08x05 - Shadow of a Doubt

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: an unknown assailant walked into a retail store

And fired three sh*ts...

[ g*nsh*t ]

...k*lling the owner.

Police had suspects, but all had alibis.

Forensic scientists found more than a crime

Perpetrated in broad daylight.

Hidden in the shadows was a k*ller.

Autumn is a particularly pretty time

In spring grove, pennsylvania.

Landscape photographers and local artists

Usually found their way here, to the gray fox gallery.

The owner, jennifer myers, was a well-known picture framer.

Just a wonderful woman, a wonderful mother,

A wonderful wife,

And a good friend to a lot of people.

Narrator: managing a retail shop isn't easy.

One year earlier,

Jennifer was robbed in the store at gunpoint.

Since then, her husband, steve, stopped in every afternoon

On his way home from work at the local factory.

Most afternoon visits were uneventful,

But october , , was different.

[ g*nsh*t ]

Woman: york county --.

Myers: my wife's been shot.your wife's been shot?

Yeah, at gray fox gallery in spring grove. Hurry!

Okay, sir, listen to me. Do you know who shot her?

No, I don't.

Where at on her body is she shot? In the face.

Okay. Is she breathing?

Sir, is she breathing? No.

Narrator: when police arrived,

Jennifer was dead on the floor behind the counter.

She had been shot three times.

Several workers nearby said they heard popping noises

A few hours earlier around : p.m.

No one thought they were g*nf*re.

Several witnesses saw a man with long, black hair

Running from the shopping center sometime around : p.m.

This was someone that went in there

With the sole intent to k*ll the victim.

There was no struggle.

A fight didn't precipitate this homicide.

A robbery didn't precipitate this.

Narrator: no money was missing from the cash register

Or jennifer's purse.

Will: when something like this happens,

People feel as though their world has somewhat been changed

And their sense of security is gone.

Because if something like this can happen

In spring grove, pennsylvania,

It could happen anywhere.

Narrator: this brazen attack in a busy retail area at midday

Told police that the k*ller was willing to risk everything

To k*ll jennifer myers.

Corp. Mowrey: it's somebody who definitely wanted her dead,

That had a problem with her.

And excluding robbery as being a motive,

That's what you have to start looking at --

Who wanted jennifer myers dead?

Narrator: a ballistic examination

Identified the m*rder w*apon

As either a . Or a .-Caliber revolver.

Corp. Mowrey: in pennsylvania,

There's a database as far as registered handguns,

So we began to look at that,

And we found that steven myers did have a . That he owned.

Narrator: steve myers willingly turned over the p*stol

For forensic analysis.

But he didn't resemble the man seen running near the shop

Earlier in the day.

Narrator: witnesses said they heard popping sounds,

Which police suspected were g*nf*re,

Near the gray fox picture frame shop

Around : in the afternoon.

Approximately two hours later,

Steve myers discovered his wife, jennifer,

Shot to death on the floor of the store.

Another witness saw a man running from the area

Wearing light blue jeans and a blue plaid flannel shirt.

Corp. Mowrey: we believe that the sh**t came in the store,

Used a blitz-style attack on her,

Walking right towards her, firing the first shot,

And striking her in the shoulder area.

Then firing the second shot, striking her in the abdomen.

The last shot was to the face.

Narrator: ballistic experts examined the b*llet fragments

Recovered from the victim

And concluded the k*ller used a . Or .-Caliber revolver.

The victim's husband, steve, owned a . Revolver.

When the b*ll*ts from the crime scene were compared

To those test-fired from steve myers' revolver,

Analysts concluded they were not a match.

Police also confirmed that steve myers was at work

When the m*rder took place.

Corp. Mowrey: he didn't need an alibi,

But as far as him being at work --

That just was one more piece that fit in

That he was not involved in this k*lling whatsoever.

Narrator: police had another promising lead.

Jennifer's m*rder took place

Just one day before she was scheduled to testify

Against -year-old kevin dowling,

The man jennifer claimed had robbed her at gunpoint

A year earlier.

Okay, well, now we have perhaps a motive

For someone to want to have this woman dead

So that she was incapable of testifying.

Narrator: kevin dowling had the opportunity

To commit the m*rder

Since he was free on bail that day.

However, when questioned by police,

Dowling said he had an alibi.

He was fishing on a boat in muddy run lake --

A story confirmed by his wife.

Corp. Mowrey: mrs. Dowling was very cooperative.

She truly believed that her husband was not involved

In this homicide whatsoever, and therefore,

Was very helpful in proving her husband's innocence.

Narrator: dowling also had evidence to support his alibi.

He said he made a home video of his fishing trip that day.

His wife willingly turned the video over to police.

As I said, here we are at muddy run lake and...

Dowling: because I wanted to help prove him innocent,

That he did not do this,

So I was more than happy to help them.

And it was sort of like a slap in the face for them --

"Ha ha, he did not do it."

If this is truly a tape of him fishing,

It's an airtight alibi.

I want to secure it as evidence

So that there's no further question.

