Trails of Evidence Vol. II | "48 Hours" Full Episodes | Forensic Files

[Music] little small town Niles has this brutal Savage murder there are kids that grew up
locking their doors and being scared when they went to bed at night just because of this
case roxan wood in 1987 was married to Terry Wood roxan and Terry went to the bowling
alley and arrived in separate cars roxan left earlier than Terry he just wanted to keep with the fun he was
having and roxan wanted to get home and go to bed Terry arrives home and notices roxan
laying in the kitchen he notices a pool of blood on the floor she was bleeding profusely from her neck pleas oh my God
my wife has been murdered my wife has been murdered I answered the phone and I could tell something was bad wrong he
just broke down he just said someone murdered your sister Rock being the rock of the family
she didn't have an enemy out there who just randomly breaks in and does this to someone she was sexually assaulted the
as salent left his DNA but in terms of the essential evidence based on what was there this went cold fairly quickly did
it not based off on what they had to go on yeah the DNA technology wasn't there to really to follow up and go through on
and there was absolutely not a lot more to go off how frustrating was it that no
one had been arrested oh Beyond frustrating I was starting to lose hope Dr Ashlin Kirsten and I had been talking
about involving the students at Western in a Cold Case project when we first got
the file it was just an amazing amount of data it just looked overwhelming some of the documents are
older than I am then we would have to sort through if it was relevant information or not hours upon hours to
scan all this stuff they were able to organized that report where we were able to put a key word in and search across
that entire document 3,500 Pages how important was that hugely important I was hopeful that we would be able to
solve the case or move the case forward or that someone who came after us would the first thing that I did was I
requested access to the case File it was very easy to read through quite quickly
due to the work of the students Gabriella Vargas is a genetic genealogist probably one of the best in
the country if not the world but I'm also a pink-haired tattooed mom from California who enjoys
Woodworking and gardening describe the size of the DNA material that you had to work with it
was 28 picr so small that you could never see it with the the naked eye just a speck of a speck of a speck very very
SI small amount of DNA it was deemed unsolvable prior to my involvement roxand Wood's family was my
motivation for working as hard and as fast as I did they never gave up hope that one day Justice would be served
they have a Facebook page Janet Wood had made a post on the page one day Rock one
day and I screamed out at the top of my lungs no today's your day Rock today's your day
[Music] the [Music] [Music] Brad Woods remembers February 20th 1987 like it was yesterday he was just
14 years old I was getting ready for school and I can remember my mom pounding on the bathroom door saying to
hurry up she needed to talk to me hours earlier Brad's 30-year-old sister Rox known as rock had been nearby in her
Niles Michigan home alone when she was viciously attacked her throat slashed when I came out you know she had told me
that um she had gotten a call that U Rock had been killed devastated Rox San's family couldn't imagine why anyone
would want to harm her she always made people think you were her best friend she just loved everyone hi School
graduation Gorgeous Hair she definitely had the hair she was tall statuesque she
dressed to the nines that was very important to her she was very classy Janet Wood could not help but admire her
older sister their parents were divorced and roxan had taken on a maternal role with her siblings with divorced parents
a lot of times you feel like you're being shuffled between you know house to house and the one thing that was always
stable for me was was Rock she was being Mom to you yeah rock you know she was always there she was your rock she was
she was Rock Sand's last name would eventually change from Woods to Wood and walks Terry and rock after meeting
Future Husband Terry would shortly after she graduated from high school she was working at his father's company Terry
was still in high school on the wrestling team and and he walks and he's in his wrestling shorts and whatever she
said that was the nicest looking legs she ever saw and she was just Smitten by him
right away roxan and Terry married in 1982 she said was the happiest day of her life 6 years later Janet would
change her name from Woods to wood as well when she married Terry's brother ra both brothers wound up working for
the family business for roxan and Terry it proved to be a bit too much togetherness they got dressed in the
morning together and they rode to work together and they came home for lunch together and then they went back to work
together rockand solution taking a job in nearby Southbend Indiana a little time apart seemed to help the marriage
very very content happy looking forward to starting a family February 19th 1987 started out as a typical Thursday
evening for the couple they met for dinner at a restaurant in downtown Niles after work and then went to a local
bowling alley arriving in separate cars from the report you could tell when roxan entered that bowling alley all
eyes were on her Michigan state police detective sargant John Moore there wasn't a whole lot of ladies there
because this was the men's bowling league so she drew some attention as midnight approached roxan was ready to
call it a night but Terry wanted to stay there's Witnesses where Terry and she said good night to each other hug kiss
love you drive safe after roxan headed home Terry stayed behind and bowled another game he
then headed home and arrived here about 45 minutes after his wife Terry entered the house through the garage and once
inside He Came Upon a horrific sight she was laying on the floor she had her night gown on he said there was
a lot of blood according to detective first lieutenant Chuck Christensen Terry said he rushed over to roxan he got
behind her according to him and and picked her head up and held her head in his see if she was alive to see if she
was alive yes finding no signs of Life Terry grabbed the phone and called the local police station she is good she has
been cut Terry noticed that her panties were down around her knee SL ankle area her night gown was pulled up now listen
to me okay at times Terry seemed to get belligerent with the person trying to help him I'm going to get some
information from you I'm want to get a car started okay no start no they are started the dispatcher kept Terry on the
phone don't scream into the phone because the phone distorts and I can't understand you that well okay a record
no I'm trying to get some information from you okay yeah right Terry's aggressive demeanor on the phone quickly
became a red flag according to investigators is that suspicious Behavior to you it's a bit suspicious
typically they're in shock distraught but not normally do you hear that anger component in there to the
level that it is in this one detective Sergeant Jason Bailey says a seed of Suspicion grew even more once police
arrived at the home he definitely had fits of Rage I know at one point he was screaming they wanted a supervisor a
sergeant there is he making himself a suspect by this kind of behavior everybody reacts differently but based
on this abnormal reaction I believe he was making himself a suspect First Responders eventually had no choice but
to subdue Terry by placing him in the back of a patrol car and when they drove him down to the police post for routine
questioning Terry quickly asked for an attorney which set off more alarm bells for investigators the detective at that
time told him within 5 to 10 minutes you you did this and I will not rest until I
put you away forever an investigator said that to Terry Terry I believe you're I believe you're the Killer and I
will not rest until you're behind [Music] bars as investigators began piecing together clues in roxan woods rape and
murder the emerging picture offered up just one suspect her husband Terry there was no sign of any forc entry did that
raise eyebrows absolutely but Terry told police they'd been having problems with the lock on
the back door claiming it didn't work investigators however remain suspicious we have a sheath up here of
filet knife located near the body that filet knife presumed to be the murder weapon had been taken from a kitchen
drawer it was never found that would be odd that a killer would come to a house without a weapon
Terry told police that he'd slipped in Rox San's blood as he lifted her head to check on her but there were no blood
smears indicating he'd actually done that investigators thought they discovered a
potential motive when they looked into roxan and Terry's past we did uncover a extramarital affair by both parties by
both parties yeah and so when you have a murder like this and you learn there was
some infidelity are you wondering could jealousy have been a motive absolutely I remember the detective
saying it was rage only someone close to her would have this kind of Rage I never
never bought that Janet firmly believed in Terry's innocence I just knew him too
well so that just didn't fit with what I knew Terry wasn't a rageful guy he may have a sharp tongue occasionally but
never a violent person despite strongly suspecting Terry investigators didn't believe there was enough evidence to
charge him after just a few months the case went cold leaving a cloud of Suspicion
hanging over Terry he declined our request for an interview I'd heard stories that at
times he'd walk into a place and somebody would call him slash DNA was left at the crime scene a
sample was preserved but given the limitations on technology back in 1987 not much could be done with it
still Rock San's family never gave up I didn't lose hope ever I mean this guy just didn't do this and
then lead a clean pristine life the rest of his life DNA technology evolved eventually allowing the sample to be
uploaded to the criminal database codus in 1999 but no match was returned as disappointing as that was everyone was
hopeful that the DNA would at least clear Terry when it was tested against his the result it wasn't Terry's de DNA
so did that eliminate Terry as a person of interest as a suspect in this case no
why not it's not his Sean just because you find Seaman in somebody doesn't necessarily mean that that person is the
one that killed them after that the case offered no new leads until 2020 after more than three decades of
compiling thousands of reports police were drowning in paper work that's when a professor and an Innovative group of
students here at Western Michigan University figured out a way to speed up the investigation The Real World
experience I think is is priceless see that Marine Dr Ashlin Kirsten teaches a criminal justice studies program for
years she's been talking to detective Christensen about how her students might help on a Cold Case what a great
partnership that would be if we could ever make something like that happen so the professor and the detective came up
with a plan Dr Kirsten's students would process around 3,500 pages of documents accumulated
since the day roxan was murdered into a single digitized database Samantha Rogers was one of several students who
worked on the case the officers are able to search by name and see if they've already been interviewed if they needed
a followup they can search locations things that they wouldn't be able to do just flipping through thousands of pages
