Narrator: she worked behind the scenes in a television newsroom.
But one day, instead of covering the news,
She became the news.
Announcer: covering the news where we live.
this is nbc news, first at :.
Narrator: the crime scene told a terrible tale of v*olence.
But it would take dna,
A behavioral profile,
And a computer to solve the case.
In july, ,
-Year-old hope denise hall and her -year-old son robert
Lived in a suburb of richmond, virginia,
In this apartment complex.
Hope had just graduated from virginia state university
At the top of her class.
Her focus was journalism,
And she wanted to work
In the highly competitive television news industry.
Her big break came at the nbc affiliate in richmond.
Smith: she was very eager. She was very focused.
She was very mature for her age.
Hope really wanted to be an on-air reporter and an anchor.
At the time she was working for us, she was editing tape,
And so she pretty much gathered the material
For the broadcast and put it together.
Narrator: hope gained her maturity through adversity.
At age , she was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer.
After five years of treatment, hope was cured.
At the age of , hope became pregnant while still in college.
She and the baby's father shared custody of their son,
But decided marriage would have been a mistake.
Kinney: I think we realized that we needed a lot of growing up.
We had to grow up in order to really take on
That whole responsibility of marriage.
And I think that was the bottom line.
Narrator: by all accounts,
Hope was a devoted mother and a determined career woman.
That's why, on the afternoon of july , ,
Co-workers in the newsroom became alarmed
When she did not report to work.
Calls to hope's home went unanswered.
Smith: we had a crew in the area, so we sent them by
To find out what might be going on
And to knock on her door.
They went in, and when they got there,
There was police tape set up around the apartment complex.
You could actually smell death,
If that's something that you can imagine.
When you walked in, you could see the blood on the door.
Narrator: hope was found dead on the bedroom floor.
She had been stabbed to death.
It was one of the worst crime scenes I ever saw
Because it was blood everywhere.
Narrator: hope's apartment door had been locked
And showed no sign of forced entry.
No valuables were missing.
There was a bloody handprint near the door,
But it was too smudged for analysis.
Kitchen knives from hope's apartment
Were used as the m*rder weapons.
Two bent knives were on the kitchen counter.
A third knife lay on the bed.
A fourth was on the bathroom sink with water still running.
In the kitchen,
Police found a broken, blood-stained drinking glass.
Dried blood droplets formed a trail
From the kitchen to the bedroom.
The phone was on the bedroom floor,
Ripped from the wall.
Hope didn't deserve this. No human being deserved this.
Narrator: as officers combed the crime scene,
They realized one key item was conspicuously absent --
Her child.
As police rushed to find the child and the k*ller,
Hope's co-workers rushed to put her story on the air.
A young woman involved in producing the news
Was now the central figure in the day's top story.
Narrator: investigators had two mysteries to solve --
Who k*lled hope hall, and where was her -year-old son?
Police contacted the baby's father, robert kinney.
Kinney: I remember I was at home at my mom's house.
And I had just walked in the door,
And my mom had told me that a detective had called.
Narrator: kinney told police that their son, young robert,
Was with him in northern virginia,
About a two-hours drive away.
The child was spending the summer there.
Police asked kinney to come in for questioning.
Kinney: my father rode down with me. I couldn't feel anything.
I just... I was in a zombie-like stage.
Narrator: police believed hope knew her k*ller
Because her front door was found locked.
Sgt. Kelleher: somebody had a key.
The only way they could have locked that dead bolt
Was to have a key on the outside and lock it.
We have to find this person.
No one can s*ab someone repeatedly
And cut their throat three times
And leave them to rot on the floor
Without them hitting again.
Narrator: this crime was eerily similar
To the ones committed by richmond's "southside strangler"
Who r*ped and m*rder*d five women in their homes.
Smith: that was a case that terrified --
Absolutely terrified the community.
People were boarding up windows,
And just changing their life plans.
Narrator: the southside strangler, timothy spencer,
Was ex*cuted for those crimes
Shortly before hope hall's m*rder.
Spencer's case made history.
He was the first person put to death in the united states
Based on dna evidence.
Sgt. Kelleher: timothy spencer's case brought awareness to law enforcement,
Certainly in this area, to what dna can do.
Narrator: spencer's case prompted virginia lawmakers
To establish the country's first dna data bank,
Which put the dna profiles
Of all convicted felons of virginia's prisons
Into a computer.
Hamilton: so many felons have a tendency to commit crimes again
Once they are released from the system.
Narrator: back at hope hall's apartment,
Scientists found unidentified blood,
Presumably the k*ller's,
On the broken drinking glass in the kitchen.
The knife on the bathroom sink also had the k*ller's blood.
Forensic testing also found signs of sexual as*ault.
From the crime scene evidence,
Forensic scientists performed a d.q. Alpha
And polymarker dna analysis.
Hamilton: polymarker consisted of five different areas of the dna.
D.q. Alpha was a sixth area of the dna.
