07x16 - Within a Hair

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: In 1996,
Seattle police

faced an unusual challenge.

A severely wounded dog witnessed
the m*rder of his two owners.

Could the dog
identify the K*llers?

And if so, how?

[music playing]

Yeah!

NARRATOR: December 9, 1996.

Seattle, Washington.

It was going to be a special day
for 22-year-old Raquel Rivera.

She was starting a new
job as a receptionist

in a downtown office.

I seen her the night before.

And she was really
excited about it.

She was a little sick.

But she was worried about she
was going to make it to work

or not.

She was real excited.

NARRATOR: Raquel
shared this house

in Seattle's South Park section
with her longtime boyfriend,

Jay Johnson.

The two had been together
since high school,

and were talking
about getting married.

I loved Jay.

He was a great guy.

I loved him.

He was very good to my daughter.

They were good for each other.

NARRATOR: Just after dawn,
neighbors heard g*nshots

coming from the couple's home.

Probably about four or
five sh*ts, then a break,

and then maybe about
six more sh*ts.

NARRATOR: When police
arrived, they found

the front door off its hinges.

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: The windows had
been shattered by b*ll*ts.

Inside were two bodies.

The only thing
we have right now

is that we found two people
in the house-- a male

and a female, both shot.

NARRATOR: Raquel
Rivera's mother,

who lived only a block
away, got the phone

call every parent dreads.

JUANITA RIVERA:
When I got there,

there was police and everybody.

They wouldn't let
me in the apartment.

And I said, that's
gotta be Raquel.

NARRATOR: The bodies
were positively

identified as Raquel and Jay.

The couple's dog, Chief, a
six-month-old Labrador mix,

was also shot.

I poked my head
around the corner,

saw that the dog was
up against the door.

He was obviously in pain.

He was growling.

There were blood traces all over
the door where he had smeared

blood against that wall.

I said, let's bet everybody out.

Get animal control in here.

And get the dog out.

This particular case would rate
as probably the most severely

injured dog that we've
ever seen from a g*n shot,

just by virtue of the
fact that it received

such a full-on
frontal b*llet right

through the front of the nose.

NARRATOR: Unfortunately, despite
undergoing emergency surgery,

the dog died.

An autopsy was performed.

It revealed the
dog had been shot

twice-- a non-fatal
shot in the shoulder,

and the b*llet
through his muzzle.

You could liken it
to running face first

into the front end of a
truck bumper on that in terms

of this, given what we could see
in terms of the b*llet trauma

that it did to the front
of his muzzle and his face.

The evidence told homicide
investigators that the k*ller

was searching for something.

TIMOTHY BRADSHAW: Cabinets
had been gone through.

Doors had been opened.

The bed was tossed around.

So clearly the
perpetrators wanted

to find something,
not just eliminate

the lives of witnesses therein.

But they were after something.

There was no finesse to this.

It was a blitz-style attack.

They're in.

They sh**t.

They sh**t the dog.

The sh**t the owners of the dog.

Mr. Johnson was
shot several times

in the legs, which is
indicative of someone trying

to extract information before.

NARRATOR: The coroner would
later describe the murders

as execution style killings.

The entire community
was asking who

would have k*lled
this young couple

who had no known enemies.

The only clues to the m*rder of
Jay Johnson and Raquel Rivera

were a smeared footprint
at the couple's

front door, and some


Blood spatter was
on the walls, floor,

and on the inside of the door.

Police discovered that
a 15-year-old boy living

across the street in
an apartment building

had seen the sh**ting.

This person described them as
Samoan males, dressed in black.

Very large men.

And one wearing a bandana.

NARRATOR: The boy said the two
men kicked open the front door,

shot the dog, and then
moved into the house.

The witness could
no longer see them.

But he heard the firing.

[g*nshots]

He saw the dog.

He heard two sh*ts.

And he heard the barking.

And then he heard the dog's
yelping and the dog's screams.