McKenzie stowman says that decades old files were a solemn reminder of how long some victims wait for justice it gave a
sense of gravity to what we were doing that these cases have gone unsolved for that
long around the same time the students began crunching data Christensen decided it was time for a hail marry pass
Colleen Fitzpatrick is the president and founder of identif finders International
a company that specializes in genetic genealogy it's been used in forensic cases to help identify um unidentified
remains and violent offenders for violent crimes Christensen hired her genealogy company to examine the tiny
amount of DNA left from Rox Sand's case we found out there was what I would call
a Nat's brow of DNA left about 3% of what we normally use that was the lowest amount of DNA we've ever had to work
with to solve a case identif finders spent about 10 months working with the data the sample produced but came up
empty it really did feel impossible it really did then one day in April 2021 Colleen happened to be chatting with
investigative genetic genealogist Gabrielle Vargas who worked as a consultant for identif finders and I
said well why don't you let me look at it I concluded that I did not stand with the others I believed that this case was
extremely solvable and I believe that I could solve it so Gabriella got to work incredibly she was able to generate a
genetic profile from the Killer's trace DNA tells me where their ancestrial Origins come from are they Eastern
European are they Mediterranean are they African American and what what was the race of this person Caucasian Gabriella
then turned to an online DNA service when consumers use DNA sites like 23 inme and
ancestry.com they can take their results and upload them to a broader database called Jed match in the hope of finding
more relatives they can choose to opt into law enforcement matching if they do that I can see if they are a match to my
suspect Gabriella was able to use Jed match and the genetic profile she developed to start to build the family
tree of Rox San's killer how far back did you go in time uh one side of the tree the ancestor was
1823 on the other side the top ancestor was 1796 seven essentially what we're looking for amongst these matches are
where they connect to each other and it led me to a union couple a union couple is where two sides of the family tree
meet this couple was born around 1920 based on that we can presume that they would have kids around 1940 maybe
1950 it would have to be one of their children the couple she found had three sons she
let the detectives know they did background checks and eliminated two of The Three Brothers as
possibilities they were down to the last brother he's been involved in a lot of different things violent things violent
things sexual deviant things you name it he's probably been involved in it and you connect the DNA with someone who has
a history of violent behavior and you got yourself a suspect absolutely how do you feel about sharing your DNA
search results with law enforcement join the conversation now on social [Music] media after 34 years and one last chance
at solving this case with a speck of DNA too small to see with the human eye Detective Chuck christensen's daring bet
paid off big and to know that we had come to this point was simply amazing Michigan State Police now believed they
had finally Tracked Down rocks and woods killer we were confident now we were going to solve this and make an arrest
you could now pinpoint who that individual was that had committed these awful crimes
and who is that person that individual's Patrick Gillum Patrick Gillum a man who is
living just a few miles from where he allegedly raped and murdered rockand wood and it turns out he had a troubled
past had been a drinker is he into drugs he's into drugs just an individual that
was lost in life and bad individual based on his background when detectives dug into
gillum's criminal history they found a connection to another disturbing case 8 years before Rox Sand's attack my wife
Moren was attacked by Patrick Gillum in 1979 Robert and Marine fck and their two
young daughters lived in Gary Indiana back in September of 1979 we were just kind of blossoming into
adulthood with the kids with our lifestyle with our jobs Robert was economic director for the city and Moren
was an art teacher at the local Middle School what is it about Moren that you fell in love with wow I can't say one
thing only she was very attractive which has caught my eye she was so nice people
gravitated to her because of her warm personality one night while making his way home from a business trip Robert
called Moren with a favor I said Moren I don't have my keys to the house so could
you leave the side door open at around 11: at night Robert turned onto his street he'll never forget what he saw
when I pull up I see the police cars Robert quickly found Moren who calmly told him she was in bed when she was
startled awake by a noise downstairs Moren sees this guy going through her purse he got scared whatever and chased
her Morin started going upstairs and he grabbed her at the bottom of the stairs and got on top of her and he tried his
best to molest her he wasn't successful Moren told Robert the man then took her purse and
fled throughout the attack Marine had stayed quiet she didn't want to awaken her two
girls that takes an incredible amount of Courage she was willing to sacrifice herself there if need be to protect her
one and three-year-old daughters Moren had a lot more than courage she had strength about a week later Gillum was
pulled over in Gary for a traffic violation a police officer noticed credit cards on the seat next to him
they were Marines police officer called me and said we picked the guy up we're bringing
him into the station when he was interviewed by police he said all I remember is going into the house and I
blacked out and woke up with my pants around my ankles Patrick Gillum was charged with
burglary and unlawful deviate conduct he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in Indiana State Prison how did
you go on with life from that point we forgot about it we changed our house we changed our neighborhood she never told
anybody because she felt that was a private issue Patrick Gillum served just 7 years
of his 14-year sentence about 4 months after his release police believe Gillum assaulted rockand
woodal criminals learn as they go and I believe he learned from that first crime
he did that I better not leave this witness alive because I will be in prison for a long long time Moren died
in 2018 from cancer not knowing anything about the rockand wood case now armed with their DNA evidence investigators
were ready to move in on Patrick Gillum at this point we decide to get a serup ious sample to compare to the
profile that we had from Brock sand wood from the scene and we do this through our undercover surveillance
team I'm Ryan cotti and I uh am a trooper with the Michigan State Police and you do some undercover work from
time to time I do I'm assigned with the Fugitive Recovery team for the fifth district in May 2021 cotti and his team
surveilled Gillum in South Ben for days on end and picked up a crucial clue that
would Aid them in collecting his DNA we noticed that he was a smoker and why does that help you just in the simple
fact that uh you know when you're smoking it's a great source of DNA you have your lips directly on the butt of
the cigarette and your saliva gets in the cigarette hot on gillum's tail the team
witnessed their target flick a cigarette butt outside his truck window while driving and so oh boy you're rubbing
your hands you're going this is going to be that final piece of the puzzle that you had talked about right yes but
there's a Twist we sent that up to the lab right away a couple days later the lab
director calls me and he said it's not a match [Music] DNA is DNA if it's not a match it's not
a match detective Moore says investigators were shocked when the lab called to say the DNA sample from
Patrick gillum's cigarette butt did not match Rox Sand's killer we're scratching
our heads I called the trooper that grabbed that cigarette butt and I said is there any way at all that you lost
sight of that when it flipped out of his finger and he said a c drove by right then it
was possible the cigarette butt tested was not gillums the only thing logically that we can do is go back and get
another one So Undercover Trooper Ryan cotti headed back to work once again tailing Gillum he pulled into this
laundry mat which we saw as a window of opportunity that he would most likely be
coming out to take a smoke break this time cotti was determined not to lose sight of gillum's discarded cigarette
butt for even a moment and instead of tailing him in a car cotti followed Gillum on foot I'm not a smoker and
there was a gas station right over on the corner that I saw and I I was like well you know I need to go over and get
a pack of cigarettes and sit on the the curb next to the laundry man he came and
took a seat uh probably about 6 to 8 ft away from me and we had a smoke together
so how did you strike up a conversation with him I just tried to say hi to him made some small conversation he liked
the Red Wings it wasn't long before Gillum finished his cigarette and went back inside I uh saw him throw his
cigarette uh which was right in about this area so it was great situation because the cigarette was by itself so I
pull out a uh a glove and go over and I pick the cigarette up with my hand was it still smoking it was it was still
warm yes it was so I wrapped it up inside that glove I stuck it in my pocket and and had it out investigators
held their breath until the results from gillum's cigarette butt came back it was
a perfect match to the DNA left at the 1987 crime scene I was ecstatic I was very very happy but investigators were
not yet ready to make an arrest opting to bring Gillum in for an interview in July 2021 you're not in trouble you're
here voluntarily detective Bailey says they told Gillum they needed to question him about an old casee you know anybody
by the name of roxan he explains to us I know two roxan and he said one's a stripper one's a drug addict Gillum was
shown a picture of rockand wood that girl look familiar you ever met her before never met her maybe that's a
newer picture here's an older picture then Gillum was shown a second photo of rock
sand never seen her never met her don't know who she is and I said well we're here to talk to you about her this This
Woman's been assaulted this is too much for me man you can see his body just tense up and almost to the point of
hyperventilation hands started shaking threw his hands you know back in the air I've never had a reaction out of
somebody like that in 23 years of doing this does he continue talking I got to talk to my lawyer at that time he
requested to speak to his attorney I got to talk to my lawyer man in February 2022 just days shy of the 35th Ann iary
of Rox San's murder Patrick Gillum was arrested at his Southbend Indiana home an answer a family has waited 35
years for Rox San's Brother Brad Woods it it didn't seem real it was nothing like I had ever played in my mind of how
I would be when they came to the door to say we've got them detective Christensen
then met face to face with the man who had lived for decades with cruel rumors and doubt Terry Wood I sat him down
explained he was no longer a person of interest and we knew he had nothing to do with it how did he react he was very
emotional he started crying of course was bewildered and in shock as a 35-year-old burden was lifted off Terry
