06x14 - Treads and Threads

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: the surf and sand
of central florida

Make this a popular
vacation spot.

But the area lost some of its
luster in 1995, when a serial
k*ller set up shop.

After the fourth body
was discovered,

Police knew an important detail
about the k*ller:

He had an unusual dog,
with an unusual drug habit.

Tampa, florida is known not only
as a tourist destination,

But it also has more
thunderstorms than any other
location in the united states.

The name "tampa" is derived from
the calusa native american word
meaning, "lightning."

Along with the tourism,
there is prostitution.

On october 20, 1995,
a pizza delivery driver
discovered the nude body

Of a white woman in
nearby clearwater.


Was a crack cocaine addict,

Recently released from
a mental health clinic.

She was last seen
hitchhiking in an area
frequented by prostitutes.

Wendy had been beaten and
strangled, but there were no
signs of sexual as*ault.

The body had been dumped,
meaning she had been
k*lled elsewhere.

Not surprisingly, a thunderstorm
washed away possible evidence.

Man: all the small artifacts
that we would ordinarily

Hope to find on someone
with clothing on, uh,

But we were doubtful
we were going to get too much.

So we were going to have to use
anything and everything
at our disposal,

From microscopic examination
to the use of light energy
to try to luminesce

Microscopic materials that
our eyes could not see.

Narrator: investigators used
a lumilight to examine the body.

This device uses high-intensity
light, higher than sunlight,

Which causes man-made
fibers to glow, or luminesce.

Man: we felt it very important
to use the light source--

The lumilight, in this case--
because of its power,

To search, even though
it was daytime and even
though it was outdoors,

To do a search of that area
and search of the victim's
body, for potential evidence.

The lumilight revealed
several tiny fibers on
wendy evans' body,

Which were taken to
the lab for analysis.

The lumilight also revealed
a few strands of dog hair,

And, about 7 feet from where
the body had been dumped
was another potential clue,

A possible result of the rain:
a tire impression.

Using dental plaster,
which hardens quickly
into a flexible mold,

Police made a cast of
the impression, which was
photographed for analysis.

The tread patterns were clear,
meaning it was from a
relatively new tire

Which had a small stone
lodged in the tread.

Just one month later,
police had another dumped body.

Two teenagers found the
nude body of peggy darnell,

A 40-year-old clearwater
prost*tute, in the woods,
near a highway.

She had been dead for
at least a week, maybe longer.

Her body was decomposed to the
point that no significant
evidence was recovered.

Police believed
the murders were committed
by the same perpetrator,

And they quickly searched
for other, similar crimes
in their cold case files.

They discovered
another unsolved case.

Sixteen months earlier,
ladonna jean steller's
nude and decomposed body

Was discovered in a vacant lot
in downtown clearwater.

The cause of death, like the
other cases, was strangulation.

Ladonna was a former model, a
waitress at a local sports bar,

And had previous arrests
for prostitution.

She was the single mother
of two children.

Police suspected they had
a serial k*ller at work,

One that was one step ahead
of their investigation.

Jacques: in his mind,
he felt that he had denied us

The physical evidence that would
have tied him to a crime scene.

The bodies had been taken to
remote areas. They had been
stripped of their clothing.

They had been moved from
the original crime scene.

So all of these things,
he had done to prevent us
from catching him,

From finding evidence
that would lead to him.

Narrator: investigators, fearful
the k*ller would strike again,
were racing against time.

In the fall of 1995, police
in clearwater, florida had
three m*rder*d women,

Their nude bodies dumped
in deserted locations.

With the passage of time
between these three murders,

Police knew they were
dealing with a k*ller

Who lived in the area
and not a tourist.

Serial K*llers tend to hunt
for victims close to where
they work or live.

Although the victims were
nude, the k*ller left
behind some clues.

Scientists analyzed the fibers
found on wendy evans' body.

Fiber specialist jerry cirino
discovered that most were nylon

But a few were made
of polyester.

All were triangular, or
trilobal, in shape,

And all were dyed with
the same chemical: pink.

But this positive news
didn't come in time to
save another life.

On january 18, 1996,
there was a fourth victim.


Who had recently moved to
clearwater from maine,

Was beaten, strangled to death,
and her body dumped in an
industrial area near a dumpster.

Again, a lumilight was brought
to the scene, and again it
revealed the pink fibers.

Man: I can say that these fibers
from the two different cases

Could have originated from,
or could have shared,
a common source.

I think, after all the
examinations that I conducted,

That the fibers in these cases
were very solid evidence.

