08x19 - Breaking News

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: she worked behind the scenes in a television newsroom.

But one day, instead of covering the news,

She became the news.

Announcer: covering the news where we live.

this is nbc news, first at :.

Narrator: the crime scene told a terrible tale of v*olence.

But it would take dna,

A behavioral profile,

And a computer to solve the case.

In july, ,

-Year-old hope denise hall and her -year-old son robert

Lived in a suburb of richmond, virginia,

In this apartment complex.

Hope had just graduated from virginia state university

At the top of her class.

Her focus was journalism,

And she wanted to work

In the highly competitive television news industry.

Her big break came at the nbc affiliate in richmond.

Smith: she was very eager. She was very focused.

She was very mature for her age.

Hope really wanted to be an on-air reporter and an anchor.

At the time she was working for us, she was editing tape,

And so she pretty much gathered the material

For the broadcast and put it together.

Narrator: hope gained her maturity through adversity.

At age , she was diagnosed with advanced kidney cancer.

After five years of treatment, hope was cured.

At the age of , hope became pregnant while still in college.

She and the baby's father shared custody of their son,

But decided marriage would have been a mistake.

Kinney: I think we realized that we needed a lot of growing up.

We had to grow up in order to really take on

That whole responsibility of marriage.

And I think that was the bottom line.

Narrator: by all accounts,

Hope was a devoted mother and a determined career woman.

That's why, on the afternoon of july , ,

Co-workers in the newsroom became alarmed

When she did not report to work.

Calls to hope's home went unanswered.

Smith: we had a crew in the area, so we sent them by

To find out what might be going on

And to knock on her door.

They went in, and when they got there,

There was police tape set up around the apartment complex.

You could actually smell death,

If that's something that you can imagine.

When you walked in, you could see the blood on the door.

Narrator: hope was found dead on the bedroom floor.

She had been stabbed to death.

It was one of the worst crime scenes I ever saw

Because it was blood everywhere.

Narrator: hope's apartment door had been locked

And showed no sign of forced entry.

No valuables were missing.

There was a bloody handprint near the door,

But it was too smudged for analysis.

Kitchen knives from hope's apartment

Were used as the m*rder weapons.

Two bent knives were on the kitchen counter.

A third knife lay on the bed.

A fourth was on the bathroom sink with water still running.

In the kitchen,

Police found a broken, blood-stained drinking glass.

Dried blood droplets formed a trail

From the kitchen to the bedroom.

The phone was on the bedroom floor,

Ripped from the wall.

Hope didn't deserve this. No human being deserved this.

Narrator: as officers combed the crime scene,

They realized one key item was conspicuously absent --

Her child.

As police rushed to find the child and the k*ller,

Hope's co-workers rushed to put her story on the air.

A young woman involved in producing the news

Was now the central figure in the day's top story.

Narrator: investigators had two mysteries to solve --

Who k*lled hope hall, and where was her -year-old son?

Police contacted the baby's father, robert kinney.

Kinney: I remember I was at home at my mom's house.

And I had just walked in the door,

And my mom had told me that a detective had called.

Narrator: kinney told police that their son, young robert,

Was with him in northern virginia,

About a two-hours drive away.

The child was spending the summer there.

Police asked kinney to come in for questioning.

Kinney: my father rode down with me. I couldn't feel anything.

I just... I was in a zombie-like stage.

Narrator: police believed hope knew her k*ller

Because her front door was found locked.

Sgt. Kelleher: somebody had a key.

The only way they could have locked that dead bolt

Was to have a key on the outside and lock it.

We have to find this person.

No one can s*ab someone repeatedly

And cut their throat three times

And leave them to rot on the floor

Without them hitting again.

Narrator: this crime was eerily similar

To the ones committed by richmond's "southside strangler"

Who r*ped and m*rder*d five women in their homes.

Smith: that was a case that terrified --

Absolutely terrified the community.

People were boarding up windows,

And just changing their life plans.

Narrator: the southside strangler, timothy spencer,

Was ex*cuted for those crimes

Shortly before hope hall's m*rder.

Spencer's case made history.

He was the first person put to death in the united states

Based on dna evidence.

Sgt. Kelleher: timothy spencer's case brought awareness to law enforcement,

Certainly in this area, to what dna can do.

Narrator: spencer's case prompted virginia lawmakers

To establish the country's first dna data bank,

Which put the dna profiles

Of all convicted felons of virginia's prisons

Into a computer.

Hamilton: so many felons have a tendency to commit crimes again

Once they are released from the system.

Narrator: back at hope hall's apartment,

Scientists found unidentified blood,

Presumably the k*ller's,

On the broken drinking glass in the kitchen.

The knife on the bathroom sink also had the k*ller's blood.

Forensic testing also found signs of sexual as*ault.

From the crime scene evidence,

Forensic scientists performed a d.q. Alpha

And polymarker dna analysis.

Hamilton: polymarker consisted of five different areas of the dna.

