06x12 - Whodunit

[bunniefuu]

m*rder mystery dinner shows

Are often a fun way
for amateur sleuths

To test their
crime busting skills.

While enjoying a meal
with friends.

This is the story
of a man k*lled

Just hours after
leaving the theater.

Despite some good acting,
the k*ller was no match

For the skills of real-life
forensic scientists.

Saint michael's,

A small,
waterfront community

On the maryland shore.

Spectacular views
of the miles river
and chesapeake bay

Provide a relaxing escape

From the hectic pace
of daily life.

On valentines day in 1998,

A local resort offered
couples the opportunity

For a romantic
getaway weekend:

A chance to unwind,
relax, play some golf,

Tennis and enjoy
one another.

The weekend also included

An audience
participation event:

A m*rder mystery
dinner theater production.

Bobbi: the first hour is,
generally, a cocktail hour.

And the actors are emoting
during this whole hour

And the audience
can very readily see

Who's the bad guy,

Who hates who and why.

Narrator:in the audience
that night

Were steve and kim hricko
from laurel, maryland.

Steve was a golf course
grounds superintendent,

Kim, a hospital
surgical technician.

Ironically, the hrickos
were seated next to

A real-life prosecutor
and his date,

A probation officer.

Caroline: kim and her husband,
steve, were sitting there

And she jumped right up
and said,

"Hi, my name's kim
and this is steve."

And I was, like,
"huh, this is gonna be
a good table to sit at."

You know, she was
a friendly person.

She was very active
in terms of

Trying to figure out what
was going on in the play,

Talking to
various of the actors,

Trying to get insights
into who might be about to

Commit the m*rder that was
gonna happen in the play.

And later on, who did it.

Narrator:these productions
use audience involvement

To help solve the crime.

Bobbi: my murders are
usually not premeditated.

But something happens
during the evening

That just kind of pushes
the person over the edge.

And...if the audience
is really...watching

At that particular moment,
they're gonna catch it

Because it's almost like
a "light bulb" moment.

[Yelling and screaming]

Narrator: by all accounts,
the evening was a success.

Afterwards, steve hricko
went back to the hotel room,

And kim left the resort
briefly to run an errand.

When she returned
at 1:30 in the morning,

She saw flames
coming from their room.

Firefighters pulled


From the floor of
the hotel room.

He was in his pajamas,

Burned to death.

There were empty beer
bottles and some cigars

Found in the hotel room.

It appeared that
steve was drinking,

Reading a playboy magazine,
and smoking a cigar

When he fell asleep,
with the cigar

Possibly starting the fire.

Julie: I remember just coming
back from a walk with my family

And getting the phone
call from my sister

And physically
collapsing to the ground,

So, um, it was very tough.

And, um, when it was
an accident still,

It was just hard.

There was too many questions
that were unanswered.

And it just--
it really was a shock.

This was viewed as a--

I don't want
to say, "routine,"

But it was viewed as a
routine smoker's accident.

That the smoker
fell asleep,

That a fire started,
and the smoker died.

And that's kind of how
the police took it

And understood it to be.

Narrator: in addition
to his wife,

Steve hricko left behind
an 8-year-old daughter...

Anna.

Steve: he was
a great man.

Cared a lot
about his family.

The most important things
in his life

Were his daughter
and his wife...
And his job.

Narrator: fire
investigators noticed

A melted
plastic soda bottle

On the table
next to steve's bed.

Investigators call this
a pointer,

Because it usually points

In the direction
of the fire.

But other clues
in the room would point

To an entirely
different direction.

News of steve hricko's death

Shocked friends
and coworkers

Who recalled how much
steve was looking forward

To the weekend getaway
with his wife.

Julie: sometimes it's hard to
get past thinking right now

Of just his last moments,

But I try to get past
that a lot of times.

Especially when
my family gets together,

We think of
the good times still,

And I remember just him.

Like I said,
he was my big brother.

I mean, I remember
dancing with him
at my wedding,

And, excuse me, um,
always telling me

That he'd always
be there for me.

