13x38 - Cold Feet

[bunniefuu]

Up next...

The m*rder of a
convenience-store employee goes

unsolved for years.

The case always bugged me.

We wanted to find the clown that
did that.

Police couldn't
understand why the victim's

husband didn't report her
missing.

Every time I hear, you know,
"I didn't call it in because we

had an argument," I always
wonder, "how can anyone believe

- this?"
- Could new forensic

testing solve a 20-year-old
case?

You got to treat every single
case like it's the crime of the

century.

When rod and Julie estes started
their life together in

Jacksonville, Florida, as
husband and wife, they had to

figure out, like most couples,
how to support themselves.

Rod drove a truck for a plastics
company.

But the only job 21-year-old
Julie could find was working the

late shift at a convenience
store near their home.

She had graduated from high
school, but she was a recent

transplant to the Jacksonville
area and needed that job to put

food on her table.

Convenience stores and gas
stations were really the only

things at night that were open
that people would rob.

Imagine sitting in that
convenience store without any

kind of modern-day surveillance
or protection or panic button...

That she must have been fearful.

Julie normally
worked afternoons and evenings

and closed the store at

But one night, a customer
noticed the store was closed at


the closing time posted on the

door.

Police were asked to check it
out.

We shined our lights in the
windows.

There was absolutely no signs of
foul play.

Nothing was disrupted, nothing
was overturned... it just looked

like somebody left the store.

So we went back to work and went
about our normal shift.

The next morning,
the daytime clerk opened the

store and discovered it had been
robbed.

The floor safe had been
opened and appeared to be empty

and that the power appeared to
have been cut off the night

before.

According to the
owners, around $500 was missing

from the safe.

Police tried to find Julie, but
she wasn't home.

Surprisingly, Julie's husband
said she never came home from

work, and he admitted he hadn't
reported her missing.

He told me at that time that
they had had a small argument

before she left for work.

And I'm like, "well, you didn't
call the police when she didn't

come home for, you know,
eight hours?"

Every time I hear that story
of somebody saying, "well, I

didn't call it in because we had
an argument," I always wonder,

- "how can anyone believe this?"
- Later that morning,

four miles from the convenience
store, police found Julie's car

in the woods stuck in mud.

The key was still in the
ignition.

One of our helicopters
spotted a blue Camaro, not a

long distance away but in a
wooded area that's known for

vehicles, dumped or parked or
whatever, out there.

They saw what they perceived
to be drag marks leading away

from the vehicle, and then they
followed the drag marks.

A few hundred feet
from the car, under some

cardboard, was Julie's body.

Julie's body was found with
her arms tied behind her back

with her very own shoelaces.

Her shirt was pulled up with her
breasts exposed.

Her pants and panties were
pulled down to her socks.

The details of the crime just
really go right through you.

They make you realize how, you
know, how much she really went

through.

Here was a 21-year-old woman
who on one hand wore her

high-school class ring, on the
other one her wedding ring.

Julie's husband
said he had an alibi... one

police had heard dozens of times
over the years.

Rod estes had explained that
he was by himself all evening,

had watched a football game, and
had fallen asleep, and no one

was with him all night.

Not the best alibi in the
world if a policeman thinks you

might be responsible for your
wife's disappearance, but it's

all he had.

And investigators
had another problem.

They suspected Julie had been
m*rder*d elsewhere.

As investigators
searched for Julie estes'

k*ller, they began by looking
for clues inside her car, which

was found stuck in mud in the
woods near her body, and the

evidence told a story.

Julie, herself, was a tall girl.

She was approximately 5'8",


The seat had been moved all the
way up, as if a shorter person

had been driving it.

And so it was apparent that
someone other than Julie had

been the last person to drive
that car and, in fact, that that

person probably was shorter.

And they also found
blood drops in the trunk.

Tests showed it was the same
blood type as Julie's... an

indication she was injured
elsewhere, placed in the trunk,

then driven to the woods.

Initially, they weren't sure
whether that was the scene of

the m*rder or that was simply a
dump site.

That type of development
makes an investigation that much

more difficult because now
you've got two crime scenes to

worry about.

Unfortunately,
there were no foreign

fingerprints found on
or in the car.

And investigators found no
usable footprints in the mud and

dirt.

Julie's purse was discovered at
the scene with no money inside.

The convenience store's money
bag was there, but it, too, was

empty.

Julie's k*ller had removed the
laces from her shoes to tie her

hands, but her shoes were
missing.

Julie's shoes were
distinctive even back in 1985

because they were purple.

The next day,
investigators got a potential

lead.

Police got a call from a man
who had been kind of scrounging

around behind another
convenience store, when he came

upon a purple pair of shoes.

The purple shoes
were almost certainly Julie's...

The laces were missing.

A bowling bag and some receipts
with Julie's name left no doubt

the items were hers.

The site was just a half-mile
from the convenience store where

Julie was last seen alive.

