very upscale residential neighborhood was consistent with that high-risk, high thrill. >> And what would be dangerous and just mind-boggling to do to somebody else doesn’t seem to really phase him.
Trying to follow the psyche of a killer of this nature is [music] like putting together a jigsaw puzzle while blindfolded. As we were waiting to project when the next body would pop up, the next body would pop up. And we knew at that time that it was someone who who knew our every move.
And he was extremely hard to catch. The killer is ramping up his efforts. Always one step ahead of investigators. With no discernable MO, no viable suspects, and no hard evidence. Police have nothing to go on. Women across Louisiana fear for their lives. And with good reason. Panic rules as the summer of terror blankets Baton Rouge. July 29th, 2002.
[music] The attacker’s DNA retrieved from latest victim Pam Kenmore matches the samples found at the Pace and Green crime scenes, confirming that the killer has struck again. And worse, in dumping the body in Whiskey Bay, the killer has moved from his hot zone. >> He was trying to cover his tracks. He was trying to lead us in the opposite direction.
But the location of the Kenmore dumping ground, 60 m from his last victim, baffles police. >> We started looking at each other and realized that man, you know, this is uh this is very big. >> The task force concentrates on [music] the three crimes linked by DNA evidence, Green, Pace, and Kenmore. A solid witness lead focuses the investigation on a white male driving a white pickup truck, but finding it is a huge task.
>> We were told there’s over 280,000 of those in this state, and that’s a lot of trucks to look at. >> Every white male from age 20 to 60 became the suspect. Police set up roadblocks, stopping every Caucasian male in a light colored truck and asking for a DNA sample. Serial killer task force be swabbed of more than 1,000 possibly 1,200 uh men looking for a suspect.
We just had uttered chaos in this part of the country looking for the guy who was this serial killer. >> Nothing. Move along. Move along. For all their work, investigators get no DNA matches. >> So, based on the information [music] we’ve got, which is small, the suspect is male, aged 25 to 35 years. >> Now, investigators look to build a definitive profile of the killer.
I did feel that this was somebody who came across [music] so normally, so non in such a non-threatening way, who had the ability to be charming, [music] who had the ability to be maybe glib. This is not somebody that’s a loner, which is >> a criminal analysis or [music] profile is usually for internal police use only.
But in desperation, the task force [music] releases the information to the public, hoping it will generate tips. >> Investigators assume the killer is aware of the publicity surrounding the case, but the intense media glare doesn’t seem to slow him down. [music] >> [screaming] >> November 18th, 2002, a police officer discovers an abandoned car outside of a cemetery.
He learns that the vehicle belongs to a young woman, last seen visiting her mother’s grave. When the body of a young woman is found in the woods near Lafayette, a city 60 miles from Baton Rouge, police fear the worst. The victim [music] is so badly beaten, her father can only identify 23-year-old Trisha D. Colom by her tattoos.
Male DNA [music] recovered from her body confirms their earlier suspicions. The recent [music] murder is the work of the Baton Rouge serial killer. >> The fact that he displaced from the hot zone to [clears throat] another part of the city, but now we got a subject that is mobile now. >> By crossing racial lines, investigators can’t help but feel the serial killer is deliberately taunting police.
>> I used the Scut missile analogy that this this could happen anywhere to anybody. Now, >> now white women were not safe. Black women were not safe. It didn’t matter where you lived in Louisiana, you weren’t safe. Everyone was a target. His everchanging MMO continues to [music] challenge investigators. >> If you were to look at any of the actions of him to try to find out if there were some type of u consistency in who how he operated, he threw us for a loop.
>> We don’t have consistency. [music] We have variation. It was actually the variation in these cases that became the consistency, if that makes sense. >> March 13th, 2003, a local fisherman thinks he’s made a great catch. Instead, he discovers the body of a young woman tangled in his net. >> Pam Kilmore’s body was found in the same area, general area, but this was out in the water.
because of what’s going on in Baton Rouge. We’re not sure yet, of course, if it’s related. >> Unlike with his earlier victims, the killer is now covering his tracks. Now, in the south, you got to [music] realize that you’re dealing with a lot of humidity and you’re dealing with a lot of heat here. You know, decomposition in the south occurs quite rapidly.
