Forensic Files - Season 7, Episode 12 - Scout's Honor - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] on memorial day weekend in 1984 someone placed a body in a cardboard box
and slid it down an embankment the cause of death was homicide but investigators had no idea when the
murder occurred but science uncovered an important detail of the victims last night alive
would it be enough to identify the killer [Music] so [Music] on a sunday morning a fisherman enjoying
the juniata river in central pennsylvania saw a large cardboard box at the river's edge
[Music] inside was a garbage bag he pulled back a piece of plastic a little bit and discovered that it was
the part uh of a person didn't know male female the torso was later identified as female
the rest was a mystery there was no indicator as to how she met her death above the box on the side of the hill
the underbrush had been tamped down indicating the box had slid down the embankment from the road above
the box had been slid down after the dew had settled and been wiped off by the passage of the box
and that was important to developing a timeline in this in this case investigators noticed
a grease stained puncture hole in the box and in the grease were small pieces of
styrofoam whoever pulled that out of the trunk when they were lifting it out caught the
box on the latch that's what i believe it was from someone had gone to great lengths to
conceal the victim's identity by removing the head arms and legs to do this the killer needed time
and privacy the part that didn't make sense to me about that was if someone could make
a person's head arms and legs disappear from that day until this day they could easily make the rest of the body
disappear so there was some reason for the body to be discovered the body had three large moles and a
scar on the abdomen blue jeans and a belt with the zodiac buckle were the only other keys to the
victim's identity at the autopsy the pathologist found evidence of insect activity which was
sent to a forensic entomologist for analysis an entomologist is an expert in the
study of insects he identified the eggs as those of the blue bottle fly and the black blowfly
both common in many areas of the united states the weather conditions around the time
the body was discovered and the stage of the egg and larvae development allowed the entomologist to provide a rough
estimate of the time of death it was roughly two days prior to our finding the torso
this meant that the victim died sometime late friday night or early saturday morning
the autopsy was not able to identify the cause of death the pathologist found semen present
during the autopsy but there was no evidence of rape and there was no way to identify the man since this was before
dna testing police knew that in order to identify possible suspects they first had to
identify the victim we said from the very beginning if we if we find out who she is we'll find out
who who killed her missing persons reports were checked but no one fit the description of the torso
seven months later she was buried still unidentified in an unmarked grave and soon forgotten
one year later a telephone call changed that one year after jane doe the unidentified
murder victim was buried in a pauper's grave in pennsylvania police received what at first was a routine telephone
call a woman told police that her ex-sister-in-law edna posey had been missing for a year
she was able to provide police with a detailed physical description she started explaining how
retina would say oh i can't wear a bikini because of my molds this sounded strikingly similar to the
birthmarks found on the body their jane doe of a year earlier the caller also said edna posey always
wore a belt with a zodiac buckle edna posey was a 31 year old single mother of an 11 year old boy randy
and she was no stranger to the seedy side of life in the nearby city of harrisburg
she was would generally be perceived as a [ __ ] unstable relationships term problems with alcohol
and not having a stable home environment for randy among other things edna was not your
i shouldn't say nicest person but was uh sort of wild edna's wild streak usually involved men
and alcohol she would meet men in bars quickly move in with them and just as quickly move
out only to repeat the same pattern again and again and she would sometimes disappear for
months at a time without saying a word to anyone edna was able to admit that her
life was out of control and had asked donald ruby her son randy's boy scout leader if randy could move in with him
donald ruby had a boy scout group that was comprised largely of of boys who had problems in their lives most of them
were in families with with mothers only the boys had been into trouble and donald took this group of boys and
formed his own troop with it randy moved in with donald ruby and his wife and lived with them as if he were
their own son 42 year old ruby worked as a machinist and had no children of his own
while many applauded him for his efforts with troubled youngsters some questioned his motives
well it's in the eye of the beholder he did some things that that i would winced at
myself such as the kissing on the lips and so forth i i i was never that way even with my own children
