Skeleton Stories - Season 1, Episode 4 - Under the Influence - Full Episode | Forensic Files

[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: A 30-year-old musician mysteriously goes missing. And a family is left groping for answers.
It just kind of seemed like a dream, that this can't be happening, and this just can't be true.
It just can't be. NARRATOR: Police are clueless until someone cries, murder. [DOG BARKING]
Can Dr. Hinkes help figure out what happened. There wasn't much left of the face,
a lot of pieces that are missing. NARRATOR: Then, a 16-year-old gymnast who disappeared 14 years ago.
A small-time drug dealer on the run. A police investigation, and a stand still. And all Dr. Dirkmaat has to work with is a human skull
that a family dog brings in. We can't see much of anything. The only evidence of trauma was that gunshot to the head.
[VOICE ON RADIO] [PANTING] [GRUNTING] [ELECTRICAL BUZZING] NARRATOR: Police are scouring the hills
surrounding San Diego. They're on the hunt for a dead man. The search began after police received a tip from a woman
named Michelle Richards. She claims that there is a body in these hills, the body
of her boyfriend, Robert Mott. We brought Michelle down here to try to help us locate the body.
She couldn't remember exactly where it was. When I stood on the plateau, I could smell decaying body.
NARRATOR: But the area is expansive. So Sergeant Collier summons additional help to search
the thick brush of the ravines. AL COLLIER: We called the cadaver dogs to help us locate human remains.
NARRATOR: Within minutes, the dogs tracked down most of the scattered body parts.
The body wasn't that far down. It just had been drug a little bit by the coyotes and other animals in that area.
[EAGLE CRY] NARRATOR: As a next step, investigators begin questioning friends and family
about the suspected victim. They quickly learn that Robert mark was a 30-year-old musician
with a gentle soul. SHERRI PARKER: He just wanted to be loved. And he would always say to me, what the world
needs now is love, sweet love. Rob, growing up as the younger brother, we did everything together.
We'd play together. He was always my little brother. Rob was very smart, very talented growing up,
through high school. And he actually graduated with honors with a letter in marching band.
NARRATOR: But high school held its share of difficulties for Rob, as well. This was when he first began showing signs of schizophrenia.
Things changed drastically at that point. Because he went from being the Rob we always knew to hearing voices.
And his way of thinking just changed, and just his behavior. Things were really, really bad for him at that time.
NARRATOR: Sufferers often experience hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized
behavior or thinking. The symptoms can also lead to a range of diminished social abilities.
But over the past 10 years, Rob had been taking medication and had his condition under control.
And recently, things were looking especially positive. A few weeks earlier, he started dating Michelle Richards,
and was excited about this budding romance. When I was told that Robby had met Michelle
and that there was a potential love interest, maybe, for him, my heart went out, because he had
felt so unloved for so long, that this was a really big deal. And I could just feel his excitement.
And I knew that this was going to be a real special to Robby. NARRATOR: But soon after he begins dating Michelle,
Rob goes missing. And Sherri and David's excitement for their brother quickly turns to concern.
Rob and I had made plans for his birthday. And everybody was going to get together,
was going to do something for his birthday. And his birthday came and went. And I didn't hear from Rob, or he didn't call, or anything.
NARRATOR: At first, they try not to read too much into it. But I figured, a couple of days, he'd call me up and say,
hey, sorry, bro, whatever. But never got that phone call. NARRATOR: Days turn into weeks with no word from Rob.
If for some reason he had stopped taking his medication, it's possible Rob could have experienced
a schizophrenic episode. His family soon becomes sick with worry. DAVID MOTT: Each week went by, I was going nuts.
Because I had to find out where my brother was. NARRATOR: Unable to track Rob down himself,
David begins searching for his brother's new girlfriend, Michelle, to see if she knows anything
about Robert's disappearance. Now, she was the last person I know that he was seen with.
So that's who I had to find at the time to get any more information. I had no idea on how to track her down.
I was just kind of going crazy trying to find her. And I went over to his friend's house in San Bernardino.
