Up next, a
restaurant robbery goes wrong...
There was no reason for this
to happen to Stephen.
This was a vicious, vicious
attack.
And the evidence
is contradictory.
There was somebody else
bleeding at the scene of the
crime.
That blood and a
partial fingerprint were all
investigators had...
I wasn't holding my breath
for any real results.
Until the money
trail provides investigators
with a vital clue.
Jennifer Holmes remembers
super bowl Sunday 2001 for one
reason...
It was the day she first met her
husband.
They were both at the same
super bowl party.
And I saw him sitting there
with the perfect hair and his
leather jacket, perfect smile.
So we stood there, and he's
like, "hi, I'm Stephen.
I was like, "hi, I'm Jen."
A year later, the
two were married.
And 29-year-old Stephen became a
father to Jennifer's young son.
They also had plans to have
children of their own.
As far as his career, he
was... I noticed this about
him... he was always happiest
when he was working in a
restaurant.
Stephen was an
assistant manager of a
steakhouse in St. Petersburg,
Florida.
He often worked long hours, and
some nights were longer than
others.
And he called me at 10:18 and
said, "I'm just letting you know
I'm gonna be later tonight
because we had a late party and
I just closed up.
I just let everyone out and
locked the door."
Around midnight, an
exterminator entered the
restaurant with his own key.
That's when he saw the bloody
footprints, and he saw and found
Mr. Holmes' lifeless body.
Stephen Holmes had
been stabbed to death.
I've never seen a crime scene
this horrific.
It was a pretty, pretty bad
scene.
In a clear case of
overkill, Stephen was stabbed
more than 40 times.
When you think of a m*rder,
you sometimes think, "okay,
somebody is shot or maybe
they're stabbed."
This was a vicious, vicious
attack.
He was almost decapitated.
It's not something that
should happen to our son.
It's "what? No."
You can't believe...
You just can't believe that it's
happening.
Robbery appeared to
be the motive... about $8,000
was missing from the safe in the
manager's office.
This was much more than usual
because the restaurant had been
promoting $100 gift certificates
as Christmas presents that
evening.
It's at a restaurant, you're
in the month of December...
Generally speaking, a fairly
busy time of the year... so we
had all pieced together that
that's what the motive was.
The exterminator
who found the body was the first
and most obvious suspect, but
was quickly written off.
Due to his demeanor, how he
looked, and not having any signs
of v*olence or blood on his
person, they could see that he
was nowhere near involved in
this case.
Fortunately for
police, the restaurant had
several surveillance cameras.
When we saw the camera was
present in the hallway, our
initial reaction was that we may
very well have not only the
attack on video, but at least a
starting point of how the
suspect was built and his race.
But there was an
immediate setback.
All the cameras were hooked to a
single video recorder...
And it was gone.
The entire vcr was... the
cords were actually cut and
removed from the office.
There were no signs
of forced entry.
Was it possible that a customer
hid in the restaurant until
closing time in preparation for
the robbery?
There's no reason to believe
that the criminal might not have
gone back to the restroom and
hid in the bathroom until after
they closed... you know, closed
the stall, hid on top of the
toilet, that sort of thing.
If the k*ller was a
customer, that meant dozens, if
not hundreds, of potential
suspects.
Friends, family,
and co-workers had difficulty
understanding why Stephen Holmes
had been m*rder*d.
The restaurant had never been
robbed before and was located
in a low-crime area.
Robberies usually don't
result in this type of repeated
v*olence.
Very rarely, in armed robberies,
does the victim sustain this
many injuries.
Stephen's best
friend and co-worker,
Wilson saintil, was among the
first to offer his condolences.
I heard wailing.
I came inside, and it was Wilson
in the living room, crying.
My wife consoled him and grabbed
his shoulders and just said,
"think about Stephen's smile,"
and "he would forgive whoever
did this."
And I think he started wailing
more.
The day after
Stephen Holmes' m*rder, a man
working across the street from
the crime scene contacted
police.
This individual indicated
that a white pickup truck with a
horizontal stripe along the side
of it raced out of the durango's
parking lot prior to the police
arriving.
The witness said
this happened at about 11:00,
just after the time police
believe Stephen was k*lled.
The description was so detailed.
I mean, a loud muffler, stripes
on the side, a small pickup,
white... I mean, it was a very
clear description of what type
of a vehicle it was.
For two days,
police officers stopped dozens
of trucks that fit the
description, checking the
interiors for blood and the
drivers for any fresh wounds.
Then they got a devastating
setback.
The witness now said he made the
whole thing up.
He was trying to score points
with his girlfriend, is what it
basically boiled down to.
He might have been a brick
short, too.
That's a week's worth of work,
and it's down the tubes.
And it's very disappointing.
As family and
friends mourned Stephen Holmes,
police wondered who would want
him dead.
Nobody who knew him, as far
as I was concerned at that time,
could have hurt him...
Especially like that.
We'd interviewed a lot of his
friends, a lot of family
members, some co-workers.
You could not find a single
person that would say anything
bad about him.
Defensive wounds
showed Stephen fought his
attacker to the end.
