10x15 - Tight-fitting Genes

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Narrator: at times, a
perpetrator's dna is the only

Clue at a m*rder scene.

But what happens when you don't
have a suspect to compare it to?

This case made forensic history,
when scientists saw, in these

Genes, literally the k*ller's
physical description.

Genes, literally the k*ller's
physical description.

In the 1600s, baton rouge in
louisiana got its name from

French settlers.

It means "red stick" and
referred to the pole marking the

Hunting area of local indian
tribes.

To this day, baton rouge is one
of the most racially diverse

Cities in the country.

Pam kinamore knew the town's
history well, by birth and by

Profession.

Pam operated an antique store.

Pam loved life.

Every day she couldn't wait to
do all the things that she

Wanted to do.

She was fun.

She was exuberant.

She was enthused.

She was intelligent.

Narrator: shortly before
midnight on a friday in july,


Called police to report his wife

Missing.

He said when he got home, the
front door was wide open.

His wife's keys were there, but
pam wasn't gone.

Strangely, the bathtub was full
of water.

It looked like she had been
taking a bath, and also there

Was some blood on a rug under
the bed in the bedroom that

Hadn't been there before.

Narrator: forensic testing
revealed the blood on the carpet

Was pam's.

It appeared that she left her
keys in the door inadvertently,

And an intruder walked in while
pam was in the bathtub.

The couple's son was sleeping
overnight at a friend's house

And couldn't shed any light on
what had happened.

Investigators also had to
consider whether pam had simply

Run off.

But her mother refused even to
consider that possibility.

I told them, I said, "I'm
sure your next thought is she

Might have had a boyfriend."

I said, "I give you my word of
honor.

If she had a boyfriend, I
would've known, and that would

Be the first name I would give
you."

Pam never looked at another man.

Byron was her sweetheart.

Narrator: pam's family posted
"missing" posters and billboards

All over the city and offered a
$75,000 reward for information

As to her whereabouts.

For four days, the search
continued.

Pam's body was discovered in the
marshland under the whiskey bay

Bridge about 60 miles from her
home.

There was a telephone cord found
near her body.

It's amazing that it was
found.

It was found by some surveyors.

She had just been dumped in
whiskey bay.

The coroner's office took her
into custody.

Narrator: the medical
examiner discovered pam had been

Stabbed to death.

She had also been sexually
assaulted.

Pam was a beautiful young
woman, and she had a lot of

Admirers, and I thought, "well,
you know, maybe somebody just

Had a crush on her and took her
off."

I guess we wanted hope.

And I never dreamed that she was
m*rder*d.

Do you know what it's like to
know you'll never have any more

Memories, that all those happy
times are gone forever?

So that's what it's like to lose
your child.

Narrator: the medical
examiner determined that pam had

Been k*lled on the night she
disappeared.

Pam's husband, byron, had an
alibi, and it was corroborated

By others, so he wasn't
considered a suspect.

But police got a tip from a
potential eyewitness.

He thought he saw pam slumped
forward in a white pickup truck

On the night she went missing,
just a mile from where the body

Was discovered.

Now, this is a very desolate
piece of interstate, very dark.

Not many vehicles at all would
get off this exit ramp.

It really leads to nowhere,
where her body was found.

Narrator: the witness
described the driver as a young

White male.

Police began to look for a
white male in a white truck.

As the investigation went on,
they were pretty focused on a

White male in a white truck.

Narrator: unfortunately there
were 35,000 white pickup trucks

Registered in the baton rouge
area.

It's like a swarming army of
white pickup trucks in

Louisiana.

If you put them end to end, it
would probably circumvent the

World.

Narrator: at pam kinamore's
autopsy, pathologists found

Biological evidence that she had
been sexually assaulted, and it

Also contained the dna profile
of her k*ller.

Naturally, investigators wanted
to know if this perpetrator had

Been apprehended before.

We had already taken his dna
profile and searched it into the

Fbi's codis database, which was
a national database of

Offenders, as well as evidence
from other cases, and we knew

Then, at that point, that he had
not been linked to any other

Crimes.

Narrator: but this dna
evidence did tell police

Something important.

The same man who k*lled
pam kinamore k*lled two other

Women several months earlier.

I had never had experience
with a serial k*ller, you know,

Other than seeing tv shows.

So, all of a sudden, this was
something that baton rouge

Hadn't dealt with before and I
hadn't dealt with before.

Narrator: two months earlier,
charlotte murray pace, a

Graduate student at louisiana
state university, had been

Sexually assaulted and k*lled in
her apartment.

She was stabbed 81 times.

Her throat was cut.

She was missing part of her ear.

It was a very violent, horrible
attack.

All the people, all the women
in the world, he picked murray.

Why?

I'd give anything to know why.

And I don't know if you can know
why, 'cause I wonder if he could

Articulate why, if he knows why
himself.

Narrator: like pam kinamore's
case, there were no signs of

Forced entry.

This person was absolutely
vicious.

This person was absolutely the
worst type of human being you'd

Ever want to encounter.

