06x27 - Cats, Flies & Snapshots

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: in 1989,

Near the pocono mountains
in pennsylvania,


Left for work.

She was never heard from again.

Man on radio: liftoff.
Liftoff of the 25th...

Narrator: it was nasa
technology, a fly,

And the family cat
that helped solve
her disappearance

In a most unusual way.

The susquehanna valley
in central pennsylvania

Is a quiet agricultural area.

Lori auker grew up here,

Not far from the mighty
susquehanna river.

Woman:
lori was a very sweet girl.

She was a typical


She had a lot of goals
and aspirations for her future

As far as becoming
a veterinarian

And had a great deal of interest
in animals.

Narrator:
just out of high school,

Lori married robert auker.

He was almost 10 years older
and worked in a warehouse.

Not long afterwards,
the couple had a son, matthew.

Lori took a job
at a local pet store

To earn extra money.

She shared her love of animals
with her son matthew

At every opportunity.

Silks: when she wasn't working,
she'd come in to show him--

He particularly like kittens,

And she'd bring him in
to show him the kittens,

And he liked watching the fish,

Playing with the puppies.

But she was a good mother.

Narrator:
although lori and robert
loved their child,

Problems between the two
began to surface.

The couple argued,

And friends say they were unable
to resolve their differences.

Just 18 months
after they were married,

Lori and robert separated.

Lori and the baby moved in
with her parents.

Robert moved in with his

And had visitation rights.

Silks: she wasn't happy with him

Because he had a very
controlling-type nature
about him.

She had to answer
all his questions

Before she could go anywhere.

He used physical discipline
whenever he got upset with matt,

And that's what upset lori.

Narrator: while separated,

Lori dated occasionally
but only casually.

On may 24, 1989,

While matthew
was at robert's house,

Lori prepared for her usual


At the pet store.

Come here, lucy.

Oh, come here.

Narrator:
after packing a snack,

Lori left for work,

But she never arrived.

Lori's supervisor called
looking for her.

Woman: and I asked them

If lori had left for work

And her father said
that she had.

And I said, "well,
has she called or anything?

"Because she's not here
at the store yet,

And she was scheduled to start
about a half an hour ago."

He said, "no."
He said, "but this
makes me very worried."

He said, "she left on time."

Narrator: lori's father
drove the route

That she usually took to work.

He thought she might have had
car trouble along the way.

He eventually found lori's car

In the parking lot
near the pet shop where
she usually parked.

Nothing seemed to be
out of place.

Lori's purse and keys
were not in the car.

Man: the disappearance
frightened people.

The thought
that some young woman
could go to a mall,

A very busy mall
in broad daylight,
and suddenly disappear,

Presumably being abducted,

Really shot
a shock wave of fear

Throughout
that rather conservative
small area.

Narrator:
police canvassed the area

And questioned employees
and shoppers in the mall,

But no one saw
anything suspicious.

Almost from the start,

Police suspected lori's
estranged husband robert

May have had something to do
with her disappearance.

But robert said he hadn't
seen lori at all that day,

And he had an alibi.

He said he was baby-sitting
their son,

Went shopping, and then went
to 2 scheduled appointments.

Decosmo: mr. Auker told me

That on the day
of lori ann's disappearance,

That he had been over
to weis markets

To get
a disability claim form.

And he took that form
to an office in lewisburg,

An orthopedic surgeon.

And from there he went
to the bloomsburg sears mall

And priced a dishwasher
for his mother.

Man: police are now asking
for the public's help.

Narrator: for the next 3 weeks,

Police, family members,
friends, and volunteers

Continued the search
with no success.

On june 12, a woman
jogging a few miles
from the mall

Spotted something in an area
known as clodie's dump.

It was little more
than a skeleton.

Investigators wondered whether
this was the body of lori auker

And looked to forensic science
for some way to tell.

Man: the body was markedly
decomposed

In that only in the extremities
was there any flesh left.

There was no skin and no organs
internally to work with.

Narrator: investigators
needed to identify the skeleton

Found in the dump
a few miles from the pet store,

And they also wanted to know
the cause of death.

To find out, they brought in
forensic pathologist

Dr. Isidore mihalakis.

From the size of the skull,
he knew the body was female.

The cut marks on the bones
and the holes in the clothing

Helped him to determine
the cause of death.

Mihalakis: the presence of cuts,

Which corresponded
to perforations in the sweater,

Is consistent
with s*ab wounds, with movement,
and with homicide.

Narrator: dr. Mihalakis
concluded that this woman

Had been stabbed in the chest
and back at least 7 times,

Possibly as many as 11.

But he wasn't able
to make an identification
from the remains.

For that, dr. Mihalakis
asked forensic odontologist

Dr. Dennis asen
to make a dental comparison.

Man: without the benefit
of forensic dentistry,

When you have a victim
such as lori auker--

In the lori auker case,

There are no fingerprints
that you can use.

