Forensic Files - Season 8, Episode 27 - True Lies - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] the murder of a beautiful young woman went unsolved for years a murder with forensic evidence and
plenty of suspects but sometimes that's not enough [Music] it took the victim's nine-year-old child
notations in a diary and forensic psychology to determine which forensic evidence was important
and which to ignore [Music] [Applause] [Music] thirty-year-old kathleen lipscomb was
trying to find her way raising two young children while at the same time working as a nurse in san
antonio texas she was a very caring person she loved her family she stayed in constant contact with us
kathleen had been married for eight years to bill lipscomb a sergeant in the united states air force but they had
recently separated their arrangement was for bill to take care of their children on weekends
but one sunday night kathleen didn't arrive to pick them up as planned bill drove the children to kathleen's
apartment but she wasn't there and her car was missing so they left notes on her door
[Music] the next morning there was still no sign of her one of her co-workers called me and told
me that they were worried that she hadn't showed up for work my stomach kind of not you know knotted
up for a minute and then i thought no you know bill had the kids kathleen probably went
out with some girlfriends or something and she'll she'll be in she's just late today
later that same day a man spotted a nude body along a deserted road outside of town
it was kathleen lipscomb it was clear she had been murdered elsewhere without a doubt she had been transported
from point a to this point b being where she was she was left the fact that kathleen's clothing had
been rolled not folded told investigators something important it's definitely military just without a
doubt that's the only people that i have ever seen roll their clothes in that fashion is a
military type person unfortunately there were no discernible tire or footwear impressions near the
body kathleen's estranged husband bill was immediately called in for questioning
i did check him to see if there were any any wounds on his body possibly any defensive wounds
to see if there was any any kind of scrapes bruisings anything under his fingernails that
would indicate where he had scratched anybody and could find that [Music] the children told police that their
father was with them the entire weekend confirming his alibi at the autopsy the medical examiner
determined the cause of death was strangulation it appeared kathleen had sexual relations 24 hours before her death
friends told police that kathleen had been dating a married doctor in town david pearl
kathleen and dr pearl worked together through their close association kathleen fell in love with him
and she was thoroughly confident that he loved her too he promised to get a divorce and marry her we found out that
dr pearl had had many relationships and told his girlfriends that he was in fact
separated from his wife when he wasn't and you know just the jealous ex-wife kind
of thing that that was one concern of mine dr pearl admitted he was with kathleen
during the weekend but insisted he had nothing to do with her murder and investigators had another suspect
vincent robidell a nurse worked with kathleen at the hospital and lived in the same apartment complex
he hadn't shown up for work either he had left down he didn't even go back to pick up his
paycheck nor did he even request it be sent to him with so many suspects investigators hardly knew
where to start [Music] one week after kathleen lipscomb's murder her car was found in a restaurant
parking lot not far from her apartment investigators found no foreign fingerprints on or in the car
to determine the time of kathleen's death medical examiner dr robert bucks had two ways to tell
she had eaten chinese food it was basically undigested which indicates that she had eaten in a short period of time
prior to her death and the marks on kathleen's legs were identified as ant bites and helped
establish a time frame most of the ant activity occurs during daylight hours so that probably occurred
beginning around dawn on that morning these two indicators meant kathleen had probably been killed around dinner time
on sunday night and dumped in the field before dawn forensic investigators found four
strands of red human hair on kathleen's clothing under a stereo microscope scientists noticed the hairs had no root
at the root end you should see the root which is a a bulb shaped structure depending on what the
stage of the hair growth is when magnified 100 times you can see evidence that the hair was
dyed many times you will see an actual demarcation line between the original color of the hair at the root end to the
dyed color of the hair towards the tip end of the hair all four hairs showed the same dye
pattern when compared the hairs were not similar to kathleen's estranged husband bill or her boyfriend
dr david pearl at the time genetic testing was still years away the hair was minus its roots
back in 1986 it is in the late 80s the forensic technology was not as advanced as it is today in 2003 so
beyond that point this as far as we could go about the only bright spot in the investigation was when investigators
located vincent robideau kathleen's co-worker and neighbor who disappeared the same weekend she was murdered
he had gone back to galveston where he was from and got a job there in as a nurse with a
local hospital because he had a fight with his boyfriend and therefore he just didn't want
anything to do with san antonio again robideaux was no longer a suspect we had hit a point where we didn't feel
like we were going to be able to solve it without some some big break and we just did not feel
that break would ever come then investigators got another tip kathleen's neighbor said she saw a
