a drive-by sh**ting on Alaskan Highway
and the b*mb sent through the mail to
apparently random acts of senseless
v*olence until forensic science
discovered an important link
on an October night in 1990 Rob
Chamberlain and his friend were driving
along Glenn Highway in Anchorage Alaska
headed to a local restaurant as he
approached the exit ramp Chamberlain
heard a loud crack he looked back and
saw a hole in his rear window then he
saw his friend 20 year old Jeffrey Kane
slumped in his seat and covered in blood
b*llet entered the backers had exited
out the front of his head death was
instantaneous Kane's parents were called
to the scene I couldn't understand why
Jeff had to be the one it was shot maybe
I'm just soon like there's other people
why not sh**t the bad people Jeff was a
computer programmer with no known
enemies
the driver Rob Chamberlain said he had
no idea why they were targeted our first
impression was maybe it was a drug deal
gone bad and somebody was following this
young man and something had happened we
really pressed the issue were you
targeted for some apparent reason were
you involved in something do you know do
you have any enemies have you been
involved in anything that would have led
somebody to target you not far from the
site of the sh**ting police found a
shell casing on the side of the highway
people it probably came from another
vehicle that was traveling in the same
direction as our victim vehicle the
casing was from a high-powered as*ault
style r*fle a heckler & koch r hk91
police wondered whether the sh**ting was
intentional or a random act they were
concerned that somewhere there was a
sh**t out there not knowing what had
happened or what led to it they just
knew that there was somebody out there
who randomly shot teenage boy on the
road it's kind of scary to think that
you could be driving down the road get
shot it was very tense at the time they
knew there was a sh**t out there
stolen someone who had just k*lled
somebody with little else to go on
police asked the public through local
media outlets for any witnesses to come
forward I would not think it was a stray
b*llet
I would think somebody was aiming in
that car why that particular car we
don't know but no one reported seeing
anything unusual so there wasn't a lot
of traffic on the freeway in coming into
Anchorage at the time so there was
nobody else in another vehicle who you
know called the police and said wow I
just saw a guy fire a shot out of a
vehicle
the investigation had barely started and
was already stalled it is an unlimited
pool of suspects you know at that
particular time we have no idea who
would have done this we have no idea why
they targeted that card oh it's just
wide open at that time
Jeff Caine's family and friends tried to
make sense of the highway sh**ting that
took his life kids driving speeding
maybe a car accident but never ever just
sitting in the crying getting shot
something you read about in Los Angeles
not Alaska the shell casing found on the
highway led police to believe that Jeff
had been hit with a b*llet fired from
another car it looked like the sh**t
waited until the car exited the highway
and reduced speed before firing the
fatal shot
I believe what happened was that the
suspects in this case were pacing the
victim vehicle until they get the best
shot possible the next morning news of
the sh**ting appeared in the local
newspaper
and when nineteen year old George ker
saw it he felt he had no choice but to
call police
yeah can I explain my situation later I
mean Harry these guys are these guys are
friends of okay friends I'd say I mean
and I usually wouldn't rat out my
friends but this is just so severe I got
to do it
Kerr said he and his two friends are D
chili and Doug Gustafson bought an
as*ault r*fle earlier in the day later
when they were driving home a car cut
them off on the highway this pissed RV
off so he turns to Gus and he said sh**t
that mother
he claimed that Gustafson raised the
r*fle and fired a single shot towards
the cock
curr claimed he didn't know anyone had
been hurt until he read the newspaper he
actually aim it like a r*fle uh it was
really quick I don't know I was sitting
back and I was telling him you don't
want to do that I still didn't think he
do it George ker story of the sh**ting
it's very credible because by that time
we had worked this crime scene and the
highway all night
it was very consistent with what we had
and he definitely had information that
hadn't been released to the media Kerr
claimed you didn't know what Gustafson
did with the r*fle after the sh**ting
investigators weren't entirely convinced
the Kerr would testify against his
friends in open court I'll be honestly I
never trusted George you know he's one
of these that he's going to flip on you
he's got a flip up because on the one
hand he'd to go oh how terrible this was
miss kid didn't deserve to die to the
other turn and talking about these are
his best friends you know and we would
die for each other
there wasn't any proof that all this
happened other than what George was
saying see what I'm saying so they
