10x13 - Crash Course

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: it looked like a
routine traffic accident until a

Patrolman with no forensic
training suspected something

Worse, but he couldn't prove it
until a bent steering wheel, a

Security camera, and a physics
calculation showed what really

Led to a young woman's death.

Highway patrolman tony snyder
was heading home after finishing

His night shift when he got a
call about a traffic accident on

Route 95, just outside of
princeton, minnesota.

It was maybe ten miles from
my house, so I said I would do

It.

Narrator: when snyder
arrived, he saw that there had

Been a two-vehicle accident.

Apparently, a jeep collided with
an abandoned car that had broken

Down and was parked on the side
of the highway.

When I was met by the deputy,
he informed me that one person

Is deceased -- the female
passenger in the red jeep --

And the other vehicle that was
struck was unoccupied.

I could see the ambulance
personnel working on a male who

Was covered in blood, and he was
screaming.

Narrator: the jeep driver,
steve hollerman, was rushed to a

Nearby hospital.

Steve's passenger, his


Dead.

Everybody knew her.

I mean, she was that well-loved.

There was just disbelief and
shock.

If you got to know deb, you
liked deb.

She was the life of the party.

She was somebody that people
gathered around because she was

Fun to be with.

Narrator: steve hollerman
survived the crash with only

Minor injuries, and toxicology
tests revealed no dr*gs or

Alcohol in his system.

He told investigators that he
and deborah were on their way

Home from shopping when he
inadvertently drove off the

Highway and struck a parked car.

I said, "do you remember
what you hit?"

He said, "I hit a car."

I said, "do you know where the
car was?"

He said, "yes, on the shoulder.

And I said, "did you see the car
when you hit it?"

He said, "I saw the taillights."

And I then asked him if he tried
to maneuver the vehicle or brake

To avoid collision, and he said
he didn't have time to do that.

Narrator: the right-front end
of steve's jeep hit the

Back-left side of the parked
car.

Steve said he was driving
approximately 60 miles an hour

At the time of the accident and
he was wearing his seat belt,

But deborah was not.

That was out of her
character.

She was pretty religious about
wearing seat belts and made it a

Point to everyone else that they
needed to have theirs on, also.

Narrator: at deborah's
autopsy, the medical examiner

Found skull fractures and
evidence that her brain had been

Jolted violently inside her
skull from side to side.

The finding of the
pathologist that did the autopsy

Was that the death was a result
of a motor-vehicle accident.

The blunt-force trauma and the
injuries that were observed --

The skull fracture, the bruising
of the brain -- any of those

Could have been consistent and
would have been consistent with

Being k*lled in a motor-vehicle
crash.

Narrator: although patrolman
tony snyder wasn't a doctor or

Formally trained in forensic
science, he couldn't believe the

Coroner's report.

I was sick to my stomach when
I heard those words, because I

Thought I was at a dead end now.

I was not comfortable with it
at all.

But to be honest with you, I was
tore up inside.

I couldn't even sleep that
night.

Narrator: snyder was bothered
because this accident didn't

Seem bad enough to have caused a
fatality as he had seen in so

Many other accidents.

I've been to accidents
where people -- actually, their

Head had went clean through the
windshield, and they're speaking

To me when I get there, and this
windshield wasn't broke out.

It was barely cracked.

Narrator: and snyder thought
the amount of blood in the car

Was inconsistent with deborah's
injuries.

There was a lot of blood in
the vehicle -- more blood than

I'd ever seen at any accident
in my life, and I've been to

Hundreds of accidents.

Narrator: but so had local
traffic investigators, and they

Disagreed with snyder.

They came to the same conclusion
as the coroner -- that the car

Crash was an accident.

Tony snyder's options were
dwindling until an anonymous

Telephone call shed new light on
an already-mysterious case.

Narrator: deborah hollerman's
family was angry with police

When they learned some of the
details surrounding the car

Crash that took her life.

How can there be a car on the
side of the road for a couple of

Days?

I mean, isn't it somebody's
responsibility to take a car off

Of a state highway?

Narrator: highway patrolman
tony snyder was less concerned

About the abandoned car and more
concerned with steve hollerman's

Driving skill.

He was convinced there was more
to the story than steve was

Telling.

And I asked him if a deer
jumped out, if he was playing

With his radio knobs, if he was
on the cellphone.

I'm asking him if he passed out,
blacked out, was dizzy, fell

Asleep.

And none of those things were
the reason he was off the

Roadway.

He just said he didn't know.

Narrator: steve told
investigators that he and

Deborah had been shopping and
were heading home when the

Accident occurred, so snyder
checked steve's story by

Reviewing the videos taken by
the store's security cameras.

They show the hollermans at the
store that night, but they left

Several hours earlier than steve
claimed.

The last store he left was
around 7:30 p.m., And I got a

Call to come to the crash at


Bit of time missing to drive 18
or 20 miles.

Narrator: in addition, the
items the hollermans bought at

The store weren't in the jeep at
the time of the accident, so

Where were the hollermans
between 8:00 and 10:00 p.m.?

An anonymous telephone call gave
tony snyder a clue.