Narrator: also in that same
neighborhood, gina green, a

Nurse, was sexually assaulted
and m*rder*d in her home.

In all three cases, the common
thread was the telephone.

Either the k*ller took the
victim's telephone or used the

Cords to restrain his victim.

This led to speculation -- the
k*ller asked his victims for

Assistance.

Everything he touched he took
with him.

Those were his trophies.

It didn't take much for him.

After he k*lled her, he didn't
wipe down the doorknob.

He knew everything he touched.

Narrator: when residents of
baton rouge learned a serial

k*ller was on the loose, they
took every possible precaution.

At night, the streets were all
but empty.

But it wasn't enough.

I can tell you the worst
thing that I can imagine could

Happen, in fact, happened.

Narrator: several months
later, the k*ller struck again.


Returned home from visiting her

Mother's grave.

Her body was discovered 26 miles
away from the cemetery.

She was sexually assaulted and
beaten to death.

A witness reported seeing a
white male in a white pickup

Truck near the cemetery, just
like pam kinamore's case.

And the k*ller wasn't through.

The body of 26-year-old
carrie yoder, a doctoral student

At lsu, was found near the
whiskey bay bridge -- not far

From where pam kinamore's body
was discovered.

Dna tests confirmed the same man
sexually assaulted and

Presumably k*lled all five
women.

He was very intelligent.

I think he was doing a lot of,
as I call it, surveillance work.

He was stalking his victims.

He knew their movements --
methods of movement -- and he

Was gonna be tough to catch.

Narrator: desperate for a
lead, police called the fbi in

Washington, d.c., And asked for
a criminal investigative

Analysis of the crimes.

We thought this was more
someone who followed women, who

Watched women from afar, and
when he interacted with women,

It would be shortly into that
interaction before they felt

Uncomfortable with him.

Narrator: the fbi predicted
the k*ller was antisocial and

Earned a below-average income.

The fbi profile -- we had
folks come in, and that was the

Whole gist that we were looking
for -- a white male, someone --



Narrator: although 90% of all
serial K*llers are white, the

Fbi says they made no prediction
about the race of the

Baton rouge serial k*ller,
despite the perceptions of local

Officials and information
carried in the media.

I know that there's been some
confusion about that.

I know what was written, and I
know what was in the paper, and

It just simply wasn't there.

Narrator: nevertheless, the
local police obtained dna

Samples from over 1,000 men,
most of them white, between the

Ages of 20 and 40.

Most had a history of criminal
activity.

I just felt like they needed
to find that k*ller, or we were

Gonna have more women k*lled.

Narrator: but not one of them
was a match.

That's when molecular biologist
dr. Tony frudakis called

Investigators with a warning
that eyewitnesses and behavioral

Profiles are not always right.

That type of information is
oftentimes faulty, wrong.

Sometimes people lie.

Sometimes they're just flat-out
mistaken.

Narrator: so dr. Frudakis
made police an offer.

He said he'd perform a brand-new
dna test and promised he could

Identify the k*ller's physical
characteristics.

To be honest with you, I
didn't really believe.

I thought, "this guy must be
some quack.

How can he do this?"
But he purported that he can

Determine the race of folks from
dna, and I said, "there's no way

In the world he can do that."

Narrator: this new test
called "dna witness" ascertains

The exact ancestry of an
individual based on information

In their dna.

It's rooted in the fact that all
humans are descended from a

Common gene pool.

So, instead of measuring the
pigmentation genes that control

Pigmentation of the skin, we can
make an indirect inference about

Your skin shade through a very
precise knowledge of your

Ancestral background.

Narrator: so the baton rouge
police gave dr. Frudakis the

Go-ahead.

The results made forensic
history and changed the course

Of the investigation.

I've never met the guy, but
I'll tell you he's onto

Something.

Narrator: based on statements
from two eyewitnesses,

Baton rouge police were
searching for a white male

Driving a white pickup truck in
connection with five unsolved

Murders.

With little to lose,
investigators joined forces with

A molecular biologist to perform
a new test on the k*ller's dna.

It's brand-new technology.

A lot of these people are
unaware of what it can do.

We have to go into the human
genome and screen through large

Numbers of people in order to
find these positions of dna so

That we can harness their power
and use them for the purposes

We're using them.

Narrator: to test
dr. Frudakis' claims,

Investigators sent him 20 dna
samples and asked him to

Identify the race of each one.

He nailed them to a "t" on
everybody, even to the

Percentages of what black,
white, indian, whatever you had

In them.

So he was able to do it.

Narrator: when he passed that
test, dr. Frudakis went to work

On the k*ller's dna.

The results -- the dna test
showed the k*ller was not a

Caucasian.

The crime scene dna sample
corresponded to an individual

That was 85% sub-saharan african
and 15% native american.

Narrator: at first, police
couldn't believe it.

I remember the phone line
just going silent for a few

Minutes.

I guess they had to digest it.

Kind of threw you off,
because, traditionally, a serial

k*ller is usually a white male.