The body is unrecognizable
because of the disintegration
of tissues.

Very often the only thing
that does remain

Is the dental evidence
that we can compare to
before-death records

And establish
a positive identification.

Narrator: after comparing
the teeth of the victim

To lori's
dental records and x-rays,

Dr. Asen made
a positive identification.

Asen: the victim
had 9 teeth restored
with dental materials.

And those teeth,
as it turned out,

Were the same teeth
that lori auker had restored--

The same 9 teeth,
the same type of material
in each tooth,

The same location of materials
were restorations in each tooth

That matched up with lori auker.

Narrator: no m*rder w*apon
was found at the scene.

Investigators now wanted to know
when lori died.

Time of death
is usually determined
in one of 3 ways:

First,
by the body temperature--

Useless in this case
given the length of time
the body was outside.

Another way is to examine
stomach contents,

But the body
was too badly decomposed.

The third way is to analyze
any insect activity.

Forensic entomologist
dr. Ke chung kim

Studied the larvae
found on the body.

An entomologist is an expert
in the study of insects.

Man: what this body had
was a large number of
different kinds of beetles

And then a very late stage
of maggots.

Narrator: within minutes
of death,

Blow flies can detect
the smell of decomposition,

Even from miles away.

Dr. Kim calculated
that the larvae deposited
by the flies

Had been on the body
for 19 days,

Which meant
they were on the body
the day lori disappeared.

In an incredible stroke of luck,

Police learned
that an automated teller machine

Near the entrance to the mall

Was equipped
with a surveillance camera

Which took pictures
every 10 seconds.

The camera was aimed
in the direction of lori's car.

At first glance,
the images looked unimportant.

They showed a man
making a bank transaction.

But in the background,
out of focus,

There appeared to be
an automobile near lori's car

With an unidentified person
standing nearby.

Man: deeper into the parking lot

Was a scene
that was captured on this video.

The scene was a little blurry.

I would liken it to like
an alfred hitchcock
kind of movie.

Narrator:
the images looked promising

But were not clear enough
for any kind of analysis.

So prosecutors asked
both the pennsylvania
state police laboratory

And the f.b.i. For help,

But neither one
could improve the photograph.

With nowhere else to turn,

The f.b.i. Suggested
they ask nasa for help.

Nasa had been using
sophisticated digital
photo enhancement technology

To improve images from space.

Nasa referred the case
to research scientist
alan tietjen

Of the ballistic m*ssile
defense organization.

Man on radio: challenger,
go at throttle up.

Narrator: tietjen used
a technique

Similar to the one used
to determine the cause

Of the challenger expl*si*n
in 1986.

Man: digitization
is the process of taking
the normal video signal

That you would get
out of your v.c.r. At home

And turning it
into a computer image file.

Narrator: when the images
are put into the computer,

They are broken down
into thousands of pixels.

Tietjen: each of these pixels
are converted into a number

Representing how bright
that dot is.

In this particular case,
the data is black-and-white
video,

So that the pixel represents
simply different shades

Between total black
and full white.

Narrator: digital enhancement

Can also remove blurring
in an image,

And special filters
can eliminate some of the grain.

Once complete, you can see
how this process significantly
improved the images.

Prosecutors hoped
that these enhanced photographs

Would tell the story
of lori auker's disappearance.

Narrator: the digitally enhanced
surveillance photos

Of the parking lot
where lori auker disappeared

Showed lori's car
in its parking spot.

Standing behind it was a person

In the same clothing lori
wore that day.

Sacavage: the film
was in black and white.

On that particular scene,

We knew that lori
had been wearing
a windbreaker that day,

Had been wearing jeans,

And had carried a white purse.

She was of medium build,
she had short brown hair.

That person that we see
in the picture there

Fits that description precisely.

Narrator: the next picture,
taken 10 seconds later,

Shows another automobile
diagonally in front of lori

With the passenger-side door
open.

You can see that lori
is bent over,

Looking into the car.

The final picture
shows lori's car still
in its parking spot,

But lori is gone.

The car
lori was standing next to

Is leaving
the parking lot.

Sacavage: the person
we've described as lori auker
cannot be seen,

And we know circumstantially
that she never made it
into the door.

So that, we believe,
was a depiction
of her abduction.

Narrator: an automobile expert
identified the getaway car
as a chevrolet celebrity.

Although lori's estranged
husband robert didn't own
a chevrolet celebrity,

His parents did.

Robert's parents
told police that robert
had borrowed their car

On the day lori disappeared.

They said they sold the car
a week after robert returned it.

Police tracked it through


Sacavage: it transferred hands
within the used car industry
a few times

And was ultimately purchased.

The first consumer
that purchased it

Was a retired
state police officer.

Narrator: the police officer
bought the vehicle

For his stepdaughter,

Who hadn't yet
reached driving age,

So it had been sitting
in a garage,

A lucky break for investigators.

Sacavage: it still
maintained its integrity

By the time we got to it.

