Narrator: up next, he promises to avenge his sister's
m*rder.
I prayed to god that I would be led to be in the right place
At the right time.
Narrator: for years, he tracks her k*ller without
Success.
Every day was another blow to the stomach.
Narrator: somewhere deep in the houston crime files are the
Secrets to solve the case.
He just had to find them.
Houston had , prints.
Everybody has fingers.
That's million prints.
Narrator: years later, investigators find the answer.
I want to know who k*lled diane.
Narrator: in december of , diane maxwell pulled into
The company parking lot in houston, texas.
It was sunday, and downtown was virtually empty.
Diane worked for the southwestern bell company, and
Her shift started at : p.m.
But she never made it inside the building.
A half-hour later, a homeless man saw someone walking away
From an old shack next to the parking lot.
He walked back to the shack and walked very close to him and
Got a good look at him and went on to the shack, and he found
This young girl lying on her back with her hands tied behind
Her back.
And he asked her if she'd been assaulted.
She said, "yes."
She asked him to untie her, and he said, "no," but he agreed
He would go call the police.
Narrator: tragically, by the time police arrived, -year-old
Diane maxwell was dead.
She was lying on her back -- bra pushed up, small wound just
Above her navel, probably an inch in width.
Narrator: diane was just years old, a single mother of
A -year-old son.
Well, I will tell you that it was the most devastating thing
I'd ever experienced.
My first reaction was denial -- that there's no way that, you
Know, diane could be dead.
When my father called, he could barely speak, and my
Stepmother took over, who was much more composed under those
Circumstances and was really able to give me more of the
Details.
Narrator: in a search for evidence, police scoured the
Wooden shack.
Among the debris, they found a rumpled pink blanket and a man's
Gray suit coat.
It had been used as a storeroom for a service station,
And everything imaginable was in there, from service manuals to
Old oil cans.
Narrator: the only witness was the homeless man,
Willie bell.
And the only physical description was that it was a
Black male with an afro haircut.
Narrator: there was no money in diane's purse.
Her car keys were missing, and her car, a new red mustang, was
Gone.
Police found it, nine hours later, a mile away.
The car was locked.
The keys were in the ignition.
So it was obvious that whoever k*lled diane took her
Keys and then took her car.
Narrator: at the autopsy, the medical examiner found evidence
That diane had been sexually assaulted, and she had been
Stabbed just once with surgical precision, severing an artery.
One possibility was that the k*ller was a medical
Professional, and since one of the state's largest prisons was
Just miles away in huntsville, an ex-convict could
Have been responsible.
Houston was the first stop, and usually they had just the
Clothes on their back and probably $.
And it wouldn't have been enough to live on, a day or two, until
They would start into other endeavors.
Narrator: diane's brother vowed to help catch her k*ller.
Narrator: the senselessness of diane maxwell's m*rder
Shocked everyone -- friends, co-workers, and family.
I knew that she had been att*cked and m*rder*d, and I
Really never asked for any other details just because I didn't
Think I could really deal with it.
The last thanksgiving we spent together, diane had gotten
Me off to the side and said, "you know, david, if something
Happens to me, I want you to raise my son."
And I said, "okay, I will."
And that was less than a month before she was k*lled.
Narrator: more than of diane's co-workers at the phone
Company quit their jobs.
Many of those who remained arm themselves with ice picks and
Knives.
It was very, very hard.
And it was very public because the news carried quite a bit of
Information about it, and you're seeing it on tv and you're
Reading about it in the paper.
And I'm getting phone calls, even phone calls from people I
Don't know.
Narrator: but the k*ller had stolen diane's red mustang and
Abandoned it, leaving it a mile from the crime scene.
I printed the steering wheel, inside the driver's door, and
The t-shift.
The next day, went back over it and was successful in getting, I
Would say, or identifiable latent prints -- very good
Prints -- and many of them looked fresh.
Narrator: the prints -- three partial fingerprints and a
Partial palm print -- did not match those of the witness,
Willie bell, and he was eliminated as a suspect.
In , before computers, someone had to literally compare
A print visually to all the ones in the houston crime files, and
There were millions of prints.
Let's just say houston had , prints.
Well, if you think everybody has fingers, that's million
Prints.
Now, if I were to try to take that latent and look at
Million prints, well, I don't know how many lifetimes it would
Have taken.
It would have never happened.
Narrator: instead, police compare the prints from diane's
Car to everyone arrested for a crime committed after her
m*rder.
Police also question the people who loitered in the downtown
Area.
They were looking for a black male.
They knew that from willie bell telling them it was a black male
That he had seen raping diane.
They did get a few leads, but they didn't pan out.
Nothing pointed to the person that actually committed the
Offense.
Narrator: since the fatal wound was made with surgical
Precision, police also focused on healthcare workers as
Possible suspects.
They just started dragging everyone -- all the black
Males -- downtown and had them fingerprinted, and they were
Doing some things that would not be accepted today.
I thought that, honestly, that the person just slipped
Through the cr*ck.
