13x07 - Last Dance

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a
beautiful young woman is found

dead under a bridge.

Did she jump from that
bridge, or did somebody push her

And police learn
she had a secret life.

She was dancing under the
name Roxanne, and they were

calling her "foxy roxy."

Police find a
surveillance image of a truck

near the bridge on the night she
disappeared.

You can see an apparent body
in the back of the pickup truck.

But who is driving
the truck, and what is the

motive?

There was something more
going on than just a woman

leaping from a bridge for no
apparent reason.

It was early on a
Saturday morning, underneath a

bridge in burlington township,
New Jersey, when an atv rider

found the body of a young woman.

He assumed she'd taken her own
life.

We just see a young girl.

She looks like she's about 20 to


She had no I.D. On her.

The damage to her body was
consistent with a drop of about



Insect activity
indicated she'd been dead

several days.

But who was this woman?

Police released a description to
the media.

Her manager from work called
in, an ex-boyfriend called in

saying that they recognized the
description of the jewelry that

she was wearing.

From the victim's
butterfly pendant, she was

identified as 21-year-old
Rachel siani.

I kept telling myself that it
wasn't true.

And I told myself that all the
way up until her funeral, until

I actually went up and looked at
her.

Nancy knew
something about her cousin

Rachel siani that few other
people knew.

Rachel was a college student by
day... And an exotic dancer by

night.

She was only doing it just to
pay her way through college, and

the way she described it to me
was that she was dancing in an

extremely skimpy bikini.

Rachel worked at a
place called divas international

gentlemen's club across the
bridge in Pennsylvania, just


found.

Her stage name was Roxanne.

Divas is your... your typical
gentlemen's club, where guys go

in... mostly guys... and, you
know, sit down and have some

drinks and watch the girls.

Rachel's friends
and relatives could not believe

she committed su1c1de.

They said she exhibited none of
the typical signs of depression.

Instead, she was focused on a
career.

She was studying psychology
because she said she really

wanted to focus on that and help
people.

And Rachel had a
good relationship with her

family, despite some
disagreements about her

employment.

Her father absolutely did not
approve of it.

They obviously loved her very
much as a daughter.

But I think that they had
resolved themselves that Rachel

had to find her own way through
life and figure out what was

gonna be best for Rachel.

But was this a su1c1de?

Evidence on the bridge revealed
a disturbing clue.

There were some fibers that
were consistent with the sweater

that she had on, but there was
also some bloodstains on the

outside wall of the bridge.

If the blood on the
bridge was Rachel's, then this

might have been m*rder.

In a small town on
the outskirts of Philadelphia, a

young exotic dancer found dead
beneath the bridge was

front-page news.

If she worked at an ice-cream
stand, it wouldn't have said,

"ice-cream girl," you know,
"m*rder*d."

It was unsettling because
everything was "exotic dancer

m*rder*d" or "stripper thrown
off bridge."

It was never her name or that
she was a bucks county community

college student.

Since Rachel was
found at the bottom of the

bridge without shoes, wearing
clean socks... Investigators

suspected she had been carried
to the bridge and thrown over

the side.

They were very clean.

Up on top of the bridge, there
were no shoes.

There was no car.

There was a lot of road debris
and other dirt that would've

become embedded in her socks if
she was walking around up there.

Fibers from her
sweater wedged in the concrete

of the bridge also made it clear
she didn't jump.

Her body scraped along the side
of the bridge.

DNA testing on blood found near
those fibers confirmed it was

Rachel's blood and that she was
bleeding before she hit the

ground.

So, the police had to work
backwards.

They had to find out, how did
that blood and how did that

fiber get on the Pennsylvania
turnpike bridge rail?

There were no marks
on Rachel's neck, so

investigators didn't believe a
ligature or even the k*ller's

hands were used to strangle her.

If it's a large surface, like
a forearm, pressing against the

neck or a large just flat of the
hand pressing against the neck,

you don't get bruising.

Significant
internal bleeding told medical

examiners Rachel was still alive
when she was thrown from the

bridge.

The victim had blood spatters
on the side of her face, and it

wasn't consistent with a fall
from the bridge.

Two broken
fingernails made it clear she

tried to defend herself.

The cause of death was blunt
force trauma, a skull fracture.

The fracture extends from one
ear canal to the other ear

canal.

