Forensic Files Season 11, Episode 18 - A Case of the Flue - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[music playing] NARRATOR: It was a case unlike most others. Forensic evidence proved the perpetrator broke out
of the crime scene rather than breaking in. No one knew why, until some evidence on the victim's hands
provided the answer. [theme music] NARRATOR: Retirees often face hard choices. Many find it difficult to live alone, or grow
tired of maintaining their own home. But 82-year-old Kathryn Bishop wasn't one of them.
JANET SEITZ: She was a quiet person, but she was feisty. She trusted everybody. And she was my mother.
NARRATOR: Kathryn's home was in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania, just outside the state capital of Harrisburg.
One morning, a city employee saw Kathryn's side door had broken into, and called police.
JANET SEITZ: The ambulance was in the driveway. And I kept saying, where's my mother?
Where's my mother? (WEEPING) And a man appeared, and he said, your-- I'm sorry. He said, your mother is dead.
And I just went limp. NARRATOR: Kathryn Bishop had been beaten to death. SGT. GEORGE KEGERREIS, JR: The scene was a violent scene.
The victim had been beaten severely. There was a pool of blood around her head that she had, literally, bled out.
HETRICK: I believe there are defense wounds on the arms that were observed. And we had a broken fingernail, also.
So there were signs there that she-- she probably did try to fight off her attacker or attackers.
NARRATOR: There was a half-finished crossword puzzle in the living room. And in Kathryn's hand, a broken pen.
It appeared she was awake when the break-in occurred. JANET SEITZ: When you get to be that age,
you have to expect death to happen. But not the way my mother died. And that's-- that's what really, really bothers me.
NARRATOR: Strangest of all, there appeared to be nothing missing. -According to the family, everything
appeared normal as it was. That there was no ransacking through the house. That there was no signs that they
were looking for anything, in particular. NARRATOR: Through body temperature and the degree
of rigor mortis, the medical examiner estimated that Kathryn had been killed the night before.
-The death occurred between 9:00 and 10:30 in the evening. NARRATOR: At first, the side door
looked like the point of entry. But the broken glass was outside, not inside. SGT. GEORGE KEGERREIS, JR: Very unusual.
Majority of the time, I've seen break-ins, the glass is always into the inside of the house,
because people are breaking in, not breaking out. NARRATOR: Police canvassed the neighborhood for leads.
CPL. MULL: Anytime you have an investigation where you have no witnesses, and you have no evidence,
there is a strong likelihood that the case will never be solved. NARRATOR: One of the neighbors said,
she was walking her dog the night before, around 10:30 and heard some kind of noise. CPL.
MULL: She turned around. She saw a shadowy figure running from Mrs. Bishop's home.
She was only able to see this figure for a very brief time period, maybe 10, 15 seconds.
-And that, along with the medical evidence allowed us to establish the time of the crime.
NARRATOR: If this was the killer, he left through the side door, which explains why the glass was outside.
If so, how did he enter the house? And what was his motive? -It was a crime that caused a lot of community concern.
And, of course, doubled our motivation to find who was responsible. NARRATOR: Because of the nature of the crime,
investigators were certain that Kathryn Bishop's autopsy would reveal evidence to help their case.
The medical examiner concluded that Kathryn was hit over 60 times. The cause of death wasn't difficult to determine.
HETRICK: It was the breaking of the ribs on both sides of the body, bilaterally,
preventing her from expanding and contracting her chest. And she died of suffocation.
NARRATOR: As a matter of routine, the medical examiner used clear tape to pick up any potential trace evidence
on Kathryn's body and clothing. And this technique identified something potentially valuable.
HETRICK: It was a fiber. And it was a fiber that wasn't consistent with what she was wearing.
But where she picked it up from, that we can't say. NARRATOR: Also on the tape lift from Kathryn's hand
was a small chip of white paint. Forensic analyst John Evans noticed that the paint chip
contained several layers, each a different color. He then compared it to paint samples
