11x05 - Shattered Dreams

[bunniefuu]

The dean of a
prestigious university

had a secret life that
may have led to his death.

A tiny piece of a latex
glove and some broken glass

where the only clues.

To solve the mystery,
investigators

needed to know what he was
doing with an 18-year-old girl.

For 12 years, students
and faculty at Texas Tech

University could
set their watches

by Douglas Miller's schedule.

As the Associate
Dean of Libraries,

he would arrive
promptly by 8:00 AM.

A schedule that never
varied, until one day,

he just didn't show up.

If he was ill he would call in,

and that sort of thing.

So we were aware that
things weren't exactly

the way they were
supposed to be.

Police found his car
in a drainage ditch in Canyon

Lake State Park, just five
miles from the university.


was dead in the backseat.

And there was an 18-year-old
woman, Viola McVade,

found dead in the
front passenger seat.

Both were shot with a
.380 caliber p*stol.

There were six
b*ll*ts recovered at the scene,

that all six were
able to be able to be

identified as .380 auto caliber.

And they were all fired
from the same firearm.

g*nf*re had broken
both of the car side windows.

But there was no broken glass in
the drainage ditch, which meant

the m*rder took place elsewhere.

It took hours for them

to check the ground and
the sticks and everything

possible around the car,
before they could even

pull the card out of the gully.

And after that, they would
remove the bodies out.

The car was
dusted for fingerprints.

And the only ones found
belonged to Doug and Viola.

And investigators
soon discovered why.

They found what appeared
to be a small piece

of a latex glove beneath
Doug Miller's body.

It was the tip
of a finger, is what was.

It was less of a half an inch.

If the k*ller
was wearing rubber gloves,

this was a clear indication
the murders were premeditated.

You wondered right away,

why is 53-year-old male in the
car with an 18-year-old female?

You know, what's
that connection?

Which of course,
we were all asking.

Investigators
learned that Doug Miller met

Viola McVade for
the first time just

a few hours before the murders.

A known prost*tute, Teresa
Williams had introduced them.

Doug Miller called Teresa
Williams looking for a date.

And Williams suggested
her friend, Viola McVade.

- He would take out a young
woman on a date several times

and see where it would go.

That it was not a
situation he asking

for someone to sleep with him.

Not real common, but it happens.

Not that uncommon, either.

As far as I know, this might
have been a lonely man that

just enjoyed the company
of these young girls.

And maybe that's the naivety in
me, you know, that says that.

Doug Miller
was a divorced father

of two grown children.

Viola was an aspiring
model, and hadn't

yet graduated from high school.

Words can't describe how I felt.

I loved her, but the way
I truly felt for her,

you can't... I can't
explain it to you.

Her fiance, Terremy Beaver,

knew nothing about
this paid date,

but wasn't entirely surprised.

She loved money, I know that.

Whatever it would
have took for her to,

you know, to get, to provide
for her and her family,

that's what she was going to do.

She didn't care what it was, or
how she had to go and get it.

She just had that mentality.

Investigators
knew Beaver had nothing

to do with the
crime, because he was

in jail that night
on a drug charge.

I always tell folks,
it's almost impossible

to k*lled in Lubbock, unless
you're doing something

you shouldn't be
doing, unless you're

some place you shouldn't be.

The double
homicide of a college dean

and a teenage girl was going
to be difficult to solve,

since Doug Miller and Viola
McVade were barely acquainted,

and each have different
backgrounds to look into.

When questioned by police,
Doug Miller's friends

said, he had no known enemies.

Everyone we asked, his friends,

his co-workers were
completely shocked.

They had no idea why he would
have been in this part of town,

or with this person.

In fact, Doug
Miller had a reputation as one

of the most private
and generous people

at the university
where he worked.

He anonymously
set up a scholarship

for a student assistant
in the library.

Now they all knew that a
scholarship was available,

but they didn't
know who funded it.

And I just always thought that
was very interesting, that he

had every opportunity to say,
you know, put his name on it,

or say, I did this.

But he never did
that kind of thing.

The crime scene
suggested that Doug Miller may

not have been the
primary target,

but that Viola McVade was.

I think she had three g*nsh*t

wounds to the head, very close.

She had stippling
that was, you know,

gunpowder burns, that
we're very close.

Almost close contact
wounds to her head.

High impact blood spatter

inside the car on
the driver's side

proved that Doug Miller
was shot in the front seat,

and then moved to the backseat.

- With the amount of blood
that was in the seat,

and it being all
smeared, would indicate

that after he was
removed from that seat,

that someone had to
sit down in that blood,

and transfer that blood from
the seat to their person.

Both victims
still had their wallets,

jewelry, and other
personal items.

So robbery was not
considered a motive.

The bodies were in Doug's car in
a ravine in Canyon Lakes Park.

There was no glass on the
ground from the broken windows...

An indication the murders
took place elsewhere.

But where was the m*rder scene?

Police records revealed
a potential clue.

Around 10:00 PM on the
night before the bodies were

discovered, several people
called police headquarters

to report g*nf*re
in a dark alley.

