Forensic Files (HD) - Season 13, Episode 35 - Covet Thy Neighbour - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] up next to college co-ed vanishes without a trace the television was still
on it was almost as if her activities had been interrupted it's just really scary
to think about that it happens here her fellow students prayed for her safe return
police feared her abductor might be among them everybody was a suspect but we had no
direction to go eventually the trail led to a barn fire hundreds of miles away a senseless
murder with no motive science played a big part in olamide adeyoye's life ever since she was a little girl she
dreamt of a career in medical research and she was halfway there entering her senior year at illinois
state university olamide likes science a lot i could definitely see her going into the
forensic field working in a laboratory doing dna analysis olamide worked her way through school as
a waitress friday nights were usually the busiest so it was unusual when olamide didn't
show up one friday when she was scheduled the next day she didn't answer repeated
calls to her apartment and cell phone her friends and family began to become more worried about
olamide not being able to get a hold of her olamide's car was gone her apartment
locked when police entered olamide's apartment they discovered her purse and her wallet
were there her cell phone was on the sofa with more than 60 unanswered messages the television was
on it looked as if she had just gotten up and left until police entered her bedroom
the search revealed large pile of clothing on the bedroom floor when we systematically
went through each piece of clothing we began to see stains of bleach the odor of bleach
leads all of us to believe that someone is trying to cover up or clean up a crime underneath the clothing
was a large blood stain the blood was tested at that time and it wasn't ultimately identified back to olamide
they also found a blood trail leading outside there were blood drops down the back
porch down the back steps down across the parking lot ending about a foot from where the trunk of olamide's car
would have been someone could have silently carried her down the stairs and placed her in a
vehicle in the darkness although olamide lived in an apartment off campus her disappearance struck fear among the
students you're a young female walking around campus i have a night class so usually when i get out of school i walk
home and it's just really scary to think about that it happens here missing posters were put all over campus
and the surrounding community days went by but there was still no sign of olamide i'm trying to do
everything i can i mean i know she'd be doing the same thing for me as the search entered its second week
investigators got a potential break from a small town 700 miles away a police officer in mississippi had
heard about olamide and her disappearance by the news media he told illinois police about a body
they'd found after a recent barn fire they had in mississippi the fire was an arson and all they knew
was that the victim was a young female police were able to get the dental records of olamide from her family
dentist the records along with the remains were taken to a forensic odentologist and he was able to
positively identify the remains as olamide it probably is the worst feeling i've ever
felt i felt horrible for her mother i feel horrible for her brother it blows my mind for someone to think
that they can kind of play god and take someone else's life investigators now wondered
who killed olamide and why he took her to mississippi [Music] students and faculty of illinois state
university gathered on campus to remember olamide adeyoye she pushed people to be their best she
wanted everyone to be their best including herself her family was understandably frustrated
not knowing who was responsible or why when you think of olamide remember the young beautiful woman
who had a hunger for knowledge intelligence and who wanted to help others at the autopsy
the medical examiner concluded that olamide's death occurred long before the fire started the cause
of death in the medical examiner's opinion was exsanguination which means loss of
blood due to a penetrating injury investigators began their search for the killer by looking
into olamide's friends associates any possible enemies and certainly anyone who had ties to
mississippi on the night olamide disappeared friends said she had a date planned
with a new boyfriend we talked about how she was excited about going out on a date with a
gentleman named bertis partice was 25 year old bartis harvester a criminal justice major at the
university when interviewed by police partise claimed olamide canceled their date at
the last minute sometime around 10 pm yes you gave her a call yes where were you
when you called her at home yes that time she told you she changed her mind and she ran some
movies and decided to just kind of call her tonight and say you know exactly partice denied any involvement in the
crime the fact that she had canceled a date with the guy on the very night that she's last
seen alive um it's certainly something that's gonna jump out another suspect was olamide's former
boyfriend andy foley a guitar player in a band the two had recently broken up they
loved each other a lot but it was definitely hard for them to be away from each other for such a long
period of time but foley provided an airtight alibi andy was actually on tour and he was
actually on the east coast and other band members of his verified his whereabouts on the night of her
disappearance something else happened on the day she disappeared olamide told friends about an incident that happened