We found evidence that things
were taken out of the trunk of

her car and she was probably
forced into the trunk, then she

was driven five or six miles
away from there, where her body

was found.

Normally, the
evidentiary value of the items

would be significant, but not
this time.

The civilian that had found
those items had, at first, taken

them home.

This meant all the
evidence, at what may have been

the m*rder site, was
compromised.

Somebody's been there moving
things around, and it just makes

the investigation a lot more
difficult.

There was no physical
evidence, at that particular

time, that could identify a
k*ller.

In the meantime, it
didn't take long for

investigators to eliminate
Julie's husband as a suspect.

When he was perfectly willing
to take a polygraph examination,

kept in contact with the
officers trying to work this

case, I think all suspicion was
erased.

But Julie's autopsy
did provide some important

information about the k*ller.

The medical examiner found
evidence of sexual as*ault.

A r*pe-test kit recovered
biological evidence, presumably,

of the perpetrator.

Unfortunately, DNA testing
wasn't yet available.

Crimes in 1985 were a lot
harder to solve, just based on

technology.

There are just certain things
that we could yield DNA profiles

from today you wouldn't be able
to get back then.

As the weeks went
by and the number of leads

started to dwindle,
investigators continued to

search for Julie's k*ller,
knowing full well they had no

forensic evidence to identify
him.

But it didn't stop them from
trying.

At this particular time, when
this incident occurred, some

weird things were happening in
that area.

Seven months before
Julie's m*rder, the body of a

missing 15-year-old girl was
discovered just three miles

away.

Her body was so badly decomposed
the cause of death couldn't be

determined.

And two months before Julie's
m*rder, a 10-year-old girl was

found dead hanging in a tree in
the woods just two miles from

Julie's convenience store.

Since these crimes happened
within a radius of only three

miles, investigators had a hunch
they might be connected.

We wanted to find the clown
that did that.

Investigators
wondered whether Julie estes'

m*rder might be connected to
several other crimes committed

in the area.

Unfortunately, investigators had
no evidence to link them.

Right now, by today's
standard, physical evidence is

one of your top factors in
reviewing a case.

It's very significant... very
important.

They make the case.

With no leads, no
evidence, and no suspects, the

trail of Julie estes' k*ller
turned cold.

Julie's family started to
believe her m*rder would never

be solved.

After a couple of years, we
just gave up.

I said, "well, we're up here and
they're down there, and nobody

cares."

The case always bugged me.

You know, she went missing on my
watch.

And it bugged me.

I mean, every time I drove by
that store I thought of her, and

it bugged me.

After a few years,
patrolman frank mackesy was

promoted to chief of detectives
with the power to recommend

cases to the cold-case unit.

Mackesy had always had a
strong desire to solve this

case.

This is a case that had stuck
with him and stuck in his mind

through his whole career.

So when the
cold-case unit got involved,

they broadened their search.

They looked at every sexually
motivated crime in the region

and got a break.

Just two months after
Julie estes' m*rder... 30 miles

away in another jurisdiction...
There had been another

convenience-store crime almost
identical to Julie's, except in

this case, the victim survived.

A 19-year-old convenience-store
worker, Carla nobles, had just

closed the store and given a
ride to a young man she met in

the parking lot.

It's just down there.

Thanks.

She voluntarily let him in
the car having no idea what he

was capable of.

She did a quick drive to the
post office, where he said he

wanted to go.

Before they got
there, the man pulled a knife,

forced her to drive to an
isolated field, and sexually

assaulted her.

He then forced her to drive
away.

She was sure he was going to
k*ll her because she could

identify him.

But then she saw the only chance
to escape... a police officer

directing traffic.

What are you doing?!

Shut up! Shut up!

Drop the knife!

Help me!

Drop the knife!

And she just literally tries
to run up there and get the

officer's attention, practically
hitting the officer.

When he got to the car, the
abductor had a knife to Carla's

throat.

And so he pulled his revolver,
and the abductor dropped the

knife.

The man was
identified as James elmen.

He was convicted for the crime
and was currently serving a


prison.

And cold-case investigators
learned another startling

coincidence.

Elmen had a close connection to
the 10-year-old girl found

hanging in the tree near Julie's
store two months before Julie's

m*rder.

The 10-year-old was a
half sister of elmen.

Investigators now
wanted to test the biological

evidence collected from Julie's
r*pe-test kit to see whether

James elmen was her k*ller.

But there was a risk... the test
would consume all of the

evidence.

Unfortunately, sometimes you
have to make a choice.

You might have to run the entire
bit of sample.

But, at the time, you're
thinking, "this is the best

technology available."

Investigators
decided the gamble was worth it.

They consumed all of the
semen that was contained in

those slides, trying to get
results... results that

unfortunately never showed
who the k*ller was.

This was a devastating setback.

It's just shocking.

It feels like you're hit with a
ton of bricks.

Then you got to start over.

It's like starting from scratch
again.

But investigators
refused to give up.

Elmen has a rough history.

And people around James elmen
tend to die.