And there's been
a lot of times
I needed him,

So it's been tough.

And, um...for everything
we've been through,

It's just--i know there's
no bringing him back,

But, um, so--it's hard.

Narrator: the news
also surprised those

Who sat with the hrickos
at the dinner theater.

Caroline: I think henry
called, and he said,

"What was the name
of that guy

"That was sitting
at the table with us?"

And I said,
"it was steve."

He said, "that was
the guy that got
k*lled in this fire."

I'm, like, "oh, my god."

Narrator:
deputy fire marshall,
michael mulligan,

Was assigned
to investigate the fire.

The physical fire damage to
the hotel room was minimal.

It was so well insulated

That the fire didn't have
enough oxygen to spread.

One cigar was missing from
a new pack near the bed.

It appeared that the fire
started on the bedroom floor

Where steve was lounging
at the time of the fire.

Marshall mulligan:
we eliminated
possible electric

Source of ignition.

The heating and air-conditioning
units were eliminated,

Lightning and...
There was nothing else

At the point of origin.

Narrator:
with the most common causes
of the fire eliminated,

It looked as if a lit cigar
might have been the cause.

But investigators
could find no evidence

Of the cigar butt
or ashes.

Dr. David fowler,

The deputy chief
medical examiner

For the state of maryland

Immediately performed
the autopsy.

Blood tests revealed
that steve had
a normal concentration

Of carbon monoxide
in his system.

Extremely unusual
for someone who died

While breathing
the carbon monoxide
produced by a fire.

The next step was to
examine his airway passages

For signs of
smoke inhalation.

Dr. Fowler: you have this
layer of mucous

Which lines the inside
of your airway,

To trap foreign particles,
of which soot is one.

And it gets stuck onto that,
and it stays there,

And we can find that
very easily

At the time of
the autopsy.

I found absolutely no soot.

Well, now I have two tests

Which are both telling me
exactly the same thing.

That he was not breathing
at the time of the fire.

Narrator: to see
if it was possible

For a lit cigar
to start a hotel fire,

Investigators conducted
an experiment.

Marshall mulligan:
we got a pillow
and a pillowcase,

And we did
our own burn test.

Went out and got hold of
some backwoods cigars,

Lit the cigars and placed
them on the pillowcase,

And then directly on
the pillow;

Made a crease
in the pillow,

And we did this repeatedly.

Hotels usually
use bed coverings

Treated with flame
retardant chemicals

In order to prevent
this very scenario.

Marshall mulligan:
at no point could
we get the pillow,

The pillowcase,
or the bedspread to burn.

Narrator: another
contradiction:

Steve was not known
to be a smoker.

Sgt. Gamble:
he didn't smoke.

He didn't smoke at all.

In fact, at one
time during

A golf banquet,
a sales meeting,

He was offered
some very fine cigars

By one of the salesmen

Who were selling some
equipment for lawn care,

And he refused
and told his friend,

"I don't know why people
would even smoke those things."

Narrator:
but if steve hricko

Was dead when
the fire started,

What k*lled him?

As investigators
continued their look

Into the mysterious
hotel fire

That k*lled steve hricko,

Accelerant-sniffing dogs

Identified a flammable
liquid on the bedroom floor

At the foot of the bed.

But chemical tests on
the debris from the hotel room

Could not identify
the accelerant.

Therefore, the findings of
the accelerant-sniffing dogs

Would not be
admissible in court.

Nonetheless,

The fire marshall
ruled the fire, arson.

There were empty beer
bottles in the hotel room

And kim said steve was
drinking heavily at dinner.

But the autopsy found
no alcohol in his system.

A background check revealed

Steve had over $400,000
worth of life insurance

With his wife kim
as the beneficiary.

Interestingly,
kim purchased

An additional $250,000
policy on steve's life
shortly before he died.

Detectives also learned

That kim hricko was having
a sexual affair

With a man 10 years younger
and discovered love letters

In kim's personal
papers to prove it.

