Forensic Files - Season 8, Episode 6 - Tourist Trap - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] at one time tourists in south florida were a favorite target for criminals
hundreds of visitors were robbed some were assaulted and eight were murdered it was an out-of-town journalist who
made an unexpected journey from tourist to victim to advocate [Music] [Music] [Applause]
[Music] [Music] in september of 1993 oovy wilhelm rockabrand and his wife flew from germany to florida to spend
their honeymoon they rented a car for the short trip to their hotel the two german tourists were less than
five minutes from the airport just time enough to read safety precautions in a visitor's guide when they became the
newest victims a band pulled behind them and ran their car the couple knew this wasn't an accident but a ploy
robbers use to get drivers to stop their cars they call it bump and rob but the rocker
bronze did what they were supposed to do and did not stop then the gunman pulled
alongside and fired a single shot [Music] thirty-three-year-old uve wilhelm was killed instantly his 27 year old bride
catherine was unharmed by the end of the year there were eight tourist murders in
south florida hundreds more were robbed and many more seriously injured tourists were easy targets
you can't change people's behavior the lost tourists looking at street signs a holding up of
maps the camera bags the luggage in the back seat you know it's not too hard to identify a
tourist especially around the airport and they have what criminals want cameras jewelry video equipment laptop
computers and they usually carry plenty of cash helga loose covered these tourists
crimes as a journalist for german television i was working on a piece that was focused on the rash of crime that had
taken place in the united states specifically tourist directed crime in florida and during the course of that
piece we talked about safety tips for german tourists that would be traveling to the united states
elga and her mother had scheduled their own florida vacation before the crime spree started
we decided to keep our plans of flying into miami and then going on to the florida keys just for four days very
brief stay but particularly because i had just done this piece about safety tips
and felt that my awareness was you know pretty strong at that point their vacation was relaxing and
uneventful their return to the airport was not [Music] they got lost looking for the airport
rental car area [Music] helga drove onto a side street to turn around she soon realized someone was following
her [Music] the man reached through the window put the car into park disconnected the horn
and assaulted the two my mother said take whatever you want but please don't hurt us
the passenger from their vehicle said shut up [ __ ] we're going to kill you both of the perpetrators were coming
taking turns beating me through my window and you know every punch that i took weakened me
the attackers tried desperately to grab the car keys i was able to get in a good
couple of blows myself [Music] somehow helga got the car into gear and drove away to try to stop her the
attacker bit her arm i hit the driver from their car with the front of our car after a short distance the man was
forced to let go i had tremendous injuries to my head my neck my back dislocated jaw lost the feeling in my
left side of my face which i've never regained um and the bite wound was very painful
the bite wound was deep it went through the muscle even animals don't do what he did the
way he did it even animals don't do that there's no need for that to punch somebody almost killing
paralyzing her and biting her and destroying her life there's no need for that at all
helga described the attackers as young men approximately 25 years old they were driving a large dark colored car with
tinted windows most crimes happen and take place in less than two minutes it's a hit it's a
theft it's a it's an assault and it happens in a matter of just seconds so a positive identification of a
suspect might be difficult with no other witnesses or leads police hoped helga's car would contain
the forensic evidence they needed in 1993 24 year old helga loose barely escaped
with her life after a harrowing encounter with two men who attempted to overpower her
two veteran detectives bassam fidel and laura lafave with the hialeah florida robbery squad were
assigned to the case this particular robbery happened about 10 blocks north of the airport into
hialeah into a mixed residential commercial neighborhood that neighborhood surrounds lejeune road
the only exit or entrance to the airport here criminals often lie in wait for their victims
it's the main artery it's easy to hide it's easy to follow one way in and one way out of miami
international airport they're hunters they're hunting for robbery victims it could have been your
family it could have been anybody in the community i'm sure as they followed her
and they tailed her and targeted her the discussion was how were they going to do it and when were they going to do
it in what manner at the time rental cars were easily identified with stickers of the rental company and
special license plates beginning with the letter y or z despite the increase in tourist crimes
south florida's overall crime rate was less than the previous year nevertheless the press coverage had an
impact [Music] miami was being hit with tourist robbery cases almost on a daily basis this was a
city that they viewed as a violent city and they had no interest in coming back here
european governments discouraged traveled to florida and hotel reservations dropped by 25
ending the crime spree was difficult victims were often unwilling to return to florida for court hearings and trials
this kept criminals on the streets [Music] most of the crimes were bump and robbed
