10x20 - Four On The Floor

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: The last time
anyone saw Betty Lee alive,

she was talking on a telephone.

The next day, her body was
found in the New Mexico desert.

The forensic evidence revealed
there were two perpetrators who

left the scene and drove
off into the desert.

A discarded cell
phone revealed why.

[theme music]

These 25,000 square
miles of high desert

are called the
Four Corners, where

Utah, Colorado, Arizona
and New Mexico meet.

It's home to America's largest
Native American population,

including the Navajo, Hopi,
Ute, and the Jicarilla Apaches.

There is some violent crime
in these parts, but not a lot.

So it was a surprise
in June of 2000

when an electrical
worker saw blood

on a remote stretch of road.

A short distance
away in the bushes

was the body of a young woman

-It was quite obvious
when I saw the body

that we had a homicide.

And a-- and a very
brutal one at that.

NARRATOR: A knife
and a sledgehammer

were found in the brush nearby.

The victim was identified
as 36-year-old Betty Lee

from Shiprock, New Mexico,
about 30 miles away.

Betty was a Native
American, a Navajo,

divorced with five children.

She had been going to
school to become a nurse.

-My Aunt Betty was
a very happy person.

She loved everything about life.

I mean, her kids were her number
one priority and then school.

And that was why she
was back in school

was to make life
better for them.

NARRATOR: Two years earlier,
another Native American, Donald

Tsosie, was found
stabbed and beaten

to death in the desert
just 10 miles away.

Police feared a serial
k*ller might be on the loose.

At Betty Lee's autopsy,
the medical examiner

found numerous s*ab
wounds to her chest.

As well as blunt force
trauma to the head.

-Death would be quick.

Not necessarily instantaneous,
but it would be quickly.

NARRATOR: It appeared that the
sledgehammer and knife found

near her body were
the m*rder weapons.

There were no signs
of sexual as*ault.

Toxicology tests
showed some alcohol

in her system, but not a lot.

-She had some alcohol on
board, but wouldn't necessarily

be so impaired that
she couldn't defend

herself or do something else.

NARRATOR: The alcohol
was a potential lead.

A quick check of the
local bars indicated

Betty Lee spent her
last night in a place

called The Turnaround.

She was with two of her
friends, Tina and Gloria.

According to
witnesses, there were

two men drinking with them.

TYLER TRUBY: One was
named Johnny Miller.

And the second guy, we never
learned his first name;

however, his last
name was Pretty Boy.

NARRATOR: Eventually, the two
man asked two of the women

if they wanted to continue
the party somewhere else.

-Gloria and Tina decide to
leave the bar Johnny Miller

and Pretty Boy and
go to a motel room.

And Betty-- at
this time, it made

it Betty Lee almost
a third wheel.

NARRATOR: Witnesses said Betty
pleaded with their friends

not to leave since she
didn't have a ride home.

But the foursome left anyway
in a red pickup truck.

TYLER TRUBY: And they say
that Betty Lee was chasing

after Johnny Miller's red Dually
pickup and screaming at them

and begging them not to
leave her at the bar.

NARRATOR: From there, she
walked to a convenience store

and used the pay phone.

TYLER TRUBY: Betty called the
Shiprock Dispatch Center where

she asked the dispatcher
to contact her brother, who

is a Navajo Nation
police officer.

NARRATOR: But her call
didn't go through.

A witness said she hung
up the phone and cried.

When the witness looked
again, Betty was gone.

Investigators wanted to know
what happened from the time she

made that telephone call to when
she was m*rder*d in the desert.

While investigating the
m*rder of Betty Lee,

police search for two women
who were with Betty the night

before at The Turnaround Bar
and had left with the two men.

Police were able to
corroborate their alibis.

The foursome had checked
into a nearby motel, where

they had remained until morning.

Investigators hoped forensic
evidence at Betty Lee's m*rder

scene would point them
in the right direction.

TERRY EAGLE: I had been on some
homicide cases prior to this.

At this point in time,
this was the most extensive

and the most
horrific I had seen.

NARRATOR: After dusting both
the sledgehammer and the knife,

there were no fingerprints
on either one so

that was a dead end.

Not far from Betty Lee's
body were some tire

tracks and some
shoe impressions.

Both were revealing.

The shoe impressions
told investigators

there were two K*llers.

One wore men's boots, size 13.

The other wore Converse brand
basketball shoes, size 10.

The third set of shoe prints
were the victim's sandals.

The tire impressions
near the body

were the size found
on a car, not a truck.

Yet, there were three
different tires.

-I've not seen a vehicle
with three kinds of treads

like that before.

It's the only one
I've ever seen.

It may happen, but
I haven't seen it.

NARRATOR: The three different
tire impressions led away

from the crime scene down the
road a short distance, then

turned off, heading
into the desert.

-I wanted to find out where
them tracks were leading,

and why were they out there?

Because at times, you might have
more than one crime scene, too.

There was always
that possibility.

There might have been another
crime scene out there.

NARRATOR: Police decided
to follow the tracks,

having no idea where
they would lead.

The trail went on and on, deeper
and deeper into the desert.

