Forensic Files - Season 9, Episode 9 - Stick 'em Up - Full Episode | Forensic Files

NARRATOR: Residents of Noel, Missouri, were stunned to learn that their local bank had been robbed
and its president was missing. Investigators the searched a three-state area for possible clues.
On the bank of the lake outside of town, a fisherman found a used piece of tape.
Had he thrown it away, all hopes of solving the case would have vanished. [theme music]
Because of its spelling, the town of Noel, Missouri, is known as the Christmas City.
And one October morning, Christmas came early for someone in town. A bank employee arriving for work
found the front door unlocked and the vault wide open. CHIEF RICHARDSON: A bank robbery in Noel
was just the last thing that people would be thinking about. It's nothing like you would see a large city.
NARRATOR: Bank officials discovered more than $71,000 was missing. The robbers also managed to haul away
over $4,000 in wrapped coins. On the floor of the bank, police found two spent .45 caliber shell casings left when the robber
shot the lens of the security camera. The area was dusted for fingerprints but none were found.
F. LADELL FARLEY: It was pretty obvious the perpetrators had been careful, either wearing gloves or just very careful
not to leave or touch any portion of the bank that would leave a good fingerprint.
NARRATOR: Only three employees could open the vault. One was Dan Short, the bank president.
GERALD ELKINS: He was the one that had the access to both the bank front door and the vault.
It just be an obvious conclusion in some people's minds that he might have had something to do with it.
NARRATOR: 51-year-old Dan Short was well-liked and respected, but he had recently experienced some personal problems.
F. LADELL FARLEY: Dan Short's wife had left some 16 months prior to the time of the crime.
He did seem to be restless and uneasy. Unsatisfied with way his life was going at that time,
perhaps drinking too much. NARRATOR: Investigators couldn't locate Dan Short. And his pickup truck was missing from his home.
CHIEF RICHARDSON: There was an area where it looked like that the contents of his pickup
had just been swept out onto the ground. NARRATOR: It appeared he had left in a hurry.
A wastebasket was overturned, dresser drawers were left open, and Dan's glasses were still on the bureau.
LOU KEELING: That would appear that there had been a struggle, because he never went anywhere without his glasses.
NARRATOR: And there was another sign that Short may not have been a willing participant.
As president, Dan Short was aware of a hidden compartment in the bank vault that held an additional $100,000,
but it hadn't been touched. Police and volunteers searched the area for clues. -We checked every ravine, every canyon, all the woods
and buildings, and everything that was out there. NARRATOR: A few hours later, police
found Dan Short's truck two miles outside of town. Loose coins were scattered around it.
CHIEF RICHARDSON: We now have to wonder, well, how did he get somewhere else? There has to be a second vehicle.
There has to be some other people who have removed him from there. NARRATOR: Investigators had no money, no witnesses,
no forensic evidence, and no sign of Dan Short, meaning the perpetrators were either smart or lucky.
It didn't take long for news of the bank robbery to spread, since Noel only had about 1,000 residents.
GERALD ELKINS: Everybody was shocked. That's all you could hear talked about at the cafes.
People were bunched up in little groups along the street talking about it. NARRATOR: Five days after the robbery, a fisherman on Grand
Lake, 21 miles outside of town, saw a body floating in the water. It was Dan Short, the bank president.
He had been tied to a chair with duct tape, a cement block and a chain hoist had
been attached to weigh it down. But it wasn't enough to overcome the buoyancy caused by the body gases.
-We now have the ultimate of crimes. We have the taking of human life. Mr. Short would have gladly given all
the money in the bank, and traded it for his life. But these individuals were not content with that.
NARRATOR: The medical examiner found water in Short's lungs, meaning he was alive when thrown into the lake.
-The general consensus was that the people who committed this crime were just really, really cruel, ugly bad people.
NARRATOR: The taped used to bind Short to the chair was sent to the FBI for analysis.
Robert Webb used heat to carefully separate each piece. Next, all of the pieces were tested
to see if they came from the same roll. ROBERT WEBB: The infrared spectrophotometer
tells the chemical composition of the sticky glue in the duct tape, the fibers, and the plastic backing.
It tells me what kind of material it's made up of. NARRATOR: Tests revealed every piece of tape
was the same brand. The next step was like a puzzle, as Webb tried to piece together
the entire 60-yard roll using what is known as end match analysis. ROBERT WEBB: The pieces of duct tape
were torn off the roll in all kinds of different lengths, from a very short six, seven inches long, to two
and three feet long or more. Starting from the very first piece of tape that was torn off
the roll, I was able to tell the first piece of tape came from the left wrist. The second piece of tape came from the right risks.
The third piece came from the mouth. Then longer pieces of tape were torn off and wrapped
around his chest, around his forearms, around his legs and thighs. I was able to read full pieces of tape,
and tell where every piece was applied, and in what order, so that he had no chance of getting away.