the hammer was about to fall for Gillum you are under arrest okay investigators questioned him for five and a half hours
at a police station in South Bend with Gillum only asking for an attorney at the very end at times he spoke in
circles I can't believe I did if I did well you saying I did so went pressed on it he kept saying you guys are telling
me I did this and if I did this I'm a monster I'm a monster man if I did that that's a monster that's a monster man
only a monster would do this let me ask you this how do you think your DNA was found with her I have no clue how do you
think I have no clue man said that several times during the interview when he was confronted with the case facts he
kept saying I don't remember I don't remember I don't remember doing that but Janet says gillum's reaction when he was
questioned seven months prior proved he was lying now he visibly reacted shook like a leaf leaned back in his chair
pound in his chest I got to talk to my lawyer I think I need a lawyer you tell me he doesn't remember
what he did Gillum was charged with Rox Sand's murder but had a golden opportunity to apprehend him decades
earlier SLI through investigators fingers I truly believe that I would have been raped and
murdered see more of the evidence and timeline at 48 hours.com in the summer of 1987 just months after rockand wood was
murdered in her home her alleged killer crossed paths with yet another woman it was a hot night in South Bend Indiana
when Rose caparell went outside to her front lawn I was standing on there watering and all of a sudden I hear this
loud car coming down the street Rose standing alone says she noticed a blue El Camino similar to this one driven by
a stranger getting closer I looked and he had a tail light out on the car about 3 4 minutes later I hear the same car
coming back down this street now it had a bad Muffler right oh the muffler was loud I just got a feeling that something
just wasn't right and by the time I got halfway to my front door a man came came
around the corner of the house he had a stocking cap on and he had a full beard all you could basically see was his eyes
I just turned and ran screaming down the street have you ever run faster in your
life than that moment and I'm not a runner that I ran Rose says she ran to a neighbor's house and called local police
but the as salent had escaped what do you believe would have happened if that man had caught up to you my thought was
he was going to rape me a few days later while Rose and her family were driving to dinner her daughter Tina says she
spotted that same blue El Cino with a burned out tail light in a parking lot my mom says right away that's the car
stunned Rose and Tina say they went to call the police leaving Rose's husband Stan a retired Marine waiting for the
car's owner I came back to my dad holding a gun at the attacker sitting on the ground Tina says her father demanded
the man hand over his driver's license they say the name on that license Patrick Gillum we had never heard the
name before Rose says the police never arrived so Stan lowered his gun and let Gillum leave she says she later reported
the incident at the South Ben police station we didn't pursue it cuz we figured you know they would be doing
something with it no arrest was ever made decade later when Rose saw the report of Gillum being arrested for
roxan Wood's Murder She and Tina decided to tell their story to the Michigan police imagine if the police had come
they might have solved rockand Woods case just a few months after it had occurred possible yes an opportunity
lost yeah yeah it uh it could have went that way but in April 2022 gillum's day of Reckoning finally
came when he walked in I openly said piece of I didn't realize I was saying it as loudly as I did in a Michigan
courtroom he faced some of the people whose lives he had viciously altered and he made eye contact with me he sat down
and he looked up and he stared right in my face even though Gillum had insisted to
investigators that he didn't remember murdering roxan he later pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and now
everyone waited for his sentence to be handed down it was almost like being face to face with the devil I remember
being shaky and nervous and just I I just couldn't believe I'm sitting this close to the person that that did this
Brad and Janet finally got the chance to address the man who killed their sister
all those years ago Patrick Gillum is a very definition of a nightmare women fear our whole lives
Gillum appeared confused as though he'd seen a ghost when looking at Janet he wore headphones in order to hear Janet
does look a lot like rock he was probably in shock seeing her sitting there his actions gave all of us a life
sentence while he got to live most of his as a free man and we are here today to see him finally pay something for
what he's done which is likely the rest of his life in a cage like the vile animal that he is it seems people like
him tend to find Jesus in prison don't bother looking cuz the devil will be the only one greeting you
when it was his turn to speak Gillum offered an apology and a prayer I can't believe I did what I did and I pray for
them every night and I am so sorry I just hope that sometime in the future but God's help that they can said to
forgive me the judge sentenced Gillum who was 67 at the time to a minimum of 23 years in prison sitting in court
Terry Wood now Vindicated watched as his wife's real killer was led away Robert farig witnessed Terry's pain
firsthand I shook his hand he was you know shaking crying I felt more empathy for him than I could for any other
person I've met Terry was cleared and his wife's killer found thanks in large part to advances in technology genetic
genealogist Gabriella Vargas who solved a decades Long Cold Case in Just 4 days says she's eager to do it again as a
result of your work more and more law enforcement agencies will be coming to you more and more families hoping that
you can do your miracle work and solve their cold cases that's quite a burden for you isn't it oh absolutely not um
it's an honor it's an honor to be able to work these cases to bring Justice to these victims and and closure to these
families and I will never stop as the Wood family finally found some peace their Rock will always be with them
giving them the strength to move forward Janet remembers a dream she had about her
sister we were downtown n and she came up and grabbed me and she goes jam it and I was like rock oh my God and we're
walking and walking and walking and just laughing and all of a sudden I look up and it's dead silent and we're at the
gates of the cemetery and I said um I said oh I said do you have to go back and she goes yes
she goes but it's fine she goes I'm good she go I'm really good that was [Music]
it her home became a crime scene I knew my mom was in distress her mother's fiance
dead it was shock what really happened I didn't even know what to think what Angelina saw 48 hours Saturday on CBS
and streaming on Paramount [Music] plus when you think of the Phoenix desert you're definitely aren't thinking
of a [Music] waterfront the canal system goes right through the center of Phoenix the more people that were moving
to the area the more that the trails along there were being used for walking running
biking there are not many crimes that are like this one you had women riding bicycles along the
canal on a typical Phoenix evening ambushed stabbed multiple times police are looking for whoever killed
22-year-old Angela braso Angela braso dismembered decapitated police are looking at this
scene and thinking what on Earth happened and who did this 10 months later a 17-year-old
Junior at Arcadia High School Melanie bernes this is the high school that Steven Spielberg
attended Melanie Bernice's mother goes out to dinner and Melanie decides to go on a bike
ride and the following morning a woman is riding her bike right here there was just a big puddle it looked different as
I rode through it and all of a sudden I'm like that is blood so she called the police the
police saw a blood trail and they see Melanie Bernice's body at the bottom of the
canal my time in my life froze at that very moment the day we found out I made a promis to
myself I just never stopped talking about her these murders became widely known as
the Phoenix Canal murders my name is Clark schwarzkoff and I was assigned to the C case unit
investigating the canal murders I think there was over 600 Persons of Interest I said okay give me the
list in this mound of information of all these people and all these possible suspects I believed our killer was
listed eventually detective schwarzkoff found his prime suspect on that list and
discovered that the alleged Canal killer had a second identity a man who dressed
up like a comic book superhero and cruised The Valley in a decorated car dripping with fake blood the public knew
this man as the zombie hunter what was his life as the zombie hunter like what did he do he would go
to like parades and festivals and and show off this car and kind of be a part of the excitement if you
will your assignment was to find this guy and you have found him yeah he is accused of being a killer but here he is
posing with police officers before they discovered what he' [Music] done it was almost like a slap in the
face like I'm here but you don't know it it was like he was hiding and playing s
[Music] [Music] it's one of those cases that you just just don't forget you can't
unsee what happened to those girls you just can't long before the Man known as the zombie hunter became the prime
suspect in the canal murders Clark schwarzkoff was a detective with the Phoenix Police Department's cold Cas
Squad his mission was simple but pointed find the killer responsible for those vicious murders of two young women from
the early 1990s to this day I'm still not exactly sure about what happened on those bike paths the case
began on November 8th 1992 Angela braso a tech worker who had recently moved to Phoenix was taking
advantage of beautiful weather to get in a little exercise says Brianna Whitney the True Crime reporter for the CBS
affiliate kph in Phoenix each night she would go out for her evening bike ride just at Golden
hour at Sunset the best time to be riding out here Angela was only hours away from turning 22 years old and like
a lot of locals she liked to bike on the paths that ran alongside the city's distinctive canals says schwarzkoff a 48
Hours consultant are there places that are sort of natural Ambush sites if somebody
wants to attack someone yeah they are there's a lot of tunnels they go underneath the
interstate that November evening in 1992 Angela left her apartment around 700 p.m. her boyfriend Joe later told police
he said he stayed home to bake Angela a birthday cake and didn't expect her to be gone
long hours go by and Joe grows concerned Angela hasn't come home and that's not like her Joe told police he took his
bike out three times that night night frantically searching for Angela on the canal paths he spoke to her friends even
her mother back in Pennsylvania finally he reported Angela missing to police the next morning
Searchers Came Upon a horrific scene Angela bro's torso was found in a field next to the trail that she had been
riding her bike on Angela had been stabbed to death some 10 days after Angela's headless
body was discovered a man fishing along this section of the canal spotted her head stuck on a grate and from what we
have heard from Witnesses the head was in amazingly good condition especially considering this was days after the
murder I'm Morgan low and I'll take you Morgan low an investigative reporter who