And she just happened to be there. I kind of lucked out on how I came across her.
DAVID MOTT REENACTOR: Michelle, Where's Robby at? I don't know, you're his brother.
Where is he? DAVID MOTT REENACTOR: You're his girlfriend! NARRATOR: In their initial conversation,
Michelle is evasive. And David senses she knows more than she's letting on. At this time I go, well, then, we need to go
to the authorities with this. So I got her in the car. And I drove right over to a police station.
NARRATOR: Police quickly realized that Michelle does in fact know a lot about Rob's disappearance.
Shockingly, she tells the investigators that she was with him the night he disappeared and actually
witnessed his murder. According to Michelle, the trouble started when she and Rob were at a party two weeks earlier.
He was going down to the party for Michelle. He wanted to impress her, and wanted to be with her,
and maybe be shown off to her friends, and probably thought he was just going down there for a good time.
They'd come home and go on with their life. I'm sure that there was not anything
else in his mind other than the excitement of being with her. NARRATOR: She tells police that, at first, everyone
was having a good time. But then Rob got into a fight with a group of guys who were high on drugs.
They started beating Rob up and then threw him into the trunk of their car. She told us that they basically
forced her to go with them as they drove up into the hills of Poway. And then she was forced to sit there
and watch as they tortured him and eventually killed him. NARRATOR: Michelle explains that they
left Rob's body on the ground, threw her back in the car, and drove her home. Michelle adds that she hadn't come forward
sooner because her abductors threatened to kill her if she did. But before investigators can move any further,
they must first determine if these remains are indeed Robert Mott. DAVID MOTT REENACTOR: So I offered to drive on down there
tonight and be there in the morning. And I'll identify the body for you. I had to know whether it was him or not.
And that's when Ron said that, because of the conditions of the weather, and being out in a remote field
with the wildlife, and the animals, and the coyotes, that there wasn't nothing to identify.
It was just skeleton remains at the time. NARRATOR: Investigators send the remains to the San Diego
medical examiner's office. Though animals have chewed off most of the fingers, one remaining fingerprint confirms the body's identity.
This is Robert Mott. I didn't want to believe it. but it had been so long at this point,
I knew something was really, really wrong. But I didn't know it would result in that, it was that bad.
It just kind of seemed like a dream, that this can't be happening, this can't be true.
It just can't be. NARRATOR: Michelle Richards provides investigators with the names of three
men she claims killed Rob. But in order to convict the suspects, investigators need more than just Michelle's account
of what happened. To build a case, they need to know exactly how Robert Mott died.
They turned to the one person they think may be able to help, forensic anthropologist Dr. Madeleine Hinkes.
MADELEINE HINKES: I'm doing it for the victim. Because I'm the person that can tell
the victim's story, figuring out who they are, what happened to them. NARRATOR: The bones are immediately sent to Dr.
Hinkes's lab at Mesa College. It's a man named Robert Mott. And I don't know much about him yet.
But I think we'll probably get to know him pretty well. NARRATOR: As soon as Dr. Hinkes gets a look at the skull,
she realizes that it may hold the answer to the investigators' most pressing question,
how did Robert Mott die? MADELEINE HINKES: There wasn't much left of the face. All the the facial bones have been broken.
There's a lot of pieces that are missing. NARRATOR: In fact, the skull is so badly damaged that Dr. Hinkes can't possibly reconstruct it.
Instead, she must try to solve this mystery by analyzing over 100 pieces of bone fragment.
MADELEINE HINKES: The big step, figure out what happened to him. NARRATOR: As Dr. Hinkes examines the individual fragments
more closely, she is shocked at what she finds. MADELEINE HINKES: Based on the few fragments that I had,
some of them were bones that are very deep inside the face. And in order to break those, you've got to break everything
on the outside first. NARRATOR: Coming up, with Rob's skull smashed to bits, Dr. Hinkes is not sure she will be able to determine exactly
what caused Robert's death. MADELEINE HINKES: The best I could say was he's had some fairly severe trauma to his face.