NARRATOR: The boy said
the men left minutes

later and drove away
in a red Camaro,

driven by a third Samoan man.

Police suspected
the men were members

of a local g*ng-- Mad Pack.

There's a large
Samoan community

in Seattle are law-abiding,
hardworking people.

But with every group, you've
got a criminal element.

And the Mad Pack made
up a large portion

of their criminal element.

They were a g*ng in the sort
of worst sense of the word.

NARRATOR: Just three days
earlier in Seattle's Chinatown,

there had been a
similar sh**ting.

The victim, Johnny Paik,
survived the attack.

That being a Samoan male
sitting in a red car,

a very large Samoan male.

NARRATOR: Shell casings
from the Chinatown sh**ting

were compared to
those taken from Jay

and Raquel's apartment.

They matched.

Police now scoured the city
looking for any Samoans

driving a red Camaro.

Amazingly, they didn't
have to look far.

On the afternoon following
Jay and Raquel's m*rder,

police noticed a
red Camaro slowly

driving past the m*rder scene.

DETECTIVE KEVIN O'KEEFE:
Driving back to the crime scene

and checking things out
is not an uncommon thing

for a suspect to do.

It's the old return to the
scene of the crime cliche.

And it happens.

NARRATOR: The driver
of the red Camaro

was Charles Niko, a known
member of the Mad Pack g*ng.

[interposing voices]

NARRATOR: Although Niko
denied any involvement

in the sh**ting, the


identified him as the driver
of the getaway vehicle.

When threatened with
the death penalty,

Niko finally told
police what happened.

He said the motive was dr*gs.

The Mad Pack g*ng members
heard that Jay and Raquel

had cocaine in their house.

And they decided to steal it.

But after breaking
in, the couple

said they had no cocaine.

[interposing voices]

NARRATOR: And then the
men started sh**ting.

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: Niko identified the
sh**t as 22-year-old Kenneth

Leuluaialii, whose
street name was

Sable Claus, and 24-year-old
George Tuilefano,

whose street name was Scoopy.

Both were high-ranking
members of the Mad Pack g*ng.

I already knew who they
were, because you know,

they ran around South Park.

They were bullies.

They were always
beating everybody up.

NARRATOR: Both men denied any
involvement in the sh**ting,

and said they had alibis.

A search of their
apartment did not produce

the 9-millimeter m*rder w*apon.

The smeared footprint
on the front door

could not be matched
to either suspect.

And eight red stains
found on the right sleeve

of Sable Claus' jacket
was sent for DNA testing.

But it wasn't the
victim's blood.

They had a result that
is not human-based,

because the genotype does not
come back to genes associated

with a human being at all.

They then are scratching
their heads with,

hey, what's going on here?

NARRATOR: In fact, investigators
weren't sure what it was.

With no forensic evidence to
tie the suspects to the crime,

Seattle police feared a
conviction might be impossible.

[crying]

NARRATOR: As Jay Johnson
and Raquel Rivera were laid

to rest side-by-side
in a Seattle cemetery,

their families demanded justice.

To decipher exactly what
happened at the crime scene,

investigator O'Keefe
needed to distinguish

between the dog's blood spatter
and that of Jay and Raquel.

I requested through my
sergeant Cindy Tallman

that an officer follow
the dog to the vet

and draw blood from
the dog immediately.

My thinking at the time
was to differentiate

between the human blood at
the scene and the dog blood.

NARRATOR: The blood spatter and
b*llet casings in the apartment

and the eyewitness account
of the 15-year-old boy

who lived across the street
gave police a rough idea

of what had happened.

After the intruders
kicked open the door,

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: The dog was
shot in the shoulder.

Then the men went into the
bedroom where they shot Raquel.

[interposing voices]

NARRATOR: They took Jay
into an adjoining room

and shot him in the leg while
demanding the couple's cocaine.

One of the men left to
sh**t Raquel once more.