from the exterior of Kathryn's home. And it matched only one area-- the paint around her basement window.
-We looked at the layer structures and the colors of the layers that were present.
In the paint chip from the basement window, I became three layers-- a top white layer,
a middle yellow layer, and a bottom tanish layer. CPL. MULL: The window was located about 4
and 1/2 feet above ground level. And on the exterior of the home, on the siding,
there were black marks. It appeared that someone had actually crawled up the siding,
and used the siding to help them go through the window. NARRATOR: Police found marks on the top of the washing machine
that looked like fabric impressions. SGT. GEORGE KEGERREIS, JR: The impression had the striated lines.
It had the appearance of a pair of denim jeans, what it would look like. NARRATOR: Technicians dusted the area
and found some partial finger and palm prints, but they were too badly smudged to be useful.
In their search for suspects, investigators made a list of everyone who had been in Kathryn's home
over the past several weeks. CPL. MULL: We found utility bills on the kitchen table, which
indicated that she had a fuel oil delivery. NARRATOR: The oil company indicated they delivered
three days before Kathryn's murder. CPL. MULL: Our investigators went out, contacted each of these people.
We found out that a fuel oil man did not even come in the home. NARRATOR: And the oil deliverymen
had solid alibis for the night of the murder. Police also found a receipt for a chimney cleaning service.
Two men cleaned Kathryn's chimney on the afternoon of her murder. Kathryn's daughter visited her mother that day,
and spoke with the two chimney cleaners. JANET SEITZ: It was three hundred and some dollars.
And I remember saying, to have your chimney cleaned, it's that much? NARRATOR: The two men were identified as 27-year-old Tim
McEnany and his cousin 20-year-old Andrew Reichman. CHARDO: McEnany, who was apparently
part of this guild of chimney sweeps, it's my understanding that it was Tim McEnany that was the boss of the company.
NARRATOR: McEnany and Reichman told police, they finished at Kathryn's house around 6:30.
Then went to a nearby bar, where they stayed until after 1:00 in the morning. Several bar patrons confirmed their alibi.
Then Kathryn's daughter remembered something. When she was in her mother's home on the afternoon
of her murder, she saw three rolls of cash in a basket on the dining room table,
money Kathryn used when shopping for groceries. JANET SEITZ: And I remember saying,
Mother, put that money away. You shouldn't have that out with strangers in the house.
I really felt uncomfortable because of that, with them in the house. And there she had this money.
NARRATOR: When police searched Kathryn's home, they found the basket, but not the three rolls of cash.
SHELLEM: I think it was Mrs. Bishop's daughter was saying there was about $6,000 cash-- I think.
NARRATOR: Then a confidential source told journalist Pete Shellem that Tim McEnany and Andrew Reichman made
a little side trip in the early morning hours after the murder. SHELLEM: The robbery occurred around 10:00 PM.
Sources have told me that Tim and his cousin went to Atlantic City. NARRATOR: Which is where the casinos are,
a perfect place to spend $6,000. The medical examiner estimated that Kathryn Bishop
was murdered sometime between 9:00 and 10:30 PM. The only people who were in Kathryn's home that day,
besides her daughter, were two chimney sweepers who said they left around 6:30 and went to a nearby bar.
CPL. MULL: Both bartenders were attractive young women. The chimney service men were engaging in small talk,
and commenting to these bartenders all the time they were there and having beers.
NARRATOR: The men claimed they were in the bar all night, until closing time. But the bartenders disputed that.
CPL. MULL: The first bartender actually sat next to one of the chairs that the chimney sweeps sat
in, when she was done her shift. And when we interviewed the second bartender, they were in an entirely different location at the bar,
two different chairs later on. NARRATOR: Kathryn's home was only a few miles away from the bar.
CHARDO: A 30 minute window would have been sufficient to have left the bar, committed the crime, and to have returned.
NARRATOR: So with a warrant police searched the chimney cleaners' homes, and confiscated the clothes they were
