03x09 - Beaten by a Hair

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Narrator: early monday morning, on october , ,

-Year-old laura houghteling was seen leaving her bethesda,

Maryland, home walking to the train station on her way to

Work.

She never arrived.

A clue to her disappearance was a peculiar strand of hair found

In her hairbrush.

Laura houghteling was an ambitious young woman with a

Bright future.

She had recently graduated from harvard university and had moved

Back home with her mother, penny.

Laura worked for a public-relations firm in

Washington, d.c., And was contemplating law school.

[ Trumpet sounds ] flag is up, and away they go.

Narrator: on the saturday before she disappeared, laura

Attended the gold cup steeplechase horse races in

Virginia.

When laura didn't show up for work, a coworker called the

House, but there was no answer.

Laura's mother was out of town on a business trip.

Next, laura's brother, warren, was called.

He lived nearby.

When he arrived at the house, he found that the back door was

Unlocked, but there was nothing missing inside.

As time went on, nobody had heard from laura, and this was

Just totally, totally out of character for her.

We checked her bank account, credit cards, checking account.

There was nothing there where she had withdrawn money that she

Would have needed to survive somewhere else.

Narrator: fliers with laura's photograph were distributed at

The train station in the hope that someone might have seen

Her.

Police also searched the walk in between the train station and

Laura's home, looking for possible clues, but found

Nothing.

When detectives searched laura's bedroom, they noticed that a

Fitted sheet and mattress pad were missing from her bed.

Laura's mother said that laura always made her bed before

Leaving for work.

Four days after laura houghteling disappeared,

Investigators made a grim discovery in the woods near

Laura's home.

At the base of a tree, they found a bloody pillow and

Pillowcase.

Immediately I recognized the pattern on the pillowcase was

Identical to what I had remembered being on

Laura houghteling's bed a few days earlier.

Narrator: the blood on the pillowcase was type "a," laura's

Blood type.

A police bloodhound named sherlock was given some of

Laura's clothing to establish her scent.

When sherlock was released from his cage, he went directly to

The tree where police had found the bloody pillowcase.

The bloodhound followed the scent through a church parking

Lot, through a residential area, and straight to the back door of

Laura houghteling's home.

The dog had a very strong track and actually ran the

Distance, which indicated to us that he was very definitely on

The scent of laura houghteling.

Narrator: police suspected foul play, but they had no

Suspects.

We spoke to everyone that we could that had seen laura or

Knew laura within the last year or two.

And no one could give us any reason for anyone to want to do

Any harm to her, have any harm to come to her.

Narrator: but police wondered why the bloodhound tracked

Laura's scent to her back door when she was seen leaving the

front door of her home on the morning she disappeared.

Narrator: police suspected foul play in the disappearance

Of -year-old laura houghteling when a bloody pillow from

Laura's bedroom was found in the woods near her home.

To find out whether the blood on the pillow belonged to laura,

Blood samples were taken from laura's mother, penny, and her

Brother, warren.

Using a dna test called "restriction fragment length

Polymorphism," or rflp, scientists concluded that the

Blood came from a biological offspring of laura's mother,

Penny, and was that of a biological sibling of laura's

Brother, warren.

The blood on the pillow was that of laura houghteling.

Next, scientists used another illuminating test on the

Mattress to look for blood that may have been cleaned up with

Water or detergents.

Luminol is a chemical compound that reacts with the hemoglobin

Component in blood, causing it to glow in the dark.

It works with very minute traces.

And once this begins to glow, you can get a pretty good idea

Of what the pattern of the blood flow was on a particular

Area.

Narrator: this demonstration shows a carpet with a visible

Bloodstain and next to it an invisible bloodstain that has

Been cleaned with water and detergent.

The tiles with x's are targets used as reference points in the

Dark.

When the luminol is sprayed, within seconds, the invisible

Bloodstains glow.

After luminol was sprayed on laura's mattress, an invisible

Blood pattern emerged.

The left side of the mattress was giving us no response at

All.

But when we started spraying the right side of the mattress, we

Were seeing areas of very intense luminescence, and this

Proceeded from the headboard all the way down to the foot of the

Mattress.

Narrator: next, forensic scientists examined the

Hairbrush found on laura's dresser.

They examined over hairs -- presumably laura's hairs.

They were all microscopically similar, except one.

As I was scanning through several of the hairs that I

Recovered from the brush, all of a sudden, one that I looked at,

I realized was not a human hair.

It was a synthetic fiber.

Narrator: the fiber was identified as a strand of

Artificial hair from a wig.

Penny houghteling told police that her daughter never wore a

Wig and had never owned one.