Unfortunately, if
elmen was Julie's k*ller, there

was no longer any DNA to prove
it.

They used up all the evidence

and found nothing that brought
them any closer to a suspect.

After years of
searching for Julie estes'

k*ller, investigators were
convinced they found him.

He was serving time in prison
for a similar crime committed...



His name was James elmen.

Elmen was the worst of the
worst.

We talk about "he's the poster
child of antisocial."

It's a clue when the public
defenders are afraid of him,

when the doctors are afraid of
him, when the people at the

medical treatment facility are
afraid of him.

But investigators
wanted to be sure elmen was

responsible for Julie estes'
m*rder.

Why?

Because if he wasn't, Julie's
k*ller was still on the loose.

No, it's not always a
Hollywood ending.

Sometimes you don't get any
results.

Cases still go unsolved.

So 16 years after
Julie's m*rder, the Jacksonville

police department sent Julie's
clothes to the U.S. army crime

lab in forest park, Georgia...
One of the most sophisticated

labs available.

The items of evidence
included socks and her shirt and

jeans, as well as other items
from her sexual-as*ault kit,

which included, like, fingernail
scrapings and other swabs.

Scientists there
were discouraged.

All but one of the items had
been analyzed and tested.

The socks had never been
tested probably because nobody

expected to find anything useful
on them.

The idea that
forensic evidence could have

transferred onto to Julie's
socks was remote.

Nevertheless, analyst
Brian Higgins examined the socks

with light sources that cause
genetic material to fluoresce.

I was kind of like, "wow.

Could these be, actually, semen
stains?"

I was kind of surprised,
actually, 'cause it's not one of

the more common places we would
find semen.

The areas were
removed then analyzed with a new

DNA test that needed only a very
small amount of genetic

material.

When DNA first started out,
you needed a lot of DNA and it

needed to be high-quality DNA.

Nowadays, it can be very
degraded and we could have very

limited quantities and still
yield good results.

Miraculously, the
test generated a mixture of two

DNA profiles... one female and
one male.

One was Julie's DNA.

The other was the DNA of the
k*ller.

They were able to identify
that DNA profile as the exact

match to James elmen.

We were all ecstatic.

I mean, it was... Unbelievable
feeling, and that's the reward

of cold case... when you have
that piece that you never had

before and you're able just to
put that one thing together,

and, you know, you've got the
entire case.

Investigators
confronted elmen in prison with

the evidence.

And I'm telling you that your
DNA... that your semen... is in

the m*rder scene of this...

This... This m*rder*d girl.

I'm telling you I wasn't there.

I don't know anything about this
girl.

If you're not there, how does
James elmen's semen get in the

damn crime scene?

How do you know it was mine?

How you gonna go take something
that's 20 years ago from out

of the refrigerator and
take my blood today and match it

to that?

Yes!

Okay.

Forensics can do that.

I understand all that, but
what makes you think that semen

is mine?

James elmen is a monster that
now sits behind bars.

I always knew that there was
gonna be a day that they were

gonna say, "we got it.

This case is solved."

Based on the DNA
evidence, prosecutors believe

James elmen was probably walking
by the convenience store where

Julie estes worked around 10:30
and noticed there were no

customers inside.

Hi, there.

He shut off the
store's electricity...

Held Julie at knifepoint,
forced her to open the safe...

Then he made her drive a
half-mile away to an area behind

an unoccupied store.

He used her shoelaces to tie her
wrists...

Then r*ped and k*lled her.

He removed items from Julie's
trunk to make room for her body.

Elmen drove to the woods, where
he hid her body under some

cardboard.

The biological evidence from the
attack was embedded in her

cotton socks.

Elmen probably wanted to keep
Julie's car, but it got stuck in

the mud, and he had to escape on
foot.

Authorities had plenty of

suspicion but no evidence to
charge elmen with his

half sister's m*rder.

But after 17 years, there was
plenty of DNA evidence to charge

him with Julie estes' r*pe and
m*rder.

It just was unbelievable that
it would be the socks that would

hold the true identity of her
k*ller.

And how would you... Want me
to say?

What would you really want me to
say?

I guess I'd just ask for an
explanation.

I mean, you know how forensics
works.

I can't give it to you.

Well, the only reasonable
explanation is that you're

involved in the m*rder.

No. That's not true.

That's not true.

That is definitely not true.

Faced with a
possible death penalty, elmen

decided to plead "no contest" to
Julie estes' r*pe and m*rder.

In return, he was sentenced to
life in prison with no

possibility of parole.

The lesson for criminals
would be, no matter how long ago

you did the crime, forensics has
the capability of solving it.

If it wasn't for forensics in
this case, you know, with the

DNA and everything, I don't
think that they would ever solve

it.

We always talked about if he
ever got out, we were just gonna

have to... we would be counting
bodies.

We believed he was that bad.

You got to treat every single
case like it's the crime of the

century.

And what I mean by that is, you
got to make sure that you don't

take any evidence for granted.