leaving behind little forensic evidence but helga's robbery had been unusually violent
she had a bite mark located on her upper arm and it was rather clear i have a sexual battery background
and know that they were developing bite mark comparison techniques and the state-of-the-art place to process her
was the photo lab at the medical examiner's office she was very sharp to immediately
address that before the victim left or before that victim saw treatment perhaps sutures or
other miracle treatment which can damage or alter the bite marks on the victim's
arm helga agreed to have a forensic photographer take pictures of the wound it's not enough just to take a
photograph it has to be measured properly it has to be put into perspective it has to be documented
properly it's important to get it done as quickly as you can things change very rapidly skin tends to discolor bruising
tends to set in in every picture forensic protocol requires the use of a ruler to provide scale
it's an l ruler it has three circles on it that allows us to make sure that our camera is
perpendicular to our subject and that will also give us a sense of scale so we take the flash and
we hold it off to an angle where we can emphasize the surface texture of the skin
and forensic photographers take pictures under many different light sources conventional light ultraviolet infrared
and fluorescent these show detail and texture not revealed by light in the visible
spectrum many times there's something there that you can't see with the naked eye
afterwards investigators examined the rental car hoping to find fingerprints but unfortunately the weather was
against us processing the outside of the vehicle was impossible the car was wet because helga had driven
through a thunderstorm on the way to the airport the interior material was textured
which yielded no usable prints no fingerprints no witnesses and no suspects helga and her mother left miami not
knowing whether the crime would ever be solved and maybe it wouldn't have been had the perpetrator not left behind
a piece of forensic evidence [Music] three weeks after helga loose's assault she was asked to return to florida to
look through stacks of mug shots she didn't see her attacker [Music] then the detective showed her a photo
array of six suspects i'll go look at the lineup and then she would look at each picture carefully
once she got to his picture to stanley cornell's picture and he seen immediate reaction in her
physically and immediate reaction when i saw the defendant's face it was a very very weird mix of emotions
one of joy because i found him and one of complete terror because it was the first time i had seen
that face since it was locked on my arm biting through the muscle 24 year old stanley cornett was a
factory worker with a long criminal history since the tourist attacks happened in
different jurisdictions near the airport police formed a task force to exchange information
that's how lafayette first learned about stanley cornett he was arrested a few days after helga's
attack for a nearly identical crime [Music] he allegedly stopped an elderly man in a
rental car and robbed him at gunpoint but he picked on the wrong man the victim's son was a miami policeman
who lived just across the street he called for his son and he came running out of the house well struggle
ensued and the victim tried to hold back the robber while he was calling for his
son and the robber at that time bit him bit him in the upper arm the similarities in the crimes were
striking but despite the identification cornet denied he assaulted helga loost i had tried a number of these cases
previously and the issue was always whether the identification was enough to pass muster with a jury especially on
a on a case where all you have is a single id and a robbery case where where it took no longer than 20 30
seconds so investigators wanted to know if there was any way to tell whether cornett was
the man who bit helga's arm to find out police went to the same forensic expert who matched a bite wound
to the notorious serial killer ted bundy from a bite mark if it's a good one you
can actually get a dental profile of the suspect for instance an outline of what
his teeth look like if there's a gap or crooked teeth or whatever that profile can exclude a suspect or
increase the likelihood that he made the bite mark dr souveron had the photos of helga's
bite wound but he needed cornet's dental impression for comparison cornet refused to cooperate
you're not going to touch me basically what he said just basically you know you're not
getting anything out of my mouth except maybe the swear words they left empty-handed but returned
later with the court order specifying the use of force if necessary at which time he reiterated that he
didn't want to cooperate he wasn't going to open his mouth and dr snooveron very
casually brought out what's called a jaw jack for opening the jaws of cadavers that are in
full rigger mortis you put it in a jaw and you ratchet on this thing and it'll open any it'll break your jaw if you're
trying to resist hard enough when stanley was shown the jaw jack stanley decided he wanted to cooperate and
supplies with dental impressions and so we obtained our dental impressions from stanley cornet
from those impressions dr seuveron made these plaster models which allowed him to duplicate the bite patterns
test bites are made either in wax or in styrofoam to be able to analyze the patterns that these teeth are going to
leave for further evaluation the biting edges of the plaster teeth are blackened and the pattern copied
onto a clear acetate for easy comparison with the photographs odontologists use a number of different
techniques because there's no way to accurately estimate the elasticity of the victim's skin
