Forensic Files - Season 2, Episode 12 - Micro-Clues - Full Episode | Forensic Files

- After a day of fishing in a small quiet village in Switzerland, a teenage boy did
not return home as planned. The investigation revealed some important microscopic evidence in the water near where he was last seen.
It was the only forensic evidence detectives had. Late in the afternoon of August 4th, 1993 in the small Swiss village of Noi Paradis,
13-year old Dario Chikoleckia left his home to go fishing in a nearby creek. As night fell on the town, Dario had not returned home and his mother called the
police to report her son missing. - When we found the bike and his clothing, we concluded that he had last been fishing
there. Where and with whom he could have left the place, we had no idea. - Two days passed and the search intensified with more than 100 policemen
patroling the area with search dogs. A missing person poster aired on local television and newspapers asked "Where is Dario?" As time passed, people feared the
worst. - To us, there were clear indications that a crime had taken place because of the
objects found: his bike and his trunks. - Search teams meticulously combed the field next to the creek where Dario's swim
trunks and fishing pole had been found. Farther downstream, police found Dario's
t-shirt on the bank. A dam was placed in the creek in order to search the muddy bottom for evidence.
Many items were discovered but nothing that could be linked to the missing boy. Two nights after Dario was reported missing, two
women were walking a dog along a field path near Switzerland's border with Germany.
They saw what appeared to be blood. Just a few feet away, in a nearby cornfield, laid the naked body
of a young man. - When I got the message from these two women, we immediately sent a police
officer to check the site. When he reported that the body was that of a young man, we realized that it might be Dario.
- The body was positively identified as Dario Chicoleckia. He had been sexually mutilated.
- I certainly will never forget this all of my life, that terrible sight. It was quite obvious from the beginning that it was a sex crime.
This could be seen from the injuries. There were cuts and bruises also in the genital area.
- When the medical examiner arrived at the scene, he concluded that the cuts on the
body were consistent with a pocket knife but were made some time after the boy was
dead. - I found on the body a lot of long cuts, side-by-side and this helped me to think
that the boy did not move during the cuts were made. And on the other hand, there were no defensive wounds.
- Although blood had been found near the body, Dr. Wyler believed it wasn't enough
blood to indicate that the boy's heart was still pumping when the mutilation took place.
- When there is no heart action and no circulation in the body, there is no possibility to, to bleed very much.
- With no evidence of a struggle, police suspected that Dario had been murdered somewhere else and the body transported to the cornfield.
Police found Dario's sneakers in the cornfield but they did not find the knife used in the mutilation.
- We were greatly alarmed. Such crimes are frequently repeated if the killer is still at large.
We therefore started immediately with a very thorough search of the environment.
- Police could find no foreign hair, fibers, or semen but Dr. Wyler swabbed the inside of Dario's mouth for possible forensic evidence. When he analyzed that
sample, he discovered some microscopic evidence. It was a discovery that would change the course of the investigation
and launch a new era in crime science. After Dario Chicoleckia's mutilated body was found lying in a cornfield,
Dr. Daniel Wyler analyzed the forensic evidence from Dario's mouth. Something under the microscope caught his attention.
He found what they are called diatoms. Diatoms are a type of algae, microscopic organisms that live mostly in the sea,
in ponds, lakes and streams. They can also be found on moist rocks, even in mud and soil. These tiny organisms are the most diverse of all algae.
Globally, they account for approximately 25% of all photosynthesis. There are about 16,000 different species of diatoms worldwide,
about 3,000 species in Switzerland alone. Diatoms can tell scientists about past environmental conditions in fresh water
and marine environments as long ago as tens of thousands of years. And in the case of Dario Chicoleckia, Dr. Wyler hoped that the diatoms found
in his body would reveal something about his murder. - I was absolutely sure that this boy was drowned. In the lungs, I found a lot of
mud and this helped me to see that he has been in water with a lot of mud, so it can't be a very deep lake or something like that.
It must be a creek or a small river or something like that. - Diatoms were also found on Dario's sneakers, which were in the cornfield near
his body. The next step was to see if the diatoms in Dario's lungs and on his sneakers could help determine the exact body of water where Dario had been
murdered. To find out, Dr. Wyler called on the expertise of Dr. Joachim Hurlimann,
a biologist who specializes in the study of diatoms. - You can look to the diatoms in the lungs and you can see the species and the
species give you information about the, the type of river or lake, the water quality.