while she was taking a shower in the afternoon one of olamide's former roommates ashley
todd martin had entered olamide's apartment uninvited through the unlocked front
door this apparently angered vomiting ashley's attitude was why don't you have your door locked
while you're taking a shower [Music] olamide and ashley had recently decided to live separately
olamide didn't want to be around this girl anymore according to olamide's close friends
from home this girl seemed to be a bad influence on olamide and they were concerned about olamide's
relationship with this girl i'd heard them have a couple of fights sometimes you know i'd be on the phone
and they'd be fighting with each other and it just she wasn't normal when she fought with
her it wasn't the olamide that i knew ashley todd martin vehemently denied any involvement in
olamide's disappearance but police thought her constant appearances on television newscasts
to discuss obama day were suspicious it's like i feel bad i feel guilty but i'm just glad that you don't have to
sit here and wonder whether she's being hurt or tortured or you know she's just peaceful now it appeared to be more
about ashley than about olamide [Music] since there were no signs of forced entry into olamide adeyoye's apartment
investigators worked under the assumption that olamide was acquainted with her killer
an informant called police suggesting olamide's neighbor might have been responsible we were
contacted by a woman who had seen the news coverage of olamide's disappearance this woman was concerned that an
ex-boyfriend of hers may have been involved in olamide's disappearance the man was 27 year old maurice wallace
he lived in a building about a hundred yards from olamide's apartment though not a college student wallace had
been living on or near campus for years many students remembered him and not fondly
he would invite himself to parties people described him as kind of creepy and strange
women especially he wasn't a student he wasn't a member of the community he was a bad person he was a bad person
and myself and twenty five thousand other twenty somethings in normal we'll attest to that a
background check revealed maurice wallace had served four months in jail shortly before olamide's murder
maurice wallace had assaulted and battered someone in a taxi cab was a situation where he
didn't know the victim prior to the assault and it was another example of his unpredictability
and aggressiveness after he was released wallace had trouble finding work and he
told a former girlfriend he was planning to commit violence he has said some very
disturbing things he was going to make a name for himself or be become a martyr by going out and killing someone wallace
also expressed his opinions on race he seemed to have a lot of opinions about society and racism
and and his take on what was wrong with society as a whole he had indicated that he wanted to marry
a nigerian woman witnesses said olamide and wallace met once and that wallace told olamide he
objected to her dating white men there was one occasion where he had attended a party and olamide was there
and he was kind of harassed in hilamide about her boyfriend but was this a possible motive for
murder we think he may have been upset with her you know she's part of the problem
because she's not promoting um her race she's a sellout if that's the term that he would use
when police went to question him he was gone nabor said he hadn't been around since
olamide went missing he did not have a vehicle and the fact that olamide's vehicle was missing it pointed
even more directly towards wallace nationwide alerts were issued for wallace and for olamide's car
when we say that yes we have reason to believe that he's involved or has knowledge
that does not rule out that there could be other individuals there very well could be so we're still
looking at that because we don't we don't have all the pieces put together yet wallace's credit card activity showed he
purchased gasoline in mississippi the day after olamide disappeared the gas station was near the barn where
olamide's body was discovered what we hoped to find out was did he purchase gas or an accelerant there that could be
used to start the fire unfortunately there were no video surveillance cameras at that gas station
investigators discovered wallace did have a connection to mississippi wallace had some
connection to mississippi and that he had some relatives that were there while investigators searched for wallace
they also had to search for forensic evidence and they weren't having much luck inside
olamide's apartment it's a common misconception that there are hundreds of fingerprints left at
every crime scene and a lot of times you may only find one or you may find none since the crime was committed at night
investigators assumed the killer would have turned off the lights after cleaning up the blood but there
were no visible blood stains on the light switch by the door that whole area was actually brought
into the laboratory they cut out the wall and took the light switch and brought in
all of that to us analysts viewed the switch plate with oblique or angled lighting we take various
different types of light sources and we bring them in from the side from the front and
do a lot of tilting with the evidence in order to look at it on the surface to see if we can see anything
on the surface itself and that's where they found a single high quality fingerprint and it
looked like it was in plasma not all blood is red or brownish like you would think
there are other components in the blood that are clear the plasma is a clear substance and it tends to separate out
