Forensic Files - Season 3, Episode 11 - Speck of Evidence - Full Episode | Forensic Files

Honey, do mom a favor. Take this down to the mailbox, OK? OK. I love you mom. I love you too.
NARRATOR: Vicki Lynne Hoskinson never returned home after running the errand for her mother.
Her abandoned bicycle was the only clue to her disappearance. [music playing] Eight-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson
grew up in Flowing Wells, a suburb of Tucson, Arizona. She was the youngest in a family brought
together by the second marriage of her mother, Debbie Carlson. There was something about her that grabbed her heart
the minute you were around her. She had this intensity of a royal blueness in her eyes.
When you looked into her eyes, you saw this depth of wisdom that was beyond her years.
NARRATOR: Vicki's prized possession was the pink Stingray bicycle she had received as a Christmas
present, which is what she rode to the mailbox on the day she disappeared. To get to the mailbox, Vicki headed down a dirt path
behind some neighbors' homes, went down a dead end street, and over an uncleared area of desert brush.
Her mother expected Vicki back in 10 minutes. When she didn't return, she sent her older daughter,
Stephanie, to look for her. Stephanie came right back and she's hysterical and she's crying.
She says, mom, I found Vicki's bike in the middle of the road. And I go, what do you mean you found Vicki's
bike in the middle of the road? She goes, it was laying in the middle of the road,
and she goes, something's wrong. Something's wrong. My mom got in the car and drove around and picked up
the bicycle and, you know, rode through the neighborhood looking for Vicki, and when she returned home,
she called the police. At the time, we thought we were possibly looking for just a missing child who
had failed to come home after going out to do an errand for her mother. And as the search went on, it became obvious that something--
something other than a normal disappearing-- disappearing child had occurred. NARRATOR: Hundreds of volunteers searched the nearby desert,
and police helicopters scoured the area. Vicki's family pleaded for her safe return
on local television. My faith in God that-- that he's watching over her and he's protecting her
and that he is gonna bring her home to us. I really believe that she's still alive.
NARRATOR: Police received a number of calls from people who claimed to have seen
a child who look like Vicki. There were a lot of Vicki sightings. It's not an unusual phenomena when you ask people to go look
for-- for such a person, and our community was actively looking for Vicki. NARRATOR: But all of the sightings were dead ends.
Within days of Vicki Lynne Hoskinson's disappearance, yellow ribbons appeared all over Tucson
as a sign of the community's concern for the missing eight-year-old girl. MARK KIMBLE: The picture of Vicki
that is locked in everyone's mind of this little gap-toothed eight-year-old girl,
the way Vicki was forever frozen in most people's memory, was everywhere. It was on the front page of the newspapers many times.
It was on billboards around town. It was on TV so often. It was one incident and one person who
really brought Tucson together. NARRATOR: But police had no solid leads on Vicki's whereabouts.
The local police called in the FBI, who wanted to question the last teacher at school who
had seen the little girl alive. It was Vicki's athletic coach, Sam Hall, and the story he told them was chilling.
He said he was in the school playground picking up some sports equipment with a student.
Come on, Rachel, you ready? Come on, Rachel, let's go. We've got to get out of here.
NARRATOR: A strange looking character in a sports car caught his eye. The man appeared to be staring at the children.
He had long hair and an unkempt appearance, and drove away shortly after he was spotted.
Something was telling me that this gentleman just wasn't right. And as a Christian man, and as a man of prayer
and a man who does pray and I have a relationship with the Lord, I sensed the Lord telling me this man
was gonna do something evil and wicked, and I-- that I needed to write down everything I saw.
NARRATOR: Hall immediately went to his car, wrote the man's license plate number on a piece of paper,
and put it in his glove compartment. The FBI told Hall that Vicki disappeared near the mailbox
one block away not long after Hall saw the man in the sports car. And as soon as they told me what happened, that Vicki Lynne
was abducted, immediately, I went right back to that car and what was just sitting in my glove box in my pickup.
NARRATOR: The car had a California license plate with the number 1KEZ608. The car was registered to Frank Jarvis Atwood.
He had two prior arrests, one for lewd and lascivious behavior, the other for kidnapping, in each case,
the victims were young boys. Atwood was out on parole at the time of Vicki Hoskinson's disappearance.
But there was no proof of any connection between Atwood and Vicki Lynne Hoskinson.
Investigators went back to where they found the bicycle. This time, they saw something they hadn't seen before.
LARRY BAGLEY: And I noticed a post had been bent over about 25 feet away at the side of the road.
So when I went over and examined it, it had been a fresh bend and the bend was about 12 inches from the ground.
NARRATOR: Investigators suspected that the dent may have been caused by the perpetrator.
Since it was low to the ground, it looked like it was caused by a small vehicle, possibly
a sports car. The car registered to Frank Atwood was a sports car, a Datsun 260Z.
Police issued an all points bulletin for Frank Atwood. Three days after Vicki's disappearance,
Atwood was traced from California to Arizona to Oklahoma and, finally, to the small town of Kerrville, Texas.
Under questioning, Atwood said nothing that could link him or his automobile to Vicki's disappearance.
But afterwards, one of the detectives noticed a small speck of paint on the front bumper
