Forensic Files - Season 6, Episode 8 - Frozen Evidence - Full Episode | Forensic Files

in 1992 two masked gunmen broke into this home on the tiendaga mohawk territory in
canada the motive was robbery but there was a struggle shots were fired leaving 54 year old ward maricle
critically injured it took solid police investigation and some fancy footwork to identify the perpetrators
[Music] the tie-in donega mohawk territory is a small community about two hours east of
toronto canada [Music] the territory was founded over 200 years ago when the mohawk moved here from
upstate new york the homes and landscape of the area are no different from any other north
american community but the sense of family among the mohawk is especially strong
[Music] it doesn't appear to be any different than anywhere else in canada or the u.s
in what i would call for lack of a better term mainstream culture but like i say the differences is in the
people in this community it's there's a lot of blood family but even if you're not related you know
everybody pretty close so it's like being family [Music] ward and diana america were respected
members of the community ward's gas bar the miracles business a gas station with the restaurant attached
had always been a prosperous business at night they also operated a check cashing service from their home for
people who didn't have an atm card everybody knows ward and diane the business there as well
have contact with them they're good people at christmas time residents of the reserve celebrate the holiday just like
any other community with santa claus christmas lights [Music] and prayer [Music]
but in the early morning hours of december 30th 1992 the holiday spirit of the community was
shattered just before dawn two masked gunmen broke into the miracle's home [Music]
we're coming to see you [Music] they went upstairs woke ward and diana and demanded money
where's the money give me the money one was holding a 22 caliber pistol the other a piece of wood
ward resisted shots rang out by the time it was over ward had been shot three times
the second perpetrator took diana downstairs fearing for her life diana handed over
the money they had on hand ten thousand dollars in cash and the intruders quickly fled
[Music] uh we've got a shooting down here on the reserve ambulance please hurry okay
ward miracle was rushed to the hospital with a bullet wound to his head he underwent emergency surgery
most wounds to the head are fatal [Music] since the gunman wore masks all diana could tell police was that the
assailants made their getaway in a red car few miles down the road police found the two masts used in the
robbery one was a wool ski mask the other a rubber halloween mask inside the miracle's home police found
three shell casings which were collected for analysis the callaway in this case i believe
there were 22 short caliber the fact they are out on the ground would indicate that more than likely a
semi-automatic pistol as opposed to a revolver was used since the stairs had no carpet and with
snow outside investigators suspected that the perpetrator's wet feet might have left
latent shoe impressions on the stairs the stairs were dusted with fingerprint powder
and immediately a clear impression of a running shoe was evident outside the house forensic experts found
a trail of evidence in the snow which they hoped would lead them to the perpetrators
[Music] during the christmas holidays in 1992 residents of the tayan danega mohawk
territory learned the terrible news that one of their most prominent citizens ward maricle had been the victim of a
senseless shooting there is very little violent crime in this small community of 2600 people
shock initially that something of of this magnitude could happen in a community such as this
[Music] ward marico was shot three times by a 22 caliber pistol one of the bullets
entered his head but he was fortunate he survived but the injury would leave him
permanently disabled forensic scientist jim edie inspected the crime scene he noticed a piece of wood on the
kitchen table [Music] diana merkel told police one of the perpetrators held the wood in his hand
during the robbery when edie walked outside on the side of the house he found a wooden sawhorse
with one of the legs missing it appeared that the perpetrators took the leg from the sawhorse and used it to
break through the front door next to the sawhorse clearly visible in the bright december
sunshine was a footprint in the snow and when i looked i could see footprints in the area of the sawhorse
i was certain that somebody had gone back behind the house and got the sawhorse and ripped a leg off
there was a potential piece of very important evidence jim edie realized he had to act quickly
before the snow melted and before anyone else walked through the crime scene his first order of business was to
photograph the footprints these stills would be important especially if he was unable to make a
cast of the footprint he then rushed to his truck and looked for materials to make a mold
there are a number of techniques for capturing a footprint impression in the snow if you choose the wrong one the
