10x31 - Garden of Evil

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: The m*rder of a
well known radio personality

left police wondering
who wanted her dead.

A tiny piece of plastic, a
sniffer dog, and a sponge

were all investigators
needed to find the answer.

[theme music]

NARRATOR: Radio
personalities have many fans,

but aren't usually
the target of stalkers

since there's a
certain anonymity

that comes with the medium.

[RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT]
Debbie Dicus, 2WD.

NARRATOR: But 31-year-old
Debbie Dicus was different.

Her late night radio show
on an FM station in Virginia

captured listeners' attention
with the unique blend

of intimate conversation,
self-disclosure,

and a little music
thrown in too.

-Why don't you and I make
sure Maryland and lots of kids

like her are not
disappointed again this year?

-She would tell
the audience, I'm

kind of feeling this way today,
be it happy or sad or upset

or maybe she was
elated that, you know,

something good had
happened in her life.

So she'd say, you know, why
don't you call in and tell me

what's going on with your life,
or how do you feel about this

or whatever.

-She sounded like
the girl next door.

I think that was one of the
things that made her so popular

was that she seemed
to be very accessible.

NARRATOR: But the
story of Debbie Dicus

took a tragic turn
when police received

this telephone
call from a hunter.

-I found a dead body.

-Where?

-You know where that city field
is that they have for a garden?

-Was it male or female?

-It was a female.

-Black or white?

-She was white.

NARRATOR: When police arrived
they found Debbie's body

in a ditch near the
community garden

where she grew vegetables.

-My initial viewing of the
body seemed to indicate to me

a possible sexually
motivated crime.

Her clothing was in disarray
and the position of her body

just seemed to lend itself
to that possible motive.

NARRATOR: Robbery didn't
appear to be the motive

since her purse was in her
car about 30 feet away.

-Clearly there was an attack
at the back of the car.

Her hair barrettes
had fallen out,

her cigarettes had
fallen out on the ground.

There was obviously
signs of a struggle.

There was blood on the car.

NARRATOR: Near
Debbie's car police

found their first
piece of evidence.

-We noticed a very
black piece of plastic.

At the time, we wasn't
sure what it was sitting

on top the track,
which meant it had

to be there after
the car drove in.

NARRATOR: As police
investigated the scene,

Debbie's live in
boyfriend Bill Campbell

showed up before
police even called him.

-As I pulled in, the police
officer sitting in his car

immediately got out to stop me.

And he says, you
can't go back there.

I said, my girlfriend's got a
city garden plot back there.

She's gardening.

He goes, yeah, but you
can't go back there,

there's been a crime.

Of course, then I knew
something was wrong.

NARRATOR: Campbell
was a disc jockey

at the same radio station.

He said he was
worried when Debbie

didn't arrive home
at her usual time.

-At some point, he told
me that she was dead

and didn't give me any
other further details.

NARRATOR: One of
Debbie's co-workers

thought professional jealousy
might have been a motive.

-I will admit I did have
the list of usual suspects,

you know, of people that
used to work at the station

and no longer worked
there that, you know,

maybe didn't get along with her,
because they thought she was

too mild, and they didn't
like or style of broadcasting.

NARRATOR: Apparently,
Debbie told friends

that she feared this exact
scenario, that someone,

possibly a member of her radio
audience, might get too close.

-Debbie had a paralyzing fear
that she actually sat down

and discussed with me
that someone was going

to break into the studio attack
her, r*pe her, and k*ll her.

Maybe she had a premonition
that something like this

would happen, or maybe she
was just overly cautious.

-Because she was a
celebrity could it

be somebody who
followed her there

and waited a fan, a
deranged fan, a Play

Misty for Me kind of situation?

NARRATOR: This meant a huge
pool of potential suspects

in the Norfolk, Williamsburg,
and Virginia Beach communities.

Police knew it would be a
difficult investigation.

-The community just was very
afraid and it was palpable.

It was all people
were talking about.

You'd go to the grocery
store, you'd go to get gas,

you'd go to the dry
cleaners and that's

what people were talking about.