There was no name, no way to
get ahold of anybody -- but

Just so you know, somebody
called and said, "steve

Hollerman's been having an
affair."

That piqued our interest even
more to say, "jeez, there's some

More pieces to this that we're
unfamiliar with and that we want

To look into."

Narrator: surprisingly,
deborah's friends all knew about

The affair -- and apparently,
so did deborah.

She was aware there was an
affair going on, and she was

Going to confront him.

That was made clear.

Her girlfriends have told us
that.

Narrator: investigators
eventually discovered the

Identity of steve's
girlfriend.

She was employed by the local
hospital where steve worked as a

Lab supervisor.

When questioned, she openly
admitted the affair.

She basically said that they
had been seeing each other for a

Year.

They were in love with each
other.

They went on outings together,
and she admitted that they had

Sex that day in his cabin.

Narrator: the cabin was the
hollermans' summer home at

Green lake.

It was just a mile and a half
from the crash site.

With a warrant, investigators
searched the cabin and found

Evidence confirming the story
they'd heard from steve's

Girlfriend.

You could see a bed where it
looked like it had been recently

Slept in or used in some way.

Narrator: and they also
discovered that steve and

Deborah had been in the cabin
before the car crash.

Several items they had purchased
that night were in the cabin, so

Snyder decided to take a closer
look at the hollermans' jeep, as

Well as the accident scene.

Steve said he was driving 60
miles an hour when the accident

Occurred.

Accident-reconstruction experts
have a way of confirming this.

If a parked car is hit, the
distance it moves after impact

Can tell you the speed at which
it was hit.

It's based on sir isaac newton's
laws of physics, specifically

Conservation of momentum.

When one object strikes another,
as in this demonstration, its

Momentum is transferred to the
other.

All things being equal, the
speed of the first ball is equal

To that of the last.

The weight of the two cars plus
the friction between the tires

And the road surface factor into
the analysis.

The coefficient of friction
is basically just a measure of

How slippery that surface is, so
that's a very important piece.

The other thing is the angles
that are involved with approach

And departure from the impact
area for vehicles that are

Involved in a collision like
this.

Narrator: skoglund used
surveying equipment to measure

The distance the parked car
moved after impact, as well as

The angles of impact.

A computer program performed the
physics calculations, and the

Result -- steve's jeep was
traveling between 38 and 42

Miles per hour when it hit the
parked car, not 60 miles per

Hour as he claimed.

These calculations also proved
that steve had enough time to

Avoid hitting the parked car.

He had slightly over two
seconds from the time that he

Left the pavement till the
impact.

He admitted he saw the
taillights of the vehicle.

He admitted he didn't swerve.

He admitted he didn't brake,
saying he didn't have time.

Narrator: it was obvious that
the crash didn't happen the way

Steve claimed, but would
evidence found inside the jeep

Prove it was m*rder?

Narrator: investigators now
suspected that deborah hollerman

Had been m*rder*d.

Her family couldn't believe her
husband, steve, had anything to

Do with it.

It was disbelief, going, "my
god, the poor guy lost his wife.

He's gone through a month of
mourning, and now they do this

To him?

Narrator: but patrolman
tony snyder feared steve may

Have committed the perfect
crime.

I literally didn't sleep that
night -- several nights.

Easter dinner at my mom and
dad's -- I hardly ate, and they

Thought I was mad at them or
upset with the family or sick or

Something.

I was just so obsessed by this
that I couldn't eat, and I was

Worried that I was running out
of options...

To get this figured out.

I was running into a lot of dead
ends.

Narrator: since the original
autopsy ruled deborah's death as

Accidental, snyder asked
dr. Janis amatuzio for a second

Opinion.

As I looked at those
photographs of the vehicle,

Which I'd not seen before
that -- and I looked at the

Injuries, I said, "you know,
there's something we don't know

Here, and I think this case
deserves more investigation.

There's way too much blood
inside the vehicle."

Narrator: dr. Amatuzio wanted
to examine the hollermans' jeep

Herself.

Because, let's face it --
steve hollerman's future was at

Stake here, and the truth about
deborah hollerman's death was at

Stake.

The most important thing for
everybody to remember is that

What we were trying to get at
was the truth.

Narrator: dr. Amatuzio was
approximately the same size and

Weight as deborah, so she did
something extraordinary.

She donned protective clothing
and climbed into the

Blood-stained car.

It was a little creepy.

[ Laughs ]
it was sobering.

I realized I was sitting on the
last spot deborah hollerman had

Been sitting before she died.

Narrator: the first thing she
noticed was the blood smear on

The windshield had what looked
like a fabric pattern.

In fact, it looked like the
heavy-knit sweater that deborah

Had been wearing at the time
that she died.

Narrator: this was a key
finding, because it proved that

Deborah was bleeding before the
crash occurred.

The only way that that much
blood could have been deposited

On the inside of the vehicle at
the time of the crash was if

Deborah hollerman had been
bloody before the crash.

In other words, she had been
injured before the crash.

That is the only way that she
could have gotten that much

Blood onto her sweater, onto her
hair, onto her face.

Narrator: and there was more
evidence that deborah was

Bleeding before the crash.