the teeth have variables the skin has variables and when this lady was bitten she didn't just sit there and let this
man you know bite her as hard as he could we're showing this is a dynamic bite with movement going on in teeth
numbers 24 and 25 made the marks that these arrows pointed to and then as the bite moved the 26
tooth can make that mark there is no such thing as a bite impression match all experts can say is whether a bite
wound is consistent with a person's teeth even if they are it's still not a hundred percent certain
but with the model wax impression acetates and precision photographs dr seuveron zeroed in on three lower
teeth in the bite mark which were slightly crooked and overlapping and there was a deep mark made by an
upper tooth [Music] even to untrained eyes it looked like cornett's teeth caused the bite wound in
the photographs dr seuveron was confident in his assessment his teeth were consistent with that bite
and there was nothing there that could exclude him stanley cornett was charged with
attempted robbery and aggravated battery but cornett said he was innocent and that he had an alibi
a jury would have to decide which side they believed the alibi or the bite impression evidence
[Music] the ironic situation of having done a news piece about safety tips and then going to florida and becoming
part of the crime statistics even when you think you have all the tools at your disposal to keep yourself
safe if you're at the wrong place at the wrong time anything can happen as the trial approach for the brutal
assault of helga loose stanley cornett claimed he had an alibi that he had been at work at the time of the crime
his work record showed that he was indeed at work that day but coronet's co-worker said he didn't
always punch the time clock when leaving for a break and he worked just 10 minutes away from where helga was
attacked his supervisor remembers that day in particular and remembered he left and
never came back he was soon after let go of that job because of that so that melted that alibi it's incredible that
an individual would punch a time card go to work like we all do in the morning and he he would leave during his break
and go commit a violent crime against a tourist but that's precisely what stanley
cornett did through various legal tactics cornett kept delaying his trial if my victim doesn't want to cooperate
then i have no case and that's what these criminals count on that's why they target the tourists
and in this case they picked the wrong tourist and stanley coronette was relying on wearing helga loose down to
the point where she just gave up he underestimated helk she wasn't going to wear down she came
back for every trial date every appointment she flew back for at the trial helga again identified cornette as the
man who attacked her facing stanley cornett in court was one of the hardest things i've ever had to
do through all of my testimony the defendant had a smirk on his face so i tried really hard not to focus on
him and focus on the prosecutor and the jury and the judge and the people that were
there to embrace justice the clarity of the bite impression photographs taken by a qualified
forensic photographer alongside the cast of coronet's teeth were what ultimately convinced the jury
stanley cornett was found guilty of attempted robbery and aggravated battery because he was a repeat offender he was
sentenced to life in prison i tell the detectives if you have a bite mark case you don't tell the defendant
that you have a bite because they certainly can alter their teeth it happened to me two weeks ago where the
defendant when i saw him had had all of his upper and lower front teeth pulled while he was in prison he told me he had
a toothache and they pulled his teeth as a prosecutor at the time if it was somewhat new to me imagine
how new it was to a jury they had certainly never heard of anything remotely similar to bite mark evidence
the bite mark evidence i think sealed this case it put the final nail in stanley
coronet's coffin as far as the jury is concerned i think it was our strongest piece of evidence
cornet's accomplice in the crime was never identified by the end of 1993 the crimes against
vacation travelers in south florida stopped why police increased their surveillance of
the rental car areas rental agencies removed their stickers from the cars and ended the practice of
identifiable license plates [Music] after her ordeal helga formed an advocacy group for
victims of crime called witness justice she can meet them on a totally different
level than a police officer can and she can advocate for them she can be their voice when sometimes
they can't find their voice maybe it'll be the helgas of this world that make more victims come back to
court and get more convictions [Music] [Music] [Music] you

In 1993, the state of Florida was known for more than just Disney World. Worldwide attention focused on a rash of robberies which targeted tourists. Some vacationers were killed in these attacks, but some fought and survived, despite severe injuries.

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

Tourist-targeted crimes in South Florida lead to advocacy after Helga Loos survives a violent robbery and helps convict her attacker.

Key points

Tourist Crime Wave in Florida. In the early 1990s, South Florida saw a surge in violent crimes against tourists, including murders and robberies.
Helga Loose's Harrowing Experience. Helga Loose, a tourist, survived a violent robbery that left her with severe injuries.
The Power of Bite Mark Evidence. Forensic evidence from a bite mark helped convict Stanley Cornett of attempted robbery.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You can't change people's behavior.

2:10WatchDec 16, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

More from Forensic Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.