So now that put greater value on this particular piece of

Evidence.

Why was a wig fiber in that hairbrush sitting on the dresser

From her bedroom?

Narrator: forensic examiner susan ballou also examined the

Bloody pillowcase found in the woods.

She noticed bloodstains that looked like the impression of a

Knife, which had been white on the pillowcase.

And another bloodstain on the pillowcase was different than

The rest.

The ridges that I was seeing was different from the weave of

The fabric of the pillowcase.

There were enough that was consistent with what I was

Familiar with with leaving an impression behind.

Narrator: it appeared to be some sort of print, but lifting

A print from a fabric is difficult.

For a closer look, scientists used a protein stain called

"Amido black."

Next, a wash solution was applied, followed by distilled

Water.

When the print on the pillowcase was enhanced by the amido black

Stain, it was identified as a partial thumbprint.

We then sat down with the family -- would have been

Laura's brother and her mother -- and explained to her

That we felt that laura possibly may have been m*rder*d in the

Bedroom, based on the amount of blood and based on the

Circumstances.

Days after -year-old laura houghteling disappeared

From her bethesda home, her family tells reporters they

Believe they know what happened to her.

She was first considered to be a missing person, but now the

High-tech equipment that is now available to the police have

Shown that she died here.

Narrator: police now had solid evidence that might lead

Them to the m*rder*r.

Narrator: although police suspected that laura houghteling

Had been m*rder*d in her bedroom, they were unable to

Find her body and had no solid leads.

Laura's brother, warren, told police of an incident he had

With a part-time gardener who worked at his mother's home,

Hadden clark.

The night after laura disappeared, warren was outside

His mother's home and saw hadden clark driving through the

Neighborhood.

When he attempted to speak with clark to ask him if he had seen

Laura, clark sped away.

-Year-old hadden clark was known to police because of a

Past arrest for burglary.

A few years earlier, clark had also been a suspect in the

Investigation of a missing young girl, a case that has never been

Solved.

Clark was born with brain damage and had difficulty throughout

His life.

He trained as a chef but had difficulty keeping jobs.

He was currently working as a gardener and other odd jobs.

He was, at one time, in the united states navy, and he was

Discharged and diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic.

Narrator: clark was basically homeless, often sleeping in the

Back of his truck, which he parked in a church parking lot

Not far from the woods where the bloody pillow had been found.

Clark got into an argument with penny houghteling just one week

Before laura disappeared over some tools penny said were

Missing from her toolshed.

The houghtelings also kept a spare house key in the shed.

When police researched clark's financial records, they learned

That he had purchased duct tape, braided rope, and nylon cord

Several days before laura's disappearance and paid for the

Items with a personal check.

Investigators were alarmed with what they saw written in the

Memo section -- one word -- "laura."

On the day laura disappeared, clark purchased a queen-size

Sheet from a department store, a size that was too large for the

Mattress in the back of his truck but was the same size as

Laura's mattress.

From clark's financial records, police also learned that he

Rented a storage locker in warwick, rhode island, miles

Away.

An employee at the storage unit told police that clark visited

His storage locker two days after laura disappeared.

Armed with a warrant, police searched clark's storage unit

And discovered a secret side of hadden clark's life.

He had falsies that he would place in the bras, apparently.

He had bras. He had dresses.

He had female shoes.

He had female coats.

He had wigs -- everything that he could wear and look like a

Female.

Narrator: was it possible that the individual seen leaving

The houghtelings' home on the morning of laura's disappearance

Wasn't laura at all, but was, in fact, hadden clark dressed as

Laura?

Penny houghteling told police something about laura's attire

That they hadn't heard before.

Laura never, ever wore slacks.

Laura was a tall girl, and she would wear skirts or a dress.

She didn't want to accentuate her height by wearing slacks.

So she never wore slacks -- didn't own a pair of slacks.

Narrator: fibers from all of the wigs in clark's storage

Locker were compared to the wig fiber found on laura's

Hairbrush.

It was very easy to remove some of these wigs as being the

Contributor just from color.

Very blond or other colors were not a possibility since we were

Dealing with a brown tone as far as the dye goes for this wig

Fiber.

Then, doing microscopic exam narrowed it down to one

Particular wig that was identical in all respects to

This particular fiber.

Narrator: hadden clark's wig and the fiber from laura's

Hairbrush from her bedroom were sent to the trace evidence unit

At the fbi laboratory in washington, d.c.

In their analysis, they used what is called a

"Microsprectrophotometer," an instrument that can discern

Between the , commercial dyes used in the united states.