- I think the reason
nobody saw anything

is because nobody
wanted to see anything.

I think this from
an area of town

where you don't want to be
involved in telling what you

may or may not
have seen or heard.

A close inspection of the alley

revealed shattered
glass, which was sent

to the forensics
lab for testing.

Analysts tested the
glass for what's

known as its refractive index.

Refractive index
is the measure of the speed

of light as it passes
through a substance.

It's the reason that,
when you put a straw

in a glass of water, it
looks like the straw bends.

The sample is
crushed into small pieces

and placed in a drop
of oil, then heated.

When the oil and the glass
reach the same refractive index,

the glass disappears.

We change
the temperature of the oil

until we see that
glass disappear,

and then we know,
at that temperature,

the oil is this
refractive index,

therefore, the glass is
that same refractive index.

The refractive index
of the glass in the alleyway

was similar to the glass
from Doug Miller's car.

To be absolutely certain,
scientists heated the glass

with an argon plasma torch to
identify its chemical makeup.

If the levels
of all nine of those elements

from the question sample
fall within the range

of those same levels
for the known,

then we say that's a
positive association.

And this proved
the class in the alleyway

was from Doug Miller's car.

- That definitely was our
first, I guess, link saying,

those two scenes are connected.

We knew
where the crime scene was.

We were able to determine
that the glass that was found

in the alley came from
the victim's vehicle.

Next, investigators wanted

to know where Doug
Miller and Viola

McVade were before
they were k*lled.

In Doug Miller's
home, investigators

found a lipstick-stained
cigarette butt.

Testing was performed

on that cigarette butt.

And that was actually determined
to be consistent with the DNA

profile of the female victim.

Next, investigators
checked Doug Miller's telephone

records and found
something interesting.

Someone, presumably
Viola, used Doug Miller's

phone to call her sister, Liza.

But Liza's boyfriend, Vaughn
Ross, answered the phone.

They didn't get along.

They never got along.

Not even from the first
day that they actually met.

They never got along.

She always said there
was something about him.

- Those are just rumors of me.

What the hell you talking about?

According to Liza McVade,

she never got to speak
with Viola that night.

She said that Vaughn
and Viola argued,

and that Vaughn hung up on her.
- Hello?

Perhaps the most
telling piece of information

was that Vaughn Ross' apartment
was just 15 feet from the alley

where Viola and
Doug were m*rder*d.

But he wasn't the only person
who lived near the alley.

So too did Teresa
Williams, who admitted

she was with the couple
earlier in the evening.

At that point, she

became a very likely suspect,
or someone who possibly had more

information than what
she had relayed to us.

- Well, everybody that has
contact with the victims

at that night is
considered a suspect.

Police had a number of
suspects in the double homicide

to Viola McVade and Doug Miller.

One was Teresa Williams, a
prost*tute who introduced

the two on the night
of the murders.

We knew what type
of business that Teresa was in.

We knew what type of
things that everybody

else that kind of ran
in the circle did.

And so we made our presumptions,
as far as that was concerned.

Others included
Viola's sister, Liza McVade

and her boyfriend Vaughn Ross.

Coincidentally, Ross was a
masters student at Texas Tech

University studying
architecture,

the same university
where Doug Miller worked.

But police found no evidence
the two knew one another.

When questioned by police,
Vaughn Ross and Liza McVade

confirmed that Viola
called them about an hour

before the m*rder.

- I have nothing to say to you.

They admitted
there was an argument,

and that Vaughn hung up on her.

- Why would you hang
up on my sister?

-'Cause your sister's strange.

- Well, y'all can
be like a kid now.

But both Liza and Vaughn Ross

insisted that they weren't
home when neighbors heard

g*nf*re in the
alley an hour later.

Liza said she left
Vaughn's apartment

and went home
after Viola called.

She decided, well, I'm just

going to walk over
to my dad's house.

She didn't have a vehicle.

And so her dad
didn't live too far

away from where
his apartment was.

It was sometime around


is what she said.

Vaughn said, he
too left his apartment just

after Liza did, to
run some errands.

A background check revealed
some troubling information.

Vaughn Ross had a
history of v*olence.

As a minor, he
had been convicted

of stabbing a former girlfriend.

That was a very
violent act that he had done.

He had, basically, cut a girl,
I think eight or nine times,

in a very deep laceration
to her throat, you know,

to her neck area.

A search of
Vaughn Ross' apartment

turned up nothing.

There were no bloody
clothes, no bloody shoes.

There was no g*n or amm*nit*on.

Nothing that would link
him to the murders.

The only forensic
evidence at the scene

was the fingertip
of a latex glove

found inside Doug Miller's car.

The lab technician swabbed,
what appeared to be,

a speck of blood on the
outside of the latex.

A phenolphthalein test
proved it was human blood.

And a DNA test showed
it was Douglas Miller's.

Now investigators were
interested in what

was on the inside
of the fingertip.

- So that would tend to
contain more DNA evidence

from the cellular
material from the hands.

So the sweat
actually, potentially,

would release more
DNA from the hand.