So these were just six areas of the dna
That we were looking at for differences between individuals.
Narrator: when scientists entered the dna
Of hope hall's k*ller into their database,
They could find no match,
So investigators looked elsewhere.
Safarik: most homicides are committed by people
Where there is some level of relationship.
It can be very close, or it can be not very close at all.
Narrator: police spoke with the baby's father, robert kinney.
He had an alibi.
He was at his home over a two-hour drive away
At the time of the m*rder.
Even with this alibi,
Kinney voluntarily submitted a blood sample for dna testing.
I was more than happy to assist them in any way I can
To eliminate me so that they can focus on whoever's responsible.
So...it didn't bother me.
Narrator: but his dna did not match blood
Found at the crime scene,
So kinney was cleared.
Carol: relieved -- knowing one thing,
And scientific data proving another is two different things.
My gut said he did not do this.
Narrator: next, investigators looked into hope's lifestyle
For possible clues.
I knew how careful she was about her own safety.
I just couldn't believe that she would be anywhere
Where she'd be at risk for being m*rder*d.
We didn't see anything that indicated
That she was out running around
Or anything else that would make us say,
"Oh, maybe she ran into somebody in a bar or something like that
That she could have brought home."
Narrator: but investigators found two potential witnesses.
Two neighbors saw a man without a shirt
Running from hope's apartment building
On the night of her m*rder.
They said he had a tattoo on his arm and chest
Which looked like greek symbols.
Burnett: the brand was of the shape of a horseshoe
With a lighting bolt going through,
Which is the emblem of the omega psi phi.
Narrator: omega psi phi was a local college fraternity.
Hope's friends and co-workers told police
That this description sounded like a man hope recently dated.
Hope allegedly told friends the man got abusive
When she tried to end their relationship.
The ex-boyfriend's name was leroy quick.
Police discovered he, too, had an omega psi phi tattoo
On his arm and chest.
Both witnesses identified quick in a police lineup
As the man they saw running from hope's apartment.
Police were convinced they had their k*ller.
But they were shocked
When they got the results of quick's dna test.
Narrator: in the search for hope hall's k*ller,
Police turned their attention to hope's ex-boyfriend,
-Year-old leroy quick.
Witnesses claimed they saw him
Running from hope's apartment building
On the night of the m*rder.
Announcer: [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]nbc news,[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] first at :.[/Span]
Reporter: [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]police made[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] a break in this case[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] just before sunrise.[/Span]
[Span tts:fontstyle="italic"]around : a.m., They arrested[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] -year-old leroy b. Quick iii.[/Span]
Carol: all of us were surprised
Because it was someone that she had not even mentioned to us.
Narrator: hope's co-workers told police
The couple met that summer.
Quick denied having a key to hope's apartment,
He denied being at hope's apartment
The night of her m*rder,
And he denied any involvement in the crime.
Kinney: it was a roller coaster.
We felt that everything was about to come to an end.
We're about to find out exactly what happened,
And...that wasn't the case.
Narrator: investigators were dumbfounded
When they heard that leroy quick's dna
Did not match the crime scene evidence.
Burnett: I was somewhat surprised.
We have the witnesses that identified him
Coming out of the apartment,
Running without a shirt on,
Jumping in a car,
Taking off in a brisk motion.
God help leroy quick if it hadn't been for the dna
'Cause they'd have made a case on him.
Narrator: police re-interviewed hundreds of hope's neighbors,
Friends, and family to see if any clue had been missed.
Burnett: nothing.
Nothing at all.
And believe me when I say,
We interviewed [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]a lot[/span]of people.
I think I can go on record to say
We practically interviewed everybody
In halcun manor apartments.
Narrator: now, nearly a year after her m*rder,
The trail of hope hall's k*ller grew cold.
But hope's parents refused to give up.
They maintained constant contact with police
And wrote to dozens of lawmakers
Pleading for help in finding their daughter's k*ller.
Tony: not just because he had m*rder*d hope,
But because he was a threat and a menace.
It was very frustrating for everyone.
It was very heartbreaking for her mother,
And we saw the anguish that her mother was going through
As she tried to find an answer to this.
Narrator: after clearing the two most obvious suspects,
Forensic scientists performed a second,
More discriminating dna test of the k*ller's dna
Using rflp, restriction fragment length polymorphism.
At the time,
Rflp was the most discriminating dna test available.
Rflp measured various sections of the k*ller's dna
To determine the lengths unique to that individual.
Hamilton: it means that there is a much better chance
Of telling my dna apart from yours.
Narrator: this newer, more complete dna profile
Of hope hall's k*ller
Was once again entered into the virginia dna data bank.
The computer compares the unidentified dna profile
To the dna of , convicted felons.
Hamilton: I had been working on it for a long time,
So it had become like [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]my[/span]case.
Of all the cases that I'd worked on,
This was the one that I really wanted to get a hit on.
Narrator: two years earlier, there had been no match,
But this time...