On the passenger-side rear
window, you could see where

Blood had came from the seat and
was running down the window.

Narrator: the l-shaped
pattern demonstrated once again

The physics of momentum.

When blood drips down the window
of a jeep traveling at 40 miles

Per hour and it stops abruptly,
everything in the jeep,

Including the blood, continues
to move forward.

Scientists believe that's what
caused this l-shaped pattern.

The final three pieces of
evidence were crucial to

Understanding events before and
after the crash.

Deborah's blood was found on the
lever used to adjust the

Driver's seat.

The driver's seat where
steven hollerman was seated was

Pushed as far back as the seat
could go.

Narrator: the steering wheel
was bent and investigators found

Steve's bloody shoe print on the
passenger-side window.

This indicated that steve moved
his seat back after he was in

Contact with deborah's blood,
then grabbed the steering wheel

To brace himself for the crash.

The evidence also proved that
steve hollerman tried to break

The passenger window after the
crash.

My opinion is he was trying
to break the window out at the

Accident scene.

He needed glass, because there
was a lot of blood and there was

No glass anywhere.

Narrator: lastly,
dr. Amatuzio discovered what

Really caused deborah's death.

Narrator: forensic experts
found what they believed was the

m*rder w*apon used to k*ll
deborah hollerman.

It was the knob used to adjust
the passenger-side mirror.

That adjustment knob was
caked with blood and long, brown

Hairs.

It was clear to me that that
adjustment knob was the

Instrument that created the
injury pattern of the four

Lacerations, or tears, on her
scalp and, in all likelihood,

Caused the depressed skull
fractures.

Narrator: this proved that
steve k*lled deborah by hitting

Her head repeatedly against the
knob.

It was a severe beating.

It was severe.

So when death is the result
of an as*ault, we classify it as

A homicide.

Narrator: steve hollerman was
arrested and charged with

Deborah's m*rder.

He acted surprised,
dumbfounded that he was under

Arrest.

When I cuffed him and put him in
my car, he was like, "tony" --

He wanted to talk to me.

He was calling me "tony."

You know, "why's this, why's
that?" -- Like we were friends.

I drove down to a park and
sat in my car and read the

Criminal complaint, word for
word, and the visions of the

Pictures really showed
themselves when you read what

They had discovered.

Narrator: steve hollerman's
lover admitted spending the

Afternoon with steve at the
couple's summer cabin.

Later that night, around


Deborah, went shopping together
and took their purchases to the

Cabin.

Deborah may have found evidence
that steve had been there

Earlier with his lover.

Regardless, the forensic
evidence suggests an argument

Ensued, and it turned violent.

We're through!

Narrator: while in the jeep,
steve repeatedly smashed

Deborah's head into the mirror
knob and side window causing the

Brain injuries that k*lled her.

Then steve tried to devise a
plan to cover up the crime.

While driving home, he saw the
parked car along the side of the

Highway and decided to stage an
accident.

He got the jeep into position,
moved his seat back with his

Bloody hands, made sure his
seat belt was fastened while

Deborah's wasn't, then braced
himself for impact.

The jeep traveled 130 feet at 40
miles per hour directly into the

Back-left side of the parked
car.

Deborah's arm and bloody sweater
struck the windshield -- proof

That she was bleeding before the
crash.

After the crash, steve tried to
break the side window to make

The crash look worse, but a
passing motorist stopped to help

Before steve could do it.

I'm convinced that he
contrived a plan to try to cover

It up.

Whether he had that already
figured out before he assaulted

Her and k*lled her, I believe
that he did come up with a plan

To cover it up, to make it look
like she died in that car crash.

We found out a lot of things
pretty quickly, as far as the

Speed limit he was traveling at
and the positioning of his seat

And a lot of the things, you
know.

You know, I --
I guess after we found out about

The beating and that stuff that
happened that night, I guess

Nothing was really a surprise
after that, you know?

Narrator: at the trial, steve
pleaded not guilty.

He admitted striking deborah
during an argument but said he

Was driving her to the hospital
for treatment when the accident

Occurred.

The judge didn't buy it.

Steve hollerman was convicted of
second-degree m*rder and

Sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The most fascinating case
that I've dealt with in my 15

Years as an attorney.

If you look long enough,
pretty soon the scene begins to

Speak to you.

It really just depends on the
amount of attention that you

Give it.

It's really meticulous attention
to detail.

I've learned over the years that
if we look hard, we will

Eventually get to the answers.

Narrator: without a careful
look at the evidence and the use

Of science to reconstruct the
crash, deborah hollerman's death

Might have remained an accident,
and her husband would have

Walked free.

Tony snyder is adopted as our
family hero.

Highway patrolmen don't
investigate murders.

They give out traffic tickets,
and for him to do what he did --

I mean, he didn't have
experience in investigating

Murders.

He went to his superiors and
they gave him the opportunity to

Follow his heart, and we just...

Need to thank everybody that was
involved in it to give our

Family peace.

Narrator: tony snyder is back
to his old job as a highway

Patrolman.

This case was his first brush
with forensic evidence but

Might not be his last.

I am sure I will probably
never see anything like it

Again in my career...

But I'm ready for it if I do.