RICK DUNCAN: At times, we
noticed that the tracks

crisscrossed each other, so we'd
have to take time and figure

out what direction
we wanted to go

because they
overlapped each other.

MATT WILCOX: We
weren't even 100%

positive that this
was a vehicle that

was directly related
to this homicide.

We were just
following tracks that

led out of the crime scene.

NARRATOR: At times, it
was difficult to decipher.

RICK DUNCAN: Where
are these tracks

leading, why are they here.

Over the next three or four
hours, we followed tracks.

And when we lost them, we'd
get out, walk, look for them.

Pick them up again, drive some
more until we lost them again.

NARRATOR: And this went on for
mile after mile after mile.

And then, the trail stopped.

Nearby were tire
impressions from

several different vehicles.

Apparently, there had
been some sort of meeting.

RICK DUNCAN: It was obvious the
vegetation had been tore up.

There was ruts in there.

The sand was tore up.

And then I started picking
up several different shoe

impressions.

One was a smooth sole.

It might have been
a western boot.

NARRATOR: About 20
yards away, they

found another extraordinary
piece of evidence.

A cell phone.

MATT WILCOX: I've lived in
the area my entire life.

That's something
that's very uncommon

is coming across cellphones
out in the middle of nowhere.

RICK DUNCAN: The
cellphone looked fresh.

I mean, there was no dust on it.

There was no rain spatter
compared to the bottles

and trash that was in the area.

NARRATOR: Was is it
possible that the cell

phone belonged to the k*ller?

From the phone company,
police identified its owner

as a tow truck driver,
Charlie Bergin.

-I got a call from the
sheriff's department

asking me why my cell phone
was laying near this dead body,

you know, out there in
the middle of nowhere?

You think, oh my gosh, I'm
going to be arrested for m*rder.

NARRATOR: Bergin insisted he
knew nothing about any m*rder.

But he said he could explain
the four sets of tire tracks

in the sand.

According to Bergin, a
car got stuck in the sand

the night before.

The owner called his father,
who arrived in a pickup truck,

and the pickup
truck got stuck too.

They called for a tow
truck, and it got stuck.

Finally, the tow truck
driver called Charlie Bergin,

and he pulled them all out.

CHARLIE BERGIN:
I've been doing this

a long time, 17 years of it.

And you see people do
some really stupid things.

People have weird ways.

It's none of my
business what they do.

I just go on and towed
them out and did my thing.

NARRATOR: Investigators
could hardly believe it.

But what was Bergin's
phone doing in the sand?

-While I was pulling
them out, my phone rings.

Cell phone reception
here is not very good.

Couldn't hear a word she
was saying, it was my wife.

It kind of pisses me off, so
I just throw the phone away.

No big deal.

NARRATOR: Investigators were
now faced with a dilemma.

Either Charlie Bergin had
just told one of the biggest

lies they'd ever
heard, or he had

come face-to-face with
Betty Lee's K*llers.


Lee, the single mother

of five young children,
had been m*rder*d

in the New Mexico desert.

The tire tracks found
at the crime scene

led police on a
journey several miles

into the desert
where, apparently,

the vehicle got stuck.

Charlie Bergin, a
tow truck driver,

told police he was
called to the scene

to pull the vehicles
from the sand

and was paid for his
services with a check.

It was signed by 31-year-old
Bobby Fry, a construction

worker who had a police record.

CHARLIE BERGIN:
He seemed nervous

in a-- kind of a weird way.

Not really nervous, just
didn't want us in the vehicle,

I guess you could say.

I don't know why he didn't
want us in that vehicle.

I-- I don't understand that.

NARRATOR: Bergin said Bobby
Fry was driving the car.

BOB MELTON: And we're headed
off to Bobby Fry's house.

This is something that
needs immediate attention.

If there's any
evidence, we're going

to-- we need to get to his
house and preservative it,

if there is any.

NARRATOR: When questioned
about the incident,

Bobby Fry confirmed that his
car got stuck in the desert

and that he called his
father to help pull him out.

But he denied having anything
to do with Betty Lee's m*rder.

And he willingly allowed
police to search his home.

-I remember walking in to Robert
Fry's bedroom and thinking,

oh my gosh, there's-- there was
an enormous pile of clothes.

There was stuff
scattered everywhere.

The room was in total disarray.

And I remember
thinking, I have to go

through this entire room
with a fine tooth comb.

NARRATOR: In the
pile of clothes,

investigators found
a black t-shirt

and a pair of size 13 boots.

The same size as the impressions
found at the crime scene.

Bobby Fry said his
friend, Les Engh,

was with him the night before.

In Engh's home, police
confiscated his clothes

and a pair of Converse brand
basketball shoes, size 10.

The same size as the impression
found at the crime scene.

The clothing and
the m*rder weapons,

the knife and sledgehammer,
went to Rod Englert, an expert

in blood spatter analysis.

He examined Bobby Fry's shirt.

Under enhanced lighting, Englert
noticed tiny blood droplets.

The size and shape indicated
medium impact blood spatter.

He found the same
size and shape blood

droplets on Bobby Fry's boots.