Was different.
The blood and semen evidence in hope hall's apartment
Matched that of shermaine johnson.
His dna profile was put into the database
Because of his recent conviction for two other r*pes.
Johnson lived in hope hall's apartment complex
And was just years old at the time of her m*rder.
Tony: and it was a big eye-opener for me.
I always thought criminals had scars and looked like criminals.
This guy did not look at all like a criminal.
Narrator: this was the data bank's first cold hit
In a homicide case.
Wilson: an innocent face like shermaine johnson,
You would think someone that innocent looking, that young,
Would not have committed this type of crime, but he did.
Narrator: investigators thought they finally had the break
They desperately needed.
But if shermaine johnson was hope's k*ller,
Why had witnesses identified hope's ex-boyfriend
As the man running from hope's apartment?
Narrator: a computer database identified shermaine johnson
As hope hall's r*pist and m*rder*r.
Shermaine johnson's dna was in virginia's database
Because of two convictions for r*pes
That were strikingly similar to hope hall's case.
When questioned by police, johnson claimed he was innocent.
He admitted knocking on hope's apartment door
And asking her for a drink of water,
But johnson said another man
Opened the front door with a key, pulled out a knife,
And ordered johnson to leave.
This was consistent with the eyewitnesses who saw,
Not shermaine johnson, but another man
Running from hope's apartment later that same night.
Was it possible shermaine johnson wasn't the k*ller?
Investigators asked fbi behavioral profiler mark safarik
To compare johnson's past criminal behavior
To the hope hall case.
I mean, is he relatively criminally unsophisticated?
Yes. That's not uncommon with younger offenders,
But my job wasn't to look at shermaine.
I wasn't asked to look at shermaine.
I wasn't even asked to consider the offender.
I was simply asked to look at behavior.
Narrator: safarik went to hope hall's apartment
To better understand the crime scene.
He also examined photos and reports
From additional r*pes johnson was suspected of committing.
Safarik found many behavioral links in all five crimes.
All of the victims were young
And lived close to shermaine johnson's home.
Safarik: there is a dynamic that connects all of them.
Contrary to many sexual assaults,
Where the offender contacts
And captures and assaults the victim all in the same area,
Here we have a guy who wants to capture
And then subsequently move all of his victims
To another location to engage in the sexual as*ault.
Narrator: in each case, johnson used some kind of ruse
To gain entrance to the victim's home,
And once inside,
Threatened the victims with one of their own kitchen knives.
Safarik: when he has the option for lots of different knives --
Even larger, more threatening knives,
Butcher knives, longer-bladed knives --
He chooses a shorter-bladed knife.
He's more comfortable with that type of w*apon.
Narrator: prosecutors were now convinced
That johnson went to hope's apartment that night
Asking for a drink of water.
I was wondering if I could get a drink of water.
I hope it's cold enough.
Once inside, there was a struggle.
The glass fell to the floor.
Johnson grabbed a knife.
The trail of blood indicated
The attack started in the kitchen,
Then led to the bedroom.
[ Gasps ]
Johnson returned to the kitchen numerous times
For other knives after each was damaged.
At some point, he picked up the broken pieces of glass,
Cutting his finger and leaving his dna behind.
After the m*rder,
The evidence shows johnson washed his hands
In the bathroom sink,
But he didn't remove all of his own blood.
Wilson: he was trying to clean up.
He may have been injured.
Maybe that's why the water was left running in the bathroom,
Or it may have just been
That he was trying to clean the knife.
He just didn't clean up good enough.
Narrator: but one nagging question remained --
If the witnesses were correct in their identification,
Why was leroy quick running from hope's apartment that night?
Prosecutors don't believe
Quick had anything to do with the m*rder,
But there is speculation
That quick may have gone to hope's apartment that night,
Used a key to get in and found hope dead,
Then fled, fearing he would be blamed,
And locked the apartment door behind him.
Quick, however, denies this.
Regardless, shermaine johnson was tried and convicted
Of hope hall's m*rder
And this time, was sentenced to death.
Tony: I think the guy is an animal.
I don't know whether I want to push the needle,
But I certainly would like to witness
The pushing of the needle.
And if nobody else would do it, I would certainly do it.
Narrator: investigators say
It was a confluence of dna evidence,
Computer technology,
And the foresight to collect and catalog
The dna profiles of all convicted felons
That brought shermaine johnson to justice.
Sgt. Kelleher: we interviewed everybody in that apartment complex,
And shermaine johnson's name never came up.
Without the dna data bank, without that forensic evidence,
Unfortunately, I would say
That this case would not have been solved.
We are trying to push the international database,
And we feel very, very strongly that criminals don't stay put.
They move from city to city,
State to state, countries to countries,
And we want to make sure that the clear message is sent out
That no matter where you go,
No matter what you think you've gotten away with,
Your dna and law enforcement will be waiting for you.
08x19 - Breaking News
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Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.
Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.