08x24 - Nailed

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: just weeks before testifying at a criminal trial,

One of the key witnesses, a brilliant research scientist,

Was m*rder*d.

For years, there were many suspicions but little proof.

Ironically, advances in the very research the victim had been

Working on helped nail her k*ller.

When you ask friends and colleagues about

Helena greenwood, you hear words like "brilliant," "quiet,"

"Honest," and "a hard worker."

Helena earned a phd in microbiology and was an

Executive in the biotech industry.

≫> she not only was an excellent scientist, but she had marketing

Skills, and those two things often are not concurrent.

≫> helena was very forward-thinking, especially

Looking at technology.

But she also knew the power that technology, by itself, doesn't

Market a product.

Basically, it's the human need.

If there's a human need, there's a product.

That's required.

≫> narrator: helena and her husband, roger, a landscape

Designer, lived in atherton...

A quiet suburb outside san francisco.

Our story begins on a saturday night in april of when

Roger was out of town on a business trip.

In the middle of the night, a man suddenly appeared in

Helena's bedroom and threatened to k*ll her.

Helena was sexually assaulted, then robbed before the assailant

Made his getaway.

≫> dr. Greenwood described her assailant as being fairly tall,

Slender, athletic, with a complexion perhaps of a

Half-black or hispanic person, an olive complexion.

She couldn't see his face because he had a hooded sweat

Shirt pulled up so that only his eyes showed.

≫> narrator: the assailant entered the home through a

Kitchen window.

But it was helena's friend who found a key piece of evidence

That police had overlooked.

Outside on the deck near the kitchen window was a teapot from

Helena's kitchen.

Fortunately, the friend had the good sense not to touch it.

≫> that teapot was taken into evidence, taken to the crime

Lab, and fingerprints were developed.

Imagine the teapot -- there were three fingerprints in this

Position, as though someone had picked up the teapot from the

Windowsill and placed it on the deck.

≫> narrator: helena told police she made tea before going to

Bed, then placed the teapot on the windowsill.

It appeared the assailant moved it before crawling through the

Window.

Unfortunately, the fingerprints didn't match any on file with

The police department.

With no other leads, the case went unsolved until one year

Later.

≫> a man was arrested while exposing himself to a

-Year-old girl outside an apartment in belmont,

California.

That suspect was david paul frediani.

≫> narrator: belmont was only seven miles from helena's home.

The suspect, david paul frediani, was a

-Year-old accountant with no prior arrests.

Since frediani resembled the man helena described, police

Compared his fingerprints to those found on helena's teapot.

They matched.

≫> one of the things I asked him was -- he had denied even being

Involved in the initial sexual as*ault against mrs. Greenwood.

I remember asking him, "you never assaulted this woman?"

He says, "no, I never did any of that."

≫> they then told him, "we have your fingerprints."

And that point, according to detective shapoo, frediani took

A deep breath, let it out, began trembling -- he could actually

See his chest moving in and out -- and made a statement to

The affect as, "I was really drunk when I did those things."

He then asked for a lawyer and refused to make any more

Statements.

≫> at the preliminary hearing, where both helena and frediani

Were present, she was asked if she could identify him, and she

Couldn't, not positively.

And out of that arises one of the great mysteries of this

Whole case.

≫> narrator: but the fingerprints on the teapot were

All the prosecution needed, so the case headed to trial.

Sadly, helena greenwood didn't live long enough to testify in

Court.

≫> narrator: while her sexual-as*ault case was pending,

Helena greenwood and her husband, roger, moved from

San francisco to san diego.

She took a new job with gen-probe, a biomedical-research

Firm that was looking for ways to diagnose disease through dna.

≫> it would be more specific or more accurate.

It would also allow the testing to be more rapid, cutting down

Tests that would take sometimes weeks just to days -- or things

That would take days, just down to minutes.

≫> narrator: one morning before work, helena was at home on the

Phone, making last-minute preparations for an important

Company meeting.

≫> helena was very prompt.

She would always come in at :.

≫> narrator: but on this day, she never arrived.

Co-worker sam morishima had a feeling that something was

Terribly wrong.

≫> because she would have at least called.

And again, she was very precise on her arrival, especially if

She had a meeting with someone.

≫> narrator: co-workers called helena's husband at work.

He immediately drove home and found the front gate locked.

When he peered over the fence, he saw his wife's body.

≫> roger was in total shock, and he first called gen-probe.

He didn't call the police.

He called gen-probe.

That shows how disoriented he was.

≫> we rushed down to the house.

The police tapes were up.

They wouldn't let us through the gate, but you knew that -- just

From the talk that was going on -- that helena was assaulted,

Uh...right behind that gate door, in the courtyard.

≫> narrator: the crime scene appeared to be staged.