couldn't just run in and make an arrest
at that time to confirm kurz version of
events police asked him to wear a hidden
microphone
and meet with chili and Gustafson the
meeting took place in a restaurant at
the Anchorage International Airport to
undercover policeman sat nearby the
recording device was in a car outside
Jorge Kurt said words to the effect of
you know Doug why'd you have to k*ll
that guy and Gustafson responded with
words to the effect of well I didn't
mean to George and absolutely
corroborated what Qura just told the
told the the detectives but Gustafson
wouldn't say where he hid the g*n
nevertheless police arrested Rd chili
and Doug Gustafson and charged them with
Jeffrey Kane's m*rder
George ker accepted a plea bargain and
agreed to testify for the prosecution in
exchange for immunity without the m*rder
w*apon he was their entire case Virge
Kerr was very important to the
prosecution without George Kerr been
very difficult I think to put them at
the scene and to actually have an
eyewitness who witness not only the
sh**ting but what happened before and
after but as the trial was about to
begin
George Kerr changed his story police had
two men in custody for the sh**ting
death of Jeff Kane based on information
provided by their eyewitness George Kerr
curr initially said that Doug Gustafson
fired an as*ault r*fle at Jeff Kane from
approximately ten yards away which
k*lled him instantly
but soon Kurt changed his story
it wasn't like aimed things just pointed
in the general direction of the car he
now claimed that Gustafson pointed the
g*n out the window and fired a shot from
believe that this was done so as to
throw a bone to his friends that is to
give them an out to say that it wasn't
first-degree m*rder that maybe it was
something lesser than that like
criminally negligent homicide or
manslaughter basically something to try
to appease his friends the shell casing
at the scene indicated the w*apon was an
hk91 as*ault r*fle
receipts from a local g*n store
supported George curse that Doug
Gustafson had bought an hk91 the day of
the m*rder Kerr also said that he chili
and Gustafson had been sh**ting the g*n
earlier that day and they used a road
sign as a target
investigators found that sign with three
b*llet holes detest curse story
investigators turned to forensic analyst
Robert Shem he test-fired an hk91 into a
piece of metal the same thickness as the
road sign then using a rubber light
casting substance called microsil he
made impressions of the b*llet holes in
the road sign and those produced by his
test firing of the same type of g*n the
castings were compared under a
microscope
once I removed the rubber I was able to
establish that the holes in the sign
were indeed 30 caliber and it possessed
the same rifling characteristics as an
hk91 the test proved hers claimed that
the boys were using an hk91 that day but
could investigators prove the sh**ting
was intentional
the fatal b*llet entered the car through
the back window hit the victim and
exited through the passenger side window
here investigators got a lucky break
there was tinting film on the windows of
the victim's car had the vehicle not had
tinting film the tempered glass that was
on the back window of the vehicle in on
the passenger side window would have
shattered and probably been completely
lost the tinting film held the glass
together as a result the b*llet hole was
still visible shem took what was left of
the passenger window and made a
cardboard template then recreated the
b*llet hole he placed the template in
the victims passenger side window and
then he conducted a simple test he ran a
spring from the b*llet hole in the back
window
through the hole in the headrest to the
hole in the passenger side window what
we found was that after stringing the
trajectory that the angle was
approximately 47 degrees off the back of
the vehicle
if the shot had been fired from 200
yards away as George Curnow claimed the
trajectory angle would be approximately
placed the sh**t car very close
within 7 to 15 yards away this then put
the vehicles in such a close position
that it rendered a very easy shot for
mr. Gupta soon when he shot at the
victim vehicle at the m*rder trial
George Kurt testified against his two
friends but continued to insist their
car was 200 yards away from the victim's
car when the shot was fired first and
you base it on what but the forensic
evidence proved they were less than 15
yards away which meant the shot was
intentioned based on this evidence the
driver Rd chili was convicted of
second-degree m*rder
Doug Gustafson the sh**t was convicted
of first degree m*rder both were
sentenced to life in prison
since George ker had immunity from
prosecution
he left Alaska soon after the trial
ended but the story didn't end there
about a year after the highway sh**ting
a package was mailed to George Kerr in
care of his family's address in Eklutna
Alaska
since George was out of state his father
decided to open it
instantly
George's stepmother Michels barely alive
every bone in her face was broken for
eardrums shattered police questioned her