It takes a beam of light and runs it through an object, such

As a fiber, and it measures the amount of light that's lost as

It passes through that fiber.

Light is lost at different wavelengths, wavelength relating

To color.

So, a dark-brown fiber will absorb more light than a

Light-brown fiber, and it will absorb different colors of light

Than, say, a light-blue fiber.

So we simply measure those differences and then plot that

On a chart.

Narrator: dyes are proprietary and are trademarked

By the manufacturer to protect against duplication.

The dye from the wig fiber found in laura's hairbrush was

Identical to the fibers from hadden clark's wig.

It indicated to us that they exhibited the exact same color,

Optically.

Therefore, the questioned fibers consistent with coming from that

Wig.

They were dyed to the same color, the same industry

Standard, and probably from the same dye lot.

Narrator: finally, police turned their attention to the

Bloody thumbprint found on the pillowcase in the woods.

When they compared it to hadden clark's thumbprint, it

Was a match.

Police now knew how hadden clark fooled the neighbor and left the

Crime scene without creating suspicion.

But where had he taken laura's body?

Narrator: hadden clark was arrested and charged with

First-degree m*rder in the death of laura houghteling.

Although her body had never been found, prosecutors hoped that

They had enough evidence to convince a jury that

Laura houghteling was, in fact, dead and that hadden clark was

The m*rder*r.

The first-degree m*rder trial was set to begin on june ,

, But the trial never took place.

The defendant in the houghteling case just pled

Guilty.

The plea was accepted.

The plea was to second-degree m*rder.

Narrator: as part of the plea bargain, clark revealed to

Prosecutors where he had buried the body.

He led them to a shallow grave less than half a mile from

Laura's home.

It had been eight months since laura houghteling's

Disappearance.

There was a skeletal part of the body that was sticking out

Of the ground.

The rest of the body was still intact under the ground.

Narrator: the autopsy report also listed suffocation as a

Possible cause of death since clark told prosecutors that he

Suffocated her.

Clark also admitted using a knife from the kitchen and a

Pair of scissors, consistent with the blood imprints found on

The discarded pillowcase.

When you hold a pair of scissors to these marks, they,

In fact, fall right in line with the outline impression of the

Marks on the pillow.

Narrator: clark did not reveal his motive for k*lling

Laura.

Police theorized that clark was angry over the disagreement he

Had with laura's mother over the missing tools from the shed.

Looking into hadden's background, we found any time,

Especially a female, would cross him in any way, he would

Retaliate.

It's hard to say exactly why.

And I don't know if we'll ever know why.

Narrator: clark's confession and evidence gathered by the

Police told prosecutors all they needed to know about what

Happened to laura houghteling in the early hours of october ,

.

Hadden clark knew penny houghteling was away when

He entered the home through the back door sometime after

Midnight.

He picked up a knife from the kitchen and went to laura's

Bedroom.

He suffocated her with a pillow, and then he stabbed her.

Clark used the scissors to remove her earrings, which left

The blood impression on the pillowcase, and in that blood,

The partial thumbprint uncovered by the amido black stain.

There was no blood trail in the house since clark wrapped the

Body in bed linens and plastic.

While transporting the body to the woods, he accidentally

Dropped the bloody pillowcase with his thumbprint, later found

By police.

Before dawn, he returned to clean up as much blood from the

Mattress as he could, found with the luminol.

At daybreak, clark needed to exit the house without being

Seen, so he dressed up as laura.

Before leaving, clark made a second mistake.

He used laura's hairbrush to comb his wig, leaving behind the

Single fiber linking him and his wig to the m*rder scene.

Later that day, he purchased a replacement bed sheet for

Laura's bed.

He may have been on his way to replace it when he encountered

Laura's brother outside the home the next night.

A partial thumbprint and a single wig fiber all marked a

Grisly tale of m*rder, madness, and mistaken identity.

He planned it.

He knew exactly when he was gonna do it, exactly how he was

Gonna do it.

And he almost got away with it.

Of course, the bloody fingerprint on the pillowcase,

The hair -- the wig fiber -- but I was impressed with the dog.

This was the only wig fiber that was recovered.

If this had been missed or not even examined, it's very

Doubtful that we would have put together everything that we knew

After the fact as to what actually happened on that monday

Morning.

Now with the new technologies that are helping us out, it

Allows an investigator to have new tools to help him find that

Little tiny bit of evidence that sometimes is there.

Sometimes it's not.

But when it is there and you have those tools and you're

Able to find that little bit of evidence, it makes all the

Difference in the world and allows you to get people like

Hadden clark off the street.