Just as they suspected,

the swab from the
inside of the tip

did show some cells,
but a very small amount.

Just a few years
ago, this sample

wouldn't have been large
enough for DNA testing.

But now, polymerase
chain reaction

increases the sample
size by replicating it.

So a DNA analysis was possible.

And the results
were astonishing.

- I remember getting the
phone call, and going, wow!

This is awesome.

Because to me, that just
summed it up for us.

And that's what was able to...
That kind of sealed the deal.

The microscopic skin cells

on the inside of the
ripped latex glove

yielded some surprising news.

It had DNA from not
one person, but two.

The DNA profile
from the inside swabbing

of the latex glove was
consistent with a mixture

of the male victim and
the suspect, Vaughn Ross.

With that small piece of
the tip of the latex glove,

we were able to place
the suspect, Vaughn Ross,

in that vehicle.

- If that match
had not been made,

somebody would have had
to have made a decision

whether to let us go
ahead with what we had,

or let it be an unsolved case.

Vaughn Ross
was arrested and charged

with two counts of
first-degree m*rder,

for sh**ting deaths of Viola
McVade and Doug Miller.

As Ross was led to
the police station,

investigators noticed he
was wearing a sweatshirt.

On a hunch, they
confiscated the sweatshirt

and sent to the forensics lab.

Days later, I began

examining that sweatshirt, and
found a stain of blood right

on the front, right in the
chest area of that shirt.

It was transferred blood.

It was just a small stain, where
you could tell that that shirt

had come into contact
with a bloody source.

DNA testing confirmed
the blood was Doug Miller's.

Somehow Ross transferred a
small amount of Miller's blood

onto his shirt.

Based on the forensic
evidence, prosecutors

believe they know what happened
on the night of the murders.

Doug Miller wanted
company that night,

so he asked an acquaintance,
Teresa Williams,

if she knew anyone who was free?

Williams introduced Doug Miller
to 18-year-old Viola McVade.

- Hi, how are you?

- Good.
Uh, good.

DNA testing of a cigarette butt

revealed Doug and Viola
spent part of that evening

in Doug's home.

Telephone records indicate Viola
called Vaughn Ross' apartment

and asked to speak
with her sister, Liza.

Ross refused.

Viola may have suspected that
Vaughn was physically abusing

her sister, and told him she was
coming over to check up on her.

- No.

I'm going to come over there
and speak with her personally.

- What did you hang
up on my sister for?

-'Cause your sister is strange.

- Well, y'all can
be like a kid now.

But Liza left
before Viola arrived.

- I
- don't think she ever

thought, in a million
years, that this

was what was going to happen.

I think she was
just tired of him.

And she just left.

I think, clearly, he
did the act on his own.

Prosecutors believe
Ross put on a pair of latex

gloves, grabbed a
semiautomatic p*stol,

and waited for Viola to arrive.

When Doug Miller drove into
the alley to drop Viola off,

he walked into an ambush.

Ross shot Viola three
times in her head.

Then he k*lled Doug Miller.

Glass from Miller's
car fell to the street.

Forensic testing proved
this was the crime scene.

As Ross moved Doug's
body to the back seat,

a tiny piece of the
rubber glove ripped.

Inside was enough DNA to link
Vaughn Ross to the crime.

Ross drove five miles
to Canyon Lakes Park,

and dumped the car in a
ravine, then ran home.

Investigators believe,
Ross the gloves

and the m*rder w*apon in
a trash bin along the way.

He never realized
he left the most

incriminating evidence
inside the car.

And I believe
the tip of this latex glove

was like the nail in
the coffin on this case.

Ross had a previous
conviction for assaulting

a previous girlfriend, so he
was no stranger to v*olence.

Prosecutors think, in this
case, that Ross' animosity

towards Viola McVade
was what set him off.

- I have no doubt it mind,
sitting here in front of you

today, that that's the
reason that she was k*lled,

is because of this hatred
and this ongoing feud.

Despite the forensic evidence,

Vaughn Ross insisted
he was innocent.

But this telephone
call, recorded in prison

before the trial, between
Ross and his mother,

clearly contradicted that.

That's
about as close... he

just couldn't lie to his mom.

You know, an innocent person
just is going to say, come on!

Of course not!

Or no.

But it was a long
pause, and I might have.

I mean, to me, that's as close
a confession as you could get.

After a two week trial,

Vaughn Ross was convicted
of capital m*rder

and sentenced to death.

- That let's you
know, there's not

a such thing as a perfect crime.

There's some kind of
evidence somewhere,

you just have to look
deeper to find it.

The slightest little thing
can give a person away.

Ross took every
precaution he knew about,

but it simply wasn't enough.

Finding
the tip of the latex glove

is what conclusively
put him as the sh**t.

So without the
science, I don't think

he might have even been caught.

I don't know
where this case would have gone

without finding the
tip of that glove,

because there were so many
people involved that didn't

tell the whole truth, that
you could tell were holding

something back,
that may have wanted

to cover up for someone else.

- One of my favorite quotes is
that, when man commits a crime,

God will find a witness.