NARRATOR: And later, after six weeks of no leads on a homicide, could a jogger's
discovery change everything? When the person went closer, that's when they recognized the clothing.
NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" returns. Police have found the dead body of Robert Mott in the hills
outside San Diego. But now, they need hard evidence that he was murdered. I mean, all we had was Michelle Richards
saying that this happened. You substantiated what you said-- NARRATOR: They are counting on Dr. Madeleine Hinkes
to help them so they can build a case against the suspected murderers. It's a lot of what forensic anthropology is,
speaking for the victims, figuring out what happened to them, and then passing that information
on to law enforcement. NARRATOR: From the breakage pattern of his skull, Dr. Hinkes determines that a blow to Robert's face
must have caused most of the damage. But it looks like he's had some fairly severe trauma to his face.
It's been completely separated from the brain case. A lot of the bones are fragmentary.
NARRATOR: But now, Dr. Hinkes must try to figure out exactly what caused this facial trauma.
It is possible that his skull was crushed by animals preying on his remains or that Robert simply
fell down one of the ravines and landed on his face. And if Dr. Hinkes can't prove otherwise,
investigators will have no case against the suspected murderers. First, Dr. Hinkes addresses the question of scavenging animals.
If there were something really big like elephants nearby, and elephants stepped on your face,
it might cause that much damage. As far as I know, East County doesn't have any elephants.
The other animal damage would just be fairly localized in one area, wouldn't be the entire face that was destroyed,
as was the case for him. NARRATOR: Investigators also hope to rule out an even more plausible claim
from the suspect's defense team. MADELEINE HINKES: There was also the possibility
that he might have just been drunk or disoriented and fell down the hillside and landed on his face.
NARRATOR: But as Dr. Hinkes studies the bones further, she eliminates that theory, as well.
MADELEINE HINKES: If he had fallen on his face, I would expect fewer breaks, maybe broken nose,
maybe a broken jaw, cheekbone. But based on the fragments of bone that I had, it looked like every bone in its face
had been broken, which is way more trauma than just falling down the ravine. NARRATOR: Dr. Hinkes reaches her next conclusion
based on the extreme breakage pattern itself. MADELEINE HINKES: There was so much missing
that the best I could say was that there were probably multiple blows to the face from different angles
in order to break all the bones of the face. NARRATOR: And because every bone is broken,
she concludes that whoever struck Rob in the face had to do so with severe force.
Once you've broken through the outer bones of the face, and if you keep beating him, then you'll get to the more
delicate bones inside the face. I think that's what happened here. NARRATOR: Lastly, Dr. Hinkes also
thinks she knows what weapon the killers might have used to inflict such damage.
Well, he could have died from being struck repeatedly in the face by the rocks. Rocks are certainly consistent with the extensive fracture
pattern, the loss of bone that we're seeing in the face of the remains here. NARRATOR: So far, Dr. Hinkes's conclusions
support everything Michelle Richards has told the investigators. This kind of trauma would suggest that the cause of death
was massive blunt force trauma to his face, which would certainly bring on death.
[PANTING] His airway probably would have been blocked. There would've been extensive bleeding.
NARRATOR: But as the investigation continues, Sergeant Collier starts to wonder about Michelle Richards'
role in Robert Mott's death. Is she really the innocent bystander she claims to be?
But Michelle really became nervous at that point. And there was just something-- and I
don't know how to explain it except doing the job for as long as I did, and with my partner.
And we just noticed that she was acting strange. We really started getting the impression
that Michelle was involved and not just forced to go with them. NARRATOR: Coming up on "Skeleton Stories," investigators
are determined to extract the whole truth from Michelle Richards. We knew that there was more to her story
than what she was telling us. NARRATOR: And later, police called Dr. Dirkmaat to a gruesome site.
Took off the leaf litter and exposed that gun. NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" continues.
Dr. Hinkes has determined that 30-year-old Robert Mott died from blunt-force trauma to his head.