who also works at kph and is a consultant for 48 hours has been working on the canal killer case for more than a
decade we've heard that the head looked like it had been preserved like it was a
momento for the killer Angela's purple mountain bike was also missing there were no solid leads and the case went
quiet until September of 1993 some 10 months after Angela's murder when the mother of 17-year-old Melanie bernus
returned from a dinner date to find her daughter had broken her curfew and was not home she then noticed that Melanie's
bicycle was missing Melanie decides to go on a bike ride by around 10:30 when Melanie did not return her mother
started calling her friends is Melanie there well my mom took the phone call said that Melanie's mom was frantic and
like nervous Rachel Shep maker was one of Melanie's close friends in high school
so initially when you hear it that her mother's looking for her you're not thinking something terrible has happened
to your friend definitely not I thought she was with a friend and just forgot to
communicate with her mom where she was early the next morning Charlotte pole a local resident happened to be
riding along the canal with her young daughter in a bicycle seat just as they came came out of one of those tunnels
that ran under the interstate she spotted a puddle there was just a big puddle of of something ended up riding
right through it and having it Splash over me Charlotte says something about the puddle bothered her so a few minutes
later she doubled back that's when she made that horrible realization I could tell that it was a puddle of red that it
was a puddle of blood and all of a sudden as I'm looking at it I noticed that there are some drag marks that went
along over here toward that tree towards that tree yes and then went around the tree and was drugged back you could see
the drag marks right here to the canal Charlotte went home and called police later that night the local news reported
that a woman's body had been found in the Canal close to where Angela bro's head had been located they found the
body in a teal body suit I was told by um some other friends that Melanie did not own that it can't
be her Rachel went to sleep convinced the body in the canal was not Melanie but the next day I'm at school my
friends just come up to me crying and saying it was [Music] Melanie detective strongly suspected
Melanie had been targeted and stabbed in the back by the same person who had killed
Angela police believe that somehow the killer got her off of her bike whether he knocked her off of her bike or
whether he asked her a question Clark says the evidence indicates the killer approached the women from behind both I
wounds were the exact same position investigators say the killer dragged Melanie's body off the canal
path removed her clothes and dressed her in that teal bodysuit similar to this one obtained by
police along with the stabbing and the dismemberment there was another component to these murders wasn't there
yeah both women were sexually assaulted and that meant investigators had a crucial piece of evidence
DNA when the DNA from melan scene was finally tested later it matched to Angeles scene so we knew for sure that
we were dealing with the same perpetrator investigators noted that the initial stab wounds to the backs of each
woman were fatal and so precise that detectives suspected the killer might be a surgeon the details about what
happened were the kinds of things that kept parents from letting their kids out when the sun went down
[Music] the murders of Angela braso and Melanie bernes in the early 1990s created fear
in Phoenix that lasted for a generation you know there's some guy out there and you don't know where he
is they watched the news and read the newspaper every day hoping that police would make an arrest and it just kept
going on and nothing and nothing and nothing investigators had collected matching male DNA from both the
victims but more than two decades passed and the canal murder cases went cold then science finally caught up with the
calendar it's in 2014 Phoenix police detectives are at a DNA conference and a forensic genealogist from California is
also at the conference calling Fitzpatrick founder of identif finders International was there to meet with law
enforcement and she goes up to these detectives and says hey I can take Y chromosomes and create these DNA
profiles and try to match with genealogy to help solve criminal cases Fitzpatrick's company had developed
software that could mine public genealogy databases searching for matches to Crime Scene DNA the
detectives heard her out and then several weeks later they sent me the y d profile from the crime scene for the
Phoenix Canal murders Fitzpatrick's company started crunching the data hoping to provide Phoenix detectives
with a name we entered the numbers from the forensic profile into our software and
that's where I came up with six matches to the name Miller while the genetic genealogy search produced the name
Miller it is also one of the most common last names detective schwarzkoff started
digging you check your files and what do you find I think there were a total of six Millers that were on what I called
my master list and I went down through the list got to Brian Patrick Miller but who was Brian Patrick Miller records
show he was 42 years old with a Phoenix address that name was just one of more than 600 Persons of Interest Who had
lived in those case files for years police at the time seemingly never pursued Miller we discovered his file
downstairs police learned Brian Miller had a record dating Back to Before the canal murders in May of 1989 when he was
just 16 years old Miller crossed paths with Celeste Bentley I was 24 and I was going to work
I had just noticed a young boy on the bus Celeste says she and the boy got off at the same stop moments later she felt
something in her back he had ran by me I thought he had just hit me I just yelled
at him I was like why'd you do that you know and then I reached back and touched
my back and realized that it was blood I had been stabbed with a single knife wound to her upper back Celeste screamed
and managed to make it to the store where she worked a coworker called for help about 30 minutes later when Celeste
was in the back of an ambulance the police came and said they found him and they wanted to bring him to the
ambulance to show him to me Celeste identified her as salent Brian Miller was charged with aggravated assault they
said that if he had held the blade the other way he would have gone straight through my ribs and I could have died
Miller pleaded guilty and was sentenced to juvenile detention until he turned 18
it was a far cry from where Miller's life had [Music] begun he was living in Hawaii for a
while as a kid with his mom and his dad but his dad died early on in a motorcycle accident
years later Miller and his mother Ellen moved to Phoenix so for most of his life
and early years it was Brian Miller and his mom while Miller was in juvie his mother made a disturbing Discovery Brian
Miller's mom was looking through his stuff and she found a note that he wrote the pages detailed a Sinister plan
kidnap the girl tie her up in the truck and cut her clothes off this note spelled out how he wanted to find abduct
rape murder and dismember a young woman and Brian's mom was so disturbed by this
piece of paper that she took it to Phoenix police it was Miller's 18th birthday and he had just been released
as an adult Chief fat out told police at the time she was really scared for her safety and that she was not going to
allow him to come home so after his release Miller ended up at this Phoenix halfway house when schwarzkoff read that
note in 2014 he was struck by something there was a lot of things in there that were
close or similar to what happened specifically to Angela including a description of decapitating
a victim and preserving the head Phoenix police wanted to locate Miller luckily he was very easy to
[Music] [Music] find in December 2014 Phoenix police continued digging into potential suspect
Brian Miller who they discovered was actually a local celebrity everybody at the time in the Phoenix area knew Brian
Patrick Miller as this character called the zombie hunter the zombie hunter like
a comic book character yeah like a comic book character like a good guy fighting
the bad guys Miller's Alter Ego was a costume figure who participated in parades and festivals around town
thousands of zombies taking over the streets of Downtown Phoenix he wore this long trench coat with these goggles and
helmet and had this large Gatling gun and if you're going to hunt zombies you need a way to get
around he bought an old police car and tricked it out wrote The Zombie Hunter on it and it had a full-size zombie
mannequin in the back and blood on the side friend Eric Braverman says Miller's zombie hunter Persona attracted a big
fan base including law enforcement officers who lined up to pose with him collected pictures of himself with the
cops like trophies they're all smiling big with him leaning on the car Eric says Miller's superhero
character was the opposite of what Brian was like when he wasn't in costume he seemed like a harmless marshmallow
that was immersed in this goofy lifestyle he's just that unassuming guy but could Miller be the canal
killer the only way to find out was to get his DNA investigators began to surveil Miller who worked at an Amazon
warehouse every day when he got there Miller parked the zombie Mobile in the same spot he would come out for his
15-minute break blast his music really loud lunchtime came out to the car same thing blast
this god- awful music Schwarz cough came up with an elaborate plan to get his DNA
I went up and introduced myself to mil he was in his car what did you introduce yourself introduced myself as a security
consultant schwarzkoff told Miller that thieves had been stealing goods from a warehouse across the way I said would
you be interested in working for me as a security officer watching the building while you're outside
his eyes light up yeah cuz it was a good paying job I said look I I'll pay you 20
bucks an hour on January 2nd 2015 Schwarz coff met Miller at this Chili's restaurant to
fill out a job application the Cold Case unit was behind the scenes ready to bag
anything that had Miller's DNA on it such as utensils or a glass they set a table for me and Mr Miller away from
everybody else and a part of the restaurant where nobody else is at Miller arrived with a surprised guest
his 15-year-old daughter Sarah Miller was a divorced single dad he was very gentle and caring about his daughter he
often brought his daughter with where he would be going the trio sat down and ordered hamburgers when the food arrived
he swallows his hamburger in like five bites won't take a drink of his water and I'm sit there going are you sure you
want someone else to drink cuz you just got water no no I'm good I'm good I'm good Schwarz started to worry this
operation would be a bust what does he finally do that makes this mission accomplished we finally
took a drink from the water glass that's when I knew that okay now we least got his DNA despite knowing about Miller's
juvenile record as their meal ended the veteran detective's gut told him Miller was not their man seeing him with his
daughter I just don't see this guy as being the monster in 1992 and '93 that would do this to these
women Miller gave Schwarz a quick tour of his Zombie Hunter mobile and the two parted ways with a detective saying he'd
be in touch the Cold Case unit sent Miller's water glass off to the crime lab 11 days later we got a call from the