D.q. Alpha was a sixth area of the dna.

So these were just six areas of the dna

That we were looking at for differences between individuals.

Narrator: when scientists entered the dna

Of hope hall's k*ller into their database,

They could find no match,

So investigators looked elsewhere.

Safarik: most homicides are committed by people

Where there is some level of relationship.

It can be very close, or it can be not very close at all.

Narrator: police spoke with the baby's father, robert kinney.

He had an alibi.

He was at his home over a two-hour drive away

At the time of the m*rder.

Even with this alibi,

Kinney voluntarily submitted a blood sample for dna testing.

I was more than happy to assist them in any way I can

To eliminate me so that they can focus on whoever's responsible.

So...it didn't bother me.

Narrator: but his dna did not match blood

Found at the crime scene,

So kinney was cleared.

Carol: relieved -- knowing one thing,

And scientific data proving another is two different things.

My gut said he did not do this.

Narrator: next, investigators looked into hope's lifestyle

For possible clues.

I knew how careful she was about her own safety.

I just couldn't believe that she would be anywhere

Where she'd be at risk for being m*rder*d.

We didn't see anything that indicated

That she was out running around

Or anything else that would make us say,

"Oh, maybe she ran into somebody in a bar or something like that

That she could have brought home."

Narrator: but investigators found two potential witnesses.

Two neighbors saw a man without a shirt

Running from hope's apartment building

On the night of her m*rder.

They said he had a tattoo on his arm and chest

Which looked like greek symbols.

Burnett: the brand was of the shape of a horseshoe

With a lighting bolt going through,

Which is the emblem of the omega psi phi.

Narrator: omega psi phi was a local college fraternity.

Hope's friends and co-workers told police

That this description sounded like a man hope recently dated.

Hope allegedly told friends the man got abusive

When she tried to end their relationship.

The ex-boyfriend's name was leroy quick.

Police discovered he, too, had an omega psi phi tattoo

On his arm and chest.

Both witnesses identified quick in a police lineup

As the man they saw running from hope's apartment.

Police were convinced they had their k*ller.

But they were shocked

When they got the results of quick's dna test.

Narrator: in the search for hope hall's k*ller,

Police turned their attention to hope's ex-boyfriend,

-Year-old leroy quick.

Witnesses claimed they saw him

Running from hope's apartment building

On the night of the m*rder.

Announcer: [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]nbc news,[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] first at :.[/Span]

Reporter: [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]police made[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] a break in this case[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] just before sunrise.[/Span]

[Span tts:fontstyle="italic"]around : a.m., They arrested[/span] [span tts:fontstyle="italic"] -year-old leroy b. Quick iii.[/Span]

Carol: all of us were surprised

Because it was someone that she had not even mentioned to us.

Narrator: hope's co-workers told police

The couple met that summer.

Quick denied having a key to hope's apartment,

He denied being at hope's apartment

The night of her m*rder,

And he denied any involvement in the crime.

Kinney: it was a roller coaster.

We felt that everything was about to come to an end.

We're about to find out exactly what happened,

And...that wasn't the case.

Narrator: investigators were dumbfounded

When they heard that leroy quick's dna

Did not match the crime scene evidence.

Burnett: I was somewhat surprised.

We have the witnesses that identified him

Coming out of the apartment,

Running without a shirt on,

Jumping in a car,

Taking off in a brisk motion.

God help leroy quick if it hadn't been for the dna

'Cause they'd have made a case on him.

Narrator: police re-interviewed hundreds of hope's neighbors,

Friends, and family to see if any clue had been missed.

Burnett: nothing.

Nothing at all.

And believe me when I say,

We interviewed [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]a lot[/span]of people.

I think I can go on record to say

We practically interviewed everybody

In halcun manor apartments.

Narrator: now, nearly a year after her m*rder,

The trail of hope hall's k*ller grew cold.

But hope's parents refused to give up.

They maintained constant contact with police

And wrote to dozens of lawmakers

Pleading for help in finding their daughter's k*ller.

Tony: not just because he had m*rder*d hope,

But because he was a threat and a menace.

It was very frustrating for everyone.

It was very heartbreaking for her mother,

And we saw the anguish that her mother was going through

As she tried to find an answer to this.

Narrator: after clearing the two most obvious suspects,

Forensic scientists performed a second,

More discriminating dna test of the k*ller's dna

Using rflp, restriction fragment length polymorphism.

At the time,

Rflp was the most discriminating dna test available.

Rflp measured various sections of the k*ller's dna

To determine the lengths unique to that individual.

Hamilton: it means that there is a much better chance

Of telling my dna apart from yours.

Narrator: this newer, more complete dna profile

Of hope hall's k*ller

Was once again entered into the virginia dna data bank.

The computer compares the unidentified dna profile

To the dna of , convicted felons.

Hamilton: I had been working on it for a long time,

So it had become like [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]my[/span]case.

Of all the cases that I'd worked on,

This was the one that I really wanted to get a hit on.