Another unusual piece of
evidence was what looked to be

A piece of cigarette paper
on cindy pugh's body.

Whitfield: the little piece of
paper that was found on the
breast of one of the victims,

If we would have got there
maybe half an hour later,

It was ready to blow off--
it was barely sticking to
the skin.

Narrator: the cigarette paper
contained saliva, enough
to get a dna profile.

But was the dna
from the k*ller?

Dog hairs were also
found at the scene.

The dog hairs were sent to
the fbi and identified
as those of a pug.

The pug is a toy-sized dog with
a very low tolerance to heat,

Making them somewhat uncommon
in states like florida.

Investigators sent photographs
of the tire impression found
near wendy evans' body

To peter mcdonald, a forensic
analyst who literally

Wrote the book on the
identification of tire
impressions.

He recognized the tire
immediately.

Mcdonald: I received the
photographs--and this was
just amazing to me--

It was a tire that I
had designed when I
was at firestone.

We had no idea that he was
the designer of the tire
we were looking for.

So that was just a very
lucky break for us also.

The tire was a firestone radial
atx, last manufactured in 1992.

These were aftermarket
replacement tires

Used on small pickup trucks
and sport utility vehicles.

Police researched sales records
on how many of these tires were
shipped and sold in florida...

And they got a break: the atx
was not a best-selling model,

And only one dealership in
the entire state of florida
had sold the atx tires

In the last 12 months.

Mcdonald: tire tracks can be
a very valuable bit of
evidence at a crime scene.

One set was purchased by a
woman living in clearwater,

Just a few miles from where
the bodies were discovered.

And she also owned...

A dog.

Florida investigators were on
the hunt for a serial k*ller,

Known to be driving a vehicle
with firestone radial atx tires.

Police discovered that a
woman living in the area--
terry jo howard--

Purchased a pair of firestone
radial atx tires a few months
before the murders began.

Terry jo lived with a boyfriend,


Man: we went to their belcher
road address at night,

And we had a detective sneak up
on the vehicle and identify the
tires on the vehicle as being

The firestone radial atx
tires that peter mcdonald
said they were.

Terry jo was a recovering drug
addict and a former prost*tute.

James randall was a
construction worker.

Terry jo also had a dog,
a pug, that she would walk
in the neighborhood.

Local prostitutes identified
randall as a regular customer.

Police surveillance teams
followed randall for days

And followed him into
a car dealership,

Driving the vehicle with the
firestone radial atx tires.

Mcdonald: not wanting
to give away anything,

The officer following
stayed in the background

And the dealer took the two
tires off and replaced them.

Then the detective called me,
all excited. He said, "pete,
we've got the two rear tires."

But investigators needed
all four tires to get a
proper match.

So police devised a ruse.

Posing as an employee
from the tire dealership,

A police detective told
randall that his new tires
were defective.

But if he brought his car in
right away, he'd receive


As a gift for his inconvenience.

Klein: that same afternoon,
terry jo howard showed
up with james randall...

And gave her 4 brand-new
tires that the sheriff's
office had purchased.

And the new tires placed on
randall's vehicle were marked.

Klein: we marked them in
a certain way so that if
those tires

Showed up at one of our
crime scenes in the future,

We would know for sure that
they were the tires from
james randall's truck.

Narrator: peter mcdonald studied
the four original tires from
randall's vehicle.

Tires have a feature called
"sipes," small cuts in
the tread that grab the road

In an effort to prevent
hydroplaning.

The molding creates
marks in these sipes,

Marks that can distinguish
one tire from another.

The sipes from james randall's
tire matched those from
the crime scene photos,

And so did one other
distinguishing feature.

Mcdonald: I found that
the right rear tire,
as chance would have it,

Was the best photographed tire,

And there was a stone that
was held in the groove,

In exactly the same
location that was recorded
at the crime scene.

The stone being held in
the tire allowed for a
positive identification.

Narrator: but police
wanted as much evidence
as they could gather.

And they wanted to examine
the hair of the pug owned
by terry jo howard.

[Knocking]

Two female detectives knocked on
terry jo's door, saying they had
a new dog grooming service

And offered to wash her
dog free as a promotion.

Terry jo accepted.

Terry jo: hmmm.
What do you think?

Come on in.

Woman: great.

Klein: terry jo howard let
the detectives in the house,

And they washed the dog,
and at that time, they were
able to pull dog hairs

Onto clean white towels

And use them to compare the dog
hairs from cindy pugh's body.

Narrator: scientists discovered
that the hair from terry jo's
pug was microscopically similar

To the pug hairs found on
two of the victims.

