08x23 - Sphere of Influence

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: when a small child
disappeared in alaska,

Investigators were initially
unsure whether the cause was a

Grizzly bear or an abduction.

The discovery of a fiber, a
piece of molten steel, and a

Chip of yellow, glossy paint
pointed police in the direction

Of a human.

But others weren't so sure.

Narrator: as the alaskan
summer drew to a close in 1991,

Children in the small town of
tazlina spent as much time

Outside as possible.

They knew that in just a few
short weeks, school would start,

And along with it, the cold
alaskan winter.

The lemaire family enjoyed life
in the alaska wilderness with

Hunting, fishing, and riding
four-wheel vehicles.


The oldest child.

She was a real interesting
mix between a tomboy and a

Pretty little girl.

She could be just as comfortable
in a frilly dress at a social

Event as she could in hip boots,
standing on a river fishing.

Narrator: the town of
tazlina has only 241 residents,

So the homes are situated some
distance apart.

Mandy and her best friend,
april, often walked a mile or

More to meet their friends to
play.

That was the plan on august 22,


Mandy and I took off.

We got about down to the
wheelbarrow down there.

I had a big fanny pack on, and I
had tripped and skinned up my

Leg.

I came back to the store.

They helped me out.

I got all cleaned up.

Mandy was supposed to wait for
me.

Narrator: but mandy may have
grown impatient.

I ran back down, didn't find
mandy.

Mandy always played pranks, so
we thought she was hiding in the

Bushes, was gonna come out and
scare us or something.

Um, she never did.

Narrator: two hours later,
mandy's father called police.

Within hours, 75 friends and
neighbors passed out fliers and

Searched the heavily wooded area
from the ground and from the

Air.

I knew that there was
something wrong and that there

Was no way that she could have
got lost.

Narrator: alaskan state
trooper jim mccann drove five

Hours from fairbanks to join the
search.

I came down here with the
opinion that there's more to

This than certainly a grizzly
attack or a child lost in the

Woods just from what I read in
the paper and from what I'd been

Told over the telephone.

This is the poster they hung
out when they found out mandy

Was missing.

It says, "missing.

Mandy lemaire.

Long blonde hair, straight.



Weighs 105-110 pounds.

Age 11."

I wrote, "she was my best
friend."

Narrator: the search lasted
for days.

Search dogs were used, but they
weren't able to track mandy's

Scent.

I've never seen such
community action.

I've been on and headed up a lot
of searches.

This community was just
marvelous.

Everybody from the valley got
together.

Narrator: tragically, 10 days
after she disappeared, searchers

Found her body.

She had been shot to death.

She was found about a mile
from her home off of

Tazlina terrace road.

Back a side road in a new
subdivision there, her body was

Found off that road that went
down to the river from that

Area.

Without you have living
something like this, you

Probably will never have a clue.

And I don't know that I can
describe it.

My wife, at the time, she
ultimately couldn't handle it.

I don't think, no matter what
you do, you always feel some

Kind of guilt.

And that was the big thing.

If I hadn't tripped, what would
have happened?

And I remember asking my mom
that.

What would have happened if I
hadn't tripped?

Narrator: complicating
matters, there had been heavy

Rains a few days before the body
was discovered, washing away

Possible trace evidence as well
as foot and tire impressions.

It was clear to us that she
had been alive when she was down

In that wash and had been
struggling to climb back up out

Of that wash.

Her little fingernails were
broken and filled with dirt.

Narrator: police knew they'd
have to work harder than usual

To find necessary clues.

Narrator: mandy lemaire's
autopsy revealed she had been

Shot twice at close range with a
.22 caliber r*fle.

There were signs of sexual
as*ault.

In a search for suspects, an
informant told police that

Construction worker
david deforest showed an unusual

Interest in the case and spoke
of it constantly at work.


Convicted of a car theft in

New york state and had some
recent brushes with the law.

He had been in some trouble
recently when he went out of

State, and he was a suspect in a
death out of state, too.

Narrator: deforest denied any
involvement in mandy's m*rder.

His employer confirmed he was at
work on the day mandy

Disappeared, so he wasn't
considered a suspect.

But deforest had some
information of his own.

He saw another local man,
charlie smithart, driving his

Pickup truck on the road where
mandy was last seen.

He was described as a good
guy to the kids, that all the

Copper center kids would come to
his shop, and he would fix

Their bicycles, give them
candy -- certainly interesting

To us.

Narrator: 61-year-old
smithart was a retired

Steelworker, had been divorced
twice, and lived in a makeshift

Workshop behind his mother's
home.

Coincidentally, smithart had
assisted in the search for

Mandy.

He never put his name down on
the search roster at the fire

Station to say that "I am a
member of this search team.

I will search."

But he would show up there and
stand around, and then he would

Go off on his own.

Uh...we found that strange.

Narrator: smithart denied
deforest's claim that he was

Near the crime scene on the day
mandy disappeared and said he

Had an alibi.

He said he was watching
television with his mother, an

Alibi his mother confirmed.