And when it became a black male,
it just threw everybody off.

Narrator: police now realized
the so-called eyewitnesses were

Wrong.

And they realized something
else.

Around the same time of
pam kinamore's m*rder, about 60

Miles outside of baton rouge,
someone knocked on the front

Door of a woman named
diane alexander and asked to use

The phone.

When her back was turned, the
man ripped the phone cord from

The wall and tried to strangle
her.

As she fought for her life, her
son came home unexpectedly.

The attacker ran away, still
carrying the telephone cord.

The phone cord was actually
already sticking out of his

Vehicle, and her son was able to
describe the vehicle very well

And describe the phone cord
sticking out of it.

Narrator: and police
remembered finding similar

Telephone cord near
pam kinamore's body.

Was it possible that the k*ller
took diane alexander's telephone

Cord with him when he k*lled
pam kinamore?

To find out, forensic experts
compared the telephone cord

Found with pam kinamore's body
to the ripped piece of cord from

Diane alexander's home by
performing a fracture-match

Comparison.

Although plastic stretches when
pulled, the ends usually remain

Intact.

They actually took the
remaining cord from

Diane alexander's house and were
able to match it to the cord

That they found at
pam kinamore's dump site.

Narrator: in a police lineup,
diane alexander identified her

Attacker as 34-year-old
derrick todd lee.

He had previous arrests for
burglary, stalking women, and

Peeking into their homes.

If lee was the baton rouge
serial k*ller, diane alexander

Was fortunate to be alive.

Narrator: derrick todd lee --
a manual laborer, married with

Two children -- was identified
by diane alexander in a police

Lineup as the man who assaulted
her in her home.

But he denied he was the
baton rouge serial k*ller.

Lee's dna sample was sent
immediately to the forensics lab

For testing.

It matched the biological
samples from all five victims.

Just a sense of relief and
joy come over me.

You know, and it's like I had to
smile.

I said, "we got him."

Narrator: derrick todd lee
was arrested and charged with

First-degree m*rder.

The first thing I would tell
him is he's a coward.

He picked on women that he took
advantage of their good nature.

Narrator: after his arrest,
investigators learned that lee's

Dna matched skin cells under the
fingernails of yet another

m*rder victim -- an lsu student,


Prosecutors believed lee
followed his victims so he knew

When they would be home alone.

He would knock on the door, ask
to use their phone, and once

Inside, overpower them.

I don't know how he picked
them out.

He hasn't talked.

We do know that a black male was
spotted just sort of hanging out

In a couple of the
neighborhoods, but we don't know

For sure that it was him, and
like I said, we haven't had the

Benefit of his telling us what
his thoughts were.

Narrator: fortunately for
investigators, he left crucial

Dna evidence behind.

At lee's trial, the sole
survivor, diane alexander,

Identified lee as the man who
tried to k*ll her.

And dna from perspiration found
on ms. Alexander's blouse after

The attack matched lee's dna
profile -- forensic proof he was

The perpetrator.

This is the real deal, that
now this lady has come to you

And faced you and pointed you
out.

It was devastating.

Narrator: derrick todd lee
was convicted of first-degree

m*rder and was sentenced to
death.

The death penalty is too good
for him.

They should execute him a little
bit at a time.

I mean, to do -- you know, r*pe
was not enough.

m*rder was not enough.

The coroner called it -- "these
murders," he said, "are an

Overkill."

Narrator: some of the
victims' families are angry that

Police relied so heavily on
the eyewitness accounts of a

White male in a white pickup
truck and the fact that most

Serial K*llers tend to be white.

The profile itself was, of
course, wrong.

It was erroneous.

But it was also accepted by the
task force as -- it was given

The force of fact when what it
is, is an educated guess.

I think they were getting
tons of tips from every

Direction.

They were getting thousands of
tips.

So I certainly wouldn't say
that -- I think they did the

Best that they could and they
worked very hard.

Narrator: in this case,
dr. Tony frudakis

Made scientific history.

It was the first time this
biogeographic testing was ever

Used in a criminal case.

The technology now has a 99%
accuracy rate, and new tests

Can even predict eye color with


If it can tell you the race,
it might be able to tell you

Exactly who you're looking for.

But if it tells you the name and
the address and phone number,

It's time for me to leave this
place.

It's just -- dna's too good
then.

Narrator: this new test also
shows the limitations of

Behavioral profiles and the
fallibility of so-called

Eyewitnesses.

I don't think it's too far
out there to say that in the

Future, there probably will be
much less crime than there is

Today, because people are going

To realize that when they commit
that r*pe or they commit that

m*rder, they might as well take
their driver's license out of

Their wallet and just toss it
right there on the ground,

'Cause they're gonna get that

Information anyway.

If people are gonna commit
violent crimes, they need to be

Accountable, and we need to take
whatever means is necessary to

Hold them accountable, and that
just makes the job of police

Officers so easy.

I think we need to take

Advantage of science as much as
we can when it's for valid

Reasons.