Fire, or medical?
Narrator: an anonymous
telephone call
Told police where
they could find the body
Of a missing 9-year-old girl.
The recording of that call
Had too much static
And background noise
for voice identification,
Until forensic scientists
Worked their magic.
Which led investigators
to a factory,
A supermarket,
And straight to the front door
of a suspect.
On the friday before easter
In 1996,
Spent the day playing,
reading, and drawing.
Peggy knott: the kids
were home from school.
I spent the day
packing up clothes
And getting ready for a trip
that we had planned to make
To my husband's parents' house
To spend the easter weekend
with them.
Narrator: eventually,
jessica wanted
To go outside to play
And wait for her father
to come home.
Peggy knott: she said,
"I'd like to go downstairs
And wait for dad."
Because my husband was out
shopping for easter goodies.
I said, "fine," you know,
"don't go anywhere else."
Narrator: a couple
of hours later,
Kevin knott
walked in the front door,
But without jessica.
Peggy knott: and it was
starting to get dark.
And he said,
"where's jessica?"
I said, "didn't you see her?
She said
she was right out front."
He said, "no."
Narrator: kevin and peggy knott
searched everywhere.
One neighbor said
she saw jessica
Sitting outside reading
a few hours earlier,
But hadn't seen her since.
When police were notified
of jessica's disappearance,
They instituted a parameter
search of the area.
But their first real lead
Was an anonymous
telephone call
Saying that jessica
could be found
Not far from her home,
on montgomery road.
Narrator: the call originated
from a pay phone
At a gas station
on montgomery road.
[ click ]
Narrator: no one was there
when police arrived.
Crime scene investigator
deanna teminsky
Was called to the area.
While I was en route
to the mobil gas station,
They called me and informed me
they had found a body
Of a juvenile female.
Narrator: the body was
in a dark, isolated area
Near a water system pump house
A quarter mile from where
the telephone call was made.
Teminsky: she was partially
covered with
A dark plastic garbage bag
And there were
a couple of magazines,
A mirror, around her.
Narrator: it was jessica knott.
Peggy knott: I think it was
detective rodriguez.
I was sitting on the sofa
in my living room,
And he came in, he --
and I just knew.
He said, "I found
your daughter,"
And I knew that she was gone
at that point, so.
That was the --
[ Clears throat ]
That was the worst night
of my life.
It was like,
a nightmare.
For any parent.
You know.
I still have a hard time
accepting it.
Narrator: deanna teminsky
searched the area
For possible forensic evidence.
Jessica's clothing was intact,
except for one missing shoe.
Teminsky: it appeared that
She had been placed there,
that she was not k*lled there,
Because there were items
underneath her
As well as on top of her
And there was a drag mark
in the sand
That corresponded with
her left shoulder.
Narrator: there was
a tire impression nearby
Which police photographed,
Then cast with plaster
for future evaluation.
The body was carefully removed
for an autopsy,
Along with the plastic
garbage bag
In which the body was found.
White: the first thing
you try to do is,
You try to eliminate
people who know her.
How could she have gotten away
from there
Without raising a ruckus?
You have to wonder
how in the world
Did it even happen
that no one could see it.
So the first thing to do,
Obviously,
is to look at family.
Narrator: when questioned
by police,
Neither jessica's mother, peggy,
nor her husband, kevin,
Were able to provide an alibi
For the time of
jessica's disappearance.
Kevin said he was shopping,
Peggy said she was inside,
cleaning her house,
But neither could provide
any independent corroboration.
In kevin knott's vehicle,
Police found a roll
of garbage bags,
Which were confiscated
for forensic analysis.
And there was something else
suspicious --
An analysis of the anonymous
call to police revealed
The tone of the caller's voice
as sympathetic,
Suggesting that the caller
Knew jessica personally.
If investigators
could identify the caller,
They most likely had
their k*ller.