- Dr. Hurlimann was asked to analyze the diatom populations in Dario's lungs and
sneakers, as well as those found in water samples from the region. If he could find
significant similarities, investigators would know the exact location of his murder.
- If you have uh, a high similarity you know that the two samples must come from
the same place. - But with as many as 3,000 different species of diatoms in Switzerland alone,
Dr. Hurlimann would have to test water samples from the nearby bodies of water to
make an accurate comparison. - To be very sure that there is no other pond or river or creek which has the
similar or the same diatom community, so if you look to other, uhm, water bodies
and you won't find the communities, then you're quite sure that uh, this special
place was the place of the, of the drowning. - Water samples were collected from the surrounding bodies of water including the
Rhine River which flows between the creek and the cornfield where Dario's body had
been found. The water samples were treated with acids to kill any organic matter in
the diatoms, leaving their glass-like skeletal remains, a necessary step in identification according to species. Under the microscope, Dr. Hurlimann compared the
diatom populations found in Dario's lungs and on his sneakers to the thousands of
known species in his reference journals. He found one dominant species. The diatoms were identified as Fragilaria Pinnata,
a fresh water species usually found attached to sand grains in slowly moving water. The next step was for Dr. Hurlimann to
count and identify the diatom populations from the various water samples using an elaborate chart. It was a tedious process but eventually he found one body
of water which had, as it's dominant species, Fragilaria Pinnata, the same dominant species found in Dario's lungs and on his sneakers. It was from a water
sample taken from the creek just a few feet away from where Dario's bicycle was found. This discovery led Dr. Hurlimann to one conclusion.
- We can say that the diatoms found in the lungs of Dario must be from the same place
and we have taken samples from the creek. - Was it possible that the diatom evidence could tell investigators more than simply
where Dario was murdered? Could the diatoms lead investigators to the killer? Armed with the diatom evidence found inside Dario Chicoleckia's lungs and on
his sneakers, police concluded that he had been forcefully drowned in the creek where
he had been fishing, before being mutilated and dumped in the cornfield. The question now, who murdered Dario and how was the body transported
to the cornfield a few kilometers away? Police questioned friends and acquaintances of the victim.
- We questioned about 200 persons, both in Switzerland and Germany. Of course, the family were also investigated
as it is always done in such cases. Also, in case no responsible person is found to clear the family
that no suspicions remained with them. - With no strong leads or suspects, Swiss Police informed Interpol of the case.
Interpol is an international agency headquartered in France that shares information about criminal investigations with the 178 nations
who are members of the network. - As the body was found so close to the border, it was possible that the murderer
might have come from or gone to a foreign country. It was a difficult case. Interpol was also informed of the case.
- Three months after the murder of Dario Chicoleckia, Interpol notified Swiss Police of a possible lead. A man had been arrested in France
for sexually assaulting a hitchhiker and trying to kill him. He was identified as 35-year old Roland Keebler,
a psychiatric nurse who was divorced and the father of a five-year old girl. What caught Interpol's attention was the fact that Keebler lived in Switzerland,
not far from the village where Dario Chicoleckia was murdered. When Dr. Wyler heard of Roland Keebler's arrest, he suggested something unusual.
He told the Swiss Police to examine Keebler's car. - Car is still in Switzerland so I asked the police whether its possible to get
the pedals of the car and the carpet in the trunk, to bring all that stuff to Dr. Hurlimann.
- It was clear that the people who has done this drowning that, uhm, he must have
diatoms on his shoes, on his clothes or, or in his car. - Forensic scientists collected microscopic debris from inside Keebler's
car, including material from both the gas and brake pedals the carpet in the passenger compartment and the carpet from the trunk.
When Dr. Hurlimann analyzed those samples under a microscope, he made a surprising
discovery. He found diatoms. They were found on both the gas and brake pedals, in the carpet under the pedals
and in the carpet in the trunk. When he analyzed the diatoms found in the car, he discovered they were Fragilaria Pinnata,
the same dominant species found in Dario's lungs, on his sneakers and in the creek.
With 3,000 different species of diatoms in Switzerland, the similarities in the diatom evidence was significant.
- We know now that the material found in the car must come or is similar to the one
of the lung of Dario and to the material found in the creek. - Armed with this microscopic evidence, Swiss Police confronted Roland Keebler.