To Englert, this told a story.

ROD ENGLERT: It was consistent
with him being the one that

had the sledgehammer and
hitting Betty Lee with it

as she lay on the ground.

-There were no fingerprints
on either the sledgehammer

and the knife, who would tell
us who was actually handling

the sledgehammer or who
was handling the knife.

NARRATOR: But Rod
Englert found another way

to prove who was handling
the sledgehammer.

Under a microscope, Englert
discovered tiny traces

of sand and blood
deeply embedded

in the shoulder of
Bobby Fry's shirt.

Englert said there was only one
way this could have happened.

ROD ENGLERT: And that is
consistent with placing

the sledgehammer with the handle
over one shoulder with the sand

and the blood, and carrying
that 10-pound weight

on the shoulder.

That is my opinion
as to what occurred

after she was hit
with the sledgehammer.

That one casually
walks off carrying

the hammer on the shoulder.

NARRATOR: As for Les Engh,
there was no blood whatsoever

on his clothing, and no
blood spatter on his shoes.

But there was a blood
transfer pattern.

It looked as if Les Engh
carried Betty Lee's body

into the brush, but he wasn't
nearby when she was k*lled.

ROD ENGLERT: So you're able
to eliminate and exclude,

by the evidence, the
participation of Leslie Engh

in the k*lling of Betty Lee.

NARRATOR: DNA testing of the
blood on Bobby Fry's clothing

and shoes and Les
Engh's shoes confirmed

that it was Betty Lee's blood.

-We found Betty Lee's blood
in the vehicle itself.

And in fact, we found an
earring-- or the police

found an earring in
Robert Fry's vehicle

that matched up to the
earring Betty Lee's body

had after she was m*rder*d.

NARRATOR: And finally,
the tire impressions

found at the crime scene matched
the tires on Bobby Fry's car.

Bobby Fry and Les Engh
were both arrested

and charged with
first-degree m*rder.

But investigators still
didn't understand the motive.

When confronted with
the overwhelming amount

of forensic evidence, Bobby
Fry denied he was involved.

But Les Engh confessed.

-You guys, don't
leave me behind, here.

How am I going to get home?

NARRATOR: On the
night of the m*rder,

Betty Lee found herself
without a ride home

when her friends left
the bar with two men.

And she wasn't able to find
anyone to give her a ride home.

According to Les Engh, Bobby
Fry was angry that night.

He had gotten into
a bar fight earlier

and was looking for trouble.

That's when they saw Betty
Lee crying near the pay phone.

[card door closes]

NARRATOR: Along the way,
Fry stopped the car,

pulled Betty out and
tried to r*pe her.

But Betty put up a fight.

In anger, Fry stabbed her
repeatedly with his knife.

Then took a sledgehammer from
the car and beat her to death.

Blood splatter landed on
Fry's shoes and shirt.

Sand and blood on
Fry's shoulder proved

he disposed of the
sledgehammer after the m*rder.

Both men carried Betty's
body into the bushes creating

the blood transfer pattern
on Les Engh's shoes.

The two left the m*rder
weapons at the scene,

along with their
shoe and tire prints.

Their trail led into the
desert, where they planned

to do some joyriding, but
they ran into trouble.

In a colossal blunder, Fry's
car got stuck in the sand.

He called his father,
who also got stuck.

They called a tow truck
and it got stuck too.

Ultimately, it was Charlie
Bergin who got them out.

Had it not been for Charlie
Bergin's cell phone, that he

threw in anger when his wife
called while he was pulling

the cars out of the
sand, police might

never have solved the case.

CHARLIE BERGIN: You
know, when I got

that call that day from my
wife, I thought, oh God,

what does she want this time?

You know, just called me
up to bug me all the time.

But it was probably
the best phone

call I'd ever got in my life.

NARRATOR: Robert Fry
was tried and convicted

of first-degree m*rder
and sentenced to death.

Les Engh testified
against him and received

a 40-year sentence.

Bobby Fry was later convicted
of three other murders,

including that of Donald Tsosie,
the Native American whose body

was discovered two years
earlier just 10 miles away

from where Betty
Lee was m*rder*d.

Betty Lee's family members are
grateful for the work of law

enforcement and the
forensic evidence

that identified her K*llers.

-We really appreciate
their efforts

in bringing justice
to her m*rder.

-Betty Lee did not
deserve to die.

And no one deserves
to die in such

a horrible terrifying manner.

This was one of the worst
situations you can even imagine

for a woman's last
moments on Earth.

It's-- it's horrible.

NARRATOR: A memorial now sits on
the site of Betty Lee's m*rder.

A reminder not only
of a life senselessly

lost, but the
scientific investigation

that put her
K*llers behind bars.

-The evidence at the scene,
as well as the evidence

we recovered on follow-up made
the difference in this case.

The physical evidence is always
the most important factor

in the trial process
if it's available.

Physical evidence doesn't lie.

-Forensic science was huge, the
way everything from the blood

spatter interpretation, the
DNA, the footwear evidence,

the tire evidence, it was huge.

Forensic evidence
solved this case.