Narrator: the autopsy
of 9-year-old jessica knott
Revealed bruising on her neck
and the inside of her mouth,
Indicating someone had cupped
a hand over her mouth
And suffocated her.
White: we couldn't be sure
Whether it was strangulation
Or whether it was suffocation
Because of a hand
over the mouth.
Probably a combination of
the two, actually.
Narrator: and the contents
of her stomach revealed
She had eaten
a fast-food hamburger
Shortly before she was k*lled.
How can you treat
a human...
Life...
Like a piece of trash?
I mean, literally,
he put her in a garbage bag
And dumped her under a tree,
I think it was, they found her.
I mean, that really
makes me angry.
Extremely angry.
Narrator: scott ryland analyzed
the bag covering jessica.
He found no fingerprints on it
And also determined that
the bag was different from
The type found in jessica's
father's truck.
This eliminated kevin knott
as a possible suspect.
Kevin knott: they asked
to interview me
Right off the bat,
which I understood,
And it was pretty hard,
But it had to be done.
Narrator: the trace evidence
found on jessica's body --
Hairs, fibers,
and other materials --
Were sent to forensic scientist
max houck.
He immediately identified
important information
About the k*ller.
The foreign hair found
on jessica's body
Was caucasian.
And there were two different
types of fibers,
Both were a matte finish,
very thick and rough,
Not the type used
in clothing.
Houck: there's a certain look
to carpet fibers
And there's a certain look
to automotive fibers,
And if you look at
enough of them,
You can eventually get
a hunch, if you will,
That it may be, in fact,
from an automobile,
Either the carpeting
or maybe the floor mats.
Narrator: the fibers were from
two different carpets,
Suggesting that
jessica had been
In two different locations.
And there was another telling
piece of trace evidence.
Houck: and then, there was
The overwhelming number
of animal hairs.
The animal hairs
were distinctive
As to what type of animal
they were from,
A dog.
Dogs have what's called
a spade-shaped root.
It also kind of looks like
A small christmas tree,
Sort of folded up
and triangular in shape.
Narrator: houck then compared
That dog hair
to reference samples
From the fbi laboratory.
I knew it wasn't going to be
a malamute
Or, you know,
some alaskan husky,
So I went
to short-haired dogs --
Black labs, shar-peis,
boston terriers,
Dogs like that, that have
very short, sleek coats --
And then started comparing
the characteristics.
All of the other dogs
dropped out
Except for shar-pei.
Narrator: all of this evidence
Told investigators that
the k*ller was caucasian
And that he took jessica
in his automobile
To a fast-food restaurant.
Later, jessica was in
another location,
Where she came into contact
with a shar-pei dog.
Police then turned
their attention
To the anonymous
telephone call.
The 911 tape, obviously
a key piece of evidence.
Everyone was convinced
The person on that tape
was the m*rder*r,
And we wanted to be able
to identify that voice.
Narrator: the call had been made
from a public telephone
At a gas station
And had quite a bit
of background noise
And static.
What's there?
caller: jessica.
Narrator: police
sent the tape to nasa,
Asking scientists there
To use the same
audio techniques they employ
To clean up audio
transmissions from space.
After that was complete,
the tape was sent
To dr. Harry hollien,
A renowned
forensic audio analyst
Who literally wrote the book
on forensic audio analysis.
Dr. Hollien felt certain
He could identify the voice
on the telephone call.
All he needed was a suspect's
voice for comparison.
The tone of the caller's voice
Sounded to investigators
as sympathetic,
As if he knew jessica
personally.
On a hunch,
Police played the tape
for jessica's mother,
And her reaction was immediate.
Peggy knott: my first
reaction was,
"This voice is
very familiar to me,"
And I think I had to
listen to it a few times
Before I realized,
this --
Oh, it was like a bell
ringing in my head --
[ Gasp ]
That's it,
it's the guy with the dog.
Narrator:
the guy with the dog
Was a neighbor.
She just couldn't recall
his name.