Narrator: diane maxwell's m*rder started to look like a
Random homicide, the hardest kind to solve.
Everyone assigned to the homicide division at the time --
There were like detectives -- they all worked the case.
But as time goes on, as you know, and the leads diminish,
There just comes a point in time when there's just -- there's no
More trails left.
Narrator: each week, as more and more fingerprints were added
To the houston files, examiners would compare those to the
Prints from diane maxwell's mustang...
With no success.
We were confused.
We thought -- we expected that it would be resolved, you know?
And you had had the funeral and everything.
Then you did begin to think about the resolution, and so it
Was very, you know, upsetting and hurtful that there was no
Resolution.
Narrator: eventually, the trail of diane maxwell's k*ller
Turned cold, and for years, there was virtually no progress.
Nevertheless, diane's father never lost hope.
Every time I would see him, he'd say, "son, I want you to
Solve this case before I die.
I want to know who k*lled diane."
Our parents were quite elderly at the time, so I know
That was an impetus.
But I think it was just an ongoing impetus.
Narrator: so, at the age of , david maxwell was accepted
Into the oldest and most exclusive law-enforcement agency
In north america -- the texas rangers, an elite group
With only members.
I thought about it a great deal -- that if in law
Enforcement, if I was able to eventually get in the
Texas rangers and it remained unsolved, that I would be able
To reopen the case and eventually solve it.
What happened to diane influenced him, and it was
Certainly part of the reason that he decided to go into law
Enforcement.
Narrator: and by this time, the houston police department
Had recently purchased an afis system, the automated
Fingerprint identification system, which can
Instantaneously compare unknown prints to those in the houston
Database.
David asked the department to run the unidentified prints
Found in his sister's car.
At the time, they actually had to be traced.
We don't do that anymore, but years ago, the traced image --
We just had better luck with the tracing than the direct.
The image just wasn't as clear as it is now.
Narrator: unfortunately, there was no match.
I began to think that maybe he was dead because I couldn't
Imagine that you would commit that type of crime, which was
Probably random, and never commit it again.
Narrator: and the case turned cold again for another years.
It was becoming clear that david maxwell would need help.
Narrator: for more than years, david maxwell was haunted
By his sister's m*rder and still hoped to find some way to solve
It.
He had been successful in solving a lot of very
Complicated crimes, and I know that it was really important to
Him to try to solve this crime, because, of course, this was
Very personal, and, you know, he felt very deeply about it.
Narrator: and he had promised his father he would solve the
m*rder before he d*ed.
By this time, his father was close to years old, and time
Was running short.
And he would tell me that he would dream of seeing diane, and
That's all he thought about.
He said, "that's all I can think about, is diane and this case
Being solved.
I want to know who k*lled her before I die."
Narrator: with nowhere else to go, david turned to his
Friend jim ramsey, a veteran homicide investigator with the
Houston police department.
The two had known each other for years, but david never told jim
About his sister's m*rder.
I was shocked.
I was amazed that anyone could hold that in and not talk about
It.
But if anyone could do it, it would be david.
I saw no need to tell people about what had happened in my
Life.
I wasn't looking for sympathy.
David could have had just about anybody in the state of
Texas work that case.
I really considered it, I guess, a privilege when he asked me to
Look into it.
Narrator: ramsey's first priority was to examine
Diane maxwell's clothing.
If we could do the dna from the sexual as*ault and get that
And put it in the database, because now all the offenders --
As they go to prison, they're taking dna samples.
And we're getting a lot of cold hits on the dna database.
Narrator: but diane's clothing was gone.
To their shock and dismay, it had been thrown away.
Over the period of years, I guess folks in the property room
Just had to make room for new property coming in.
Narrator: next, ramsey tried to interview the only witness to
The crime, willie bell.
We tracked him out to an address in california, and we
Eventually learned he had d*ed back in, I think, the mid-'s.
Narrator: then things went from bad to worse.
The crime-scene photos and the negatives were also gone.
Apparently, in violation of police policy, someone had sold
Them to the british crime magazine master detectivein
.
When contacted, the publisher no longer had the pictures or
Negatives.
All they had left was a single copy of the magazine.
I asked them to send it to me because I didn't have any
Pictures of the crime scene, and they were hesitant to do that
Because that was their only copy.
So I asked them to please make copies of the photograph.
Narrator: the photocopies of the magazine pages were
Virtually useless.
And then jim ramsey and david maxwell got even more bad
News.
The k*ller's fingerprints found in diane maxwell's car that were
Supposed to be in her police case file were also missing.
It was just like every day it was another blow to the
Stomach.
I knew they existed, and now they're gone.
So, yeah, I was pretty upset about it.
Narrator: with all the evidence gone, david now had to
Tell his father that the case might never be solved.
And I prayed about it, you know, because I knew that
Physically and as a ranger or whatever, I'm doing what I can
Do.
But I prayed to god that I would be led to be in the right place
At the right time.