on the way to the hospital convinced she
would not survive there's some police
officers here just repeat what you think
happened go ahead George Alaska I don't
um how do you know that it was from Doug
Michelle good George put it in jail
George's justified Michele thought the
b*mb had to have come from the two men
her stepson put in jail Doug Gustafson
and RD chili the bond was not meant to
frighten someone to intimidate someone
this was meant to k*ll and it succeeded
k*lling the wrong person but could the
forensic evidence prove it at David kurz
autopsy investigators found a tiny metal
post in his chest the kind used in a
switch ultimately our crime lab was able
to determine the type of switch that
that post would be a part of a
manufacturer and to whom did the
manufacturer provide the circuit or the
switch RadioShack well there are lots of
RadioShack's but at least we knew there
were radio shacks in Anchorage but both
Chile and Gustafson were incarcerated at
the time
how could they have done it from jail
how could they do this how could they do
that you know which was all of our clip
all of our questions you know how could
somebody do that from jail since prisons
routinely record all inmate
conversations investigators found this
coded conversation between Gustafson and
his sister Peggy it took place shortly
before the bombing now this fix your car
remember as soon as you find out which
ways on which way is off on sliding one
glue it in place like I described right
below the surface so that when it's
pushed towards the side hits on and
let's push towards the center Tom okay
superficially just sounded like Doug
giving his sister some some help fixing
her car but had too much connected with
it too to be just that so as you listen
to it over and over again you you know
became clear that they were talking
about Doug was giving Peggy instructions
on how to create a circuit for an
improvised expl*sive device those audio
tapes were the smoking g*n
other conversations revealed Peggy
didn't have the technical ability to
build the device so she brought in
another member of the family their elder
brother Craig who was a mechanic
apparently both Peggy and Craig
Gustafson believed their brother was
innocent in the highway sh**ting death
and that George ker was responsible to
give some idea of the depth of her
emotions and her feelings of revenge
Peggy Gustafson is nine months pregnant
she is in fact within three days of
delivering her second child into the
world when she delivers the b*mb package
to the post office Rock Phelps was in
prison with Doug Gustafson and RD chili
when the bombing occurred and he knew
they wanted revenge RB didn't give a
shit who got k*lled as long as a George
Krueger got k*lled he was one to k*ll
George little George is what we called
we had actually a number of inmates who
told us that they had seen a list of
names that Raymond Sheeley had with him
at the jail and that Schiele had told
them that in fact this was a hit list it
was a list of people that he wanted to
k*ll and they were able to describe the
list that the first person on that list
was George ker other names on the hit
list included the judge and prosecutor
at their trial when Peggy and Craig
Gustafson were brought in for
questioning and they heard the taped
conversations from prison they
immediately confessed when Peggy
cooperated Peggy was able to tell us
which store she went to to purchase
those switches we were able to find
through an old receipt at that store
didn't have Peggy's name on it but it
did show a transaction yet right during
a time frame that would be very relevant
to our case of those types of switches
being purchased this bombing could it
was totally preventable it never should
have happened the Department of
Corrections failed
Dave and failed me their job is to
protect the public and not simply house
prisoners michelle kerr sued the state
of alaska and won more than eleven
million dollars in damages Peggy and
Craig Gustafson were both convicted for
their role and missed icarus m*rder and
will serve a minimum of 22 years in jail
Rd Chile and Doug Gustafson received
additional life sentences they should
even away stood a trial on they should
have took him out let the family sh**t
them in the back of the head that's the
way I feel about it but that's Alaska
justice you know we do things a little
different up here used to anyway in the
end a half dozen families were destroyed
and prosecutors believe there would have
been more victims
if forensic science hadn't ended Chile
and Gustafson's k*lling spree you can't
just take science by itself and build a
case or rare occasions can you you use a
combination of wonder people telling you
what do you know about this person that
person and you use your science and it
all just meshes right together and that
builds your case but without that you
know we'd still be back in the dark ages
of investigating crime
10x25 - Signed, Sealed & Delivered
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Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.
Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.