Narrator: in their grief,
Friends and neighbors left
lilies and toy rabbits
Where jessica knott's body
was found on easter weekend.
Meanwhile, jessica's mother
had provided police
With a suspect.
She said the man
who called police,
Pointing them
to jessica's body,
Sounded like a neighbor
Who walked his dog
in the area.
Police identified the man as
James edward crowe,
Who had no prior arrests.
Crowe lived with his wife,
who was a nurse.
He was unemployed
And spent quite a bit of time
walking his dog, pumpkin.
White: he stayed home
and watched the house
And the dog
And walked the dog around
and talked to all the kids.
Now, that's not
the worst thing in the world
In some situations,
But it certainly
makes you wonder.
Something about him
made me feel uncomfortable,
But it's not a thought
that I dwelled on.
Narrator: pumpkin
was a shar-pei,
Similar to the breed whose hair
was found on jessica's body.
A neighbor had seen crowe
talking to jessica
Outside the apartment building
Shortly before
she disappeared.
Crowe admitted talking to her,
But denied having anything
to do with her disappearance.
Investigators searched
crowe's vehicle.
Amid the debris,
They found a bag
for a kid's meal
From a nearby
fast-food restaurant.
Remnants of
a fast-food hamburger
Had been found
in jessica's stomach.
And crowe had brand-new tires
on his truck.
Police discovered that
crowe had replaced them
Just after jessica's death.
And in crowe's apartment,
police found a box
Of black garbage bags,
The same size and brand
As the bag found
with jessica's body.
Could they link the garbage bag
from the crime scene
To the garbage bags
in crowe's apartment?
Ryland: there are a huge number
of garbage bags produced,
Typically on the order of
In one month time.
So the question is,
How many of those
Could be like this bag
Found on
jessica knott's body?
Narrator: to find out,
Investigators turned to
noel roberts.
As a quality control expert
for the manufacturer,
He knows garbage bags.
Roberts said that the number
stamped on the box
Indicated where
the bag had been made.
The bags in crowe's apartment
had been made in virginia.
The goal of mass production is
To quickly make
an identical product
Over and over again,
But roberts knew that
not every trash bag
Was truly identical.
He invited scott ryland
And prosecutor chris white
to the plant
To understand how
The manufacturing
process worked,
How plastic is recycled,
melted,
Blown into a huge tube
that cools as it ascends,
And then made into rolls
of thin sheets that are cut
And folded into bags.
Manufacturers use
A variety of materials
to make the bags,
Including scraps.
Ryland: you are taking
a random amount
Of white plastic bags,
Of yellow ties
that have iron in them.
The white plastic bags are
very rich in titanium dioxide,
So what you have, depending on
this random variation
In the scrap
that's being used,
A change in the concentration
of the iron and the titanium,
And, in fact, it turns out,
from day to day.
Narrator: to reveal
the elements in the plastic,
Scott ryland focused
a high-intensity x-ray beam
On samples of the bags found
in crowe's apartment.
A fluorescent spectrometer
Reveals the elements
in the plastic
And their relative
concentrations.
The bag found with jessica
was virtually identical to
The bags in crowe's apartment,
Indicating they had been
from the same batch of plastic.
Another characteristic
was visible to the naked eye.
When the plastic is made,
Bits of debris will get lodged
in the machinery.
This produces imperfections
in the plastic,
Called die lines.
Because the obstructions
causing the lines
Come and go,
The pattern on the bags
is unique to
A specific window of time.
Roberts:
and it almost gives you
A fingerprint-type
identification,
Where you can take one bag
and really match it up with
The next bag in a carton
And be pretty sure that
it is a consecutive bag
And from the same batch.
Narrator: the die lines
in the bags
Found in crowe's apartment
Lined up with the die lines
in the bag from the crime scene,
Meaning all the bags
were manufactured
Within hours of each other.
Often, the bags
are not folded evenly.
The amount of overlap
in the edges,
Called an offset,
Varies over time
and with each machine used.
