Forensic Files — Season 3, Episode 9 — Beaten by a Hair (In HD) | Forensic Files

[music playing] NARRATOR: Early Monday morning on October 19, 1992, 23-year-old Laura Houghteling was seen leaving her Bethesda,
Maryland home, walking to the train station on her way to work. She never arrived.
A clue to her disappearance was a peculiar strand of hair found in her hair brush.
[music playing] Laura Houghteling was an ambitious young woman with a bright future.
She had recently graduated from Harvard University and had moved back home with her mother, Penny.
Laura worked for a public relations firm in Washington DC and was contemplating law school.
[trumpet playing] ANNOUNCER: Flag is up, and away they go. NARRATOR: On the Saturday before she disappeared,
Laura attended the Gold Cup Steeplechase Horse Races in Virginia. When Laura didn't show up for work,
a co-worker called the house, but there was no answer. Laura's mother was out of town on a business trip.
Next, Laura's brother Warren was called. He lived nearby. When he arrived at the house, he found
that the back door was unlocked, but there was nothing missing inside. As time went on, nobody had heard from Lauren.
And this was just totally, totally out of character for her. There was-- we checked her bank account,
credit cards, checking account. There was nothing there where she had withdrawn money where--
that she would have needed to survive somewhere else. NARRATOR: Fliers with Laura's photograph
were distributed at the train station in the hope that someone might have seen her.
Police also searched the walk in between the drain station and Laura's home looking for possible clues,
but found nothing. When detectives searched Laura's bedroom, they noticed that a fitted sheet and mattress
pad were missing from her bed. Laura's mother said that Laura always made her bed
before leaving for work. Four days after Laura Houghteling disappeared, investigators made a grim discovery
in the woods near Laura's home at the base of a tree. They found a bloody pillow and pillowcase.
Immediately, I-- I recognized the pattern on the pillowcase was identical to what I had remembered
had been on Laura Houghteling bed a few days earlier. NARRATOR: The blood on the pillow case
was type A, Laura's blood type. A police bloodhound, named Sherlock, was given some of Laura's clothing
to establish her scent. When Sherlock was released from his cage, he went directly to the tree where police had
found the bloody pillowcase. The bloodhound followed the scent through a church parking
lot, through a residential area, and straight to the back door of Laura Houghteling's home.
The dog had a very strong track and actually ran the distance, which indicated to us
that he was very, very definitely on the scent of Laura Houghteling. NARRATOR: Police suspected foul play, but they had no suspects.
We spoke to everyone that we could that had seen Laura or knew Laura within the last year or two,
and no one could give us any reason for anyone to want to do any harm to her, have any harm to come to her.
NARRATOR: But police wondered why the bloodhound tracked Laura's scent to her back door when she was seen
leaving the front door of her home on the morning she disappeared. Police suspected foul play in the disappearance
of 23-year-old Laura Houghteling when a bloody pillow from Laura's bedroom was found in the woods near her home.
To find out whether the blood on the pillow belonged to Laura, blood samples were taken from Laura's mother,
Penny, and her brother, Warren. Using a DNA test called Restriction Fragment Length
Polymorphism, or RFLP, scientists concluded that the blood came from a biological offspring
of Laura's mother, Penny, and was that of a biological sibling of Laura's brother, Warren.
The blood on the pillow was that of Laura Houghteling. Next, scientists used another illuminating test
on the mattress to look for blood that may have been cleaned up with water or detergents.
Luminol is a chemical compound that reacts with the hemoglobin component in blood,
causing it to glow in the dark. And it works with fairly minute traces. And once this begins to glow, you
can get a pretty good idea of what the-- the pattern of the blood flow was on a particular area.
NARRATOR: This demonstration shows a carpet with a visible blood stain, and next to it,
an invisible blood stain that has been cleaned with the water and detergent. The tiles with X's are targets used as reference
points in the dark. When the luminol is sprayed, within seconds, the invisible blood stains glow.
After luminol was sprayed on Laura's mattress, an invisible blood pattern emerged.
The left side of the mattress was giving us no response at all. But when we started spraying the right side of the mattress,
we were seeing areas of very intense luminescence. And this proceeded from the headboard
all the way down to the foot of the mattress. NARRATOR: Next, forensic scientists examined the hair
brush found on Laura's dresser. They examined over 30 hairs, presumably, Laura's hairs.
They were all microscopically similar, except one. So I was scanning through several of the hairs
that I recovered from the brush, and all of a sudden, one that I looked at I realized was not a human hair,
in fact, was a synthetic fiber. NARRATOR: The fiber was identified as a strand of artificial hair from a wig.
Penny Houghteling told police that her daughter never wore a wig, and had never owned one.
So now that put greater value on this particular piece of evidence. Why was a wig fiber in that hairbrush
sitting on the dresser from her bedroom? NARRATOR: Forensic examiner Susan Ballou also examined the bloody pillowcase found in the woods.