The DNA of a perpetrator [music] is also part of the decomposition process. Hey. >> Hey. We got an ID on the latest victim. LSU student. >> The latest victim is 26-year-old Carrie Yoder. Another LSU student living in the center of the serial killer’s hot zone. To pull this off, the killer had to get through a massive police presence.
obviously a determined individual to do just the brazen things that he did and to be so determined that he would come right back into the area that he had taken two lives and take another for this offender to walk back into this area where there was [music] such a law enforcement presence with that again that sense of confidence and that sense of arrogance was amazing.
This serial killer started acting more and more of a playing mind games with us. >> Police now have five samples of the killer’s DNA, but are no closer to matching them to a suspect until one hardworking scientist makes a discovery in DNA technology that will break the case wide open. For three years, Baton Rouge investigators chase an impulsive, unpredictable serial killer.
As the body count rises, so does police frustration. We’re trying. We’ve pulled out every tool in the tool box. And uh when is that phone going to when are we going to get that phone call? When are we going to get that that one dot, that one piece of this puzzle that’s just going to break it wide open? Forensic technician George Shiro turns to an advancement in genetic technology to analyze the serial killer’s DNA.
>> Essentially, what I ended up doing was examining 21,000 profiles. And one of the markers that we looked at was called D21 S11. >> You guys clear that off. Clear that off. I want to show you something. When I examined the the the ancestry groups and the ethnic groups that were associated with this, what I found was that I found it occurring more uh more times in people who were of African descent than Caucasian.
>> We might be looking for the wrong guy. >> The DNA of the person that we’re looking for is that of a black person who somewhere has some small mixture of something else. I [music] think American Indian and Caucasian. I was somewhat shocked. >> A very very powerful de development for us.
Um when this information came that really was a turning point for us. >> Turning their attention away from Caucasian men, police expand their search and looked to African-Amean suspects that fit the FBI profile. >> We had received some information from another law enforcement agency in St. Martinville that said there was an encounter by this woman that had actually been attacked by a black male.
>> Well, I had just gotten home with my groceries and is putting it [music] away. >> Diane Alexander tells investigators about an incident in her home two years earlier. >> It is. >> She was preparing to go to work and she heard a knock on the door and she went to the door. >> Pardon me, ma’am.
I’m really sorry to bother you. I’m looking for the Montgomery’s and I thought they told me 42, but by any chance you have a phone I might be able to use. Do you know where they live? >> I’m sorry I don’t. Uh but >> and she saw this very very good-looking man at the door, soft-spoken, and she remarked at his physical appearance and um not threatening, polite and gracious, asking for help.
Thank you very much, man. Really kind. >> There was nothing that he projected to her that spelled out this is a this is a problem. He’s dangerous. >> Are y’all done with my phone? >> I wish I was, man, but I can’t seem to find Montgomery’s in here anywhere. Uh, your husband happen to know who they are? Maybe >> my husband is at home.
That’s when the mask came off. >> He coolly told her that he’d been watching her. He attempted to [music] rape her, but he couldn’t maintain an erection, which enraged him even more. Then he cut her phone cord and tried to strangle her. At this point, Alexander’s son, Herman, returned home. >> I got out the car and um I I heard a noise from inside and I I ran in.
>> [screaming] >> I saw Ma and I ran outside and and and and [music] just someone almost just drove off in the truck. >> Diane suffered a serious skull fracture, keeping her in hospital for 5 days. But she’ll never forget her attacker. >> Uh he’s got really bushy eyebrows. Really bushy.
After three years, do investigators finally have an eyewitness? >> His eyes were they dark light. >> They were dark. And we said, “Chief, whoever assaulted Miss Alexander is the person responsible for your murders in Baton Rouge.” >> The sketch is released to [music] the public. Really within a couple of minutes of him holding up the composite [music] um and giving the behavioral characteristics, a call came into the command center saying this is who you’re describing.