And when Jay said the
couple never had any dr*gs,

they k*lled him.

[yelling]

NARRATOR: Despite
his shoulder wound,

Chief again tried to
protect his owners,

and ran into the bedroom
to attack the K*llers.

[barking]

[g*nsh*t]

[dog whimpers]

NARRATOR: But why
wasn't the victims'

blood on the suspects' clothes?

Investigators say both
Jay and Raquel were shot

from a distance, and were
also wearing clothes--

pajamas and t-shirts, which
absorbed the blood spatter.

But with Chief, there was
nothing to absorb the blood.

He was short haired,
and had not long

hairs around the muzzle
or face or neck area.

So any kind of serious
wound causing a lot of blood

is obviously going to
spill or spray or go off.

It's not going to
cling to the coat

because there's such
a short, smooth coat.

It's going to roll right off.

Chief was very close to
Kenneth when he was shot.

And we know also that Chief
was shot in the muzzle area.

NARRATOR: Now police
discovered the possible key

to the mysterious red
stains on the right sleeve

of Sable Claus' jacket.

Detective O'Keefe and myself
decided to see if we're dealing

with a non-human source.

Namely, a dog.

So with that, we needed to
seek out laboratories that

do DNA testing with non-humans.

And through some research, we
came upon a lab in a Davis,

California headed by
Dr. Joy Halverson.

NARRATOR: Dr. Joy
Halverson is an expert

in investigating the parentage
of world class show dogs.

Championship caliber
show dogs can

be worth thousands of dollars.

And where there's money,
there's often corruption.

Dishonest breeders
engage in a practice

known as litter loading,
where pups from inferior dogs

are mixed in with pups
from champion dogs

and sold at inflated prices.

Knowledgeable buyers now
analyze the DNA profiles

of their new pups in order
to confirm their dogs'

championship parentage.

Dog DNA is exactly
like human DNA.

The only difference
would be we use

a different set of DNA markers.

But in terms of its
chemical properties

and the way it behaves with
these testing procedures,

it's exactly the same.

NARRATOR: Police
suspected the red spots

on Sable Claus'
right sleeve came

from the victim's dog, Chief.

Dr. Halverson cut out
a piece of the sleeve

with the red stains
on it and analyzed

it with a PCR-based DNA test.

JOY HALVERSON, DVM: A
little piece of that fabric

is taken and put into a tube.

And various buffers and
so on are added to it.

Blood cells will come off
the fabric into the liquid.

And then the various
treatments are done

to extract the DNA from that.

NARRATOR: The results were
consistent with the blood

from a dog.

But was the blood from
the victim's dog, Chief?

Dr. Halverson compared
the DNA markers

from the blood on
the suspect's sleeve

to the blood taken from
Chief during his autopsy.

The result was a perfect match.

The blood on Sable Claus' right
sleeve was the blood of Chief.

Prosecutor Tim Bradshaw
knew he'd face a challenge

from defense lawyers.

We were unable to find
any other case-- homicide

case in the country--
where canine-based DNA had

been admitted into evidence.

NARRATOR: The defense
lawyers not only

would challenge the
admissibility of the canine DNA

evidence, they described
it as hocus pocus,

and boldly predicted their
clients would walk free.

The two g*ng members
charged with k*lling

Jay Johnson and Raquel
Rivera were facing

first degree m*rder charges.

Prosecutors not only had
the teenaged eyewitness

from across the street who
identified the two in a police

lineup, they also had DNA
evidence from the victim's dog

on Kenneth Leuluaialii's sleeve.

Also on his sleeve were hairs.

They were not human.

But they were compared
to Chief's hair,

and found to be consistent.

This wasn't as good
as the DNA evidence,

but certainly wouldn't hurt
the prosecution's case.

The main suspect,
Kenneth Leuluaialii

became so disruptive he had to
be restrained in a wheelchair

for the eight-week trial.

He taunted the judge,
the family members,

saying he'd never get convicted.