impression could be lost forever presents interesting problems because if you use conventional
casting materials such as dental plaster it's really very heavy dental plaster is
hardens to stone and if you pour it into snow it tends to collapse the footprint because of the
weight detective edie decided on a technique called sulfur casting he took a small burner and a pot and
heated the powdered sulfur it takes about 15 minutes before it melts into a thick brown liquid
it's then cooled to the point above crystallization as it poured into the snow the sulfur re-crystallizes immediately
and hardens retaining the important details needed for identification [Music] the impression was from a pair of nike
air sneakers size eight the shoe was relatively new with very little wear in the impression were some important
clues about the perpetrator details called accidental characteristics [Music] and the part of the shoe that's going to
be rubbing against the road and against the sidewalk and that has those accidental characteristics that we're
going to be looking for in an accidental characteristic is not just a little point oftentimes it's like
a mini piece of art edie noticed three small cuts all in a row on the sole as if the wearer had
stepped on a small piece of wire in all jimmy d identified 10 accidental characteristics in the shoe impression
[Music] these would distinguish this particular shoe from the thousands of other nike
air size 8 running shoes that were in circulation not surprisingly the shoe impression in the snow
matched the shoe print on the wooden steps inside the home we recovered some very good evidence we
had shoe prints we had brass casings the difficulty is unlike fingerprints which can be searched on a computer and
identified in the case of bullet casings or shoe prints you need a suspect but finding a suspect
would not be easy [Music] the robbery and shooting of ward miracle on the tien de nega mohawk reserve was
widely covered by the media in the surrounding areas [Music] two days after the shooting
an anonymous telephone call suggested police look into the whereabouts of peter benedict and frank linu in the
early morning hours of december 30th both men were 21 years old both had criminal records
benedict lived in cornwall which is about an hour's drive from the reserve police had no fixed address for lanu
police went to peter benedict's apartment armed with the search warrant outside benedict's apartment
police noticed a red car similar to the one diana merkel identified as the getaway car
[Music] peter benedict denied any involvement in the crime and said he didn't know where
franklin knew was inside benedict's apartment police found a 22-caliber pistol the same caliber used in the shooting
they also found a number of pairs of running shoes but none were the nike air model size 8 like the impressions found
at the crime scene police also found twenty five hundred dollars in cash and benedict was wearing what looked to
be a very expensive ring in benedict's bedroom police found a receipt for the ring
it was purchased on december 31st just hours after the robbery at the miracles home
the ring was purchased with eleven hundred dollars in cash from a jewelry store in ottawa
uh we went out to the car and we searched the vehicle after that and in the trunk uh i found an aldo shoe
box so i thinking well all those shoebox brand new running shoes brand new ring i'm going to ottawa because there has to
be a story to be told in ottawa and i wanted to hear the story once he got to the mall
rick myers discovered that there were a number of shoe stores in the mall he patiently visited each one
asking store employees if they recognized benedict or leno as a recent customer hey you work here oh yeah
the last store that he visited was a foot locker and he got a break you seen him
i think he came in a couple days ago actually the store clerk recognized peter benedict from the mug shot
he said benedict bought a pair of running shoes just a few days earlier and he recalled that benedict wore the
new shoes out of the store and left his old pair behind he just simply gave up the old ones for
garbage and just wore his new ones home i asked if he would check to see if the old ones were still around he told me
that no the garbage had gone out the friday i was insistent that he go and and recheck because
it's always good to recheck everything particularly when you're so close in this type of investigation getting
something that you really want fortunately for investigators the trash hadn't been removed from the back room
and in the trash bin the clerk found the sneakers benedict left behind he did and sure enough he comes back
dangling the shoes and a very nice smile on his face and it was even bigger one in mine
they were size 8 nike air charcoal high top basketball shoes but were they the ones worn to the crime scene
when jim edie analyzed the shoes from the trash bin he discovered the shoe had 10 accidental characteristics which were
in the same location the same shape and size as those found on the shoe impression in the snow and on the steps
investigators now knew that peter benedict took part in the robbery okay here we are but was he the shooter