seen wearing that night at the bar. The Pennsylvania State Police forensic team concluded that the fibers from McEnany black t-shirt
were identical to the one found on Kathryn's body. But Tim McEnany's lawyers were convinced that was a mistake.
So they hired their own trace evidence expert, Skip Palenik. CHARDO: Skip Palenik is highly respected in many quarters.
And so it was obviously of great concern when he's going to be testifying for the defense.
NARRATOR: Palenik first examined the fibers from McEnany's t-shirt under a microscope.
PALENIK: Well, first of all, that there appeared to be both synthetic black fibers
and natural black fibers. NARRATOR: Next, Palenik compared the fibers from McEnany's t-shirt to those taken
from Kathryn Bishop's body. PALENIK: And I just, basically, joined them up with a line between them.
You can see, are the diameters the same? Are the colors really the same? NARRATOR: Tim McEnany and his lawyers
hoped that Skip Palenik would disagree with the State Police forensics expert. But he didn't.
PALENIK: What we found in this case, though, when we compared the cotton fibers, and the tape
of the cotton fibers from the shirt, everything looked the same. When we compared the polyester fibers from the tapes,
with the polyester fibers from the shirt, again, everything looked the same. We could not see any differences.
NARRATOR: This was hardly the conclusion Tim McEnany and his lawyers wanted. PALENIK: The defense attorney gets satisfaction
from seeing his client, who he believes to be innocent, found innocent. Our role is entirely different than theirs.
Our role is to be objective seekers of scientific truth. And that's what we do. -There is a certain irony in the fact
that they're spending a great deal of money, trying to get the bit hitter to come in.
When you've got someone of that stature, they're going to concede what they must concede.
NARRATOR: But McEnany insisted the fibers proved nothing. He said he was working inside Kathryn's home
on the afternoon of her murder, so naturally he would've shed some shirt fibers along the way.
So the state's forensic analyst, John Evans, examined the rest of McEnany's clothing,
and found another tantalizing clue. EVANS: I was given the jacket to examine for trace evidence.
On inspection of the inside pockets, I discovered on the left-hand side, a paint chip that looked
like it could have come from a house. NARRATOR: Evans discovered that the paint chip contained three
separate layers of paint-- white on top, yellow in the middle, and tan on the bottom.
With a scalpel, Evans separated the layers, and subjected each to infrared light.
Different paint reacts to the infrared light in different ways, revealing its chemical makeup.
And paint consists of many chemical compounds. EVANS: We found that the top layers of all three samples
were consistent with each other in the infrared region. NARRATOR: Evans then tested the bottom layer
of the tan paint of the samples. And they, too, have the same chemical make up. CHARDO: The state police took samples from all of that house.
And the other samples didn't match. It was the sample from the basement window, the point of entry, that matched the chip found
in the defendant's pocket and Mrs. Bishop's hand. NARRATOR: The paint and fiber on Kathryn's body clearly
linked Tim McEnany to the murder. But there was no forensic evidence linking Andrew Reichman.
JANET SEITZ: The theory was that Reichman bargained to be part of a burglary, but not part of a murder.
And when he saw what McEnany was doing to Mrs. Bishop, it was then that he hightailed it out of there.
NARRATOR: Unfortunately, the neighbor walking her dog couldn't identify Reichman as the man running from the scene.
So only Tim McEnany was charged with Kathryn Bishop's murder. To cement the case, investigators
decided to check one last thing-- Tim McEnany's cell phone calls on the night of the murder.
And the information in those records explained everything. As prosecutors prepared their murder case against Tim
McEnany, they had the paint and fiber evidence, but wanted to make sure they had enough to convict him.
So investigators subpoenaed McEnany's cell phone records for the night of Kathryn's murder.
CPL. MULL: We took the phone into the lab, and we sequenced the phone to the last number
called, whatever that would be. And it turned out to be Mrs. Bishop's phone number.
NARRATOR: McEnany's phone records showed he made two calls to Kathryn Bishop's home