NARRATOR: But there was one piece missing. ROBERT WEBB: One piece of duct tape separated from all these other pieces when it was in the lake
and floated away. NARRATOR: Investigators wondered where this piece of tape got to, and why it was missing from the chair.
News of Dan Short's murder generated numerous calls from concerned citizens. Someone reported seeing a brown van parked
on the bridge over Grand Lake on the night of the bank robbery. Another caller overheard two brothers, Joe
and Shannon Agofsky, talking about money. GERALD ELKINS: From what I've heard of Shannon Agofsky,
his bragging about being the richest teenager in the county or something like that--
-In fact, they owned .45 caliber firearms. They allowed the FBI agent to test fire those guns,
and the casings were matched with the casings in the bank, and were found not to be the guns.
NARRATOR: The Agofsky's family members said, the boys were home on the night of the robbery.
F. LADELL FARLEY: They were eliminated after being interviewed, and seemed cooperative,
and had plausible alibis. NARRATOR: Police also learned that two convicted felons,
Billy Ray Hankins and Larry Wayne Hankins were living in Noel at the time, but they both had solid alibis.
F. LADELL FARLEY: They had robbed several banks. And had never abducted anyone in the process,
but robbed banks, and all kind of stuff. But their mother testified for them as an alibi.
NARRATOR: Police also questioned Dan Short's estranged wife, Joyce. CHIEF RICHARDSON: Anytime you have an estranged family
like this, and one of the individuals ends up missing or harmed, you know, one of the people you have to look at is his wife.
NARRATOR: Joyce said she knew nothing about the crime and willingly agreed to take a polygraph test.
She passed. Two different television programs profiled the case asking viewers with information
to contact police. Gerald Elkins played the role of Dan Short in the televised recreations.
GERALD ELKINS: They actually held me over the bridge, and every time they started holding me over,
I grabbed the railing. And they said, Gerald, you have to let go the railing, and we want you to act scared.
And I said, well, that won't be any problem, because I was scared. NARRATOR: The programs generated hundreds of tips,
but none proved helpful. Investigators needed forensic evidence, because without it, the trail of the killers
was turning cold fast. With so little crime in Noel, Missouri, the discovery of Dan Short's body in Grand Lake
took almost everyone in town by surprise. ROWDY FOREMAN: My little boy came home from school one day
and said, dad, they've got the bridge blocked off. There's cops everywhere. And so I look outside, and sure enough, they
had the bridge blocked off investigating. And I stood out on the deck of my porch,
and watched all the activities. NARRATOR: When police left the area, Rowdy Foreman did a little investigating of his own.
ROWDY FOREMAN: Curiosity got the best of me. We went back down to the shoreline.
We walked from east to west of the bank. We come to this one single dock, fishing dock,
and there was a strand of duct tape, which appeared to be turned halfway inside out.
NARRATOR: Was this the missing piece of duct tape investigators were looking for?
Foreman knew not to touch the tape with his fingers, so he placed it into a bag with a stick.
F. LADELL FARLEY: When Mr. Foreman walked into my office that day with that piece of tape,
it was too good to be true. -First words that came out of his mouth, oh, my god.
F. LADELL FARLEY: There were two, if not three latent fingerprints in this greasy, rusty residue.
-The gentleman, he said, Jesus! Jesus, can't believe it! NARRATOR: Investigators analyzed the tape
to see if it was the one missing piece. ROBERT WEBB: I was conclusively able to match that piece
of duct tape by end-matching to the reconstructed roll of duct tape associated with the chair,
and the chain, and the cinder block. NARRATOR: This was crucial, because without proof the tape
was from the same roll, the fingerprints meant nothing. FBI fingerprint examiner, Russell Davey
could tell how the prints were left on the tape. RUSSELL DAVEY: By grabbing the tape
and pulling away from the roll, as can be seen, by tearing it away. And then, there would be prints present on the end of the tape.
NARRATOR: The fingerprints we're compared to those in the FBI database of past criminal offenders,
and there was no match. Several months later, there were rumors that two brothers,
18-year-old Shannon Agofsky and his 23-year-old brother, Joe , we're spending large amounts of money despite
the fact that they were unemployed. Both had been suspects early on in the investigation,
but had been cleared. RICHARD MONROE: Joseph Agofsky paid for a trip to Disneyland for his honeymoon.
He paid for a wedding ring. He paid to have a chainsaw souped up. -Something in in the neighborhood of $45,000
by both brothers a after the months-- or during the months following their robbery and murder.
NARRATOR: And the witness identified the chain hoist found with Dan Short's body as the one
he left at the Agofsky's home. F. LADELL FARLEY: So the chain hoist led us back to the Adofskys.
At that point, we focused on the two brothers believing that they at least had knowledge
of who the perpetrators were. Or they were, in fact, involved themselves. At that point, we didn't know which might be the case.
NARRATOR: And there was another coincidence. The Agofsky's mother owned a brown van
similar to the one a witness saw on the Grand Lake bridge on the night of the murder.