Narrator: if the prints couldn't be found, there was
Nothing more anyone could do.
Narrator: investigators literally had no evidence from
Diane maxwell's m*rder.
The crime-scene photos were gone, the victim's clothing had
Been discarded, the only eyewitness had d*ed, and the
k*ller's fingerprints were missing, presumably misfiled in
One of the thousands of open-case files in the
Houston police department.
Everybody, at some point in time, was looking for that case.
So it wasn't like, "okay, well, we'll just do it in our spare
Time."
Somebody, every day, was looking for that case.
I guarantee you they went through many, many files -- a
Tremendous undertaking.
Debbie and I have worked together for years.
Rumor has it that she went to the director of the latent lab
And told the director that sergeant ramsey was threatening
An ied investigation if they didn't find that print.
Well, I never once said that.
I respect authority, but I don't mind challenging
Authority.
But whatever happened, it got them off of dead center and
There were several people that were assigned to go through
Every h.p.d. Case looking for prints.
Narrator: after months of looking through all of the case
Files, someone finally found them.
They just put it in the wrong file, you know.
It was just a clerical error.
Narrator: of all the evidence lost, at least the fingerprints
Had been recovered.
My goodness, what a task, to have to go through all those
Folders of all those labs.
You're talking about every car burglary, every home burglary,
m*rder, robbery, as*ault -- just thousands and thousands of just
Print cards.
But they did it.
Narrator: by this time, the year was , and sophisticated
Computerized fingerprint systems were everywhere.
Jim ramsey had the prints from diane maxwell's car compared to
Those in the texas statewide database.
Unfortunately, there were no hits.
Undeterred, ramsey ran the prints through the fbi's
National database.
This time, there were potentialhits.
All were then examined visually...
And one stood out.
When this print came up, it was like, "oh, my gosh.
This looks awfully good.
This looks like we're gonna have a hit."
Narrator: the print belonged to -year-old james davis, a
Career criminal.
I identified him four different times.
I identified him, I think, fingers -- right index, right
Middle, and right ring -- and then the right palm.
It's hard to really describe how I felt, but I was absolutely
Elated about it.
James ray davis spent the majority of his adult life
Incarcerated -- auto theft, forgery, assaults.
Narrator: davis was living in a housing project on the
Texas-arkansas border.
He had been out of prison for about years following a
Conviction for abducting a young girl.
Detective ramsey knocked on his door.
I said, "mr. Davis, I'm from the houston police department."
And you could tell his demeanor changed drastically.
He just stared at me.
Narrator: ramsey pulled out a photo of diane's car.
Davis didn't want to look at it.
He said, "I've never, ever seen that car."
Well, that's strange -- it's a red mustang.
You've never seen a red mustang?
Then I pulled out a picture of diane that david had given me,
And I handed it to him.
But he wouldn't take the picture.
I tried to hand it to him.
He wouldn't take it.
Narrator: davis initially denied any involvement.
But when told of the fingerprint evidence, he confessed.
He had been out of prison five days when he k*lled diane.
And his life was a lifetime of crime.
And his life was a lifetime of crime.
Narrator: after more than years, the mystery was finally
Solved.
Well, my father was ecstatic.
It just was a huge boost for him, you know, that they knew
Who it was.
I've worked scores or hundreds of murders, and they're
All important to me, but it's not very often that you're
Personally touched by them.
Narrator: davis said his primary motive was robbery.
When he saw diane get out of her car, he abducted her at
Knifepoint and took her to the wooden shack.
He admitted robbing her but denied sexually assaulting her,
Although the evidence clearly showed that he did.
Then he stabbed her to death and stole her car.
He abandoned the mustang across town and left his fingerprint
And a palm print.
Although it took almost years to find him, his fingerprints on
File had not degraded.
If it had not been for the afis system, he would have never
Been identified.
Narrator: on january , , james davis plead guilty
To m*rder with malice and was sentenced to life in prison.
I never saw remorse, not one time.
The only time I saw remorse was when he came to court and he
Plead guilty and the judge sentenced him to life.
He didn't care about diane.
Narrator: diane maxwell's father lived long enough to see
Her k*ller brought to justice.
David was really responsible for keeping people looking into
This case.
It was always at the top of his agenda.
It was always first in line in terms of what he wanted to
Accomplish.
This database has been such a boost to law enforcement -- to
Be able to help solve these crimes that otherwise would go
Unsolved.
And now with the dna database, and that's doing the same thing,
I mean, it's just been a tremendous boost to those of us
In law enforcement who work these kind of cases.
Narrator: investigators believe the conviction was the
Result of hard work, cooperation, and perhaps
Something else.
I really think it was divine intervention.
'Cause, I mean, look at the odds that we had going into this
Thing.
We didn't have a million-to-one chance that we'd clear this
Thing.
And I don't know -- maybe because of the unselfish life
That david has -- the career that david's committed to the
People of texas -- maybe the lord said, "well, I'm gonna give
Him a break."
12x22 - Brotherly Love
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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.