A background check on
james randall revealed some
startling information:

In violation of his parole,
randall fled the state of
massachusetts

After serving 6 years
in prison for twice raping
his first wife.

James randall has been
identified as a sexual sadist,

And that is a person who
has to inflict pain on
his sexual partner

In order to obtain sexual
gratification for himself.

Terry jo howard described
randall the same way.

Howard: he got really mad at me,
and I sat down in a chair,

And he was yelling
at me, and he--

He came over, and he picked me
up by my throat and pinned me up
against the wall.

That was the last thing
I remembered until
I woke up on the bed,

And he was on top of me
having intercourse,

With what I believe
he thought was my dead body.

Narrator: inside of their
apartment, police found
more forensic evidence,

More proof that the murders
were committed here.

I never felt so betrayed in my
whole life...and he was a
master, master manipulator.

When they told me that they
thought that jimmy was the one

Who was k*lling
all the girls in the area,

I was so shocked,
I just started screaming.

Narrator: james randall and
terry jo howard were living
together during the time

Police suspected randall was
k*lling clearwater prostitutes.

Howard: I think he liked
the life he lived with me.

It was a clean, good life.
I don't think either one of us

Had ever lived life that good
bef--in our--previously.

Dinner waiting at home, someone
who cared about you, someone to
go to the movies with,

Someone to chat with,
someone to watch tv with.

Narrator: armed with a
search warrant, investigators
discovered...

A pink throw rug under
the couple's bed.

Scientific tests found that
the main portion of the rug
was nylon,

The fringe was polyester.

The fibers were
triangular in shape,

And the dye was the same
as those on the victims.

Cirino: because the fibers
had so many different
characteristics

That I could examine
and compare,

That told me that either
these victims came in contact
with this particular rug

Or with a rug that is composed
of the exact same fibers as
this particular rug.

Narrator: in searching
randall's home, police
found something unusual:

Small bits of cigarette paper,
scattered all over the floor,

Evidence that their dog, the
pug, had an unusual habit.

Klein: terry jo howard's dog
had a nicotine addiction,
and the dog would normally

Take cigarette butts out of
the ashtrays and chew them
up and spit them out

And leave them on
the floor of the apartment.

Terry jo was a smoker
and would, you know, toss
out her cigarette butts,

And the dog would pick
them up and chew on them,

And so there were all these
little flecks of cigarette
paper all around.

Narrator: remember the cigarette
paper found on cindy pugh's body
that contained saliva?

The dna from that saliva
belonged to terry jo howard,

Proof the cigarette paper
had come from inside their
apartment.

Klein: we believe that it was
one small piece of a cigarette
butt that the dog had chewed up

And left behind that was
attached to cindy pugh's breast,

Unbeknownst to james randall,
which was a major, major
piece of physical evidence.

I believe some of these murders
happened in my home, in my bed.

I know some of them did,
two of them did.

Uh, I was over here in
west palm, visiting my
sick and dying mother.

Narrator: prosecutors
believe that randall
would pick up victims

And take them back to
the apartment when
terry jo was gone.

Woman: ow.

On the pink carpet,
randall acted out his
sadistic impulses,

Strangling the women during
sex, and k*lling them.

While there, the victims picked
up carpet fibers and dog hairs,

Later found on the bodies
with the lumilight.

The cigarette paper, chewed by
the dog, with terry jo's dna,
was found on cindy pugh.

When randall dumped wendy evans'
body, his truck left the tire
impression in the sand.

Terry jo confronted randall
about all of this when she
went to see him in prison.

Howard: I just kinda looked at
him and said, "why not me?"

"Huh? Why not me, jimmy?"

And he looked at me,
and he started crying.

He didn't want them to
hear what he was about
to tell me, which was,

"I hurt others so that
I would not hurt you."

At the trial, james randall's
first wife testified
against him.

Her description of randall's
sadism was chilling.

And he told me to lay down,
and he tied my hands up behind
my back with my shoelace.

And at this point, it was like,
I didn't know if I was going to
make it out of there or not.

Narrator: james randall
was convicted of the
m*rder of wendy ann evans

And cynthia jean pugh

And was sentenced to two,
consecutive life terms.

Howard: I really wanted to see
him die for what he's done.

Life in prison is not good
enough for this man.

He wanted to k*ll them.
He knew he was going
to k*ll them.

And afterwards, when--
after I did find out,
and I was talking to him,

It didn't seem like it was
that big a deal...to him.

They were just prostitutes.

They were just drug addicts.

They were just...women.