lab and we're sitting there and we're like what is this all about and in this meeting these Phoenix detectives say as
a joke huh they must have solved the canal murders but detective schwarzkoff says it was no joke when the head of the
lab arrived she leans down to me she goes it's him and I go what she goes Brian Miller it's
him well the blood rushed from my head I kind of sat back and I went you've got to be kidding Brian Miller's DNA from
that water glass matched the DNA recovered from Angela Le braso and Melanie bernus more than 20 years
before Miller was arrested within hours during a police interview shortly after Miller was told why he'd been taken into
custody in connection with the canal murders we have DNA that links you to those two
ladies see how that's possible he just kind of went through it in his Dopey kind of I don't know what you're kind of
talking about would help you get it off your test did something like that I didn't kill anyone you didn't kill
anybody no investigators got a search warrant for Miller's house the home he shared with his teenage daughter and
just about everything he'd ever collected in his life I can remember like it was yesterday walking up to the
front door and everybody going you can't get in that way it's full of crap Brian Miller's house was like it
came from the sh show hoarders there was a little path where you could get to a bathroom in the kitchen and where the TV
was and that's it everything else is just stacked to the roof with garbage did you look around and go this is
madness not only Madness I go this is a nightmare Schwarz coff and his investigators would have to sift through
all of it looking for other possible evidence detective Schwarz cof also focused on a new source someone Miller
himself had ominously singled out in his interview it's the one person on face of
the earth I could probably honestly say I hate Miller's ex-wife Amy who would end
up revealing gruesome details from Miller's violent past he had told her about the murder of a young girl who'
come to his door accidentally [Music] what do you think motivated Brian Miller to dress up as the zombie hunter see
more of the case on Facebook at 48 hours in January 2015 more than 21 years after the canal murders Brian Miller was
charged with first-degree murder in both Angela bro and Melanie Bern's deaths Melanie's friend Rachel Shep
maker says she felt a wave of relief a very joyous moment of oh my gosh this is what we've been waiting for for decades
upon decades detective schwarzkoff wanted to talk to the one person who probably knew
Miller best his ex-wife Amy there had been married for8 years there was a divorce Amy told schwarzkoff that she
was just 19 when she met Miller in 1996 they married less than a year later and moved to Everett
Washington Amy had a shocking Revelation for the detective she told schwarzkoff Miller had revealed a gruesome secret to
her that he had killed a young girl in Phoenix years earlier before he'd ever met Amy Schwarz says Amy never reported
it to police before for a number of reasons she didn't know if it was true she was afraid of Miller and she said
she wanted to be a good wife you support your man no matter what detective schwarzkoff says Amy told him
what Miller had said that a young girl come to his door that he had grabbed this young
female pulled her in killed her immediately Amy said Miller told her he dismembered the girl and disposed of her
remains in trash left on the the curb although Amy claimed Miller never told her the child's name investigators
use the information Amy provided to piece together who Miller may have been talking about 13-year-old Brandy Meyers
was a little girl collecting money for a school book ofon in her North Phoenix neighborhood going door
too I was a tom boy and she was a girly girl bry's sister Kristen Dennis so she would try to learn how to climb
trees or jump fences because she wanted to play with me she was my best friend it was May 26th
1992 6 months prior to the murder of Angela braso Miller was living in the halfway
house following his time in juvenile detention for the aggravated assault of Celeste
Bentley this is one block from our school his home and then three blocks is is our house so every single day we
walked right by here Kristen says Brandy left home alone that evening never to return she was last seen two doors down
from Brian's walking in the direction of his house despite an extensive search bry's
body was never found schwarzkoff says even though Amy couldn't provide a name the clues in her account add up to just
one conclusion I believe that person is in fact Brandy Myers her sister believes that as well
Brandy went to the landfill like something of no importance even with Amy's account
investigators did not have enough evidence to charge Miller in bry's disappearance so the fact that she was
disposed of there's just nothing physical nothing forensically to grab on to 48 Hours contacted Miller who said he
had no involvement in bry's disappearance and never confessed to Amy that he had killed a young girl but
there is another case in Miller's past in 2002 a woman named Melissa Ruiz Ramirez is walking down the street in
Everett at night somebody pulls over it was Brian Miller Melissa would later tell police she'd
seen him before talking to a friend of hers Melissa said she got in Miller's car and told him she needed to make a
call and he drove her to his workplace so she could use the phone she tells police she's on the phone and from out
of the clear blue Brian Miller comes running out with a 12in serrated kitchen knife and stabs her in the back they
fight over the weapon Melissa said she escaped and contacted police they picked up Miller shortly
after he didn't deny stabbing Melissa but claimed it was self-defense he said he was at work when
Melissa walked in off the street and asked to make a call he said she goes to use a phone and
then all of a sudden now the clear blue she tries to rob him with a knife Miller
was arrested and charged with first-degree assault with a deadly weapon he was jailed from May 2002 until
his December trial the jury just didn't buy Melissa's story it was a he said she said and they
acquitted him of the charge Amy Says a chilling change followed Miller's return home she said it began with the letters
she'd received from her jailed husband while he awaited trial they first started out as
professing his innocence and then it would turn into sexual deviant like here's what I'm going to do when I get
out to you Amy told Schwarz coff that Miller followed up his words with action she said he came back with an
unbelievable ugly dark sexual deviant side that she'd never seen before there were times where there was
sex between him where he held a knife to her throat Amy told schwarzkoff that Miller
claimed something happened to him as a child something that would become the Cornerstone of his defense for murdering
Angela braso and Melanie bernes his unique defense call her first witness his mother had created a monster
[Music] at the start of Brian Miller's trial for the murders of Angela braso and Melanie
bernes in October 2022 his attorneys opened with a startling defense they admitted their
client was the canal killer they had to concede right off the bat that he is the
actual killer but that he was not guilty by reason of insanity his defense attorneys Miller was tortured by his
mother Ellen as a child and that led to his violent sexual behavior she died in 2010 if you imagine the making of a
monster this is kind of the household that Story begins in Miller told investigators after his arrest that the
beatings began when he was just 5 years old she was a detention officer discipline in their house house
was mental as well as physical she used her security belt so it was like a law enforcement belt and usually I got hit
by the buckles the defense opted for a bench trial which meant there would be no jury his lawyers told judge Suzanne
Cohen that Miller's mother also exposed her young son to violent sexual content he was exposed to her interests in
pornography and extremely violent films Miller's lawyer said his mother's abuse caused Miller to develop severe
mental health problems he feels like there are different TVs playing in his head psychologist Bethany bran testified
that Miller developed a condition known as dissociative Amnesia an inability to remember some traumatic events Morgan
low summed up the defense argument there were two Brians there's the one you see over there at the defense table
who's a fairly normal person who has friends who had a job who was a dad who was a a husband and then there's the
killer there's bad Brian and Miller claimed his attorneys had no memory none of the two murders he was charged with
prosecutors undermine the defense claim that Miller has no memory of the killings they point out that he does
remember details related to other stabbings remember Miller admitted stabbing Celeste Bentley when he was 16
years old and in 2002 he had also testified about the stabbing of Melissa Ruiz Ramirez in
Washington to show Miller's deviant side prosecutors called the only person in the world Miller said he despised his
ex-wife Amy the judge did not allow cameras to record her face under questioning by prosecutor
Elizabeth reamer Amy testified that later in their marriage Miller grew increasingly violent during
sex did you ever say anything to him about wanting it to stop because it was scary no why
not I was avoiding in confrontation with him at all at that point and wanted to be as compliant as possible so that I
would stay will he love me enough not to kill me did he ask permission prior to using
needles on you no did he ask permission prior to tying you up no what percentage
of your sex life after he got out of jail in Washington included bondage the pins or other uh things that
were not the normal sex you've been having early in your marriage probably at least
95% the trial continued and after 6 months and 36 Witnesses is the judge delivered her verdict as to count one
first-degree murder Angela braso as follows guilty as to count to first-degree murder victim Melanie bernes as follows
guilty how did Brian Miller react to the guilty verdict he didn't react he didn't
give any real emotion but Angela's mother who addressed the court remotely was emotional the
defendant broke my heart took all hope and light from me and my family the hole in my heart is so big
and empty Melanie's older sister Jill also spoke remotely about how painful it was
that Melanie's life ended violently at the age of 17 for 30 years now we've had to live
without Melanie because the defendant murdered her words cannot even begin to describe the level of excruciating pain
we experienced with the news of her horrific death Miller who didn't take the stand
during his trial was allowed to give a statement before he was sentenced I am now looking for sympathy today this time
is for the family and the friends of the victims I cannot imagine what pain they
have endured for all these years I know I am different I thought it had to do with what my mother did to me
defense counsel RJ Parker urged judge Cohen to show Mercy before she delivered her judgment on Miller's sentence life
in prison or death you do not have to kill Brian in order to see Justice Done judge Cohen agreed with the centerpiece
of the defense case the defendant's abuse as a child was proven but 8 months after the trial
began Miller's abuse at the hands of his mother did not dissuade judge Cohen from
handing down the ultimate sentence there is no question that what the defendant did deserves the death
penalty Mr Miller anything you wish to say to the court I gu thanks for listening to
everything that was said and giving us at least the opportunity to try and convince you