suspicious person leaving kathleen's apartment on the same day her body had been found
the neighbor actually just saw this red-headed lady walk up to the door and then a few minutes later walk away from
the door was this mysterious woman kathleen's keller for two long years investigators searched for kathleen
lipscomb's killer kathleen's family always suspected that her estranged husband bill was somehow
involved just seven months before the murder bill had increased kathleen's life insurance
to 315 thousand dollars the family turned to a private investigator tom bevins for help
bevins examined all of the personal items from kathleen's apartment in her diary
evans found two items of interest the first was an unusual reference it said baseball tournament
shannon gilbert there when i first came across the name shannon gilbert i didn't know what to
make of it it was it was obviously a name i had never seen or never heard of and so
my question was why did kathleen write it down obviously it meant something to her
a background check revealed that gilbert was in the air force with kathleen's husband bill
and there were rumors the two were having a sexual affair bevins went to visit shannon gilbert
she said is this about bill lipscombe we said yes ma'am it is and she says i will
need an attorney and at that point i knew i had something bevins found another interesting entry
in kathleen's diary it said numerous calls and nights out passing information about wap's testing
bill has all questions for the test waps stands for weighted airman promotion test which all military
personnel must pass in order to gain promotion kathleen's entry suggested that her
estranged husband bill had cheated bill lipscombe had been promoted faster than any other master sergeant in air
force history this entry possibly explained why [Music] since these cheating allegations
involved the air force dr charles mcdowell joined the investigation as part of the united states air force
office of special investigations if you have a related peripheral crime which in its own respect i guess was
serious enough but certainly doesn't compare to a murder case that gives you a venue of access
that makes it easier to get closer to your subject while reviewing the crime scene photos
dr mcdowell made an important discovery the positioning of the body and the context of how it was found suggested to
me that the scene had been staged in order to convey an impression that this was a
rape murder and this is and this is where the victim wound up and it didn't have a ring of authenticity to it
within 30 45 minutes of reviewing the evidence he told us the bill did it bill was actually the murderer where we
had all at that point thought he just paid someone to do it furthermore mcdowell believed kathleen's
crossed legs revealed the body had been stored in a small cramped space after death
when rigor mortis set in mcdowell also suspected that someone other than the killer had dumped the
body that's because killers who know their victims tend to covered the body or concealed the victim's face
which wasn't done in this case that became extremely important because if you have multiple players in a crime
you have better opportunities for identifying first of all for identifying who they
are and then for playing one off against the other and kathleen's daughter now nine years
old revealed another piece of new information she said to me grandma who do you think
kill my mother or my mama and i said i don't know who do you think killed your mama and she told me
my daddy did because he wasn't where he said he was that night the children now revealed they were with
their father's best friend tony barrello who had taken them out for dinner on the
night their mother was killed and later that same night the children said they woke up and
discovered their father was not home and his car was gone [Music] i remember asking tom evans one day
what do they want a picture with his hands around her neck to me we had so much evidence that was
pointing to him and we kept getting told no it's not enough it's not enough i was like you know there wasn't anybody
there to take a picture for you bevins then requested forensic testing of the biological evidence collected
during kathleen's autopsy to determine the identity of the person kathleen had been with
before her death inexplicably in the two years since the murder the sample had been mislabeled
then mishandled forensic testing was no longer possible prosecutors needed more than just
circumstantial evidence to corroborate the children's story kathleen lipscombe's family hired a
private investigator to help solve her murder an entry in kathleen's diary suggested
that her estranged husband bill had cheated on his military promotion tests and that kathleen knew it
in addition the divorce proceedings between bill and kathleen had been bitter bill wanted custody of the
children and kathleen wasn't about to let that happen was it possible that kathleen had been using that
information as blackmail in her custody battle she knew it and he knew that it would bust him so that's
that's the button she used i mean she pushed it and he told her you know you can't do this because if you do
you're going to end up on a cold slab at the crime scene kathleen's clothing was neatly rolled
suggesting someone with military training dumped the body the only other military person around
bill lipscomb's home that weekend was tony barrello months after the crime barello had been dishonorably discharged
from the air force when questioned he was eager to talk he said he would go to church he could
hear god telling him confess confess your sins and that's what changed tony tony barrello immediately acknowledged
that he had dumped kathleen's body in the field just as dr mcdowell suspected and barello said