It had the earmarks of a robbery, but no money was

Missing from helena's wallet.

≫> you had her purse that was strewn about.

They preserved all of that for fingerprints or other evidence,

Of which, unfortunately, there were none.

≫> there was no physical evidence left.

Obviously, he wore gloves.

I mean, one safely can assume that, I guess.

≫> narrator: and it was clear that helena valiantly fought her

Attacker.

≫> this woman put up a hellacious fight.

Obviously, it was evidenced by the fact that her fingernails

Were actually -- two of them were found at the scene.

She had broken them off while scratching this person.

≫> narrator: at the autopsy, the medical examiner discovered

Petechial hemorrhages in helena's eyes, an indication of

Strangulation.

There were no signs of sexual as*ault.

But under helena's fingernails were tiny traces of what

Appeared to be blood.

Unfortunately, the sample was too small for forensic analysis.

≫> I mean, what comes to mind when there's a bizarre m*rder --

You know, a strangulation in broad daylight?

You think marital trouble.

You think crime.

You think dr*gs.

I mean, helena never got within a thousand miles of any of those

Things, and that simply deepened the mystery.

≫> narrator: helena's husband, roger, was the first person

Police interviewed.

≫> he was just so mad at the police at the time, because he

Was just -- they were accusing -- I mean, he was a

Suspect.

And he was just saying, "why are they, you know, doing this to

Me?" ≫> whenever a woman is k*lled,

The prime suspect is generally the husband, and statistically,

That bears out.

Most women who are k*lled are k*lled by someone well-known to

Them, usually a romantic interest, and the husband is

Often the perpetrator.

≫> narrator: roger said he left home at : a.m. And was at

Work at the time of his wife's m*rder, around : a.m.

Records indicated helena had been on the telephone until :

A.m., About the time a neighbor heard a commotion.

≫> one man who lived next door said about :, when he was

Shaving, he thought he heard a human -- an abrupt human cry.

But who knows?

≫> narrator: when police confirmed roger was at work

Minutes away at that time, he was eliminated as a suspect.

Helena's m*rder also meant that she would never testify at the

Sexual-as*ault trial back in san francisco.

≫> got a call from roger franklin, who was

Dr. Greenwood's husband.

Roger told me that his wife had been m*rder*d in san diego --

The san diego area -- where they had moved after the sexual

as*ault.

That was a sickening moment, because, um, he also told me

That her purse was found near her body.

Her car keys were there.

Her credit cards were there.

It didn't appear that there'd been a robbery.

≫> narrator: david paul frediani, the man accused of

Helena's sexual as*ault, had been out on bail at the time of

Helena's m*rder, but insisted he was miles away in

San francisco.

Investigators were naturally suspicious.

≫> he was the only person who conceivably had a motive for

Doing this.

≫> narrator: the prosecutor refused to drop the

Sexual-as*ault charges against him, but everyone wondered

Whether the prosecutor would ever get a conviction now that

His witness was dead.

≫> narrator: just three weeks before she was scheduled to

Testify in her sexual-as*ault trial...

Helena greenwood was m*rder*d in her front yard.

David paul frediani went on trial as scheduled for helena's

Sexual as*ault.

Prosecutors had his fingerprints on helena's teapot, and they

Also found serological evidence.

≫> we also presented evidence that the semen on the pillowcase

In helena greenwood's bedroom -- first, that it was semen.

Second, that it was from a type "o" individual who was a

Secretor, and that a pgm type, phosphoglucomutase, of one-plus

All matched frediani's a.b.o.

Type.

≫> narrator: dna testing in was still in its infancy.

At the last minute, when faced with the fingerprint and

Serological evidence, frediani pleaded no contest to the

as*ault and was sentenced to five years in prison.

But frediani said he was innocent of her m*rder.

≫> they knew who k*lled helena greenwood, and they knew

It was david paul frediani, but they couldn't prove it.

≫> narrator: eventually, helena greenwood's m*rder was

Relegated to san diego county's cold-case files and forgotten.

Over the next several years, helena's parents died.

Her husband, roger, developed cancer, and he, too, passed

Away.

≫> and who is there to mourn for helena?

Very few and growing fewer.

≫> narrator: and gen-probe went about the work helena had been

Pursuing before her death, looking for ways to use new dna

Technology for quicker, faster medical diagnoses.

David frediani served only three years of his -year sentence and

Was released.

He returned to his accounting practice.

≫> this is a very egotistical, self-centered, obviously

Sociopathic, person.

"Hey, I just got away with m*rder."

You know?

And his life went on, and he prospered.

≫> narrator: and that's where the case stood for another

Years until investigators in san diego's cold-case unit

Decided to take a second look at helena greenwood's m*rder.

And deep in helena's file was a piece of information that

Immediately caught investigators' attention.