When questioned, his girlfriend, Michelle Richards, confirms that Robert died after being
smashed in the face with rocks. This is consistent with the injuries forensic anthropologist Dr. Madeleine Hinkes
has found on Robert's skull. But Michelle keeps insisting she was just an innocent bystander.
And police suspect she is not telling the whole story. Sergeant Al Collier brings Michelle in yet
again for further questioning. The only thing we had was we knew people had picked up rocks
and dropped them on Robert's head. And so we just came out with a plan, well, let's see what she does if we tell her
her fingerprint's on the rocks. NARRATOR: The fact is, it is virtually impossible to leave
fingerprints on a rock. Fingerprints can be detected on a vast range of different surfaces, such as metal, glass, or plastics.
But prints on rocks are generally invisible because these surfaces are too porous and jagged.
And I just turn to Michelle and said, you lied to me. Your fingerprints are on the rocks.
AL COLLIER REENACTOR: If you help us, we might be able to help you. I don't want to go to jail.
I really don't want to go to jail. NARRATOR: Their trick pays off. At that point, she broke down and confessed
to helping kill him. NARRATOR: With Michelle's confession and Dr. Hinkes's findings, police can finally replay the events
that led up to Robert's murder. It all began a few weeks earlier when Michelle picked
up Robert to go to a party. AL COLLIER: She knew the people there. They were going to just kind of hang out.
NARRATOR: But shortly after Michelle and Robert arrive, her true intentions become clear.
Robby had money on him. And she'd wanted to get to that money some way. AL COLLIER: She left him in the car.
And she went inside and talked to the people for a while, two people in particular,
James Runyon and Nathan Powell. She told these other guys that he had money. And they all came up with a plan.
I don't know if the plan was to kill him. But the plan was to hurt him and to take his money.
It just went way beyond that. AL COLLIER: James Runyon, the leader of the group, comes in.
And he's yelling at Robert and drags him outside. And with the help from this Nathan Powell,
they start beating on him. And then and juvenile get involved. Michelle was watching.
They take his money from him, which was about $400. NARRATOR: On the ground, Robert tries to fight back.
And he kicked one of the guys that was beating them. And this guy just sees red.
And he goes nuts. NARRATOR: Robert's attackers and Michelle then throw him into the trunk of the car
and drive to a desolate area in the hills. AL COLLIER: When they open the trunk,
they wrap a chain around his neck, and they drag him out, throw him on the ground.
And then they start beating him again. NARRATOR: Bloody and badly beaten, Robert pleads to Michelle for help.
AL COLLIER: He's crying, he's begging, Michelle, why are you doing this? Michelle couldn't stand that.
So she wanted to shut him up. NARRATOR: Michelle tries to lift a large rock. But it's too heavy for her.
So she had James Runyan come over, help pick the boulder up, and then smash his head with it.
NARRATOR: The impact is devastating. Robert's airway is crushed. Clinging to life, he struggles to breathe.
They could still hear him wheezing. DAVID MOTT: He didn't die instantly at that point.
So they picked it up and smashed his head again until he stopped moving. Based on the evidence from the body,
it appeared the person died because of extensive blood loss due to heavy facial trauma.
And I would imagine, based on that the bones are broken, that his was probably cut off.
AL COLLIER: This wasn't a crime of passion. This was just a crime of hatred and torture.
I can't imagine this man being up on a plateau, in a place he doesn't know, surrounded
by four people begging for his life, with no one to help him. I don't understand it, never will,
how any body can torture another human being. I just don't understand how four people
can think that way, unless they were so messed up on drugs. But then, maybe, I'm just excuse-- maybe
that's just the way these-- they're inhumane, I don't know. I don't know. NARRATOR: With Dr. Hinkes's evidence of cause of death,
and Michelle's first-hand account of what happened that day, investigators can now bring the case to trial.
To ensure justice will be served, they turn to Dr. Hinkes again, this time, on the stand in the courtroom.
MADELEINE HINKES: This trial was the first time I testified as an expert witness.