God knows he didn't do it.

And the person who committed
this crime knows that charles

Didn't do it.

Narrator: in a town the
size of tazlina, checking an

Alibi is easier than in most
larger towns, and it helped

Investigators get their first
break.

They learned that smithart's
mother, lucille, had gone

Shopping at the copper river
cash grocery store on the day of

Mandy's disappearance and paid
for the items with a check.

The time and date on
the register tape was the same.

And the time was 3:17 when lucy
said that she was home with her

Son.

She wasn't home.

She was at the grocery store
buying groceries at that time.

Suddenly, that blew a hole in
charlie's alibi because it meant

That his mother was at the
grocery store at 3:17, that she

Was not at home when smithart
said she was at home to bolster

His alibi, and that, frankly, he
had no alibi for the two hours

When mandy disappeared.

Narrator: 200 miles away in
anchorage, criminalists used a

Gel adhesive tape to gather any
trace evidence left behind by

The k*ller.

The tape lifts the evidence, but
the adhesive isn't so strong

That the trace elements can't be
removed for later analysis.

Investigators noticed what was
perhaps their first clue.

I looked at him, and he
looked at me, and I said, "did

You see that?

There's something shiny."

And we kept moving around at
different angles until we could

See something.

Narrator: the spheres were no
larger than the head of a pin.

Under a fiber-optic microscope,
the spheres looked like metal.

They also found several red and
blue fibers and a yellow paint

Chip.

Could these few microscopic
items help investigators find

A k*ller?

This is an 11-year-old girl
who had her life savagely taken

From her, who was brutally
k*lled, and her body was left in

The woods for animals to find.

I think that made it hard on
everybody that dealt with this

Case, and myself included.

Narrator: in the weeks
following mandy lemaire's

m*rder, investigators had a very
promising lead.

A witness placed
charlie smithart near mandy's

Home on the day of the
abduction.

And some young girls in town had
even more damaging information

To report.

In the weeks before mandy's
disappearance, charlie smithart,

A 60-year-old man, had been seen
offering rides to other young

Girls who bore a striking
resemblance to mandy lemaire --

Such that, one of the young
girls, when her mother saw the

Sketch in the newspaper of
mandy -- mandy was missing --

That she thought she was looking
at a sketch of her own daughter.

Narrator: armed with a search
warrant, investigators

Confiscated smithart's pickup
truck for forensic analysis.

With a gel adhesive,
criminalists lifted microscopic

Particles from the truck's
interior.

During questioning,
investigators noticed something

Else about smithart.

I couldn't take my eyes of
his shirt because he had little

Sparkly things on his shirt.

And I finally asked him.

I said, "what are those sparkly
things on your shirt, charlie?"

He says, "I don't know -- brass,
aluminum.

I'm grinding stuff all the
time."

Narrator: that clue led
investigators to the workshop

Behind smithart's mother's
home.

There, criminalists collected
paint samples, hair, fibers, and

All of the metal fragments they
could find.

They also confiscated a pair of
smithart's overalls.

All of the evidence was shipped
to chicago, illinois, to

Skip palenik, a research
microscopist.

Palenik began by looking at the
small, yellow paint chip found

On mandy's clothing.

Using x-ray spectroscopy,
palenik noticed something

Unique.

Glossy layers, with no other
layers behind it, in a variety

Of colors.

That's quite unusual.

And children's bicycles,
of course, are painted with

Single layers of glossy paint.

Narrator: in the samples
collected from smithart's

Workshop, palenik found a paint
chip identical in elemental and

Polymer composition to the paint
chip on mandy's clothing.

We found one paint chip,
where the paint chip was in

Every aspect we could measure,
was the same as one of the

Yellow paint chips from his
workshop.

Narrator: next were the red
and blue fibers.

Again, palenik found they, too,
were unusual.

It turns out these fibers had
a very unusual cross section.

The fibers were also very
brittle.

Narrator: they were brittle
because of degradation due to

Age and exposure.

The fibers were triangular in
shape, or trilobal.

Using an infrared spectrometer,
palenik discovered the fibers

Were polypropylene, a synthetic
manufactured by the phillips

Fiber company for carpeting.

Palenik then analyzed the fibers
gathered from smithart's truck

And clothing.

We find in smithart's
environment, exactly the same

Kinds of fibers.

Not only do they have the same
cross-sectional shape, the same

Size, they have the same
pigments that are used to color

Them.

Everything is there.

Narrator: the fibers in
smithart's truck were

Manufactured by the same
company and had the same degree

Of environmental damage as those
found on mandy's clothing.

Finally, palenik examined the
most unusual evidence, the

Metallic spheres found all over
mandy's skin and clothing.

The scanning electron microscope
identified the spheres as carbon

Steel.

From his experience, palenik
knew precisely what had shaped

The metal in this way.

If you're using a high-speed
cutting tool to cut through

Steel, you'll produce these
little spheres.

A metal particle is raised to a
height of temperature that

Actually melts and assumes a
spherical form.