and where was franklin just shut up i want the money could the mask somehow identify who pulled the trigger
within a week of the robbery and shooting of ward miracle on the tiendanega mohawk reserve in canada
police had two suspects peter benedict and frank lanew peter benedict was already in custody
and frank lanew voluntarily came into police headquarters for questioning both denied any involvement
in the crime but the evidence against peter benedict was mounting quickly the shoes he left at the shoe store were
positively identified as the shoes which left the print on the miracle stairway and in the snow print outside their home
next benedict's 22 caliber gun was tested by ballistics this pistol here is a beretta
model 950b it's a semi-automatic pistol 22 short caliber which is really the short the
smallest caliber that's used in handguns it doesn't look like much it's just a 22.
it'll kill you just the state of the bigger caliber as well the bullets recovered from ward miracle
in the operating room were too badly damaged for forensic analysis 22s when they hit bone on head shots are
usually useless the projectiles they'll break up very very badly so investigators used the spent shell
casings found in the miracles home for comparison benedict's gun was test-fired in the
ballistics laboratory the act of pulling a trigger causes the firing pin to strike the primer which
ignites the powder propelling the bullet through the barrel simultaneously the spent shell casing is
pushed back with equal force [Music] just as the bullet is marked by its passage through the barrel so is the
shell as it comes into contact with the metal surfaces of the weapons firing and
loading mechanisms [Music] firing pin impressions are as unique as a fingerprint
the firing pin impressions on the shell casings test fired from benedict's gun were identical to the impressions on the
three shell casings found inside the miracle's home it's still you looking at it in your
training and your experience that causes you to reach a conclusion and in this case what i saw and my predecessor
saw whom i trained uh indicated to us yes those cartridge cases were fired in that
gun and no other the money found in peter benedict's apartment had numbers written by hand on
the bundles they matched diana maricle's handwriting not surprisingly inside benedict's car on the driver's
side were peter benedict's fingerprints but on the passenger side were frank linus
[Music] the last challenge for investigators was to discover which one of these two
suspects was the shooter diana merkel said the gunman was wearing the wool ski mask
the man in the rubber mask held the piece of wood scientists were able to identify traces
of saliva and mucus inside the masks and from that they were able to generate a dna profile
of the individuals who wore each mask when police compared the dna of frank linu and peter benedict they discovered
that peter benedict's dna was inside the rubber mask and that frank lanew's dna was inside the wool mask
this identified frank lanew as the shooter when peter benedict and frank lanew learned about the overwhelming forensic
evidence against them they both pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and robbery
they were each sentenced to six years in prison [Music] ward maricle eventually recovered from
his injuries after a long and difficult rehabilitation published reports say he still has
lingering problems resulting from the head injury he and diana still live and work on the
mohawk reserve to this day ward and diane america refused to talk about what happened in the early morning
hours of december 30th 1992 it was a great case it was a classic you know one of
the many highlights of my career i i enjoyed that case it was a very exciting day for me when i saw those running
shoes come come waltzing out from behind the back room i believe that the shoe print evidence
that we were working with was very strong evidence and it was very strong evidence of the
preliminary hearing and and i think i feel like i'm bragging [Music] [Music] you

One investigator's quick thinking helps him capture a shoe impression made in snow before the evidence melts away. The shoe leads investigators to Peter Benedict and Frank Lanoue, who are convicted of aggravated assault and robbery.

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 1992 robbery and shooting of Ward Maricle and the forensic investigation that led to the identification of the suspects.

Key points

The Shocking Break-In. Two masked gunmen invade the Miracle home, leading to a violent robbery.
Critical Injuries. Ward Miracle suffers life-threatening injuries during the robbery.
Key Evidence Found. Police discover money with handwriting matching Diana Maricle's.
DNA Evidence Identifies Shooter. Forensic analysis reveals Frank Lanew as the shooter through DNA in masks.
Silence After Trauma. Ward and Diane America choose not to discuss the traumatic event.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

The holiday spirit of the community was shattered.

Describing the impact of the crime on the community.

3:04WatchNov 18, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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