He denied he had anything to do with Dario's murder and said he only knew about the crime from what he read in the newspapers.
But during questioning, Keebler revealed details of Dario's wounds, details which had never been reported in the newspapers.
Roland Keebler knew too much. When confronted with the discrepancy, Roland Keebler confessed to the murder of Dario Chicoleckia.
A picture now emerged of what took place at the creek the day Dario disappeared and how his killer left behind a microscopic trail of evidence.
During police interrogation, Roland Keebler confessed to both the murder and the mutilation of Dario Chicoleckia
and his long standing sexual fantasies about young boys. - He is, in simple terms, a pedophile
and he has suppressed his homosexual tendencies for years. And when he lived his fantasies, he had to kill the victim in order to keep a secret.
- On August 4th, 1993, Dario rode his bicycle to the creek near his home for an afternoon of fishing.
He left his bike near the main road and headed down to the water. Roland Keebler was on vacation and had been drinking heavily
when he drove in the area where Dario was fishing. Keebler spotted Dario's bike and told police just knowing a young boy
was in the area excited him greatly. Keebler parked his car and walked to where Dario was fishing.
[foreign language] After a brief conversation, Keebler approached Dario again. He attacked the young boy, pushing him into the water, forced him to undress
and sexually molested him. Then Keebler forced Dario's head under the water into the mud
of the stream bed. With his knee between Dario's shoulderblades, he kept the boy
submerged until the struggling stopped. Keebler decided not to leave the body at the scene of the crime.
Instead, he placed the boy's body into the trunk of his car and left for a social engagement with his ex-wife.
Little did Keebler realize he had left behind a trail of evidence, microscopic single cell evidence which would link him to the scene of the crime.
From the moment Keebler pushed his victim into the creek, microscopic diatoms in the water attached themselves to the soles of his shoes
and diatoms in the water flooded Dario's mouth and lungs when he was forcefully drowned.
Keebler transferred those diatoms from his shoes to the pedals of his car when he drove away.
And diatoms from Dario's mouth would later seep onto the carpet in the trunk in which he was transported to the cornfield.
Dr. Wyler's discovery of the diatoms and Dr. Hurlimann's species identification in the laboratory
were essential elements in tracking down a vicious killer. Roland Keebler had silenced his victim but the diatom evidence spoke volumes.
- I am proud that I found these diatoms. It was a very, very good feeling for me
to have found a scientific way to prove something which was very important, to find a murderer.
- We know that we didn't make big mistakes or errors in, in the determination or in
the preparation of the older samples, so it was, at this moment, it was a good feeling, of course.
- This case therefore became sort of a model case. Also worldwide and particularly in Switzerland.
it had never been done in this way before. We were pioneers and we certainly hope that it will be possible to solve
other cases in the same way for the future. - Roland Keebler confessed not only to the murder of Dario Chicoleckia
but also admitted killing another boy in the same area of Switzerland ten years earlier.
Keebler was convicted of both crimes and was sentenced to life in prison. Candles burn near the creek where Dario died,
a shrine built by villagers to keep Dario's memory alive. And in the nearby churchyard where Dario is buried,
his sculpture reminds visitors of the gentle, innocent child who died too soon. - Whenever children are the victims of violent crimes, it's much, much worse.
And this must be the same all over the world.

After a day of fishing in a small, quiet village in Switzerland, a teenage boy did not return home as planned. The investigation revealed some important microscopic evidence in the water near where he was last seen. It was the only forensic evidence detectives had. But would it be enough for them to find him? Originally aired as Season 2, Episode 12.

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

The episode details the murder of Dario Chicoleckia and the forensic breakthrough using diatoms that led to his killer's confession.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance. 13-year-old Dario Chikoleckia goes missing after a day of fishing, sparking a frantic search.
The Gruesome Discovery. Dario's mutilated body is found in a cornfield, leading to a shocking investigation.
Diatoms Lead to the Killer. Forensic evidence from diatoms found in Dario's lungs connects to the suspect Roland Keebler.
Keebler's Confession. Roland Keebler confesses to Dario's murder, revealing a chilling pattern of behavior.
A Lasting Memory. Villagers create a shrine to honor Dario's memory, reminding all of his tragic fate.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I certainly will never forget this all of my life, that terrible sight.

Witness recalling the discovery of Dario's body.

3:29WatchMay 27, 2021

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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