NARRATOR: Debbie Dicus a popular
late night radio personality,

was found m*rder*d in
a public park where

she had planted a
vegetable garden.

[RADIO ANNOUNCEMENT]
Debbie Dicus, 2WD.

-Here's a woman who's doing
her gardening in the afternoon,

where there are people in
and out of all the time,

and she's found
brutally m*rder*d.

So it's not the middle
of the night in a place

where she perhaps
shouldn't have been.

NARRATOR: At Debbie's
autopsy, the medical examiner

found multiple lacerations on
the front and back of her head.

And there was an unusual
patterned bruise on her back.

Her body temperature
and rigor mortis

indicated she had been
dead for only a short time

before police arrived.

-And the police
told us that she had

been dead no less
than two hours.

NARRATOR: The cause of
death was asphyxiation.

She had been strangled
and then drowned

in a small puddle of water.

The medical examiner found
no signs of sexual as*ault.

-Evidence shows
there was a struggle.

I just wish she'd
had kicked his ass.

NARRATOR: At the
crime scene, police

continued to search
for possible clues.

They interviewed
everyone who had

visited the vegetable
garden bad day.

-They mentioned a young blond
haired boy who was often

seen walking around in the area.

They couldn't recall
when they last saw him,

but it hadn't been long
before the offense date.

So we set about to
try to locate him.

NARRATOR: The boy
spent a lot of time

in the cemetery
adjacent to the garden,

and police were
able to locate him.

-This young man was identified
as a Michael LaPrade.

He was an area resident,
lived further up on Armistead,

about two miles from the scene.

NARRATOR: But LaPrade
was not in the city

on the day of the m*rder
and was ruled out.

Debbie's boyfriend was
eliminated as a suspect.

He was at home on the
afternoon of the m*rder.

Next, police checked phone
logs at the radio station

to see how many
people called Debbie's

radio show multiple times.

-I'm sure over the years that
we spent together and being

in radio that
long, you know, I'm

sure we'd get the
occasional wacky caller,

but none sticks in
my mind that she

felt threatened by or
anything like that.

NARRATOR: Investigators
got their first real break

in the area surrounding
the vegetable garden.

Just a few yards
from Debbie's body

they found what appeared to be
the wooden shaft of a garden

hoe.

It had been broken in half.

-It was obvious that the
hoe was used to hit her

in the head on
several occasions.

It was long cuts in
the top of her head,

her scalp was wide open.

It was consistent with
hard blows of the hoe.

NARRATOR: A police dog came in
to track the k*ller's scent.

Glennell Fullman
advised the officers

not to touch the hoe until
the dog could get a sniff.

-I didn't want anybody
else to touch the hoe.

So I had them bring the
hoe out of the water

with using a stick, just the
handle, the rest of the hoe

stayed in the water.

I didn't want to disturb
it anymore than I had to.

NARRATOR: The dog
picked up the scent.

Some believe it's the
adrenaline they detect.

-Dogs do smell fear.

Yes, they do.

When a person is getting
ready to commit a crime,

they know it's wrong,
their adrenalin goes crazy,

the fear factor comes out.

They don't want to be caught.

And that puts out more
scent from the body

which makes a better tracking.

NARRATOR: As the
dog sniffed around,

a small crowd of bystanders
had gathered nearby.

Strangely, the dog headed
straight towards them.

-He went past her car and
then headed for the crowd.

I advised the crowd to
stand perfectly still,

that he would not bite anybody.

Just don't move.

He went up to a
gentleman's back legs,

sniffed up and down his
legs, stopped right there,

and turned and looked at me.

NARRATOR: Why had
the dog identified

a man standing in the crowd?

Investigators would
soon learn why.

-When I think about
her it's always

in a good way, a positive way.

I don't, I don't dwell
on how she left us,

but what she was before.

NARRATOR: When radio personality
Debbie Dicus was found m*rder*d

in a field, analysts
searched for evidence

on the broken hoe
found near her body.