that night. One at 10:07 PM. And the second call, a minute later. CPL. MULL: The calls were short in duration--
20 seconds, 10 seconds. There appeared to be no connection with the home phone. And the calls were made from Mr. McEnany's cell phone.
NARRATOR: But if Kathryn was home, why didn't she pick up the phone? JANET SEITZ: She was hard of hearing.
I would call her and it would ring, sometimes it rang as high as 15 to 20 times,
and she never answered. NARRATOR: Prosecutors believe McEnany saw the rolls of cash
on Kathryn's dining room table while he and Reichman were cleaning her chimney. Later at the bar, he probably made the decision to steal it.
McEnany called Kathryn's home shortly after 10:00 PM. And again a minute later. [phone ringing]
NARRATOR: When there was no answer, he assumed Kathryn was either asleep, or out.
The evidence shows that McEnany entered Kathryn's home through the basement window, and inadvertently
collected the tiny chips of paint. Once inside, McEnany discovered that Kathryn was awake,
and made a split-second decision to kill her. Kathryn fought back, grabbing the shirt
fibers, as well as the paint chip. McEnany kicked her over 60 times. Prosecutors believe McEnany's accomplice ran from Kathryn's
home, breaking the back door window. [glass breaking] But the neighborhood couldn't identify if it was Reichman,
because she never saw his face. Later, McEnany and Reichman returned to the bar to establish an alibi.
According to an informant, McEnany and Reichman then drove to an Atlantic City Casino to gamble,
presumably with Kathryn's money. But this was never corroborated. During the police interrogation, McEnany
refused to identify Reichman as his accomplice, but virtually confessed to the crime.
CHARDO: And without any solicitation he said, it's that f-ing bear. Every time I drink, I get in trouble.
NARRATOR: Tim McEnany was tried and convicted of second-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy.
But before he was sentenced, McEnany run towards the window and tried to jump out.
A assistant public defender and the Sheriff were able to grab him and pull him back in.
And at that point, his family, who were in the court room, were screaming and yelling.
The defendant was screaming, "you've convicted an innocent man." It was-- it was bedlam.
EVANS: McEnany stayed long enough to hear his sentence-- life in prison, and was taken away.
Andrew Reichman was never charged in this case. His lawyers maintained there was no evidence
that he participated in the crime. Prosecutors reluctantly agreed. CHARDO: The difference between McEnany and Reichman,
aside from the fact that, I believe, that McEnany was the principle, but the forensic evidence was
against McEnany. We didn't have any forensic evidence against Reichman. NARRATOR: Investigators say this was a classic example of barely
visible evidence leading directly to a killer. SGT. GEORGE KEGERREIS, JR: The general principle of forensics
is, when you go somewhere you do one of two things. You either leave evidence, or you take evidence with you.
CPL. MULL: It was easy for the jury to see something like that. Juries like that.
They can put the puzzle together. And we just provide them with the pieces and let them go with it, wherever it goes.
-I'm thankful, yes, that there are experts in their field, and they were able to find the evidence that they got.
[theme music]

In 1993, 82-year-old Kathryn Bishop was found dead in her Pennsylvania home. Tiny clues on the victim's body would tell police what happened that night.

Forensic Files is the longest-running true crime series in television history. Evidence and interviews with experts help solve real crimes, disease outbreaks and accidents around the world.

Brief Summary

Forensic evidence links Tim McEnany to the brutal murder of Kathryn Bishop, leading to his conviction.

Key points

The Unusual Break-In. Forensic evidence reveals the perpetrator broke out of the crime scene, not in.
A Mother's Tragic End. 82-year-old Kathryn Bishop was brutally murdered in her home, shocking the community.
The Alibi That Crumbled. Chimney cleaners claimed they were at a bar, but their alibi fell apart.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

But not the way my mother died.

Janet Seitz reflects on her mother's tragic death.

2:51WatchJan 20, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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