Narrator: two years earlier, there had been no match,

But this time...

Was different.

The blood and semen evidence in hope hall's apartment

Matched that of shermaine johnson.

His dna profile was put into the database

Because of his recent conviction for two other r*pes.

Johnson lived in hope hall's apartment complex

And was just years old at the time of her m*rder.

Tony: and it was a big eye-opener for me.

I always thought criminals had scars and looked like criminals.

This guy did not look at all like a criminal.

Narrator: this was the data bank's first cold hit

In a homicide case.

Wilson: an innocent face like shermaine johnson,

You would think someone that innocent looking, that young,

Would not have committed this type of crime, but he did.

Narrator: investigators thought they finally had the break

They desperately needed.

But if shermaine johnson was hope's k*ller,

Why had witnesses identified hope's ex-boyfriend

As the man running from hope's apartment?

Narrator: a computer database identified shermaine johnson

As hope hall's r*pist and m*rder*r.

Shermaine johnson's dna was in virginia's database

Because of two convictions for r*pes

That were strikingly similar to hope hall's case.

When questioned by police, johnson claimed he was innocent.

He admitted knocking on hope's apartment door

And asking her for a drink of water,

But johnson said another man

Opened the front door with a key, pulled out a knife,

And ordered johnson to leave.

This was consistent with the eyewitnesses who saw,

Not shermaine johnson, but another man

Running from hope's apartment later that same night.

Was it possible shermaine johnson wasn't the k*ller?

Investigators asked fbi behavioral profiler mark safarik

To compare johnson's past criminal behavior

To the hope hall case.

I mean, is he relatively criminally unsophisticated?

Yes. That's not uncommon with younger offenders,

But my job wasn't to look at shermaine.

I wasn't asked to look at shermaine.

I wasn't even asked to consider the offender.

I was simply asked to look at behavior.

Narrator: safarik went to hope hall's apartment

To better understand the crime scene.

He also examined photos and reports

From additional r*pes johnson was suspected of committing.

Safarik found many behavioral links in all five crimes.

All of the victims were young

And lived close to shermaine johnson's home.

Safarik: there is a dynamic that connects all of them.

Contrary to many sexual assaults,

Where the offender contacts

And captures and assaults the victim all in the same area,

Here we have a guy who wants to capture

And then subsequently move all of his victims

To another location to engage in the sexual as*ault.

Narrator: in each case, johnson used some kind of ruse

To gain entrance to the victim's home,

And once inside,

Threatened the victims with one of their own kitchen knives.

Safarik: when he has the option for lots of different knives --

Even larger, more threatening knives,

Butcher knives, longer-bladed knives --

He chooses a shorter-bladed knife.

He's more comfortable with that type of w*apon.

Narrator: prosecutors were now convinced

That johnson went to hope's apartment that night

Asking for a drink of water.

I was wondering if I could get a drink of water.

I hope it's cold enough.

Once inside, there was a struggle.

The glass fell to the floor.

Johnson grabbed a knife.

The trail of blood indicated

The attack started in the kitchen,

Then led to the bedroom.

[ Gasps ]

Johnson returned to the kitchen numerous times

For other knives after each was damaged.

At some point, he picked up the broken pieces of glass,

Cutting his finger and leaving his dna behind.

After the m*rder,

The evidence shows johnson washed his hands

In the bathroom sink,

But he didn't remove all of his own blood.

Wilson: he was trying to clean up.

He may have been injured.

Maybe that's why the water was left running in the bathroom,

Or it may have just been

That he was trying to clean the knife.

He just didn't clean up good enough.

Narrator: but one nagging question remained --

If the witnesses were correct in their identification,

Why was leroy quick running from hope's apartment that night?

Prosecutors don't believe

Quick had anything to do with the m*rder,

But there is speculation

That quick may have gone to hope's apartment that night,

Used a key to get in and found hope dead,

Then fled, fearing he would be blamed,

And locked the apartment door behind him.

Quick, however, denies this.

Regardless, shermaine johnson was tried and convicted

Of hope hall's m*rder

And this time, was sentenced to death.

Tony: I think the guy is an animal.

I don't know whether I want to push the needle,

But I certainly would like to witness

The pushing of the needle.

And if nobody else would do it, I would certainly do it.

Narrator: investigators say

It was a confluence of dna evidence,

Computer technology,

And the foresight to collect and catalog

The dna profiles of all convicted felons

That brought shermaine johnson to justice.

Sgt. Kelleher: we interviewed everybody in that apartment complex,

And shermaine johnson's name never came up.

Without the dna data bank, without that forensic evidence,

Unfortunately, I would say

That this case would not have been solved.

We are trying to push the international database,

And we feel very, very strongly that criminals don't stay put.

They move from city to city,

State to state, countries to countries,

And we want to make sure that the clear message is sent out

That no matter where you go,

No matter what you think you've gotten away with,

Your dna and law enforcement will be waiting for you.