And another man told police that he saw the Agofskys wiping their bullets clean before loading
them into their guns. This occurred several days before the robbery. MICHAEL JONES: And their explanation for doing so
was that if they ever got caught doing whatever they were going to do with the firearms and the ammunition,
they wouldn't find fingerprints of theirs. NARRATOR: Was it possible that a pair of robbers careful enough
to remove their fingerprints from bullet casings were careless enough to leave them on the piece of tape?
The prime suspects in the bank robbery and murder of Dan Short were two brothers, Joe and Shannon Agofsky.
There was no forensic evidence found at the bank, but investigators found two fingerprints on a piece
of duct tape recovered at the lake where Short was murdered. When asked, Joe Agofsky willingly
agreed to provide his fingerprints. His brother refused. F. LADELL FARLEY: I had difficulty
in obtaining those of Shannon. I talked to him several times, and for one reason
or the other, he couldn't provide them or would not provide them at that time. -When Joseph Agofsky's prints were received for comparison,
I compared the latent prints on the tape from the shoreline with his. And they were very, very close, but they were not identical.
I said if this Joseph Agofsky had a brother, it would be interesting to see his prints,
because they are so close. NARRATOR: With this information, the FBI requested and received
a court order for Shannon's fingerprints. RUSSELL DAVEY: There was more than adequate number
of ridge characteristics for me come to the conclusion that these prints from the tape were,
indeed, left by the index and middle fingers Shannon Agofsky. -A suspect put his mark on one piece of duct tape.
And that one piece of duct tape was positively associated with an entire roll of duct tape
that had been applied to a deceased person. So the suspect could not deny he was involved in the case.
NARRATOR: Prosecutors believe the Agofskys waited until Dan Short's dinner guest left
that evening, then abducted him. At the bank, Short opened the vault, but didn't tell them about the secret compartment,
which held an additional $100,000. Afterwards, the brothers abandoned Dan's truck,
then tied him to a chair they had prepared beforehand with the cinder block and chains already attached.
The evidence shows the brothers used all 60 yards of duct tape. And Shannon inadvertently left his fingerprints
on the piece of tape used to secure Dan's ankles to the chair. At Grand Lake, the brothers threw
Dan Short over the side of the bridge. When they threw Short into the lake, one of the chair's spindles broke,
releasing the piece of duct tape from his ankle. The lake's current carried this single piece of tape
with Shannon Agofsky's fingerprints to the shore on the opposite side of the lake,
where it was discovered five days later by a citizen volunteer. -The evidence, the duct tape, the fingerprints
on the duct tape-- sometimes I just wonder what would have happened if nobody found it.
-It would be kind of surprising in a way that something that had been underwater
would have prints on it that long. -Knowing that Dan Short was alive before he was thrown
over, and the callousness of the Agofsky brothers in sending that man to his death in that manner,
has to stand out as the thing that I remember to this day. NARRATOR: Three years after the crime, Joe and Shannon Agofsky
were tried and convicted of the bank robbery charges. Both were sentenced to life in prison.
The brothers next court date was for Dan Short's murder. By all accounts, the jury was mesmerized by the amount
of information Robert Webb gleaned from the pieces of duct tape. -I had an opportunity to take the reconstructed roll
of duct tape, string it all out in front of the judge and jury and walk down the whole role of tape, and tell the jury,
and show the jury, the first piece that was ripped off went on an arm, and so forth.
And tell the story all the way down the full length of the tape. NARRATOR: Shannon Agofsky was convicted of Dan Short's murder
and sentenced to an additional life term in prison. Joe Agofsky's case ended in a mistrial.
Prosecutors chose not to retry him, since he was already serving a life sentence for the robbery.
F. LADELL FARLEY: Without the forensic evidence in this case, we would probably not have identified the Agofskys much
less prove the case against them. -The fact they used duct tape may, in fact, have been one
of the things they did they wished they had not done. -It tells me the sequence of events at the scene.
Even though I wasn't there, the evidence was. [theme music]

Residents of Noel, Missouri were stunned to learn that their bank had been robbed and the bank president was missing. His body was later found floating in a lake, securely bound to a chair with duct tape.

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

Dan Short was murdered after a bank robbery; forensic evidence led to the Agofsky brothers' conviction.

Key points

The Shocking Discovery. A fisherman finds a body in the lake, revealing a gruesome crime.
The Ultimate Crime. The murder of Dan Short shocks the small town of Noel, Missouri.
Crucial Evidence. A piece of duct tape leads investigators closer to the truth behind the murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Christmas came early for someone in town.

NARRATOR: And one October morning, Christmas came early for someone in town.

1:04WatchJan 1, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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