that bill lipscomb was the killer he also confirmed something else that kathleen's body was stored in a
cedar chest which explained why her legs were folded when rigor mortis set in surprisingly tony barrello still had the
chest he said bill lipscomb asked him to dispose of it after the murder but for some reason tony kept it
forensic scientists found a tiny stain on the bottom of the chest testing confirmed
that it was kathleen's blood [Music] tony barrello met with bill lipscomb while wearing a hidden microphone
but he didn't say anything incriminating so investigators devised another strategy
this was an event that was a consequence of a marriage that went bad there was a
tremendous amount of anger there was a tremendous amount of hostility i wanted to see if i could
feel that hostility so i could understand it and understand his reaction to it and then develop an investigative
methodology that would counter that and deal with his own psychology the osi made sure that bill lipscomb
knew he was being investigated i wanted him to hear footsteps that weren't there i wanted him to have that
feeling in the pit of the stomach every time the phone rang i wanted him to worry about whether today was going to
be the day that he heard the knock on the door i wanted to raise his level of anxiety
eventually bill's former girlfriend shannon gilbert admitted that bill once confided to her that he planned to kill
kathleen and investigators let lipscom know that both gilbert and barello were cooperating
bill lipscomb was playing mind games with us and we were playing mind games with him
after weeks of these psychological tactics dr mcdowell brought bill lipscomb in for questioning
dr mcdowell vividly remembers the exchange of all the ways this had to end i don't
understand why it had to end the way it did why did you kill her and he said i don't know why i killed her
but then he immediately caught himself and leaned forward and crossed his arms and said
i did not kill my wife but we had him three of us within the sheriff's office tried to get in to get in on the same
level as bill and get him to break and we couldn't do it we could not do it prosecutors believe kathleen threatened
to expose bill's cheating on the military exams if he tried to get custody of the children
and with that bill sought revenge the day of the murder bill asked tony barrello to take the
children to dinner then he called kathleen asking her to pick up the children earlier than
planned when kathleen arrived and noticed the children missing the two argued kids
they wanted to go to mcdonald's so and at some point bill strangled her to death
bill stored the body in a chest until nightfall kathleen's blood was found in the chest
once the children were asleep tony barrello dumped kathleen's body in the field trying to make it appear to be
a sex crime but the positioning of the body and the fact the body was uncovered revealed the truth
that someone other than the killer was involved but what about the red hairs on kathleen's clothing
i believe the hairs were planted uh by bill lipscombe or his partner one of the two to make it look
throw naturally throw us off to go looking for someone else investigators later identified the woman
who was seen leaving kathleen's apartment after her murder she was a co-worker who had gone to
check on kathleen when she didn't show up for work bill lipscomb pled guilty to his wife's murder to avoid the death
penalty he was sentenced to life in prison in return for his cooperation tony barrello avoided prosecution
no charges were brought against shannon gilbert who changed her name and is now in the federal witness protection
program prosecutors do not believe kathleen's boyfriend dr david pearl had anything to do with the crime
forensic pathology forensic psychology and crime scene reconstruction helped solve
a very complicated case one thing that you really do need to include is that this was a very complex
investigation it involved a very large number of people and a tremendous amount of careful coordination and
orchestration i feel kind of guilty because you're interviewing me people who commit crime think that they're very
very bright and that the rest of us out here that try to solve crimes or work on crimes or
involved with law enforcement are not very bright most often it's the other way around
[Music] you

In the summer of 1986, Kathleen Lipscomb's body was found on a deserted road outside of San Antonio. Months passed, then years, and the crime was never solved. Then Kathleen's family hired a private investigator, who discovered her diary.

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.

#truecrime #forensicfiles #fullepisodes Click here to watch full episodes from Forensic Files - Season 8: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gAB0hcY3Z0&list=PLC4mqmKvz1IbdnLKfCt8--pOV0xEpMIP5 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

Kathleen Lipscomb's murder led to her estranged husband Bill's conviction through forensic evidence and psychological tactics.

Key points

The Murder of Kathleen Lipscomb. A beautiful young woman is found murdered, leaving behind a trail of suspects.
Forensic Evidence and Suspects. Despite forensic evidence, the case remains unsolved for years, raising questions about justice.
The Role of Kathleen's Children. Kathleen's children provide crucial information about the night of her murder.
Bill Lipscomb's Confession. Bill Lipscomb pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty, revealing the complexities of the case.
The Investigation's Complexity. A complicated investigation involving many people ultimately leads to justice for Kathleen.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Sometimes that's not enough.

0:15WatchDec 16, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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