edna moved 150 miles away to virginia where she took a job as a dental technician while trying to get her life
back on track this is edna's co-worker who asked not to be identified for fear of her safety
she was saving her money and sometimes in that particular time period she met a young soldier in the army band in
virginia and they became quite closed and was going to move in together and bring randy down
to be with them and police believe that donald ruby was threatened by the loss of randy
the evidence was that she intended to take randy back with her we believed and argued that donald did
not want to give up randy as his son did this mean that donald ruby had a motive to kill edna posey
ruby told police that edna posey had come to their home to visit randy on friday night and planned to stay for the
entire memorial day weekend the next day ruby and his wife said they took edna shopping and dropped her off
downtown yeah actually just go to the corner we'll see you back here like 5 5 30
right okay when they returned later to pick her up edna never showed up given the lifestyle that edna lived for
decades you could sell it very easily that she just decided to disappear off the face of the earth
but edna's son randy told police a slightly different story he said he last saw his mother on friday
night when she kissed him good night i love you see you tomorrow a short time later
he said he heard a loud noise coming from the bedroom where his mother was sleeping
i think he described it as if somebody fallen out of bed he said when he woke up the next day
his mother was gone if the forensic entomologist was correct in his estimate of the time of edna's
death the noise randy heard on friday night may have been his mother's murder when police searched donald ruby's trunk
they found the same type of grease that was found on the box holding edna posey's torso
and they discovered the hole in the box was the same size and shape as the trunk latch in ruby's
car prosecutors now believed that donald ruby murdered edna posey on friday evening
when donald ruby was charged with the murder of edna posey police heard some unsettling news about
his life with edna's son randy we had testimony that when they would come home from
camping trips he would physically touch randy's private parts allegedly to feel for ticks
so yes there was some direct evidence of pedophilia he was looking for ticks but he would examine
the around the crotch and the rear end a little bit more than that a parent probably would
would explore prosecutors said that was evidence of pedophilia that ruby had a sexual fixation with
randy and killed edna to keep her from regaining custody of her son they said that the grease and styrofoam
evidence on the box containing edna's body though circumstantial tied ruby to the crime
three years after edna posey's disappearance donald ruby was convicted of her murder
and sentenced to life in prison edna's family and friends believed that a cold-blooded killer had gotten justice
how could you do this how could you do this to another person i mean it wasn't a like he just shot her
and you know there was no pain and jesus died it was the cruel cruel way that he
killed her and uh it was just almost unbelievable to me that you could do that to another human being
from behind bars donald ruby maintained his innocence he said edna had countless
low-life lovers and any one of them could have committed the crime his lawyers petitioned the court for a
retrial they claimed there was no proof donald ruby was a pedophile and that his rights
were violated when jurors heard that testimony ruby's defense attorneys also decided to
have the forensic evidence re-examined so they called dr neal haskell one of the country's premier forensic
entomologists dr haskell analyzed the eggs and larvae from edna posey's body flies lay eggs which develop into larvae
and then into flies but in reading the medical examiner's report dr haskell noticed an inconsistency
at the autopsy the medical examiner said he found eggs but not larvae and he noticed something else
at the original autopsy the eggs were scraped from the body and placed in a petri dish
the scrapings also contained bits of flesh and blood this meant that the eggs had three
additional days to feed on the flesh and develop before they were analyzed i'm trying to avoid saying the copper is
screwed up trying to be professional and diplomatic dr haskell analyzed some of the eggs
found on edna posey's body after three years they were so dry they were almost dust
[Music] they were then placed in a saline solution to rehydrate them dr haskell believes these eggs were on
edna posey's body for only a short time meaning that edna posey was killed sometime late saturday night or early
sunday morning not friday night as the original entomologist estimated scientific entomological evidence that
was presented in this case uh clearly showed that the time when the death of this
individual had taken place had to be much shorter than what the prosecution was alleging
the meteorological evidence also pointed to early sunday morning when the fisherman found the body on
sunday morning he said there was no due or condensation along the path the box traveled down the embankment
and another factor supporting this time frame was the autopsy report the medical examiner said there was