Narrator: the metal spheres
from mandy's clothing were

Compared to metal fragments
found on the seat of smithart's

Truck.

These particles on mandy's
body were consistent in all

Respects with having originated
from mr. Smithart's environment.

Based on my knowledge of the
particles, it would be extremely

Unlikely to have all those
particles come together just by

Chance somewhere else.

Narrator: now armed with
forensic evidence, investigators

Wanted to learn as much as they
could about smithart's

Background, so they flew to
california to interview one of

His daughters.

There, they found evidence that
mandy lemaire wasn't his first

Victim.

We walked around out in her
front yard and down her road for

A couple of hours until she
trusted me, and with tears in

Her eyes said that her father
had started molesting her,

Interestingly, at the age of


Mandy lemaire was when she was
m*rder*d -- and that all her

Sisters had also been molested.

Narrator: after a three-month
investigation, charlie smithart

Was arrested for the kidnapping,
sexual as*ault, and m*rder of

Mandy lemaire.

It wasn't soon enough for
mandy's family.

I can tell you the temptation
was strong to take matters in my

Own hands.

I won't lie to you.

But I told myself...

That I could never explain it to
two boys.

Narrator: many residents of
tazlina found it difficult to

Believe that a neighbor could
commit such a heinous crime.

The community was very split
up there.

It's a very half-native,
half-white community.

And mandy was white, and charlie
was native.

And you had the split down the
center, essentially, that the

White community felt that he was
involved, and the native

Community felt that he was not
involved.

Narrator: charlie smithart's
trial began in 1993, two years

After the crime.

Mandy's parents and her two
little brothers sat in the first

Row every day of the trial.

Smithart insisted he was
innocent.

Mr. Smithart, you're gonna
have to be quiet at this time.

What are you gonna do --
put me in jail?

You gonna throw me in jail?

I've been in jail 20 [bleep]
months, falsely arrested for a

Crime I did not commit.

Mr. Smithart, I'm gonna
have to have you removed from

The courtroom.

That's fine.

Throw me in jail.

I've been in there for 20
[bleep] months, falsely

Arrested for a crime I did not
commit.

Narrator: prosecutors believe
that molten steel from

Smithart's metalwork formed the
tiny spheres that were attached

To his shirt.

Smithart was wearing that same
shirt when he saw mandy walking

To meet her friends.

It's unclear whether mandy
accepted smithart's offer of a

Ride or whether he forced her
into his vehicle.

The forensic evidence suggests
the tiny metal spheres attached

To smithart's shirt were
transferred onto the seat of his

Truck and later onto mandy's
clothing during the abduction.

The same red and blue
synthetic, trilobal carpet

Fibers were in the truck and on
mandy's clothing.

A single yellow speck of glossy
paint from smithart's workshop

Was also found on mandy lemaire.

Even after two weeks in the
woods, and after heavy rains,

Trace elements were still there.

The m*rder w*apon was never
recovered.

Prosecutors believe smithart
may have dumped it in the

Tazlina river.

This type of k*ller will do
this again...and hopefully, I'll

Still be locked up.

And then what are you people
gonna say?

If it happens, my way of
thinking, you're an accessory to

Him, you're an accessory to him,
and the troopers that

Investigated this case.

Because I know I'm innocent.

Narrator: skip palenik's
testimony was particularly

Persuasive.

My role is to come in and
report factually on what I found

And then be an advocate not for
one side or the other, but for

My opinion.

And I stated my opinion in
court, and then hopefully, gave

The jury something useful to
base their deliberations on and

Finally their verdict.

I felt like they did a really
good job of explaining it.

I'd ask our oldest son what he
heard, and he could explain it.

Adults should be able to
understand it.

Narrator: charles smithart
was found guilty of m*rder,

Kidnapping, and sexual as*ault,
and he was sentenced to 114

Years in prison.

Mr. Lemaire introduced me to
his son, who he said was

Somewhat interested in forensic
science.

And what he handed me was a
courtroom sketch he had made --

Hand-drawn picture with the
words written on it -- "thank

You for helping catch my
sister's k*ller."

That kind of thing does tug at
your heartstrings.

Narrator: this crime affected
everyone in tazlina in different

Ways.

Now that I live in her old
house, it haunts me.

My memories come back.

Certain smells bring back
memories.

Um, my son sleeps in her old
bedroom, and there's a sticker

On the window that she and I had
stuck there when we were little

Girls.

Some people think it ought to
be over.

It's never over.

I went through awful days,
leading up to when mandy's

Graduation would have been.

For years prior, I couldn't go
to graduations.

I...then several years after
that, when girls that would have

Been mandy's age were being

Married...or getting married, I

Couldn't go to those.

It's a whole lifelong...she's
not here, I'm missing this time

Of her life.

Narrator: six years later,
alaska supreme court overturned

Smithart's conviction because
some evidence the defense team

Had planned to introduce had
been denied.

Smithart died of lung cancer
in an alaska prison while

Awaiting a retrial.