So I wasn't sure what to expect. I made sure to be well-prepared. NARRATOR: Dr. Hinkes reports to the jury
how she determined Rob was brutally murdered. I told the jury that he had suffered blunt trauma
to his face, and emphasized the fact that all the facial bones were broken into pieces, and that that's not something
that could happen accidentally. It's really important for the forensic anthropologist
to come in and say, with the degree of damage done to this person's head, he would have died from it.
MADELEINE HINKES: I could see them nodding their heads when I'm pointed things out
and explaining it to them. NARRATOR: Michelle Richards, Jason Runyon, and Nathan Powell
are convicted of first degree murder. They are given a sentence of 25 years to life.
The juvenile is given a lighter sentence based on his age. I just wish he was here.
I really miss him. Nobody deserves to die like that. Knowing that I could just call him at any time
and say, I love you, just wanted to know, and for him to say, I love you, too. Just knowing that, yeah, I caught the guys who did this.
And they're going to pay for what they did. You can't never bring back a life. Or you can't give me back what I had with my brother,
you know what I'm saying? But, yeah, I was satisfied as I could be. SHERRI PARKER: If it hadn't been for Dr. Hinkes,
the case wouldn't have been closed tight. He didn't deserve to die that way. And whenever you can put people in prison
for doing that to another human being, I think that's worthwhile. We always think about that, what
might this person's life have been like if they had survived? Being able to, in some way, do something about that, and bring
a little bit of justice, it's a good feeling when they have to pay for what they do.
NARRATOR: Coming up, with only a human skull, will Dr. Dirkmaat be able to determine how
this person met his or her end? There was really no indication of a struggle. NARRATOR: That's next on "Skeleton Stories."
[PANTING] On this warm summer day in southern Ohio, a dog spends several hours exploring the nearby woods.
As the sun comes down, he returns home with a trophy from his wanderings, a grisly discovery that horrifies his owner.
It seemed that the local resident lets his dog out. The dog runs a good distance.
When he looked out when the dog had returned to the yard, he was playing with something that the he thought was a ball.
When he went out, he discovered that it appeared to be a human skull. The dog's owner immediately contacts the local police, who
verify that the skull is human. But that's all they can tell. GARY TALLENT: As far as looking at skeletal remains,
it's certainly beyond via expertise. NARRATOR: So detective Tallent calls the one expert
he knows who might be able to solve the mystery of this skull, forensic anthropologist
Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat. When we look at these remains, it's just, what are they telling us?
We're trying to get at the facts. Then, whatever the facts are, then we go with that.
NARRATOR: The detectives delivered the skull to Dr. Dirkmaat's at the Applied Forensic Science Department
of Mercy Hurst College. They are counting on him to provide them with the answers
to two key questions, who is this, and how did he or she die? Right away, Dr. Dirkmaat spots a telltale clue
to the cause of the death, a bullet hole in the skull. We can measure the diameter of that entrance wound
and have a pretty good idea of the caliber of the bullet. It was his belief that the bullet hole to the skull
was consistent with a 9 millimeter sized projectile. It's a pretty good indication that it might be homicide.
NARRATOR: But in order to solve this homicide, detectives first need to know whom this skull belongs to.
There are not many open missing persons cases in this small Ohio community. But police suspected could possibly
belong to a teenage girl who mysteriously disappeared 14 years earlier. Her name was Delia Reynolds.
And according to friends and family, she was smart, popular, and outgoing. She was also a gifted gymnast, the star
of her high school team. Her baffling disappearance has haunted this town for 14 years, which is why Detective
Schwab is especially eager to know if this skull is Delia. Is it a female? Is it a female that's in a juvenile age range?
Could this be her? NARRATOR: A quick examination of the skull reveals that it might indeed belong to Delia.
There were some indications that it was a young adult, or late teenage years. NARRATOR: First off, the molars are less
worn than those of a typical adult. And three plates of the skull, which fuse at around age 20,
are not fully joined yet. But as Dr. Dirkmaat examines the skull more closely, he realizes it is looking much more like that of a young male.