The offset in crowe's bags
And the bag
with jessica's body
Also matched.
I think most people
would say, "wow!"
We're not dealing with
But it narrows it down
to half that number,
Probably, realistically,
As potential sources of
The bag found
on jessica's body.
Narrator:
meaning that there was
A 1-in-17 chance
that the garbage bag
Came from crowe's apartment.
James edward crowe
was arrested
And charged with the m*rder of
Narrator: forensic scientists
were able to determine
That the carpet fibers found
on jessica's body
Were consistent with
the carpet fibers
In james crowe's apartment
And in his automobile.
And the dog hair
on jessica's body
Was consistent with
crowe's dog.
The garbage bags
in crowe's home
Had the same striations
and offset overlaps as
The bag
with jessica's body.
This meant that crowe owned
one of the 17 boxes of bags
That the bag
from the crime scene
Could have come from.
Finally, dr. Harry hollien
Compared a sample
of crowe's voice
To the voice on the anonymous
telephone call.
White: and he came to
a conclusion,
Somewhere in the 90% range,
That this was, in fact,
the same voice.
Narrator: based on
the forensic evidence,
Prosecutors believe that crowe
Used his dog to start
a conversation with jessica
While she waited outside
for her father.
do you like dogs?
yeah.
do you want to try
taking him for a walk?
I guess.
yeah, it'll be
really fun.
Narrator: from there,
He coaxed her into his car
with the promise of
A fast-food hamburger.
Afterwards, the forensic
evidence suggests,
Crowe took her back
to his apartment,
Where she picked up
the apartment carpet fibers
And the hairs from his dog.
For reasons unknown,
Crowe apparently suffocated
jessica in his apartment.
He then hid the body
in a garbage bag
And placed it
in the back of his car
Without creating suspicion.
After dumping the body
in the deserted location,
He placed a call to police,
probably out of guilt,
Which dr. Hollien matched
with his audio expertise.
James crowe
maintained his innocence,
And his defense attorneys
Challenged
the forensic evidence.
In a separate hearing
To determine the admissibility
of this forensic evidence
In the upcoming trial,
Prosecutors had to prove
That the scientific analysis
of the garbage bags
Met general
scientific standards.
White: in the end,
the judge said,
"Well, I find it admissible.
"Not only do I find it
admissible,
"I think it's some of the best
forensic testimony
"That I've ever seen,
"And the jury is going to be
very, very interested
In this testimony."
Well, you don't get
those kind of compliments
From judges every day.
Narrator: faced with
The overwhelming
forensic evidence,
James crowe decided
to plead "no contest"
To second degree m*rder
In exchange for a sentence
of 40 years in prison
With no chance for parole.
In so doing,
Crowe avoided a possible
death sentence.
Kevin knott:
all I can say is,
The man upstairs
is waiting for him.
And possibly
the man downstairs, too.
thank you, kevin,
i, I like this, beautiful.
I like it, yeah.
Narrator: the knott family
Was spared
the ordeal of a trial,
But in the courtroom,
They showed crowe
how much he hurt them
When kevin read a poem
he had written.
"Damn you to swift justice,
"To meet your maker,
to face your god,
"To feel his wrath --
the sooner the better.
Damn you!"
Narrator: the knotts
never before realized
The complexity
of forensic evidence
And the full measure
of its power.
With all the dna testing
that goes on,
And...
Just all
the scientific technology
That's available today,
I think
just helps everybody
Get closer to
The truth of crimes.
It wasn't available, like,
say 20, 30 years ago,
And it pretty much
Cut to the core of
what happened.
The forensic capabilities
Of our local department
of law enforcement lab
And the fbi lab
Are what made
this case possible,
In the sense of,
made it possible
For us to prosecute it
successfully.
If we had not had
the capabilities of those labs,
I think james crowe
would still be on the street.
07x26 - Palm Print Conviction
Watch/Buy Amazon Merchandise
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.