-Hairs were recovered
from the blade end

that was caked in mud.

Those hairs were
consistent with the victim.

NARRATOR: A police dog
tracked the scent on the hoe

to a man standing
in the parking lot

watching police
process the scene.

His name was Ronald
Blanchard, the same man

who found Debbie's
body and called police.

-While there could be an
innocent explanation for that,

but that was certainly
one thing that we

were all very interested in.

NARRATOR: 21-year-old
Ronald Blanchard

was a newlywed who
worked on a fishing boat.

He had no apparent
motive and claimed

he didn't know the victim
was a radio personality

until someone in
the crowd told him.

-I did a background
investigation.

I went to the trailer
court where he used to live

and found out that
he had a record.

He was a high school drop out.

I found that he,
you know, a very,

very unstable human being.

NARRATOR: When
questioned, Blanchard

denied he had touched the hoe
when he found Debbie's body.

He said all he did was
check Debbie's pulse.

On Blanchard's shirt,
analysts found blood spatter.

When tested, the blood
was clearly not his.

-The proteins and enzymes
that were identified

was consistent with
the victim, which

means those genetic
material that was detected

could originate from her but did
not originate from the suspect.

NARRATOR: Blanchard's claim
that Debbie's blood got

on to his shirt when he leaned
over her body was substantiated

to some extent by the evidence.

-A contact transfer would
be where some bloody object

such as a bloody hand makes
contact with a surface that

is clean, and the blood is
transferred from one surface

to the other.

NARRATOR: But other
blood stains could

not be so easily explained.

-I recognized at least two areas
of stain, one on the shirt,

one on the pants,
that would fall

into the category
of impact spatter.

NARRATOR: Then police remembered
Blanchard said he was hunting

when he discovered
Debbie's body.

So police asked for
the r*fle he was using.

-Not only that it had
a lot of mud on it,

but the barrel of
the g*n had been bent

and the bolt action
had been disabled.

In other words, it had been
crushed and broken off,

a piece had been
missing from it.

NARRATOR: This was indicative of
swinging the r*fle like a bat.

Interestingly, the
plastic fragment

found near Debbie's
car was the missing

piece from Blanchard's r*fle.

-He was asked specifically if
he had been near the victim's

vehicle, and he
indicated no he had not.

NARRATOR: The stock of his
r*fle was the same shape

and left the same pattern as
the injury on Debbie's back.

And investigators
found even more.

-We noticed that
there were hairs up

at that bolt area
which was damaged.

And two hairs were recovered
from that bolt area.

And they were
microscopically examined

and saw that they
were forcibly removed.

NARRATOR: Hairs from
Blanchard's r*fle

were compared to head hairs
taken from Debbie Dicus

during her autopsy.

Under high
magnification, scientists

discovered they were
microscopically similar.

Coincidentally, before her
death Debbie told her boyfriend

that she had gotten
into an argument

with a man who had
been hunting close

to the community
vegetable garden.

-Well, she did mention that
she'd seen a guy with a BB g*n.

And she didn't
describe him or she

didn't necessarily get
a bad vibe from him.

She was just a little angry
that a guy would be out there,

you know, sh**ting birds.

NARRATOR: And there was another
question that haunted police.

Why would Blanchard report the
crime if he was the k*ller?

Ronald Blanchard claimed
he found Debbie Dicus' body

in the ravine while he
was walking to his car

after an afternoon of hunting.

He insisted that the blood
on his shirt and pants

was the result of trying to
help Debbie Dicus not hurt her.

To find out, forensic
analyst Norm Tiller

put on white coveralls and
conducted an experiment.

He used a sponge soaked
in blood and placed

it on a motorcycle helmet.

Then used a hoe like the one
found at the crime scene.

-I delivered some pretty
substantial blows with that hoe

and immediately we began
to produce the same types

of stains that were on
the suspect's t-shirt.

-And the harder he hits it the
further it goes and the tinier

it is.

So it's, sort of, something
that people, I think,

inherently will
understand the physics of,

but you haven't
ever really thought

about it in that context before.