Narrator: the first thing police noticed

Was that the videotape was recorded with the date

And time of day the footage was shot.

Pretty quiet -- nice and peaceful out here.

Narrator: the tape showed dowling fishing

In the middle of the lake

From : in the morning until : p.m.

On the day of jennifer myers' m*rder.

Muddy run lake was a -minute drive away

From jennifer's store.

Dowling also had store receipts for fish bait, food,

And the boat rental.

But something about the videotape looked odd.

Kelley: he's trying to get something on tape of him fishing,

But this is clearly not someone

Who's interested in catching any of the fish.

Narrator: kevin dowling's family confirmed the tape was made

On october th, the day of the m*rder.

Dowling: in fact, that evening when he came home

And my girls were home and after dinner,

We all sat around and watched the tape with him together.

Narrator: on the tape, kevin spoke to his children

About his impending robbery trial.

He also expressed his hope that, if convicted,

The children would not misbehave while he was imprisoned.

I gotta face what's ahead.

I'm not responsible for what happened,

But no one seems to want to help me,

And I don't know what to do.

My main concern is

What's gonna happen to mommy and all you kids?

Corp. Mowrey: he's accounting

For almost everything he did that day,

Which in itself began to strike me as kind of odd

That he has these receipts

And the day seemed too perfect as far as --

To use the word "alibi."

Narrator: police wondered

If dowling had somehow doctored the videotape,

And if he had, could forensic science prove it?

Narrator: kevin dowling insisted he did not k*ll jennifer myers,

Despite the fact that she was scheduled to testify against him

In an upcoming robbery trial.

Dowling also had an alibi,

Claiming he was fishing at the time of the m*rder,

And he offered this time-and-date-stamped videotape

As evidence.

There's some big fish on this fish-finder.

I just wish I knew how to get 'em to hit.

Narrator: the tape contained scenes

Shot from : in the morning until after : p.m.

Jennifer's m*rder took place around : p.m.,

And her store was only minutes away

From the lake.

Dowling's videotape gave him an airtight alibi.

But police were still suspicious.

Although dowling shot scenes throughout the day,

The entire running time of the tape was only minutes.

Corp. Mowrey: he talked several times on the tape

About catching fish,

Yet you never saw any fish on that tape,

Which struck me odd that if you're catching fish,

You'd want to show them on your videotape.

Narrator: something else about the tape bothered mowrey.

Kevin dowling repeatedly glanced at his wristwatch.

It struck me kind of odd if he was on a casual day of fishing,

Why he was so concerned about the time of day.

Narrator: in some parts of the tape,

Dowling's watch faced the camera.

Investigators isolated and enlarged clips of the watch.

The timepiece was too blurry to read.

Mowrey asked scientists at the federal bureau of investigation

To try digital enhancement,

But the tape quality was too poor

For the process to work.

Determining the time

When dowling shot the video was critical

Since police were well aware

That the time-and-date stamp can be manipulated.

Corp. Mowrey: the sun was out periodically throughout the tape

And was casting very good shadowing.

By determining the shadowing positioning,

Can we work backwards and calculate the time of day

Using the sun and its position in the sky?

Narrator: detectives posed the question to nasa scientists

At the goddard space flight center

In greenbelt, maryland.

Surprisingly, nasa identified a local astrophysicist

To help them.

The guy that could probably do this

Was right in our own backyard,

And that would be dr. Robert boyle

At dickinson college.

Narrator: dr. Robert boyle is an associate professor

Of physics and astronomy.

When he first saw the tape, he wasn't optimistic.

Dr. Boyle: my heart just dropped

Because this was clearly not going to be

A cut-and-dried case of, "oh, there's shadows.

You use them like sundials. You can tell the time,"

Because here was a picture

Where the camera was on a moving boat.

Narrator: as the earth rotates, the position of the sun changes,

Creating different shadows.

When using the sun to tell time,

Two characteristics are observed --

The sun's height overhead, or altitude,

And its direction along the horizon, or azimuth.

Dr. Boyle: the north point being zero-degrees azimuth,

The east point being degrees, south point being degrees,

The west point degrees.

Narrator: boyle said he needed more than just the videotape

To conduct the study.

He needed specific scientific information.

Corp. Mowrey: he would need some measurements of the boat.

He would need the measurements of kevin dowling.

He would need the measurements of the hat that kevin had worn

In the video.

Narrator: but the most crucial piece of information

Dr. Boyle needed

Was the magnetic north compass heading of the boat

When the videotape was shot.

To find out,

Police took the same boat onto muddy run lake

And identified its exact location

By matching the landscape shown on the tape.

Then they identified the heading of the boat with a compass.

Corp. Mowrey: out of the eight frames

That professor boyle had given us,

We believed that we had matched seven of the frames,

And we used a degree of plus or minus five degrees,

As far as our degree of inaccuracy.

Narrator: next, using an artist's model,

A light bulb, and a protractor,

Dr. Boyle calculated the sun's azimuth, or direction,

Based on the shadows.

The model represented kevin dowling.