He can tell, because female skulls are more delicate than males, especially in certain features
like the brow ridge. Coming off the forehead, females don't have much in the way of brow ridges.
So if we compare this female to a male, you can see the development of these bumps
of bone, these brow ridges. So they're very distinctive in the male. NARRATOR: To confirm that this is a male,
Dr. Dirkmaat also looks at the mastoid process, a projection of bone located behind the ear that anchors
the neck muscles to the skull. DENNIS DIRKMAAT: In females, this mastoid process
tends to be fairly small. We compare that to the male, and you can see it's very big,
and it juts out from the side of the skull. So this is a very distinctive male mastoid process.
NARRATOR: Furthermore, based on two distinct characteristics of the skull, it's elongated shape and the wider
nasal openings, Dr. Dirkmaat can also ascertain the race of the victim. We were able to determine that it was likely African-American.
NARRATOR: This skull clearly does not belong to Delia Reynolds, as police said suspected.
[VOICE ON RADIO] DAVID SCHWAB: Once it was determined it wasn't the female juvenile, everything
started to hit dead ends. NARRATOR: Detectives now must figure out if any other missing persons from the area
fit the profile of the skull. GARY TALLENT: We were trying to talk to family members
of missing people to see if we could get some additional information that might help us identify the victim.
NARRATOR: This canvassing yields one clue that might be a real lead, or could be just another red herring.
There is a recent case of a young African-American male who vanished, Dwayne Anderson.
But Wayne's not exactly a missing person. He's a fugitive. Police believe he may be a low-level drug dealer.
And he's wanted for questioning in the shooting death of another man. Well, he was just a young fellow
who was into probably partying. He was no major narcotics dealer. NARRATOR: According to witnesses, six months earlier,
on a March evening in 1998, Wayne Anderson and his best friend, James Fields, were hanging
out in the stairway of the housing development where they lived. DAVID SCHWAB: They're partying.
They're smoking what they would call blunts and getting high. There's some shouting back and forth.
At some point, from what the detectives were able to determine, Wayne produces a weapon.
And this weapon is fired a couple of times. The victim is struck. And he dies of his wounds.
Immediately after the shooting, Wayne flees and is last seen running in the direction
of the basketball courts. NARRATOR: The reason for the shooting remains a mystery.
But there is little question do authorities that Wayne Anderson pulled the trigger.
The county issues a warrant for his arrest. But Wayne has vanished. You go back and check, has anybody seen him recently?
When's the last time anybody heard from him? Has he called anybody from anywhere for money?
Although we looked and used whatever resources we could think of to find him, we did not find Wayne.
So now, you have to try to get it into your head, could it be this person? Somehow, could this person have died?
NARRATOR: But in order to solve this mystery, detectives must first find the rest of the gunshot
victim's remains. Homicide search teams scoured 90 miles of rough terrain, hunting for a headless skeleton.
But they find nothing. Six weeks later, their luck changes. A jogger spots a flash of blue under fallen leaves
while running in the woods. When the person went closer, that's when they recognized the clothing.
They saw the bones and felt that what they had there was the body. NARRATOR: And the body is missing its head.
Now, the county detectives have a skull without a body, and a body without the skull.
And they're counting on Dr. Dirkmaat to confirm that they belong to the same person.
If we can connect that skull to these remains, we now have a place to go. NARRATOR: Coming up next, Dr. Dirkmaat
combs the site of what appears to be a cold-blooded murder. DENNIS DIRKMAAT: We can't see much of anything.
We took off the leaf litter and exposed that gun. NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" continues.
Police have summoned forensic anthropologist Dennis Dirkmaat to the woods, where a jogger has just
discovered a headless skeleton. They need him to provide them with answers to two
critical questions, do these bones belong to the skull a dog found six weeks earlier?
And are they the remains of Wayne Anderson, an alleged low-level drug dealer wanted in connection
with the murder of his best friend, James Fields? And the remains who were laying
on the ground, covered in leaf litter, covered in some other debris. NARRATOR: Dr. Dirkmaat and his team swing into action.