NARRATOR: Experts say the
only way Blanchard would have

this kind of blood
spatter on his shirt

was if he was present
during her attack.

-They were on the upper portion
of the shirt, across the chest,

on both sleeves, and actually
some stains were actually

on the back of the shirt
on the upper portion

of the back of the shirt.

NARRATOR: The blood on the
back of someone's shirt

means the person was swinging
an object covered in blood.

-There's no other
way to explain this.

He can talk about
transfer all day long.

He can talk about
trying to feel her pulse

and falling down into the ditch.

But that will never
explain how the spatter

got onto his clothes.

-There's no way he
could have gotten

blood on his shirt in that way.

And they, to me as
an observer, they

proved it beyond a
shadow of a doubt to me.

NARRATOR: The evidence
on Blanchard's jeans

was also consistent
with a struggle.

-The knee areas of the
jeans had grassy stains

like somebody would have
knelt down into an area

with their knees and had
grass stains on those as well.

NARRATOR: Ronald Blanchard
was arrested and charged

with attempted r*pe,
abduction, and m*rder.

Prosecutors believed Blanchard
saw Debbie at the community

garden, they may have
spoken or met before.

The evidence shows
that Blanchard

hit Debbie with the
butt of his r*fle.

When she tried to
get away, he hit her

again breaking a
piece of the plastic

on the r*fle, which
was found near her car.

The motive may have
been sexual as*ault,

and the evidence shows she
fought back aggressively.

So Blanchard struck her
repeatedly with the garden hoe,

which created the fine mist of
blood splatter on his clothing.

He then strangled her to death.

When he got home,
his wife probably

saw the blood on his hands.

This forced him to
create the cover story

that he found a dead
body in the field.

This, in turn, required
him to call police.

-I've found a dead body.

-Once he made that call, he
had to continue the charade

and go along with his
story through the end.

NARRATOR: He went back to the
scene to speak with police,

and the dog made
the identification.

-This was the first case that
I had a really used a dog track

to come up with a critical
incriminating piece

of evidence.

So learning about the science
of dog handling and tracking

was really fascinating.

NARRATOR: Police say their
sniffer dog Roadie was used

in hundreds of
other cases and had

an incredible record of success.

-And I figured it up.

It was over 700 cases.

And of those over 700
cases, he was 99% accurate.

He found what he was looking
for, whatever I scented him

on the track trail,
he finished the track

and found an object, a
person, a car, whatever

was at the other
end, he found it.

NARRATOR: At his
trial, Ronald Blanchard

maintained his
innocence and even

testified in his own defense.

But the evidence was too great.

Blanchard was convicted
of Debbie Dicus' m*rder

and sentenced to two
consecutive life terms.

-He showed no remorse at all.

And he insisted that he was
not guilty that they had,

that the police had the
wrong, the wrong person.

-Well, he never
could or never would

acknowledge his true
involvement in this crime.

NARRATOR: Only now years
after the crime in a letter

to the producers
of this program has

Blanchard finally
admitted his guilt.

ROBERT BLANCHARD [VOICEOVER]
I deeply regret the pain

and suffering that I've
caused so many people.

Never doubt that I don't
realize what I have done

and accept the
consequences of my actions.

-I'm sorry It took so
long for him to do that,

but I guess that's a step in
the right direction for him

to continue living
with what happened.

NARRATOR: Debbie's
friends and family

didn't need Blanchard's
confession to know the truth.

The truth, they say, was clearly
evident from the forensics.

-You go, what went
through this guy's head?

I didn't feel hatred toward him.

I felt no empathy toward him.

He's just a stupid,
mean guy apparently.

-I appreciate what science
has been able to do,

because if they weren't
able to track down Blanchard

I have to wonder where
it would have stopped.

-Without the forensics,
I don't think

it could have all come
together in the way it did.

There would've been a lot of
pieces pointing toward him,

but I think there would
have been a lot of holes

in the jigsaw puzzle
without the forensics.