>> From a series of mug shots, Diane Alexander finally has a chance to identify the man who tried to kill her. See if you can pick out the man who attacked you. Take your time. The mugsh shot belongs to Derek Todd Lee, a petty criminal from Zachary, Louisiana with a history of stalking and peeping Tom charges.
With Lee’s DNA already on file in Zachary, Baton Rouge investigators compare it to the samples collected at the Green, [music] Kinnamore, Pace, and Yodar crime scenes. The match is irrefutable. >> We finally got the break. We finally got the match. We [music] finally know who he is. That’s a guy that has caused so much pain.
That is the guy that has taken so many lives. And that is the guy that you’re getting ready to put in jail. >> I think quite a few of us uh uh grown men shed tears. This had finally come to the end. And he was not going to take anyone else’s life. >> Derek Todd Lee, Baton Rouge Police Department, come out. >> But when police move in to arrest Derek Todd Lee at his home in Baton Rouge, he’s already gone.
And that I think was the other side of it that you know until you caught them that nothing was going to change. I mean there would just be more cases and uh more victims. DNA analysis confirms the Baton Rouge serial killer is Derek Todd Lee. But when police move in, [music] they discover that Lee has fled the state.
On May 26th, 2003, the task force publicly names the killer. A suspect has been identified in the homicides of Gina Green, Charlotte Murray Pace, Pam Kenmore, D. Cologne, and Carrie Lynn Yoder, >> launching a nationwide manhunt. Police tracked down Lee’s friends and family. >> We discovered that Derek uh was married.
He had a wife and also a son. He also had a girlfriend. Investigators learn that Lee remains in contact with his girlfriend. Tracing their phone calls will lead them straight to Lee’s location. >> All right. >> But police have to keep Lee on the line long enough to pinpoint his whereabouts. >> Hello. >> Lee is quickly [music] suspicious.
>> Are you with Are you with cops right now? Are the cops listening to? >> After a short conversation, he’s on to the ruse. >> Well, I just >> Are the cops listening to this cop? >> But not before police can trace the call to Atlanta. The news around Derek Todd Lee’s neck is tightening. >> Now there’s a serial killers in Georgia and realizing that he could strike there.
Sunday morning, this past Sunday morning, uh we began receiving information [music] that we may have a fellow uh into our neighborhood by the name of Derek Todd Lee. He is suspected of murdering five women in Louisiana. >> Can they find [music] Lee before he kills again? Detective Johnson arrives in Atlanta [music] to assist local police. He checks out the hotel from where Lee called his girlfriend.
>> Like I said, he was renting a room, but he’s obviously gone now. >> He knew we was searching for him. So, he didn’t stay very many places very long, but eventually uh we got lucky again. >> Johnson >> got a credit citizens that called in the task force and hotline and say, “Hey, uh we know where he is.” >> Okay, move in. Move in.
Don’t wait for me. Police tracked Lee to a location in the suburbs. >> Police reach down. >> Down to the ground. Down to the ground. >> Hands above your head. Let’s go. Derek Todd Lee, you’re under arrest. Let’s go in the car. Der toss me up say, “Detective Chris, uh, I’m tired.” Uh, it’s pretty profound, you know, because I think he’s referring to the fact that now he’s dealing with the fact that he killed these women.
The evidence against Derek Todd Lee is overwhelming. A knifly pond is matched to the stab wounds on Charlotte Murray Pac’s body. The phone cord found around [music] Pam Kenmore’s neck is the same cord used to choke Diane Alexander. Lee had access to a white pickup truck owned by his girlfriend’s uncle. But the nail in Lee’s [music] coffin is the silent witness DNA.
It is irrefutable. >> At his trial, Diane Alexander provides the most powerful emotional testimony. She looked him right eye and she said to him, “I will never forget that face. And I’ll never forget what you told me when you were on top of me trying to rape me. When you said to me, I’ve been watching you.
” That in and of itself sent a chilling effect through the whole courtroom. Derek Ali is [music] now on death row in Angola, Louisiana. He’s now being watched and he will be watched until the state of Louisiana respectfully puts him to death. Knock knock. P.
P.