Kim hricko denied
she was involved

In her husband's death,

But admitted the couple was
having marital problems.

Kim said they
went to the resort

To work on their marriage.

But after the dinner
theater performance,

The two argued over sex.

Marshall mulligan:
her story was that

He wanted to have sex
with her that night,

And she had
turned him down.

They had an argument
and she left the scene

Because of his frustration

And his disappointment
with her.

Narrator:
and steve stayed behind.

According to kim,
he was drinking,

Reading a playboy magazine,

And smoking a cigar.

But investigators
discovered evidence

That kim was seeking to end
their 8-year-old marriage,

Not fix it.

Kim was an extrovert,

Steve, a homebody.

And kim told friends
and relatives

The two were incompatible.

Jenny: she kind of played
games with him at the end

Because she told him
she was not happy

And I think she told us

That she was
considering divorce.

And then she said that
he's gotta work on himself,

He's gotta
make improvements,

He's gotta do
a bunch of things.

And he did start
doing all those things

Because he did want
to save the marriage,

And he admitted,
"ok, I need to spend
more time with my family.

"I need to--you know,
if that's what--

"You know, I do love them."

And he started working
on all those things.

And then she k*lled him.

Sgt. Gamble: kimberly's
coworker informed us

That kimberly
had come to him.

She believed, what he
believed in a joking manner,

That kimberly wanted this
coworker to k*ll stephen.

Man: still not enough.

Hmm, I got
a little job for ya.

Oh, yeah.
What's that?

You can k*ll
my husband for me.

Sgt. Gamble:
the coworker thought
that she was joking.

Thought that they had been just
having normal marital problems.

So, the coworker
told kimberly--

You know, just laughed
and said,

"Why don't you just
put him to sleep
with succinylcholine,

"And he'll
go to sleep forever."

Narrator: it may have been

An unfortunate joke.

Succinylcholine is a drug
kimberly hricko

Would have had access to
as a medical technician.

It's used to relax
the muscles

Before placing
an intubation tube

Down a patient's throat.

In large doses,
it is lethal.

Succinylcholine
is broken down

By human enzymes
almost immediately

And is, therefore,
untraceable.

Kimberly, being a
medical technician,
assisted in surgery.

And we knew that--
and we learned that

Succinylcholine is
on the cart there,

But it's not accounted for
as narcotic dr*gs

Are required
to be accounted for.

Narrator:
steve's autopsy found

No traces
of succinylcholine.

Police contacted
laboratories

Throughout
the united states

To see if there was a test
to find succinylcholine

In human tissue.

And they found none.

Investigators tried
to locate the store

Where steve
purchased the cigars

Found in the hotel room.

Sergeant joe gamble visited


In the vicinity of
the hricko's home.

In one, he found
the same brand of cigars.

When the clerk was shown

Pictures of
steve and kim hricko,

She identified kim
as the one

Who purchased
the cigars and beer.

Sgt. Gamble:
she remembered
she came in

And bought a package
of cigars...and beer.

And I asked her, "why did
you remember that?"

And the lady
told me that she

Liked the color
of kimberly's hair--
kimberly has red hair.

And she asked kimberly
where she had her hair dyed,

And kimberly got
very upset with her
and told her

"This is my natural color."

By kimberly getting upset
with the clerk,

The clerk--it imbedded
in her memory.

You know, when she
saw the picture,

She knew, and she
thought it strange

That this woman was
buying a pack of cigars.

She actually identified
the same cigars,

So, at that point,
I felt that we had her.

Narrator: the cigars
in steve's hotel room

Had a price sticker
printed with ink

That matched
the printing ink

Used by this
convenience store,

Confirming the cigars
were purchased here.

But the state's case
was very weak,

Without scientific proof
that an accelerant was used,

Or that steve
had been injected
with succinylcholine.

Sgt. Gamble: she's married
a man that she loved

And then she went about
a cold, calculating way

To k*ll this man
in his prime of life.

Leads me to believe that
she's one of the most

Cold-blooded murderers that
I've been involved with.