of that Atwood's car that looked to be the same color as Vicki's abandoned bicycle.
Frank Atwood was arrested on a suspicion of kidnapping. DEBBIE CARLSON: We all gathered in the living room,
and they showed the arrest on TV. And my first feeling was, is, oh, my God, this man
looks like Charles Manson. And all I could think about was this man could have touched my daughter.
NARRATOR: Atwood maintained his innocence, but the police were convinced that Atwood's car had
been at the scene of the crime. For the proof they needed, they turned to science.
Frank Atwood was in custody on the suspicion of kidnapping Vicki Lynne Hoskinson, but he denied
he was involved in any way. The family gradually came to terms with the possibility
that Vicki would never be found alive. Christmas. That was Christmas. Thought for sure she was coming home for Christmas.
That's when I realized that she was never coming home. Excuse me. NARRATOR: The only evidence against Atwood
was circumstantial, a tiny speck of paint on his bumper that may have come from Vicki's bicycle,
but could have come from anywhere. Police sent Atwood's car and Vicki's bicycle to accident reconstructionist Paul Larmour.
When Larmour placed the bicycle on the ground sideways, he noticed that the pedal was at the exact same height
as the scratch marks and the indentation on the gravel pan under Atwood's front bumper.
There was no impact, in the classic sense of the word. There was contact between the two
and the car continued to push against the bike, pushed it down on the ground and overrode it to the point
that the pedal deformed the gravel pan under the car. NARRATOR: Lamour believes that Atwood's car
was going less than 5 miles an hour when it struck Vicki's bicycle. This would account for the lack of blood at the scene.
The car was going too slow for Vicki to have sustained serious injuries. Next, the bumper of Attwood's car and Vicki's bicycle
were both sent to the FBI lab in Washington DC. The prosecution requested that we look at the bicycle
and compare that to the paint that was scraped off the bumper of the vehicle, as well as a paint that was
remaining on the vehicle, and try to make a comparison to see if those paints originated
from the same source. Namely, did the pink paint on the suspect's bumper match the pink paint from the victim's bicycle?
NARRATOR: Paint analysis involves microscopic and microchemical examination. Under the microscope, the samples
of paint from Atwood's bumper and the bicycle appeared to be similar. Next, microchemicals were added to both paint samples.
Both reacted to the chemicals in the same way. Finally, the paint samples were placed in a gas chromatograph
mass spectrometer and heated to a temperature of 760 degrees centigrade, which vaporizes and separates
the organic components of the paint samples. The compounds in both paint samples were identical.
This did not necessarily prove that the paint on Atwood's bumper came from Vicki Hoskinson's bicycle.
When Jim Corby studied the paint samples under the scanning electron microscope,
he noticed one element in the paint from Vicki's bicycle which was not common in the chemical formulation of paint.
He found traces of nickle. But where had it come from? When he look closer at Atwood's bumper,
he noticed that the chrome on the bumper next to the pink paint had been scratched, exposing
the nickel underplating. The chemical composition of the nickel underplating on Atwood's
bumper was identical to the nickel sample found on Vicki's bicycle. It leads one to believe, as a forensic scientist,
that these two items, namely, the bicycle and the bumper, were in forcible contact with each other at one time,
meaning that they made physical contact with each other. NARRATOR: This two-way transfer, paint
from the bicycle onto the bumper, and the nickel from the bumper onto the bicycle, placed
Frank Atwood's automobile at the scene of Vicki Hoskinson's disappearance. Seven months after Vicki Hoskinson's disappearance,
a man hiking through the desert outside of Tucson found a human skull which looked like that of a child.
It was an area that we had initially speculated if you were going to get rid of a body,
where would you do it? And it was an area that was close to the area where she disappeared.
It's on that side of town. It was remote. NARRATOR: After several days of searching,
more bones were discovered. Some had been gnawed by animals. Among those found was a lower jawbone with teeth.
The news was devastating to the family, although, not a surprise. I'll never forget the look on Sheriff Dupnik's face.
Him and I are really close. But I just knew looking at him what the answer was without them telling me verbally.
And I just remember losing it and watching all these grown men turn their back to me because they didn't want me
to see that they were crying. NARRATOR: Forensic anthropologist Dr. Walter Birkby was asked to analyze the skeletal remains to see if they
belonged to Vicki Hoskinson. He used a technique called comparative dental radiography
to compare the teeth and jaw bone found in the desert to the dental x-rays of Vicki Hoskinson.
They were a match. But he could not determine the cause of death from the rest of the remains.
There weren't any sharp implement marks and really nothing that would indicate blunt force
trauma or anything like that. But so cause of death could have been practically anything.
NARRATOR: Hundreds of people attended Vicki Hoskinson's funeral. Many knew of her only through news reports,
but wanted to share in the family's grief. They'd grabbed the emotion, not only of people here,
but of all people in Tucson. It was something that everyone at the time was talking about.
And I can't think of anything that's been-- that this even approached that magnitude since then.
NARRATOR: Frank Atwood was charged with murder. His lawyers pointed out that Atwood