We were able
to access the vehicle,

Test it scientifically
for prints, for trace evidence.

Narrator: investigators
searched the car

But could find no traces
of blood anywhere inside.

Sacavage: but we did
have some neighbors
observe robert auker

Scrupulously cleaning that car

The day after lori disappeared.

Narrator:
but in the trunk of the car
they found a clue--

A tiny strand of hair.

Under a microscope, the hair
did not appear to be human.

On the left is a human hair.

On the right, the hair
from robert's trunk.

Under an electron microscope,
magnified thousands of times,

The outer pattern of the hair

Was more boxlike
than human hair,

Similar to the steps
on a ladder.

The blue specks
are dust particles.

After looking through
numerous species of hair,

Scientists discovered
it was a cat hair.

Investigators compared
that hair to a cat hair
from lori's parents' cat

And found they were
microscopically similar.

This was significant,
since the cat belonged
to lori's parents.

Robert didn't have access
to this cat,

And the cat never resided
with robert and lori

When they lived together.

What was also significant--
robert's parents
didn't own a cat,

And lori had never been
in robert's parents' car

Before her disappearance.

Investigators believed
that this cat hair was proof

That lori had been
in the trunk of robert's car.

Houck: robert auker knew
his parents were going to be
trading that vehicle in

Within a matter of days.

And in my opinion,
that's why he used that vehicle

And not his own to abduct lori.

Narrator:
with this evidence in hand,

Police arrested robert auker

For the m*rder
of his estranged wife.

Houck: when I arrested
robert auker, he said to me,

"You've got to be kidding."

Gehers: what the worst
part of it to me,

Other than the fact
that she died,

Was when we were told

That he had thrown her body
in a dump.

There's no reason for someone
like lori to wind up in a dump.

Narrator: prosecutors believe
the surveillance photograph

Supported their theory
that robert abducted lori
in the mall parking lot.

To convince a jury,
prosecutors needed to prove

That the automobile
in the pictures

Was the chevrolet owned
by robert auker's parents,

So they reconstructed the crime.

They placed the chevrolet
robert was driving

In the mall parking lot
and took photographs

From the same position,
height, and at the same
millimeter

As the surveillance camera.

But this time,
the background was in focus.

At the top is the original
surveillance picture

Of lori's alleged abduction.

At the bottom
is the recreation photograph.

The vehicles in both pictures
look identical.

And prosecutors discovered
a possible motive for
the m*rder--money.

Decosmo: auker had taken out
an insurance policy on lori
and on his son,

Listing himself
as the beneficiary.

He had taken that policy out
after they separated.

Narrator: and robert and lori
had been engaged in a custody
dispute over their son,

Another possible motive.

A background check
of robert auker

Revealed that he had
a troubled past.

Houck: robert auker had been
in trouble most of his life,

As a juvenile
up to his adulthood.

Narrator:
shortly after he married lori,

Robert was convicted for driving
under the influence of alcohol

And served a brief stint
in prison.

While there,
robert ordered a book

That described in detail

How to commit a m*rder
and get away with it.

The title of the book

Will not be revealed
in this program

For obvious reasons.

Police officials blocked
the delivery of this order.

Prosecutors believe
that on may 24, 1989,

As lori drove
into the mall parking lot,

Robert was there, waiting.

What are you
doing here?

Lori, I need you
to come with me
right away.

What's wrong
with him?

Narrator: when robert drove up
and opened the door,

He may have used
some type of excuse
to get lori inside,

Possibly that their son was sick
and he needed her help.

Prosecutors admit--
they don't know where
the m*rder took place.

The forensic evidence
doesn't say.

All they know is that lori
was in robert's trunk

Some time that day

And was stabbed numerous times
in the chest and back

Before her body
was left at the dump.

When robert later
cleaned the trunk,

He couldn't see
the almost microscopic evidence

That lori left behind.

The cat hair, which had stuck
to lori's clothing,

Was transferred again onto
the carpet of robert's trunk.

It was an ironic twist,
given lori's life-long
love of animals.

Gehers: I remember lori
as being a very nice person,

Just all around nice.

She was nice to animals,

She was nice to people,

And she loved her son,
absolutely loved her son.

Narrator: robert auker
was found guilty

Of first-degree m*rder
and kidnapping

And was sentenced to death.

On appeal, the sentence
was reduced to life in prison
without parole.

Nasa's help was an important
forensic breakthrough,

Since it was
one of the first times
a crime scene photo

Had undergone digital
video enhancement.

Decosmo: the enhancement
of the video

From the a.t.m. Machine

Was something brand new,

Something that had
never been done before.

This is a case
that set a trend
for prosecutors,

Certainly throughout
pennsylvania.

I think there was an awakening,

A scientific awakening
on the part of police,

On the part of prosecutors.

They realized suddenly
that there were other tools
at their disposal,

That perhaps they hadn't
considered before.

And ironically those tools
have now become
somewhat routine.