Every time we'd walk in,
he would just look at us

and laugh at us.

Throw kisses at us when
the girls would walk in.

I just-- I hated it.

I hate him.

NARRATOR: Prosecutors
presented their theory

of how the murders
were committed based

on the blood spatter evidence.

Prosecutors believe that
the suspects kicked open

Jay and Raquel's door,
and immediately were

confronted by the dog, Chief.

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: They shot the
dog in the shoulder.

[interposing voices]

Where are the dr*gs at?

Tell me where the dr*gs are!

Where are the dr*gs?

[interposing voices]

I'm gonna k*ll you!

Where are the dr*gs?

I don't have any dr*gs.

[g*nsh*t]

[interposing voices]

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: After k*lling
both Rachel and Jay,

Chief once again tried
to protect his owners.

[barking]

[g*nsh*t]

NARRATOR: Chief was shot
at point blank range.

The blowback blood spatter
landed on Ken's right sleeve.

When presented with
the DNA evidence

linking Ken's jacket
to the dog, the judge

ruled that legally the animal
DNA was the same as human DNA.

If the testing was
the same, then so

was its value as evidence.

JOY HALVERSON, DVM: We
took advantage of the fact

that the sciences
is no different

than the human
testing that's done

now in the forensic community.

And there's really nothing
groundbreaking about it.

It's just a different set of
DNA markers developed for dogs.

NARRATOR: It was the
first time animal

DNA was used in
the United States

as evidence in a criminal case.

Kenneth Leuluaialii
took the stand

and said he had an
explanation for the dog blood

on his sleeve.

He told the jurors that a few
nights prior to the murders

he was at a dance club in
Tacoma, got into a fistfight

with another man there.

And that thereby
explains the blood.

That did give me an
opportunity to ask

him whether the man
he was fighting with

had hit him with a dog.

And he really
couldn't explain that.

NARRATOR: After 12
hours of deliberation,

the jury sentenced both men to
life in prison without parole.

Kenneth Leuluaialii laughed
as the verdict was read.

But the last laugh was
reserved for Chief,

the victims' courageous dog.

Had if few puns about
our case and Chief.

But the third victim here,
Chief, was exceedingly

important to our case.

And we're grateful to that.

But we're also-- this will
sound a little hokey--

but grateful to the
scientific community

for making a
contribution to justice.

And that's exactly
what happened here.

NARRATOR: Jay and Raquel had
bought Chief for protection.

Little did they know
that he would someday

bring their K*llers to justice.

One piece of evidence-- the one
victim who could never speak--

ended up providing perhaps the
most eloquent of testimony.

And that was from
the DNA profile

that clearly placed defendant
Leuluaialii at the crime scene.

NARRATOR: The verdict
brought small satisfaction

to Raquel's mother, who now
makes a point of keeping

a dog around the house.

Her only child, who
she raised by herself,

is dead for no reason, leaving
a great void in her life

that no amount of
justice can ever fill.

JUANITA RIVERA: We
were so close, her

and I, as she was growing up.

Just her and I.

What I learned from this
case is that if it's alive,

it has DNA.

Detectives can use
DNA in their cases

in ways that we never
thought of 10 years ago.

There's plant DNA.

There's animal DNA.

Every domestic animal
has a DNA data bank now.

The Department of Interior
has a laboratory where

they do DNA on wild species.

Just from my own experience
of owning animals,

I mean I'm sure if I looked
on my clothing right now,

I'd find some animal hairs.

And if somebody
kidnapped me and put me

in the trunk of their car,
probably a few of those hairs

would end up on the
trunk of their car.

So if someone's being alert and
thinking about these things,

I think they're valuable
sources of evidence.

And so it's a constant
reminder for investigators

to be vigilant in your approach
to any sort of crime scene,

and to be quite open-minded
and imaginative about what

application you can do as far
as what science is available,

because to a large degree,
science is leading the way.

And we got to keep up.

[music playing]