otherwise Justice was carried out in this case detective schwarzkoff hopes family
and friends of Angela and Melanie might finally find some [Music] peace people like Rachel Shep maker just
knowing that Jess was served it doesn't make anything easier how do you want your good friend
be remembered just so she's the All-American good kid I want her family to know that we haven't forgotten
her she changed us all for the better she was a gift [Music] [Music] a knock at the door by a clown an evil
clown the evil clowns you seen in the movies well it came to life who comes calling with balloons flowers and a gun
I heard bang I saw her fall this was an assassination who isn't afraid of a killer clown 48 hours Saturday on CDs
streaming on Paramount [Music] plus I'm Julia Cy retired FBI agent and Pro Filer and
former special agent forensic scientist with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation this podcast is about
criminal profiling this is certainly an unusual case I've never seen anything quite like
this [Music] one with many serial killers it's the killing part that they enjoy and once
they've killed the person they're done not Mark twitchell action Mark twitchell was an aspiring
filmmaker I interviewed him for my book and we corresponded uh for a number of years he wrote me probably 30 or 35
different letters up to about 350 pages of letters in one letter Mark twitchell wrote wrote back to me and this is what
he said the fact is society in general has a deep and profound fascination with the Dark Side of human nature
I do think Mark twitchell was using the film making as an outlet to live out his
fantasies and It ultimately wasn't enough for him and that's why his fantasies crossed into
reality I think Mark twitchell believes that he is very smart very methodical very logical very levelheaded
much like the character of Dexter Morgan and so I think he got ideas from the show I think he was drawn to the
character because that's what he wanted to be there's significant links to Dexter he had a kill room set up with
plastic sheeting he had a table set up for his victims he had this kind of processing kit that was very similar to
which Dexter uses never once did it cross his mind it ever be caught they aren't going to
catch me I'm too smart nothing is going to lead him to me our job is to put together the pieces
of the puzzle and in this case we had a written document that there was this document titled SK confessions found in
a deleted form on Mark twitchell's laptop and it appeared to read like a diary this is the story of uh my
progression into becoming a serial killer and it documented luring people off the internet his first victim was a
man named named jel Tetro I saw this uh lady she had blonde hair she was about 5 six she she was
very attractive looking and what was her name her name is Sheena Sheena yeah I messaged her she messaged me back how
about we go to dinner in a movie I thought that was a great idea she wouldn't give me the uh house number but
she just sent me really really good directions on how to get there he thought right what's the worst that
could happen [Music] [Music] it would appear that I'm unique in the world there is no key no root cause
there's no school I really were capable of premeditated murder normal healthy well adjusted 30 Old Men I once heard
the legend of another worthy victim wonderful young children and great future I dealt with his remains in a
disrespectful manner that traumatized me forever Psychopathic serial killers compassion I quickly grew to resent and
hate this man these are the words of Mark twitchell written to author Steve lilibu it is what it is and I am what I
am for the first time on television lilb buan is revealing the contents of twitchell's letters it's a rare look
inside the mind of a killer nobody would side with Dexter Morgan if you went around slaughtering School teachers and
mail carriers on a whim police say what was fascinated by the fictional character in the hit
Showtime series Dexter I need to kill him twitchell's been dubbed the Dexter killer because of the numerous links
between the television series and the real life crimes so how did this young Canadian filmmaker end up accused of
horrific acts The Story begins in October 2008 to hear how everything happened it was like you watching the
movies Edmonton police detective it's hard to say I mean Bill Clark but now we have it happening in real
life Jill's Tetro was online on the plenty of fish.com website which is a a dating site Tetro who was 33 at the time
was excited to meet the woman who called herself Sheena I was actually late so I
was driving quite fast to get there she said I'll just leave the garage door open for you and then you just go in go
through the garage I don't think he ever imagined in a million years what would happen to him in that garage it was dark
then I I kind of looked around for the door she told me to go through and that's when somebody came out and
attacked me from behind finally look back and that's when I see this man with this painted up hockey mask I
just chill down my back wow this is no date he's about like 6 foot and and has this black and gold hockey mask all
painted up on his face the hockey maske wearing man had ordered him to the ground at gunpoint and he tore a piece
of tape and he covered my eyes with it I start hearing different things like a jingling noise and stuff like that in my
head is just racing like it's like thinking what's going going on what is he going to do is he taking another
weapon out Jill decided he wasn't waiting to find out I can't do this I got to fight back so I got up and uh
ripped the tape off my eyes he was stunned that I got up and he started yelling at me to get back down on the
ground instead he grabbed the attacker's gun when I grabbed the gun I felt the gun was plastic this is the greatest
feeling I ever felt in my life because then I knew I had a fighting chance to get away that's when I I I was ready to
fight I punched him and I felt really weak I'm like wow why was my punch so weak what J didn't realize was that he
had been weakened by the effects of the stunned baton and then he starts punching me on
the side of the head just about then he came up with a plan he grabbed my jacket I jerked
forward to make sure he had a good hold on it I thought that's a perfect time that was part of your plan you're
thinking okay he grabs my jacket yeah and I can get free so that's when I slipped out of the jacket rolled
underneath the garage door and then got up and it worked and I tried to run and all sudden my legs wouldn't work and I
just fell boom right on the gravel driveway that's when he grabbed my legs and he started pulling me back to the
garage so I'm like oh no what am I going to do now I'm dead Gio was thrown back in the garage
but he surprised himself by rolling out again this time Jill managed to get into
his truck I stuck the key in the ignition and then I just sped away when Jill got home he discovered
the profile on the dating site had been deleted and he did his best to erase his
own memory why didn't you go to the police immediately at first I was in shock I said I told myself I'll do it
tomorrow and tomorrow came and I was um I felt so ashamed that I got duped embarrassed and Confused jeal convinced
himself that perhaps it wasn't as serious as he first thought I really thought it was a mugging at the time but
just one week later another man Johnny altinger would answer a similar dating ad and
disappear where is he what's going on he wouldn't do this to us Gary altinger Johnny's older brother says the last
time anyone heard from him was on October 10th 2008 when the 38-year-old left for a date with a woman named
Jen not a message nothing and then not showing up for work totally out of character John was very very very
responsible and when did you grow concerned when I received that email and this email was completely out
of character what did it say I've met a woman named Jen and I'm going away with her to Costa Rica and I'll call you at
Christmas time I just thought right away after I had read this that's got to be the weirdest message I've ever received
that identical strange message had gone out to all of Johnny's friends as well desperate for some answers John
Johnny's friends broke into his apartment they found his passport and they found dirty dishes and they found
everything just like as if he were going to return an hour or two later and with
that information then they went to the police and they said Hey listen you've got to do something you know he was his
red Mazda was missing he had taken his vehicle and couldn't be found so obviously that's what we're going to
look for first easier to find a car than than a person based on the uh emails and
they talk about Costa Rica the officers search all the parking lots at the airport it's not found everything's
turning up negative but there was one clue that would give police their first big break in the
case on the day he disappeared Johnny altinger had forwarded the directions of where he was going to
friends well John's friends were concerned and his friend even questioned M mail you know be careful and John said
yeah well here's the directions and if anything happens to me you'll know where to look armed with the directions police
were led directly to that garage they learned the garage is rented out to an individual named Mark
twitchell action twitchell then 29 years old a married man with a young daughter
had used the garage as a set for a recent movie Project I'm glad I got the chance to work with you all and I hope
you I see you all in the industry Mark denied knowing anything about a missing man or a red Mazda and he had no problem
with the police wanting to search the garage they have a look around and they see some what looks like blood and Mark
twitchell's explaining oh no that's my movie prop we did a film about killing a guy in here and I filmed it all and I've
been cleaning it up over the last couple weeks there were some things that were you know raising your spidey sense in
this one going n this isn't right something going on here [Music] for detectives in the Edmonton Police
Department The Disappearance of Johnny altinger was a mystery in more ways than one it's a missing person's case we
don't know what foul plays happened here we we don't have a body uh we don't even
know if we have a crime their only lead was Mark twitchell's film set garage voluntarily the amateur filmmaker came
down to the Edmonton Police Station to speak with detectives aler does that name a ring of bell to
you or mean anything to you no never heard it before no Mark appeared to be eager to help he had no History of
Violence and was hardly a suspect action in fact he seemed guilty of nothing more
than wanting to brag about his film career I'm working on a comedy right now which is a it's actually a full-blown
feature that's actually going to have a decent budget in the neighborhood of about 3 and A2
million Mark twitchell's first film Project a Star Wars fan film had received some media buzz back in 2007
word has gotten around that I'm making a $100 million movie for 60 Grand and uh some production directing jobs have
already come my way but the police were more interested in Mark's latest production a suspense thriller called
House of Cards where a hockey Mass serial killer lowers a man to a garage via the
Internet and kills him I mean it's kind of odd that you're filming that kind of thing and we end up growing to that
garage because of a missing person who supposedly went there that's really freaky too and as soon as they called me