Rachel's car, a
battered old Lincoln, was in the

parking lot of divas, the
gentlemen's club where she

worked.

There was food and money
strewn about in the car, which

led us to believe that her
demise was not a result of a

robbery.

Fellow dancers told
police that a former cook,


been bothering her.

He seemed to have somewhat of
a fixation or obsession towards

Rachel.

He actually told people that
Rachel was his girlfriend.

Wasn't true, but he told people
that.

In fact, Jason had
been fired just a month earlier,

and when police found out why,
they knew they had a solid

suspect.

He was infatuated with her,
and he was subsequently

terminated because of his
infatuation with Rachel siani.

When questioned by
police, Jason denied any

involvement in Rachel's m*rder.

He was believable, but we
still couldn't rule him out.

We always have to keep that
individual in mind.

He can be a good actor.

Then homicide
investigators got a break.

On the last night Rachel worked
at divas, she was in the parking

lot talking with a friend after
the club closed, and a man,

obviously drunk, started banging
on the door of the club.

A local police officer witnessed
the incident.

The policeman offered to help.

One of the owners or managers
came out, said that it was okay.

They knew Jack.

He was a regular customer.

"Jack" was
John denofa, a 35-year-old

businessman who had been in the
club earlier that night.

According to divas' manager,
Rachel offered to walk denofa to

the motel located right next
door to the club.

Maybe she thought he had
had too much to drink and she

wanted to take care of him, help
him, perhaps, get to his room.

Her friend had actually asked
Rachel if she was okay, and

Rachel indicated to her, "no,
it's just Jack.

I'm fine.

I'm okay."

Motel records
indicate denofa checked into

room 223.

The hotel clerk remembered that
Rachel helped denofa up to his

room, but he didn't recall
seeing her leave.

Denofa contradicted that.

He claimed Rachel left and that
he went up to his room alone.

He said that he was with her,
and she just went her way and he

went his way, and that was it.

He said he had absolutely
nothing to do with her demise

whatsoever.

But to
investigators, something just

didn't seem right.

I didn't like the guy.

The prime suspect
in Rachel siani's m*rder was the

last known person to see her
alive, Jack denofa.

He was married with no children
and owned a sign company.

Employees say, like clockwork,
denofa visited divas every

Tuesday night.

Rachel was his favorite dancer.

She had mentioned Jack, and
she said that, you know, she

wouldn't even have to work that
night if she didn't want to

because he would just give her
money to sit there and talk to

him.

And she said that he seemed like
a lonely guy and that he was

basically paying for her
friendship.

We never discovered any
evidence of any kind of sexual

relationships.

We asked the girls that, and we
have no evidence at all that

Rachel ever engaged in any kind
of activity like that with him

or anyone else, for that matter.

Jack had a previous
drunk-driving arrest, so it

wasn't unusual for him to stay
at the motel connected to the

dance club.

He would rent a motel room
himself, and if he was too drunk

to drive, sometimes divas'
management would comp him a

room.

The weird thing about that was
his wife was cool with it, and

she would actually drive him to
divas and drop him off.

Jack denofa had no
criminal past and was

well-liked.

If you could pick your
neighbors, you'd pick

Jack denofa, because there
wasn't anything he wouldn't do

for you.

He came from a good family, was
a workaholic, Ace pool player,

back-slapping guy, you know,
chairman of his high-school

alumni association... great guy.

On the night of
Rachel's m*rder, witnesses saw

Rachel accompany an inebriated
denofa to the motel next door to

the club.

Jack denofa didn't deny that.

He simply said she left without
going to his room.

We knew Jack denofa was in
there, but we wanted to find

out, we wanted to place Rachel
in that room.

Four days had
passed since denofa stayed in

the motel room, and it had been
cleaned repeatedly.

But analysts got a break.

On the outside windowsill, they
found white fibers, and there

was a tiny spot of blood in the
shower stall.

Andrew nardelli compared those
fibers to fibers from Rachel's

sweater.

One of the main types of
characteristics that we would

look for, first off, would be
color.

And a number of the fibers from
the window were a different

color than the types of fibers
that were from the sweater.

Though
superficially similar, the

fibers did not match.

Investigators now compared the
blood sample from the shower

stall to Rachel's DNA and got
another setback.

With the swab from the shower
stall, there was no DNA

detected.

I ran the sample twice.