He had over 24 defensive
wounds, I believe, and 20 wounds
to his neck and his face.
It was obvious it was a very big
struggle.
Part of the struggle started
inside the kitchen area, and it
made its way down that small
hallway into the doorway of the
office.
And then right there in the
office is where the final
struggle took place.
It appeared Stephen
tried to make it into his office
and shut the door.
There were actually s*ab marks
on the door.
There was a large
concentration of blood on that
door.
There was a huge amount of blood
on the floor.
The victim very well may have
slipped on his own blood.
There were dozens
of footprints made by the
k*ller.
Unfortunately, there were no
clear impressions for
comparison.
It was someone that may have
had a pair of galoshes or boots,
cleanup-type boots, handy, or
actually had them on at the time
they left the m*rder scene.
But it appeared the
k*ller left evidence as he
removed the surveillance
equipment.
The suspect had to actually
step over the victim that he had
just k*lled.
The vcr was up off the counter
area of the desk.
I believe that the suspect
utilized part of that desk to
reach up to get the vcr and cut
it... cut the cord and take the
vcr.
On the floor,
underneath that shelf,
investigators saw a Manila
folder.
When they turned it over, they
found something.
We looked at it closer, and
we actually noticed a
fingerprint in blood.
Myself and Mr. Carlisle looked
at each other and said, "we got
him."
Was it possible the
k*ller accidentally knocked it
onto the floor as he was
stealing the security-system
vcr?
The folder... the fingerprint
wasn't faceup, so the person
who, as they were leaving,
probably wouldn't have known
that they had left that
essential piece of evidence.
But it was a
partial print and badly smudged.
The technician and I were
going back and forth, and I'm
like, "well, I think I can use
it, but let's see if we can make
it just a little bit better,"
and handed it back to him.
But enhancing it
would come at a price.
That would actually destroy
the DNA profile of the blood
that the fingerprint was left
in.
Investigators
decided the risk was worth it.
The print was sprayed with
amido black, a chemical dye that
reacts with the proteins in
blood.
He worked on it a little bit
more, and we decided that was as
good as the print was gonna get.
The result was the
partial print of a fingertip.
Investigators entered the print
into the nationwide fingerprint
database of known criminal
offenders, and the result was
bad news.
I did do an a.F.I.S. Search.
I was not able to come up with
a match.
That's because the
print didn't have enough points
of comparison for the computer
to process.
With no print match and now no
DNA, investigators were no
closer to solving this m*rder.
It's a situation where you
basically take a deep breath and
keep on swimming.
In an attempt to
find Stephen Holmes' k*ller,
investigators wanted to make
sure they identified every piece
of potential evidence in the
restaurant.
The m*rder took place in
Stephen's office in the back.
But investigators noticed small
circular blood drops on the
counter near the sink in the
kitchen.
It was obviously close to the
crime scene, but far enough away
that we were hoping that that
was, in fact, the suspect's
blood.
Blood tests
revealed it did not belong to
the victim, Stephen Holmes.
Somebody had to be standing
over the table, and blood
dripped off of him onto the
table.
But if the blood
was the perpetrator's, why was
it there and why didn't he clean
it up?
These almost perfectly round
blood drops, called passive
drops, were made by someone
standing still, possibly while
washing his hands at the sink.
A lot of times in a knife
fight like that, the knife may
slip out of his hand and cut his
finger or something similar to
that effect.
The blood DNA was
possible evidence, but
investigators had no one to
compare it to.
With no sign of forced entry,
the k*ller could have been an
employee.
So investigators asked
restaurant employees for DNA
samples and their fingerprints.
They also wanted to see if
anyone had cuts or bruises on
their hands.
They say, "you know what?
Let's bring all the employees in
and let's fingerprint
everybody."
At least if we do that, maybe we
can rule everybody out with the
fingerprint that we've got now.
But as police were
fingerprinting the employees,
they didn't notice any with
visible injuries.
Authorities are thinking,
"the k*ller's probably not here.
He's probably not an employee."
It was basically something
that had to be done to further
the investigation, but I wasn't
holding my breath for any real
results.
Nevertheless, each
employee was fingerprinted
carefully.
This would be the front of
the finger, but the print I had
was more off to the side.
So, in order to make sure I got
the area I needed, I had to
fully roll each and every finger
of each and every employee.
And in a shocking
development, the print on the
Manila folder matched the last
person anyone expected,
especially Stephen Holmes'
family.
It belonged to Wilson saintil,
Stephen's best friend, the
restaurant's maintenance man
and prep cook.
Stephen's family couldn't
believe it, since the two often
worked late together.
Stephen would bring in cds
specifically that he knew was
the type of music that Wilson
liked so that they could put
them in and it would go through
the whole store and they could
be listening to that music while
they were working.
Wilson saintil went to the
ceremonies to honor the
deceased.
He hugged family members, cried
when it appeared to be
appropriate.
There was no flight issues.
There was no obvious signs that
we needed to suspect him of
anything.
But investigators
naturally went further,
comparing saintil's DNA to the
blood droplets on the kitchen
counter and faucet.