had been in police custody since three days after Vicki's disappearance. They said it was impossible to know when the body
had been dumped in the desert. It was possible it could have happened while Atwood was in custody.
Medical examiner Dr. Richard Froede was asked if there was any way to tell when Vicki Lynne
Hoskinson had been killed. Now, we must take it to anything we can find on the bones.
And one of the things that we found on the bones was there was some adipocere there.
NARRATOR: Adipocere, also known as mortuary fat, is the gray, waxy substance which
forms when a body is exposed to high temperatures, bacteria, and water. Dr. Froede knew that the desert had high temperatures, as
well as sources of bacteria, but deserts have little or no water. Was it possible that the body was first in an area with water
before it was moved to the desert? If so, Frank Atwood would be exonerated since he had been in custody since three days
after the girl's disappearance. Dr. Froede researched the weather conditions for the period that Vicki
Hoskinson had been missing. We found that within a day or two after she had disappeared
that there were heavy rains in that area, and then there were no more rains for months.
NARRATOR: The adipocere told Dr. Froede that the body was in the desert during these rainstorms,
most likely in a shallow grave. The rain water had mixed with the bacteria and the high temperatures over the next two to three months,
forming the adipocere found on her bones. We now know that the body had to been there during these heavy rains.
Had it been a month later, two months, three months, it would have been dry and the body would have been mummified
and you would not have seen the adipocere. NARRATOR: This put the time of Vicki's death
within a day or two of her disappearance. Prosecutors believe that Atwood was cruising the Tucson
area for a child the day Sam Hall saw him near the schoolyard. Fortunately, Hall had the presence
of mind to write his license number down on a piece of paper. A half hour later, Atwood saw Vicki on her pink bicycle
a block away from the school. He accelerated into Vicki's bicycle, knocking her to the ground.
The bumper hit the bicycle just under the seat, which produced the double transfer of paint onto his bumper and nickel
from the bumper onto the bicycle. The bike wedged beneath the cars gravel pan, leaving an indentation and scratch marks.
- Where are you taking me? - Shut up, kid. Just get in the car. I'm gonna take you home.
NARRATOR: Atwood forced Vicki into his car, possibly with the promise that he would drive her home.
While making his getaway, Atwood backed into the mail post leaving the den later found by police.
No one knows what happened to Vicki Lynne Hoskinson during that fateful drive to the desert.
But prosecutors believe he buried her body later that same day in a shallow grave.
Within a day or two, heavy rain seeped into her grave, causing the adipocere to form on her decomposing bones.
Vicki was in the wrong spot at the wrong time. I believe that Frank kidnapped her, I believe he hit her,
knocked her off the bicycle to make contact with her. I think he had even done that in the past,
made contact with people by contacting them on bicycles. I believe he sexually assaulted her,
and I believe he killed her. NARRATOR: Frank Jarvis Atwood was tried and convicted
of first degree murder in the death of Vicki Lynne Hoskinson and was sentenced to death.
From an investigative standpoint, the real hero in this investigation was Sam Hall, who's a gym teacher here at Homer
Davis Elementary School. People say that I'm the hero of the case, but I just want to be a hero that would
have saved a child's life. That's all. I'm not a victim that will ever forgive the perpetrator,
the murderer. I will never forgive him. And I don't visit the cemetery because I don't believe
that that's where she is. When Atwood left her in the desert, that's where she was laid to rest.
I feel that that really is where-- other than in my heart, where my sister is. There was one time when I was going through a really tough
time trying to come to a peace about her death that she came to my bedroom. And I woke-- and was like, I'm sleeping,
and I hear these little pitter patter of feet, and this little tapping of mama, mama, mama, and I look up--
you have to understand, this is after Vicki's been deceased, and here's Vicki standing at the foot of my bed
and there's this white light surrounding her and she's saying, mommy, I'm OK. I need you to be OK.
And then she disappeared. That was a turning point for me. [music playing]

On September 17, 1984, in a suburb of Tucson, Arizona, eight-year-old Vicki Hoskins left home on her pink bicycle to mail a letter for her mother. She never returned, but her slightly damaged bicycle was found nearby. Investigators turned to forensic science, in the hope it would tell them not only what happened to Vicki, but also who was responsible. Originally aired as Season 3, Episode 11.

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.

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

Vicki Lynne Hoskinson disappeared in Tucson; Frank Atwood was arrested and convicted for her murder after forensic evidence linked him to the crime.

Key points

Vicki's Disappearance. Eight-year-old Vicki Lynne Hoskinson goes missing after running an errand for her mother.
Community Response. The Tucson community rallies together, displaying yellow ribbons in support of Vicki's safe return.
Chilling Encounter. Vicki's athletic coach recalls a strange man in a sports car watching children at school.
Forensic Evidence. Paint analysis links Frank Atwood's car to Vicki's bicycle, placing him at the scene.
Trial and Conviction. Frank Atwood is convicted of first-degree murder in Vicki's death and sentenced to death.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I love you mom.

0:07WatchJun 24, 2021

Tension

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