Narrator: 32-year-old
kimberly hricko

Was arrested and charged
with first-degree m*rder

And arson in the death
of her husband.

She pleaded not-guilty.

With no way to prove
succinylcholine was
in steve's body,

And no scientific evidence

An accelerant was used
to start the fire,

Prosecutors were forced
to use a process of

Conclusion by exclusion.

They had to rule out
all other possibilities

For how the fire started

In an effort to
convince the jury

That steve hricko
was m*rder*d.

This was
a healthy young man

Who was in his mid 30's,

Worked as an outdoor
person--very fit--

Who had died suddenly,
unexpectedly.

There was absolutely no
medical disease process,

Or natural disease process

That was identifiable
in his death.

And that he was, in fact,
not intoxicated,

And, in fact, he had died
before the fire.

And so, from my point of view,

I could come up with
a large list of exclusions,

Which led me to
believe that, in fact,

He had been poisoned
with succinylcholine

Or some similar
type of agent

Which we could not trace.

Narrator:
prosecutors believe
kimberly hricko

Planned her husband's
m*rder long in advance.

The evidence?

The purchase of
the additional

$250,000 Worth
of life insurance.

The purchase of
the beer and cigars,

And her sexual affair
with another man.

What we were able
to hear in court

Was many of her
friends testified,

Because she spoke to
several of her friends

And told them her plans
to k*ll mr. Hricko.

Some, in detail.

A couple of her friends she
told in detail of her plans.

Narrator:
prosecutors believe

Kim confiscated
a vial of succinylcholine

From the hospital
where she worked.

After the m*rder
mystery performance,

Kim waited for steve
to go to sleep.

Then injected him
with a lethal dose
of succinylcholine.

She then staged the scene

To make it look like
an accident.

She placed
empty beer bottles

In a trash can
and on the night stand.

She moved stephen's
body to the floor

And placed
a playboy magazine

And the cigars nearby.

She pulled her husband's
t-shirt over his head,

Used an accelerant identified
by the accelerant-sniffing dogs,

And started the fire.

There was no carbon monoxide
in steve's bloodstream

Or any sign of
smoke inhalation:

Proof that steve was dead
before the fire started,

And there was no alcohol
found in his system.

Tests would reveal that
the cigar was not enough

To ignite the flame-retardant
fibers of the pillowcase alone.

Kim left the resort
to create an alibi,

And returned
around 1:30 a.m.

And reported the fire
to hotel employees.

The motive: kim wanted to
get rid of her husband

So she would be free

To pursue the relationship
with her lover.

The defense argued that
stephen hricko's death

Could have been caused
by the fire,

And that his lack of
consciousness might
have been caused

By the accumulation of
chemicals he inhaled

Through his work
at the golf course.

Kim was the last
one in the room,

And she had motive
because of the insurance.

So, science really provided

A whole lot of negatives.

We excluded a lot of things,

But we did not provide
anybody with a smoking g*n.

And so, I think that this
case was done largely,

And really hinged on
the superb investigation

That was done by
the state police troopers.

Narrator: the jury found
kim hricko guilty

Of first-degree m*rder
and first-degree arson.

She was sentenced
to life in prison.

Without the science,
stephen hricko

Probably would have
been buried...

And we would have all
thought this was just

A horrible, tragic
fire death,

And his case probably
would have been labeled,
"accidental death."

And he would
have been buried

And nobody would
have ever known.

That's really sad,
how this all ended,

What she put him
trough at the end.

She led him on to believe
that there was a chance,

And I guess she was just
thinking about doing him in.

So, it's pretty lousy.

I just know that
his life was valued

And nobody deserves
such a thing,

And he was a very good man.

And most of all,
he was a good father.

And he loved his family,

And we loved him very much
and were very proud of him.

And I'd give anything
to have him back.

Narrator: since this case
went to trial,

Scientists at the karolinska
institute in sweden

And now in
the united states

Have developed protocols
enabling the identification

Of succinylcholine
even in embalmed tissue.

One of the many scientific
forensic advances

That occur almost daily.