So what we did was remove vegetation and surface debris from about four or five yards away,
work our way to the body, so that we can see the surface of the ground, as well as any other evidence that's away from the body.
NARRATOR: They do this very slowly by hand to avoid disturbing the skeleton or any possible clues
lying nearby. And so the goal is to not only uncover any evidence that's away from the body, but also, the whole point
is not to disturb any of it and keep it pristine, at least the bones, as to where they're exactly located.
As homicide detectives, we're certainly familiar with taking our time and looking for little pieces
of trace evidence at any scene. Dr. Dirkmaat just took that to the highest degree.
NARRATOR: As the forensic team combs the forest floor, they find their first clue, two plastic baggies
with small amounts of white crystals. This discovery corroborates the investigators'
theory that the headless remains might belong to Wayne Anderson. Our suspect has not been seen since the exact night
that the homicide happened, nobody, no contact. Now, we start to say, this could be our suspect.
We believe we may have found him. NARRATOR: As Dr. Dirkmaat and his team continue to clear the site, they make
another significant discovery. They uncover what appears to be the murder weapon.
We took off the leaf litter. And we saw the gun. It was situated in close proximity to his right hand
and near the body. NARRATOR: It's a 9 millimeter semiautomatic. Because the bullet that killed James Fields was caused by a 9
millimeter, authorities believe this may well be the gun Wayne used to kill James.
But their last find is the most important. Found with the remains at the site, with the post-cranial remains, were
two teeth of the upper jaw. NARRATOR: If the teeth fit into the skull at Dirkmaat's lab,
investigators can be certain they have a match. Dr. Dirkmaat rushes back to see if the teeth fit the skull.
DENNIS DIRKMAAT: And those teeth fit in perfectly with the skull that we had found earlier.
They were missing those teeth. And they fit into the sockets very well. NARRATOR: Police finally have the proof they need.
The skull and the bones do belong to the same person. And when the teeth are compared to Wayne Anderson's dental
records, it's a perfect match. Investigators now know for sure that the skull and the skeleton are Wayne's.
But the last question is still unanswered. Who killed Wayne Anderson? I was told by some old timers when I first came into homicide
that you know two things when you're going to a call, you didn't do it, and your partner didn't
do it because he was with you. Everybody else is a suspect. NARRATOR: Coming up, the evidence
points to a shocking suspect. There were no broken bones of the nose, of the ribs.
There was really no indication of a struggle. NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" continues.
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Dennis Dirkmaat has just confirmed that remains found in the nearby woods
belonged to Wayne Anderson, an alleged small-time drug dealer who shot his best friend to death six months earlier
and then disappeared. Investigators now need to figure out who shot Wayne in the head
and why. Perhaps a relative settled the score, or a friend of the individual, that
had been the victim of the homicide, found him, perhaps, that night, or later. Or was it something completely unrelated?
Was it a drug deal gone bad? NARRATOR: Again, investigators turned to Dr. Dirkmaat
for clues that might solve this mystery, as well. Dr. Dirkmaat's first step is to see if he can find
any evidence of a struggle. The only evidence of trauma was that gunshot to the head.
There were no broken bones of the nose, of the ribs, or anything else. So there was really no indication of a struggle.
NARRATOR: Dr. Dirkmaat then considers the positioning of the remains, especially in relation to the gun found
beneath Wayne's thigh bone, which leaves him to completely rethink how Wayne died.
The remains, as they're situated on the ground, as we map those out, give a pretty good idea
that the individual had been sitting with his legs up a bit. If one were sitting on the ground
and you shoot yourself in the head, you sort of go limp, and you have an expectation of where your limbs would fall,
where your arms would fall. If he held the gun to the side of his head, was sitting up with his knees up,
the shot occurred, and then the body goes limp. And the hand goes to the side of the body.
It would fall out of the hand. And this was all consistent with what we'd found in the field.