She noticed blood stains that looked like the impression of a knife, which had been wiped on the pillowcase,
and another bloodstain on the pillowcase was different than the rest. The ridges that I was seeing was
different from the weave of the fabric of the pillow case. There were enough that was consistent with what
I was familiar with with leaving an impression behind. NARRATOR: It appeared to be some sort of print,
but lifting a print from a fabric is difficult. For a closer look, scientists used a protein
stain called amido black. Next, a wash solution was applied, followed by distilled water.
When the print on the pillowcase was enhanced by the amido black stain, it was identified
as a partial thumb print. We then sat down with the family, would have been Laura's brother and--
and her mother, and explained to her that we felt that Laura possibly may have been murdered
in the bedroom based on the amount of blood and based on the circumstances. 10 days after 24-year-old Laura Houghteling disappeared
from her Bethesda home, her family tells reporters they believe they know what happened to her.
She was first considered to be a missing person, but now, the high-tech equipment that is now available to the police
have shown that she died here. NARRATOR: Police now had solid evidence that might
lead them to the murderer. Although police suspected that Laura Houghteling had been
murdered in her bedroom, they were unable to find her body, and had no solid leads.
Laura's brother, Warren, told police of an incident he had with a part-time gardener who worked at his mother's
home, Hadden Clark. The night after Laura disappeared, Warren was outside his mother's home
and saw Hadden Clark driving through the neighborhood. Hadden. NARRATOR: When he attempted to speak
with Clark to ask him if he had seen Laura, Clark sped away. 40-year-old Hadden Clark was known to police because
of a past arrest for burglary. A few years earlier, Clark had also been a suspect in the investigation
of a missing young girl, a case that has never been solved. Clark was born with brain damage and had
difficulty throughout his life. He trained as a chef, but had difficulty keeping jobs.
He was currently working as a gardener and other odd jobs. He was, at one time, in the United States Navy,
and he was discharged and diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. NARRATOR: Clark was basically homeless, often
sleeping in the back of his truck, which he parked in a church parking lot not far from the woods
where the bloody pillow had been found. Clark got into an argument with Penny Houghteling just
one week before Laura disappeared over some tools Penny said were missing from her toolshed.
The Houghtelings also kept a spare house key in the shed. When police researched Clark's financial records,
they learned that he had purchased duct tape, braided rope, and nylon cord several days
before Laura's disappearance, and paid for the items with a personal check. Investigators were alarmed with what they saw
written in the memo section. One word. Laura. On the day Laura disappeared, Clark
purchased a queen-sized sheet from a department store, a size that was too large for the mattress
in the back of his truck, but was the same size as Laura's mattress. From Clark's financial records, police also
learned that he rented a storage locker in Warwick, Rhode Island, 450 miles away.
An employee of the storage unit told police that Clark visited his storage locker two
days after Laura disappeared. Armed with a warrant, police searched Clark's storage unit
and discovered a secret side of Hadden Clark's life. He had falsies that he would place in bras.
Apparently, he had bras, he had dresses, he had female shoes, he had female coats, he had wigs, everything that he could
wear and look like a female. NARRATOR: Was it possible that the individual seen leaving
the Houghteling's home on the morning of Laura's disappearance wasn't Laura at all, but was, in fact,
Hadden Clark dressed as Laura? Penny Houghteling told police something about Laura's attire
that they hadn't heard before. RICHARD FALLIN: Laura never, ever wore slacks. Laura was a tall girl and she would wear skirts or dress.
She didn't want to accentuate her height by wearing slacks. So she never wore slacks.
Didn't own a pair of slacks. NARRATOR: Fibers from all of the wigs in Clark's storage locker
were compared to the wig fiber found on Laura's hairbrush. It's very easy to remove some of these wigs
as being the contributor just from color. Very blonde or other colors were not a possibility
since we were dealing with a brown tone as far as the dye goes for this wig fiber.
Then, doing microscopic exam narrowed it down to one particular wig that was identical in all respects
to this particular fiber. NARRATOR: Hadden Clark's wig and the fiber from Laura's hairbrush from her bedroom
were sent to the Trace Evidence Unit at the FBI laboratory in Washington DC. In their analysis, they used what
is called a microspectrophotometer, an instrument that can discern between the 7,000
commercial dyes used in the United States. MAX HOUCK: It takes a beam of light and runs it through an object, such as a fiber,
and it measures the amount of light that's lost as it passes through that fiber.
Light is lost at different wavelengths, wavelengths relating to color, so a dark brown fiber
will absorb more light than a light brown fiber and would absorb different colors of light
than, say, a light blue fiber. So we simply measure those differences and then plot that on a chart.
NARRATOR: Dyes are proprietary and are trademarked by the manufacturer to protect against duplication.
The dye from the wig fiber found in Laura's hairbrush. Was identical to the fibers from Hadden Clark's wig.
