How "48 Hours" discovered the case of an American teacher murdered abroad | Forensic Files

my name's Chris O'Connell and I'm a producer at 48 hours I found the Carolyn Abel story when I
was finishing up working on the story of Yvonne Baldelli an American woman who was murdered in a small island off the
coast of Panama she was murdered by her boyfriend at the time Brian premature left Panama and came back to the United
States and for a while it appeared that he would escape prosecution both in Panama and in the United States that's
when federal prosecutors in San Diego dusted off a rarely used federal statute called foreign murder of a US national
and they were able to prosecute Brian perimeter for the murder of Yvonne Baldelli so I was fascinated by the law
I thought it could have been you know 100 200 years old but when I looked it up it turned out it was just came into
being in 1994 so I was curious if there was a story behind this law so I began to look through congressional testimony
and I saw found a sentence or two mentioning a young lady who was brutally murdered in Korea in 1988 and that sort
of was the genesis of the story

Producer Chris O'Connell describes how he and the "48 Hours" team uncovered the forgotten story of Carolyn Abel's murder, after discovering a rarely-used law in a previous story.

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Brief Summary

Chris O'Connell discusses Yvonne Baldelli's murder and the federal law used to prosecute her killer.

Key points

The Murder of Yvonne Baldelli. Yvonne Baldelli was murdered by her boyfriend in Panama, leading to a complex legal case.
The Law Behind the Case. Chris O'Connell uncovers a rarely used federal statute that allowed prosecution in a foreign murder case.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I was fascinated by the law.

Chris O'Connell reflects on his interest in a specific legal statute.

0:51WatchMar 10, 2019

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