Those six foreign male DNA
profiles found at the scene did
match the suspect in the case.
The 51-year-old
Haitian national was arrested on
suspicion of m*rder.
Do you have anything to say
at all?
They got the wrong guy.
They got the wrong guy?
Yes.
You didn't k*ll Stephen Holmes?
I don't.
You don't know anything about
it?
Stephen was my good friend.
Although saintil's
blood and fingerprint were both
at the scene, police had a
problem.
There was a plausible
explanation for his blood to be
at the sink in the kitchen.
The defense is pretty
clear... he's a maintenance
worker, he's a prep cook.
People cut themselves all the
time.
And there was no
proof saintil's fingerprint was
in Stephen's blood.
It could have been there
previously.
"So you find a fingerprint of
my client here, Wilson saintil,
inside the restaurant.
- What's the big deal?"
- Needing more,
investigators looked into a
possible motive.
Why would Wilson saintil want to
k*ll a man he called his friend?
People thought that Wilson
was a hardworking guy, good
family man, good father.
Until a background
check revealed a secret past.
Why was your bloody
fingerprint at the scene?
It's not mine.
I don't have no blood.
He was your friend?
Yes, he was my best friend.
Wilson saintil
insisted he had nothing to do
with Stephen Holmes' m*rder.
The father of three was active
in his church and well liked by
his co-workers.
He even considered the victim
his best friend.
But a background check revealed
saintil had a violent past.
four years in prison for
aggravated as*ault and
concealing a w*apon.
And despite working three jobs,
he had money problems.
He was paying child support,
from what I understand, for two
different children, and the
amount, when I add it up now, it
probably amounts to like $700 or
$800 a month.
It was quite a large sum of
money.
The forensic
evidence clearly pointed to
Wilson saintil as the man who
k*lled Stephen Holmes inside
the steak restaurant.
But investigators wanted to know
what happened to the $8,000
missing from the restaurant's
safe.
That's when they learned that
saintil visited a local
furniture store the day after
the m*rder.
The furniture store had a
security camera in the office
which showed saintil paying off
a $1,200 debt in cash with $100
bills.
Much of the money stolen from
the restaurant was in $100
bills from the gift certificates
they'd been selling on the night
of the m*rder.
We know that there are $100
bills that are stolen.
The fact that he pays off this
debt at this furniture-rental
company so quickly after the
m*rder is...
It's just bizarre.
And forensic
testing found a connection
between saintil's fingerprint in
Stephen's office and his blood
drops near the sink.
You had feet print leading to
the manager's office, and you
had shoe prints leading from the
office to the kitchen.
Now the case is coming full
circle.
Prosecutors believe
Wilson saintil was desperate for
money and believed his only
recourse was to rob the
restaurant where he worked.
As the maintenance man, he
stopped by after hours, knowing
the cash receipts would be in
the safe.
Saintil probably made some noise
in the kitchen.
Stephen walked out of his office
to see who was there.
Hello?
Hello?
Hello?
That's when Stephen
saw the knife.
Stephen ran to his office and
tried to close the door, but
saintil was still able to get
inside.
Stephen was stabbed more than 40
times and died in his office.
As saintil washed his hands and
the knife, his blood, possibly
from a bloody nose from the
fight, dropped onto the kitchen
counter and faucet.
Saintil took the $8,000 from the
safe.
Since he knew the surveillance
cameras had captured the fight,
he cut the cables and removed
the video recorder.
But as he did, he left his
partial fingerprint on the
Manila folder, which fell to the
floor upside down.
Saintil left the restaurant
with the m*rder w*apon, video
recorder, and his bloody
clothes.
Prosecutors believe he returned
later to clean up the blood.
But his plan fell apart when he
saw the exterminator was
there on an unscheduled visit.
Nobody knew he was coming by
that night, except for Stephen.
I feel that was a godsend.
Stephen's the only person
that knows that this guy is
showing up.
And again, thank god that he
shows up on that night, because
that narrows the timeline, that
preserves the crime scene at
that point, and that prevents
Wilson saintil from coming back
and cleaning up the crime scene.
When Stephen's
family learned that
Wilson saintil m*rder*d their
son, they were shocked and angry
because it was saintil who came
to their home hours after
Stephen's m*rder to offer his
condolences.
You know, to listen to all
the lies and then to know that
he came here, it's just, you
know, complete disbelief.
When we found out later it
was him, it's a weird feeling
that he had the nerve to come
here to our home to see...
It's still hard to comprehend
that.
Wilson saintil was
tried and convicted of
first-degree m*rder.
He was sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility
of parole.
Saintil left evidence behind.
Some he might have explained,
having worked there as an
employee, but not all of it.
I think forensic science is
amazing.
That's what solved the case.
It just puts that much more of
my faith in the system, and I'm
just glad that's it's progressed
to where it has, and I hope it
continues to do so.
Forensic science, in this
particular case, is 110%.
It's the reason Wilson saintil
is in prison.
And without it, he would be a
free man today.
13x37 - Hundreds of Reasons
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.