from the red part of the blood dna testing showed the blood was olamides which meant the print
probably belonged to whoever harmed her that was key there's not a whole lot of innocent explanation for that
it's like finding a print over blood on a murder weapon but where was maurice wallace
investigators found a fingerprint on the light switch in olamide adeyoye's apartment the print
didn't match olamide's former roommate ashley todd martin or any of the other suspects questioned
in the case but police were still searching for their prime suspect maurice wallace according to his
credit card activity he was traveling throughout the southern united states to track him more closely investigators
focused on his cell phone activity through cellular phone forensics we're able to locate very specifically
where maurice wallace was in real time when wallace made a call from a shopping mall in atlanta georgia
police [Music] when police arrested maurice wallace they found olamide's keys in his
possession which was a a big giveaway at that point wallace wasn't driving olamide's car he
was driving a rental car instead there was a gas can that was located in his rental vehicle
we suspected it may have been used to start this fire wallace denied any involvement in
olamide's murder i've got to go ahead and read you a couple things i'm sure you've you know
where's my turn why am i here without an attorney you're gonna ask me some questions
nine times i tell you whatever i answer gonna be used against me so i want an attorney when police left the
room wallace was alone unaware he was being recorded he made what looked like a speech
to himself any sort of insurgency or revolution you don't just go at the oppressor you go at the people who
helped the oppressor people who ate in the backyard send a message that if you cooperate with these
people you're gonna whack you this revealed a potential motive for olamide's murder we think he may
have been upset with her for dating a white man when police compared wallace's fingerprint
to the bloody fingerprint found in olamide's bedroom it was a match ten days after wallace's arrest police found
delamade's car abandoned in a residential area of atlanta olamide's blood was discovered in the
trunk they also found bloody fingerprints on the rear view mirror i was able then to powder and lift those
impressions and then lift them off of the rearview mirror and then do a comparison
one of these was maurice wallace's thumbprint dna testing identified the blood as olamides investigators also found
evidence on wallace's genes to the naked eye it didn't appear that there was anything unusual
about them however later forensic testing found there was blood on those pants and that blood was olamides
definitive proof that wallace was her killer police believe olamide let wallace into
her apartment she knew him from the neighborhood once inside he may have made a sexual
advance and was rejected he then snapped [Music] he stabbed olamide getting blood on his
jeans he wrapped her body in a blanket and put olamide's body in the trunk of her car
[Music] he tried to clean the bloodstains with detergent found in the apartment but as he turned off the light he left
his fingerprint on the switch plate in plasma and left his bloody thumb print on the rear view mirror
then drove to mississippi to burn her body he found an old barn put olamide's body inside then
set it on fire the entire barn burned to the ground forensic odeontology identified her
remains although wallace probably thought no one in mississippi would connect this fire to a girl's
disappearance in illinois olamide's friends and family say the outstanding work of the
investigators and scientists marked the end of a long difficult struggle she was a great person and she was
always loving and open and as much as that's a great quality it can also be somewhat of a downfall
because the world can be very ugly and you don't know who is out there in december of 2005 maurice wallace was
charged with first degree murder his aberrant behavior didn't end with his arrest maurice wallace was
very combative during court hearings one occasion he spit on the floor as he entered the courtroom
talking when he was not supposed to be talking interrupting the judge because of the
evidence against him wallace pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison maurice wallace was a sociopath he's
evil he certainly knew what he was doing every step of the way here he had a plan he carried it out didn't
have any regard to his victim there's just an evil man that did what he told his friend on the phone
he was going to go out and kill somebody and try to make a name for himself when the
victim has been murdered or is no longer alive the only thing that's left to be able to
speak for that person is the evidence itself

When a college co-ed vanished without a trace, her fellow students were concerned about her safety and their own.

Brief Summary

Olamide Adeyoye vanished; her murder led to Maurice Wallace's arrest and conviction.

Key points

The Disappearance of Olamide Adeyoye. Olamide, a college student, vanishes without a trace, sparking fear among her peers.
A Gruesome Discovery. A police officer in Mississippi discovers a body after a barn fire, leading to a tragic conclusion.
The Arrest of Maurice Wallace. Maurice Wallace is arrested with Olamide's keys in his possession, linking him to her murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's just really scary to think about that it happens here.

A student reflects on the fear of abduction on campus.

0:14WatchMar 5, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

More from Forensic Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.