MAX HOUCK: It indicated to us that they exhibited the exact same color optically.
Therefore, the questioned fiber is consistent with coming from that wig that were dyed to the same color,
the same industry standard, and probably, from the same dye lot. NARRATOR: Finally, police turned their attention
to the bloody thumbprint found on the pillowcase in the woods. When they compared it to Hadden Clark's thumbprint,
it was a match. Police now knew how Hadden Clark fooled the neighbor and left the crime scene without creating suspicion.
But where had he taken Laura's body? Hadden Clark was arrested and charged with first degree murder in the death of Laura Houghteling.
Although her body had never been found, prosecutors hoped that they had enough evidence
to convince a jury that Laura Houghteling was, in fact, dead, and that Hadden Clark was the murderer.
The first degree murder trial was set to begin on June 14, 1993, but the trial never took place.
The defendant in the Houghteling case just pled guilty. The plea was accepted. The-- the plea was to second degree murder.
NARRATOR: As part of the plea bargain, Clark revealed to prosecutors where he had buried the body.
He led them to a shallow grave less than half a mile from Laura's home. It had been eight months since Laura
Houghteling's disappearance. RICHARD FALLIN: There was a skeletal part of the body that
was sticking out of the ground. The rest of the body was still intact under the ground.
NARRATOR: The autopsy report also listed suffocation as a possible cause of death, since Clark told prosecutors
that he suffocated her. Clark also admitted using a knife from the kitchen and a pair of scissors consistent with the blood
imprints found on the discarded pillowcase. SUSAN BALLOU: When you hold a pair of scissors
to these marks, they, in fact, fall right in line with the outline impression of the marks on the pillow.
NARRATOR: Clark did not reveal his motive for killing Laura. Police theorize that Clark was angry over the disagreement
he had with Laura's mother over the missing tools from the shed. Looking into Hadden's background,
we found that any time, especially, a female, would cross him in any way, he would retaliate.
It's hard to say exactly why. And I don't know if we'll ever know why. NARRATOR: Clark's confession and evidence
gathered by the police told prosecutors all they needed to know about what happened to Laura Houghteling
in the early hours of October 19, 1992. Hadden Clark knew Penny Houghteling was away
when he entered the home through the back door sometime after midnight. He picked up a knife from the kitchen
and went to Laura's bedroom. He suffocated her with a pillow, and then, he stabbed her.
Clark used the scissors to remove her earrings, which left the blood impression on the pillowcase, and in that blood,
the partial thumbprint uncovered by the amido black stain. There was no blood trail in the house
since Clark wrapped the body in bed linens and plastic. [music playing] While transporting the body to the woods,
he accidentally dropped the bloody pillowcase with his thumbprint later found by police.
Before dawn, he returned to clean up as much blood from the mattress as he could,
found with the luminol. At daybreak, Clark needed to exit the house without being seen, so he dressed up as Laura.
Before leaving, Clark made a second mistake. He used Laura's hairbrush to comb his wig,
leaving behind the single fiber, linking him and his wig to the murder scene. Later that day, he purchased a replacement bed sheet
for Laura's bed. He may have been on his way to replace it when he encountered Laura's brother outside the home
the next night. A partial thumb print and a single wig fiber all marked a grisly tale of murder,
madness, and mistaken identity. He planned it, he knew exactly when he was gonna do it,
exactly how he was gonna do it, and he almost got away with it. Of course, the bloody fingerprint
on the pillowcase, the hair, the wig fiber, but I was impressed with the dog. This was the only wig fiber that was recovered.
If this had been missed or not even examined, it's very doubtful that we would have put together everything
that we knew after the fact as to what actually happened on that Monday morning.
Now, with the new technologies that are-- that are helping us out, it allows an investigator to have
new tools to help him find that little tiny bit of evidence that sometimes is there.
Sometimes, it's not, but when it is there, and you have those tools, and you're able to find that little bit of evidence,
makes all the difference in the world and allows you to get people like Hadden Clark
off the street. [music playing]

In 1992, Laura Houghteling disappeared from her Bethesda home and was never seen again. Laura's bedroom was searched and forensic science was used to direct them a to prime suspect. Now in HD.

Brief Summary

Laura Houghteling's disappearance leads to Hadden Clark's arrest through forensic evidence linking him to her murder.

Key points

The Mysterious Disappearance of Laura Houghteling. Laura Houghteling, a bright young woman, vanished on her way to work, leaving behind a mystery.
Grim Discovery in the Woods. Four days after Laura's disappearance, a bloody pillowcase was found, raising suspicions of foul play.
Hadden Clark's Arrest. Hadden Clark was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in Laura's case, despite her body not being found.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She never arrived.

Laura Houghteling's disappearance.

0:21WatchOct 2, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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