The light bulb, the sun.

Dr. Boyle adjusted the light

To produce the same shadows that were in the video.

The protractor identified the sun's position

Based on the angle between the model and the light.

Dr. Boyle: I essentially measured the angle

Between the direction of the camera

And the direction of the sun,

Which is being mimicked by a light bulb.

Narrator: dr. Boyle used the voyager computer program,

Which identified the sun's exact position

In -minute increments on the day of the m*rder.

When he compared the exact position of the sun

To the shadows on the video,

Dr. Boyle discovered

That the times stamped on some of the scenes were bogus.

Dr. Boyle: late-afternoon time stamps

Could very well have been correct,

But there was a whole bunch of times in the middle

That just were inconsistent with the astronomical data.

Narrator: for example, in this scene,

The background analysis shows that dowling is facing north.

It's stamped : in the morning,

But you can see

That the sun is clearly positioned to dowling's left,

Which is west.

It's nice being out in the sun.

Narrator: at :, the sun would be in the east.

Dr. Boyle estimates this scene was shot closer to : p.m.

Corp. Mowrey: kevin dowling now had the opportunity

To commit this crime

Because he was not on muddy run lake

At : in the afternoon.

Narrator: and he also had a motive.

But prosecutors needed more than shadows on videotape

To get a m*rder conviction.

Narrator: when police confronted kevin dowling

With the scientific evidence

That his time-and-date-stamped videotape was a forgery,

Dowling confessed --

Not to jennifer myers' m*rder, but to deception.

He now said that after a few hours of fishing,

He went to a nearby strip club

And altered the times on the videotape

So that his wife wouldn't find out.

Kelley: I don't need to point out

The strangeness of that theory.

Why did you videotape yourself at all?

Why don't you just say,

"I decided I didn't want to videotape myself."

And, of course, his wife would have never been the wiser.

And the videotape revealed something else.

Dowling was wearing clothes similar to the man

Witnesses saw running from jennifer myers' store.

I did not want to believe that my husband,

The father of my children,

Could do something like this to another human being.

Narrator: police found the clothes dowling was wearing

On the fishing trip in his home.

They sent them to a.j. "Skip" schwoeble,

An internationally recognized expert

In forensic g*nsh*t residue.

When a p*stol is fired, the firing pin...

[ g*nsh*t ]

...ignites the elements in the projectile,

Which then turn into gas.

The gases solidify into tiny particles,

Which are then deposited on the hands, clothing,

And the immediate proximity of the discharge.

Narrator: to test clothing for g*nsh*t residue,

Schwoeble first used an adhesive

To extract any microscopic particles.

The particles were placed in a scanning electron microscope,

Which subjected them to extreme magnification

And provided an elemental analysis.

An electron beam bombarded the sample,

Causing the elements within to emit characteristic x-rays.

Schwoeble: the characteristic x-rays

Show up on the video screen as peaks or pulses

At different energy levels.

Each energy level is assigned an element.

Narrator: tests revealed g*nsh*t residue

On the left side of each of kevin dowling's garments.

This was significant since dowling was left-handed.

We found that every item had, to some extent,

Some g*nsh*t residue present.

Narrator: prosecutors say kevin dowling

Carefully planned to eliminate jennifer myers

To prevent her from testifying against him

In his robbery trial.

On the day of the m*rder,

Dowling went fishing on muddy run lake

And used his video camera till :.

We're going a little ways off. We'll be back in a little while.

Narrator: he then went ashore, hid the boat in some bushes,

And made the -minute trip into town.

Wearing a wig as a disguise,

Dowling entered jennifer's store around : p.m.

And fired three sh*ts.

The gunpowder residue embedded deep into his shirt fibers --

Invisible to the naked eye,

But perfectly clear to forensic scientists.

Dowling was back in his boat on the lake

Sometime around : p.m.

When he reset the time on his video camera to :,

He never realized that he was a human sundial.

His videotape told the story of deceit,

Not innocence.

I would like to kick his... He has no remorse at all.

Then you wonder how sick this man really is

When he has no remorse over what he's done.

And that is very scary.

Narrator: despite the forensic evidence,

Kevin dowling insisted he was innocent,

But he was convicted of first-degree m*rder

And was sentenced to death by lethal injection.

His wife, joanne,

Says she knew nothing of her husband's secret life

And considers the death sentence too lenient.

I truly hate kevin dowling for everything he stands for,

The person he is, what he did to people.

I hate him more than I can even explain.

Well, you can't ever forget the infamous "fishing tape"

Because how ridiculous is it to think

That he would get away with something like that?

I mean, there's technology today

That's going to determine that this tape has been doctored.

It's one thing to have a motive to k*ll.

It's another thing to actually prove that someone did it.

And the forensics were able to give us the proof necessary.

Dowling: considering they never found the m*rder w*apon,

It's amazing what they can do nowadays.

And without it, a lot of people would go free.

It's ironic, of course.

We often talk about criminals hiding in the shadows, don't we?

And in this case, the shadows were actually revealing.