on the phone I this weird chill he looked pretty comfortable in the interview and when it was done and I
watched I went wow that guy interviewed well hours later Mark twitchell even agreed to let officers back into the
garage where he had filmed House of Cards little did they know the case was about to take an unusual turn detective
Murphy goes you know and meets him and talks to him and there's this huge Revelation about oh yeah I bought a red
car off a guy it's like I remember getting the phone call at the police station just thinking holy crap that's
because police were still looking for Johnny alger's red Mazda so investigators called Mark again and
again he voluntarily agreed to answer more questions this time Bill Clark conducted
the interview so as you know Mark we're just here trying to find this John F John alinger mhm Clark listen while Mark
told him how he came into possession of a red car a detail he failed to mention when he spoke with police earlier this
guy uh Taps on my window you know hey buddy do you want to buy a car I have shacked up with this really rich lady
and she's going to buy me a new car so I'm just looking to unload buy how much do you have on you and Mark claimed he
bought the red Mazda for just $40 and that was parted at a friend's house so what are you thinking when you
hear that that he purchased a car for $40 I just thought that's unbelievable that's just right away I'm thinking to
myself this is a bunch of crap the strange story about the red car the serial killer movie being filmed for
Clark It could only mean one thing there's absolutely no doubt in my mind that you're involved in The
Disappearance of John altinger no doubt in my mind at all mark why but it was only a hunch Clark had no
hard evidence against Mark police began digging deeper into his background they were interested in speaking with anyone
who had worked on House of Cards where actor Chris Huber's character meets an untimely bloody end in the film my
character was killed with the samurai sword they said they would have a mannequin or a dummy to run the sword
through and when I got there there was none I looked at the the weapons that was my first time when I saw that
they're real I thought this is off I'm think why didn't I tell somebody where I am hu left the garage film set unharmed
but rattled and his unease only escalated when police asked him about that allegedly fake movie Blood they
spotted in the garage how much of the blood splatter on the wall was from your filming then I said none of the blood
splatter was from up and then in a search of twitch's belongings police found his laptop
they pulled off a hard drive a deleted file titled SK confessions SK confessions police believed SK was
shorthand for serial killer one of the first lines it says I not sure when I decided become a serial
killer but it was a feeling of pure Euphoria SK confessions told the story of a man who was lured to a garage and
stand to death a plot strikingly similar to House of Cards I plunged the knife deep into his neck it was unbelievable I
just remember reading it all and just was fascinated by this document going holy mackel but was the document a
screenplay or was it in fact Mark twitchell's confession of murder [Music] [Music]
it just doesn't make sense where there's smoke there's Fire 2 weeks after The Disappearance of Johnny
altinger at a garage film set police had sharpened their focus on filmmaker Mark
twitchell police cameras were rolling as the forensics team processed twitchell's
family car and the garage he rented and a few miles away detectives have been at the twitchell hall where they
found just twitchell Mark's unsuspecting wife of two years what I said was we're
investigating a missing person I believe your husband's got something to do with
it and it's quite possibly uh you know could be a homicide I didn't really go into anything more but I think that was
enough I mean she was emotional police soon discovered that the twitchel marriage was already
fractured they had been living in basically sleeping in separate bedrooms She was basically living on the main
floor he was living in the basement so there was obviously troubles in Paradise there we knew
that twitchell had been having an affair with an old girlfriend and lying to his
wife about having a job he found out that he was telling his wife he was going to work every day he had no job he
was getting his friends to invest in his alleged movie making business with his Hollywood Connections and basically Mark
twitchell was living off their money interestingly the document police had found in twitchell's laptop titled SK
confessions also referenced a crumbling marriage and secrets it read and went through Great Lengths to bring my wife
over to the comfortable belief I wasn't cheating on her it was a basically a almost like a movie script but what was
real and what was fiction the closer police look the more the Lines Blurred police discovered twitchel spent
countless hours making elaborate Halloween costumes it's almost like a times Mark twitchell lives in a fantasy
world but it was twitchell's Facebook page comparing himself to TV's fictional Serial Killer Dexter Morgan that really
raised eyebrows Mark has way too much in common with Dexter Morgan read twitchel
status he talked a lot about uh how he loved the show Dexter I need to kill him twitchel even posed
as Dexter Morgan on Facebook we all have a dark side some darker than others and
you're not the only one to relate to Dexter it sometimes scares me how much I relate I mean look at this profile that
profile had caught the attention of a woman named Renee from Cleveland Ohio I a huge fan of the Showtime show Dexter
so I thought oh well you know I'll be friends with him even eventually twitchell revealed his true identity he
was uh a filmmaker we are rolling and he was working on a a new thing called House of Cards camera's rolling Renee
was intrigued after all she was an aspiring writer and her friendship with a Movie Maker could open doors I thought
it was going to be like a working relationship a working friendship um you know we had a lot in common I mean you
spoke to him a couple of times a day online a couple of times a day was it flirtatious oh yeah absolutely their
email exchanges soon became dark it was shortly before Johnny altinger disappeared we talked about you know
serial killers and you know the psychology behind a serial killer at the time Renee was upset with her
ex-husband's new wife and I wanted her dead at the time but I said I couldn't do it and hypothetically how would you
get away away with it how do you get away with it he said you cut her up in little
pieces you put her in trash bags like Dexter and since I was close to the lake you run a boat and uh dump out in the
middle of Lake Erie but then she began to wonder he said over the weekend he did something
and he liked it I crossed the line and I did something and I like it and what did you
take that to me that he killed somebody what other line is there to cross something inside my head just gave
me red flags and said he did it and her suspicions kept growing with another email he sent there's an
enormous missing person possible homicide investigation going on centralized around a location I've been
renting for film work so of course the police have tossed my house and impounded my car not fun considering
they won't find anything but twitchell had underestimated the police he thought he was way smarter than the police uh
one of the biggest mistakes I think that he made was he had no idea how we do our
job and that was a huge advantage to us adding to their circumstantial case twitchel possessing altinger car the SK
confessions document and his Dexter Obsession investigators finally had hard evidence they found alger's blood in
twitchell's trunk when we got the word that uh the DNA match we briefed our Tactical Team our our arrest team and we
had officers ready to make the arrest on Halloween morning 2008 while twitchell was putting the finishing touches on his
Halloween costume at his parents home police were busy laying a trap we got an undercover operator to work the internet
and pretend he was going to ENT investor he was lured out on the promise to meet
this guy at this coffee shop and when he got about three blocks from his house Tactical Team swooped in on him and took
him down tough guy Mark twitchell peed his pants he was so scared and it was a little uh Taste of his own medicine I
guess back at the station detective Clark and twitchell came face to face in the interrogation room once again
as I told you that night I knew that you were involved in The Disappearance at that time of Johnny
altinger that's changed slightly I now know that you killed John altinger 3 weeks after alger's disappearance police
charged twitchell with first-degree murder the once talkative movie director barely uttered a
line you didn't get much of a reaction did you no he's uh well he knows not the to say anything talking to his lawyers
he's not going to admit to anything he didn't have to es confessions which police had been dissecting word by word
spoke volumes they were now convinced it was no screenplay but rather a diary of
Murder One passage about a knife r i thrust it into his gut his reaction was pure Hollywood we do believe as
investigators that the account written by Mark twitchell in that SK confessions is exactly what he did to John
altinger by now Renee had called the police as authorities began building their case there was one crucial part of
SK confessions they wanted to verify about a victim who had survived it was just a huge piece of evidence CU Not
only would it verify what was written in SK confessions it would also have a living witness so it was Paramount that
we find this person detective Bill Clark knew his next move was finding the alleged victim who had
escaped from Mark twitchell's garage you know one of the first things we did was
check the police records figuring hopefully someone called the police on this and we have nothing but police had
found a helpful clue during the search of twitchell's home one of the things they had found was a hockey mask the SK
confessions talked about how Mark twitchell had worn this mask when he attacked both victims but we figured it
was something the first victim would key on police soon took to the airwaves we have some details on this male victim
who was attacked and we would like him to come forward Jil Tetro was at home oblivious to the horror he had escaped
when a friend told him to watch the news to date we do not know who this victim is I believe the victim entered the
garage and was attacked by another male who was wearing a hockey mask and it's the same hockey mask that I
saw wow yeah this is this is the guy this is what happened to me it's the same mask everything what Jill heard
next came as an even greater shock another man had been lured to the same garage and met a gruesome man we have
not found John alger's body and what were you thinking when when you heard this I couldn't believe it once you find
out the whole story I knew at that point it was not just a mugging it was actually he was probably going to kill
me I'm like wow I I have to go for it now I have to come forward exactly 1 month after he was attacked Jill Tetro
walked into the Evington police department and told police his incredible story I was all off balance I
couldn't run I fell down on the the gravel driveway and uh basically crawling so he dag to me back to the
garage Jill's story matched nearly word for word what was in SK confessions I grabbed him by the leg as if to drag him
back into the garage caveman style so I know that this diary we have is true after this all happened I realized how