motile or moving sperm in edna's body at the autopsy sperm remains motile in a deceased
person for only 24 hours after death donald ruby had an alibi for all day saturday and saturday night
after six years in prison donald ruby was granted a new trial and ruby's new defense team had a
surprise piece of evidence new dna testing of the semen found during edna posey's autopsy uncovered
a tantalizing clue about her last night alive eight years after edna posey's death
forensic scientists analyzed the semen recovered during her autopsy this time using new dna technology which
wasn't available at donald ruby's first trial in a shocking development dna testing revealed
there was semen from three different men and donald ruby's dna was not among them
the autopsy notes revealed that the semen contained multiple sperm at the time of the autopsy
sperm remained motile in a dead person for only 24 hours we had at least three people
by the evidence who were with her and had sex with her less than 24 hours before her body was discovered we were
able to exploit that in the trial by planting the suggestion that that edna true to form had
gotten on the wild side when she was dropped off in middletown by don at donald ruby's second trial
his defense was the same as the first trial that he and his wife dropped edna off on
saturday morning to go shopping but this time new forensic evidence helped bolster his
story his attorneys implied that one or more of the unidentified men who had sex with
her on saturday night may have been the killer oh that was clearly defense insinuation
the defense clearly insinuated that somebody that edna was picked up by might have committed this
murder the other new piece of forensic evidence was dr haskell's testimony with his view
that the original time of death was inaccurate he testified that improper preservation
of the entomological evidence caused an inaccurate estimation of the time of death
he told the jury that edna posey died late saturday night or early sunday morning not on friday night as
originally claimed further helping ruby's case was edna's son randy at the original trial randy said he
heard a loud thump from his mother's bedroom late on friday night but eight years later randy now 21 years
old recalled nothing about that randy clearly did not remember hearing a thump we asked him about it he said he had no
independent recollection of it and thus we did not have the thump in the night to use his testimony
the defense also claimed that the hole in the carton carrying edna's body could have been made by thousands of vehicles
with the same type of hood latch and grease as was in ruby's car after a nine-day trial and six hours of
deliberation the jury found donald ruby not guilty a verdict which baffled edna's friends
and family just a total state of shock they could not believe this they'd proven a case
and then to have it thrown out like that and a murderer walking the streets i think it was a concern to a lot of
people in the air especially people who had testified against him just some ducks along the highway that
like i said you learn to appreciate things better when you lose them you don't have them for a while
you learn through experience never try to figure out a jury never never try to figure out a jury
and i don't know what the jury thought but they made their decision and i'll live with it
and the case while officially closed remains open in the minds of those involved
who should be scared of mr ruby virtually anyone with children i don't propose to be an expert in
pedophilia but certainly be my uh lay opinion the leopard doesn't change its spots
i'm convinced that don did not kill edna he might have had reason to but he did not do it
who did kill her i i have no clue i i just don't i know it's not don donald ruby left town soon after the
trial and no one not even his own lawyers know where he is today i have had a letter uh that he sent me
later that year it basically thanked me for testifying on his behalf and that he was going to have a certain places in
his heart for the welfare of the flies in the future [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]
you

In Pennsylvania 1984, a passer-by finds the torso of a woman in a cardboard box. Investigators rely on insect activity analysis by a forensic entomologist to determine when the murder victim was killed.

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 Edna Posey's murder, Donald Ruby's conviction and acquittal, and the unresolved questions surrounding the case.

Key points

The Discovery of a Body. A fisherman finds a cardboard box containing a torso, leading to a murder investigation.
Identifying the Victim. Seven months after the murder, Edna Posey's identity is revealed through a phone call.
New Evidence Emerges. Years later, DNA testing reveals multiple men were involved with Edna before her death.
A Shocking Verdict. After a lengthy trial, Donald Ruby is found not guilty, leaving many in disbelief.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

How could you do this to another person?

Reflecting on the brutality of Edna's murder.

12:46WatchDec 10, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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