NARRATOR: This leads doctor Dirkmaat to a startling discovery. From the orientation of the shot,
it gives us a hint that we're dealing with a suicide. NARRATOR: The final confirmation that Wayne committed suicide
is inside the gun itself. When Wayne's 9 millimeter gun was found, there was a spent casing still in the chamber.
Normally, semiautomatics like Wayne's pistol use the recoil from the force of the shot
to discharge the spent casing and load a fresh bullet. This is called cycling. But it only works if the gun is firmly
held in the shooter's hand. So if you have somebody that fires a weapon into their own head, there's what's sometimes referred
to as a limp wrist type of situation where, because the bullet enters the head so quickly,
the hand goes limp. There's not enough force left to support that weapon or counter the recoil to the weapon.
And as a result, the weapon doesn't always cycle properly. NARRATOR: At last, based on Dr. Dirkmaat's findings,
detectives can finally close the books on the six-month-old disappearance of fugitive Wayne Anderson.
In March of 1998, Wayne is hanging out with his best friend, James, and his girlfriend.
There were other people in the building that heard them in there. Best we can determine, it appears that they
were simply getting high. They were drinking beer. Reportedly, they were smoking marijuana.
And they continued to joke around. There was reportedly no arguments taking place, nothing that was antagonistic
between the two of them. NARRATOR: At some point, Wayne Anderson reportedly becomes reckless with his 9 millimeter handgun.
Whether or not he means to fire the gun, detectives believe he most likely has no intention of killing his best friend, James.
[SCREAMING] Somebody call 911! NARRATOR: But that's just what he does in a single, fatal shot.
Come on! Get up! Wayne! GARY TALLENT: It is very likely that, at that point, Wayne ran down the hillside.
DAVID SCHWAB: It appears that he sat down under a moment of huge distress and probably
guilt, everything else. He makes a decision. He fires a weapon into his head. NARRATOR: The bullet enters Wayne's head, creating
a single hole near the temple. The bullet rips through the brain tissue, causing a hemorrhage which immediately
cuts off the brain's oxygen supply and kills Wayne instantly. Thanks to Dennis Dirkmaat and his team,
the detectives cleared two cases, the shooting of James Fields, and the mystery of Wayne Anderson's own death.
GARY TALLENT: We found, with the assistance of Dr. Dirkmaat, a tremendous amount of physical evidence
that helped us to piece these two deaths together. As far as it went with Dr. Dirkmaat,
I was always fascinated with the work that his unit does. I was very appreciative and honored to have
been able to have worked cases where he was involved. It was just amazing. NARRATOR: For Dr. Dirkmaat, every case is critical.
And the key to success is remaining focused and objective. Every case is different.
Every case involves different individuals, whether they're good, bad, or indifferent.
That plays no part in our decision as to how we approach the scenes and what types
of information that we collect. It's what's expected of us from law enforcement.
And that's what they get from us.

Badly decomposed remains of a man are found, and a dog uncovers a human skull with a bullet hole.

This true crime series delves into the case files of the country’s top forensic anthropologists and reveals the secrets trapped deep inside the human body.

Brief Summary

Robert Mott's murder is solved through forensic evidence, revealing his girlfriend's involvement, while Wayne Anderson's remains lead to a suicide conclusion.

Key points

A Mysterious Disappearance. A 30-year-old musician mysteriously goes missing, leaving his family searching for answers.
The Discovery of Remains. Police find scattered body parts in the hills, leading to a grim investigation.
Michelle's Shocking Confession. Michelle Richards claims she witnessed Robert's murder, revealing a dark party incident.
Forensic Evidence Reveals Truth. Dr. Hinkes determines Robert died from blunt-force trauma, supporting Michelle's account.
Justice Served. Michelle and her accomplices are convicted of first-degree murder, receiving lengthy sentences.
The Skull's Mystery. Detectives seek answers about a skull found in the woods.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

He just wanted to be loved.

SHERRI PARKER shares Rob's desire for love.

3:08WatchSep 17, 2021

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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