lucky it was 7 days after xil was attacked police say twitchell wasn't going to make the same mistake
twice how did he kill uh John we know that he lured him to the garage in the same way he lured jills Tetro and then
in this case because he learned from jills that the taser didn't work he hit him over the head with a lead pipe
following the narrative police believe altinger was then stabbed and dismembered on a makeshift autopsy table
what was the most damning piece of evidence that you discover we had uh you know luminol test done on the floor
large amounts of blood had been spilled on the floor of the garage probably one of the biggest pieces a piece of tooth
that was found inside there that piece of tooth uh matched up to our victim according to SK confessions the killer
then broke into alger's apartment and sent out those emails about taking an exotic vacation the killer then
attempted to burn the remains in a barrel but failed he next tried to dump them into the river but was afraid of
being seen ultimately Mark twitchell drove around with it according to the SK confessions document he even talked
about driving around with them and pulling up beside people at red lights and looking them and thinking that they
don't know I have a dead body in the trunk of my car but where was Johnny alger's body SK confessions describe the
killer finally choosing a sewer to dump the remains but that's where the pages stopped it was a story without an ending
in any homicide investigation you obviously want to bring closure to the family so not only do you want to make
that phone call saying we got the guy that did this to your loved one but in this case we wanted to say to him look
we found Johnny detective Clark hoped twitchell would provide the Final Chapter I'm
going to get the car ready we're going to take a drive you guys were driving around and there was a camera trained on
him in the back of the police car tell me about that when you you read all the experts books about these type of
individuals is they tend to like the media attention so we thought well maybe if we drive him around and we'll put a
camera on him maybe he'll just we'll just take him to places cuz we had no idea where where uh Johnny's remains
were at that time so in order to finish the movie we find the body take it back to the
people family done movie's over you can write it all down detective Clark was relentless taking twitchel on a tour of
his old neighborhood and we first drove to his parents house where he had been staying we actually
demanded that he tell us he wouldn't look familiar Mark are we parked right on top of the sewer where you dumped the
body next stop the scene of the crime so here we are back at the killing garage the Dexter
garage bring back any memories you want to tell us where the body is now we get this over with but switch will remain
silent so police kept searching on their own looking in sewer after sewer so all
these manhole covers were pulled off in this alley so anytime I'd see one I always had my flashlight with me and
would get out and actually take a look weeks then months passed and still no luck then a year and a half after
Johnny alting her disappeared twitcher while awaiting trial broke his silence and gave the police a
map just up here on the left it's about a block south of his parents house investigators followed it to an Alleyway
just a half block away from where they had stopped the search and he had marked an x x marks a spot it took it stra to
this uh sewer cover here we could see what looked like pieces of human torso uh down
[Music] there in Mar March of 2011 Mark twitchell went on trial for the murder of Johnny altinger prosecutors called
Jil Tetro to testify and to prove that what twitchell described in SK confessions was not a work of fiction
but an account of what had actually happened I wasn't really afraid of him at that time I knew he couldn't hurt me
anymore the only witness the defense called was Mark twitchell and he had one unbelievable tale to tell Steve libuan a
college professor and an investigative journalist was covering the trial for the Edmonton Journal and went on to
write a book The Devil Cinema about the case Mark twitchel testified that this was all a big misunder understanding and
he had killed Johnny in self-defense twitchell claimed that alger's death was nothing more than a publicity stunk
onone horribly AR he said he intended to let both men go so they would create a buzz for his film by telling people that
this had actually happened to them but he claimed altinger became enraged at being tricked and he accidentally killed
him in self-defense he blames Johnny saying it was Johnny's reaction to his attempt at this promotion is what
happened in the end the jury took just 5 hours to find Mark twitchell guilty he was sentenced to 25 years to life but
for lilibu and there were still so many questions so the motive is the mystery though why did he do this what is Mark
twitchell psyche what led to this happening questions Lil bu and hop might be answered when he got a call out of
the blue from Mark twitchell himself he just said straight out if you're going to be writing a book about me you might
as well come straight to the source what do you think Mark twitchell's motiv was see the evidence
presented at trial and more at 48 [Music] hours.com the first time I met him he actually had me laughing he's very
charismatic Mark twitchell was nothing like author Steve little buan expected has very much that salesman slick
Behavior he knows how to put it on to get people to like him twitchell began writing to libuan before
he was even convicted in 2011 over the course of almost three years they exchanged dozens of letters I
learned really quickly that he preferred to talk through writing these weren't ramblings of a crazy man there was
actually some substance in these letters yes absolutely so he's not he's not crazy he is he is lucid at first lilan
didn't want to push twitchell away with too many probing questions about his crimes I asked him a lot of softball
questions just about who he was his family his upbringing all that kind of background detail he was newly married
and a new father so he was just a typical local guy who had dreams of making it big in Hollywood and really no
red flags no warning signs that something like this was on the horizon in letters twitchel clung to his
defense that he had no choice but to kill Johnny altinger and then dismember him he writes I killed Johnny altinger
in a horrific accident of self-defense after curly shoving aside my human sensibilities I dealt with his
remains in a disrespectful manner that traumatized me forever he still is adamant that this was not a planned and
deliberate murder and to be frank he's he's wrong lilan points to SK confessions where twitchel describes how
he turned that garage into a kill room set up a makeshift autopsy table had plastic sheeting and a processing kit
similar to the one Dexter Morgan used Mark twitchell wrote to me quite extensively about his interest in Dexter
Dexter on his mind twitchell drew this portrait of Michael C Hall the actor who plays him and to Lil buan surprise even
Behind Bars twitchell was able to feed his obsessions previously on Dexter Mark twitchel had actually been granted
access to finish watching the series while he was incarcerated in 2012 Dexter star Michael
SE Hall was asked about Mark twitchell on a Canadian radio program it's horrifying to
entertain the notion that something you did inspired that twitchell's response to Hall's
comments was to downplay his fascination with the Dexter character so he wrote to
me as you're aware Dexter has almost nothing to do with my case throughout their correspondence
lilan continued to Grapple with what drove ttel and then twitchel told him there is
no key no root cause there's no school bully or impressional gory movies or Showtime
television series to point the finger at it is what it is and I am what I am he's
a depraved individual and he knows that retired FBI criminal profiler Julia Calli didn't work on this case but she
spoke with Detective Clark and reviewed Mark twitchell's writings and letters for 48 hours she thinks she knows what
made twitchel Teck I think he identified with Dexter to some degree I think he's
different than Dexter he's not killing bad guys he's killing very innocent good people living productive lives and while
he's technically not a serial killer he was headed in that direction if they hadn't have caught
him Cali believes twitchell took pleasure in planning and executing his crimes as if they were romantic
trrs I think the primary motivation was sexual sexual yes he's targeting men that perhaps he would be interested in
having a date with It's a combination of sexual motive and a thrill killing he's pretending to
be a woman he writes extensively about what he's going to wear the weapon that he chooses he sort of describes it in
seductive language he said I wanted the weapon used for the deed itself to be simple elegant and
beautiful and in a strange twist twitchell's been able to feed that Obsession too in
2017 he was allowed to join an online dating website for inmates which you know I find quite surprising considering
the way he ended up in prison I believe it's been taken down since then the man who was tricked into that very bad date
in twitchell's garage GI Tetro con continues to be haunted by the experience we caught up with him
recently I still think about the painted up hockey mask I still think about the stun gun and the fight for my
life in 2023 twitchel will be eligible to apply for early parole experts say it's a long shot but it worries jail I'm
scared that he might want to finish what he started and come after me Mark twitchell cannot be
rehabilitated this is who he is action and for Mark twitchell the aspiring filmmaker there may be one
final plot twist author Steve Lilian sold the rights to his book The Devil Cinema to a film company twitchell's
story may be coming to the big screen an Olympic Horseman he was a legend a falling out with a student she attacked
him on social media oper he says she drove him to do it the verdict 48 Hours next on CBS

"48 Hours" reports on cases involving a trail of evidence unveiling killers in this mini-marathon. Binge-watch the full episodes, which include "The "Unsolvable" Murder of Roxanne Wood," "Unmasking the Zombie Hunter" and "The Dexter Killer"

00:00 The "Unsolvable" Murder of Roxanne Wood 41:11 Unmasking the Zombie Hunter 1:22:37 "The Dexter Killer"

Watch the first "Trails of Evidence" marathon volume: https://youtu.be/J2yu7tQZe3Q

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Roxan Wood's murder case, cold for decades, is solved through DNA technology, leading to Patrick Gillum's arrest and family closure.

Key points

The Murder of Roxan Wood. In 1987, Roxan Wood was brutally murdered, leaving her family devastated and searching for answers.
Cold Case Revival. Decades later, a group of students and a professor work to revive the cold case.
The Cigarette Clue. Investigators discover a cigarette butt that could link Gillum to the crime scene.
Courtroom Confrontation. Gillum faces the family of his victim in court, pleading no contest to murder.
The Canal Murders. The murders of Angela and Melanie instilled fear in Phoenix for decades.
Miller's Disturbing Note. Miller's mother found a note detailing a sinister plan to abduct and murder.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I believe you're the killer!

A detective confronts Terry during questioning.

11:29WatchJul 20, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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