Seven days before helena's m*rder, david paul frediani was

Involved in a minor traffic accident in southern california,

Not far from helena's home.

≫> the defendant had no business being in southern california.

We knew he knew she lived down here, although we didn't know

How he had that information.

But it just seemed a little bit strange that he's awaiting

Trial, he lives in san francisco, and he takes a

Trip down to southern california.

≫> narrator: as detectives looked through the evidence,

They noted there was a tiny speck of blood under helena's

Fingernail -- at the time, far too small for dna testing.

Had forensic science advanced to the point that it could identify

A speck of blood almost too small to see?

≫> narrator: for years, the m*rder of biotech-research

Scientist helena greenwood went unsolved.

The medical examiner found what looked to be blood under one of

Her fingernails.

At the time, it was far too small for dna analysis.

By , however, work that gen-probe and scientists like

Helena greenwood had been working on led to new

Developments in dna testing.

One of the most important was polymerase chain reaction, or

Pcr, which enabled scientists to copy minute dna samples until

They were large enough to test.

≫> polymerase chain reaction allows you to make a

Geometrically increasing number of copies where you start with

One.

After one round of pcr, you end up with two and then four and

Then eight and so on.

The big advantage of pcr for forensic work is that it is so

Sensitive.

A very small amount of dna can yield a very large amount of

Information.

≫> it's a fortunate thing that they didn't try to test it at

The time, because as you test biological material, it's

Destroyed.

And had they, at the time of helena's autopsy, tested that

Material, they would have found nothing, and the material would

Have been destroyed.

≫> narrator: when the biological material from helena's

Fingernails was tested using pcr, scientists made an

Important finding.

≫> on some of the fingernail clippings, they found only dna

That was consistent with dr. Greenwood's.

And on one of the clippings, they found dna that was

Essentially pure -- was not from dr. Greenwood at all.

And that's when they got very interested, because, of course,

The possibility is that that's the perpetrator's dna.

≫> narrator: and investigators found even more evidence on

Helena's clothing.

On her nylon stockings were grab marks, so they decided to test

That area for microscopic traces of blood and found some.

The dna from helena's fingernail and stockings was compared to a

Blood sample from david frediani.

And here are the numbers.

The odds that the dna under helena's fingernail and

Stockings was someone other than david frediani's was one in

Billion.

He could hardly believe it when police arrested him.

≫> mr. Frediani came out of his house and began walking to his

Car, and that's when we approached him and placed him

Under arrest.

His reaction was -- all the color just rushed from his face.

He turned white.

I think he knew at that point that he wasn't gonna be looking

Over his shoulder anymore.

It was over.

And, uh, great satisfaction for us.

≫> narrator: david paul frediani was charged with first-degree

m*rder.

≫> one of the tragedies of many tragedies in this case is that

Roger never lived to hear that frediani, who he knew had done

The m*rder -- he never lived to hear that the san diego

Authorities were able to identify mr. Frediani as the

m*rder*r.

≫> narrator: prosecutors believe frediani m*rder*d helena in the

Mistaken belief that her death would end the sexual-as*ault

Case against him.

≫> he wasn't smart enough to understand that just because he

k*lled mrs. Greenwood, that her preliminary testimony was still

Gonna be used.

He didn't realize.

That was the error in his plan.

≫> narrator: he drove miles from his home in san francisco

To helena's home in san diego to stalk the couple and learn their

Schedules.

His first mistake was getting into a car accident a few days

Before the m*rder -- proof that he was in san diego before the

Crime.

Frediani learned that roger left for work every morning around

: A.m., About an hour before helena.

Prosecutors believe frediani waited for helena outside her

Front gate.

He was wearing gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints like he did

When he assaulted helena a year earlier.

When he heard helena close the front door, he made his move.

Frediani probably believed the gloves would protect him and

Didn't realize he left crucial forensic evidence behind.

Ironically, it was helena who grabbed it.

≫> I can only imagine what was going through helena's mind --

That this man who assaulted her is obviously coming to do harm

To her.

Maybe it's just a little too much to think, but she scratched

The heck out of this guy.

We know she did.

I almost wonder, like, "hey, I'm gonna leave some evidence behind

To show who my k*ller was.

I may not survive this, but by god, I'm gonna leave something

Behind to tell you who k*lled me."

And I think this is what happened in this case.

≫> narrator: at the trial, under cross-examination, frediani

Admitted to the sexual as*ault, but he did not confess to her

m*rder.

Regardless, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

≫> we expect victims to testify, and that's what helena greenwood

Did.

She testified against the defendant at the preliminary

Examination, and then he tracked her down, and he k*lled her, and

No conviction is justice for what happened to her.

But ironically, the science that she was working on, in fact,

Helped put away her k*ller.