I tried to concentrate the
sample.

However, it was a small, very
weak blood swab, so no DNA was

detected from that swab.

On denofa's hotel
registration, he said he was

driving a 1996 red dodge pickup
truck that was parked in the

hotel parking lot.

If he did cross the bridge that
night, surveillance cameras

would show it.

They show clearly a 1996 red
dodge ram pickup truck with a

motionless body in the open bed
with clothes similar to

Rachel siani's going through the
tollbooth at 13 minutes after




the truck returned with nothing

in the back.

What the tapes don't show
clearly, anyway, is who's behind

the wheel of that truck.

The license plate
was impossible to read, but

police now had probable cause to
search denofa's truck.

They discovered it had been
thoroughly cleaned.

We thought we possibly had
lost any trace evidence of

Rachel being in that truck.

The first search
didn't turn up any fibers,

fingerprints, or blood from
Rachel, but part of the truck

might have withstood multiple
washings... a plastic bed liner

in the same area where this
surveillance image showed what

looked like Rachel's body.

What had happened was the
black bed liner was not

connected properly to the bed.

When the bed liner
was removed, analysts found what

looked like blood.

DNA showed it was
Rachel siani's.

I couldn't wait to hear how
he would ever try to explain

that Rachel siani's blood was in
the back of his pickup truck.

When questioned by
police, denofa had an incredible

explanation.

He said someone else must have
driven his truck.

What am I missing here?

Am I the dumbest prosecutor on
earth that this guy really

thinks he can win this thing?

This is the last
known picture of Rachel siani,

taken by a girlfriend just hours
before her m*rder.

For some crazy reason, she
had a camera in the car.

I guess this girl... young girls
will do... she pulled out the

camera and snapped a picture of
her, right opposite her in the

car.

Surveillance
photographs showed what appeared

to be Rachel's body in
Jack denofa's red pickup truck

as he drove over the bridge into
New Jersey on the night of the

m*rder.

According to friends, Rachel was
denofa's favorite dancer at

divas gentlemen's club.

Rachel knew him pretty well,
and she told people that she

thought he was a loser.

A sucker is what she called him.

He would give her $100, $200,
sometimes $300 just for sitting

next to him at divas.

And, so, his money did not buy
her heart, but it did buy her

trust, and that would prove
fatal to Rachel.

She thought he was harmless.

On the night of
Rachel's m*rder, denofa stayed

in room 223 of the motel next
door to the club, but

investigators found no forensic
evidence in the room, so they

tracked down the guest who
stayed in the room directly

below denofa's room that night.

There was a man staying in
the room.

About 3:00 A.M., he reported
hearing a noise outside his

room, a thud or a thunk.

Whatever it was, it was odd.

But he did not get up to check
it out.

Their rooms faced
the back of the hotel, where

there was little traffic late at
night.

On the sidewalk below room 223,
investigators noticed a dark

stain.

And we thought that it could
be oil, and we thought that it

was odd that someone was
changing oil or that their oil

leaked up on the sidewalk,
'cause the sidewalk was very

close to the building.

I took a white piece of paper
and rubbed the stain, and when I

looked at it, it was red.

A presumptive test
showed this was human blood.

A DNA test showed it was
Rachel siani's.

Something went south in that
room that night.

So, what happened
to Rachel siani on the night of

her m*rder?

Prosecutors say that Tuesday
night was like any other.

The regulars were at the
gentlemen's club, including

Jack denofa.

Rachel siani was the girl
that Jack denofa always wanted

but couldn't get.

And, you know, if he couldn't
win her affections with his

pudgy good looks and oily charm,
he would ply her with money and

gifts and buy it that way.

But it didn't work.

After the club
closed for the night, while

Rachel and her friend were
talking outside, Jack returned,

obviously drunk, and knocked
wildly on the door.

Rachel offered to walk Jack to
the motel next door, where he

usually stayed after a night out
drinking.

The evidence shows she walked
him to room 223.

Prosecutors believe Jack may
have made some type of advance

towards her, one that was
rejected.

Get off of me!

Enraged, he choked
Rachel until she lost

consciousness.

Denofa may have thought she was
dead and tried to get rid of her

body by putting her on the
awning below his window.

This way, he could lower her
into his truck.

But investigators believe Rachel
slipped from his grasp and fell

to the sidewalk, leaving the
bloodstain later found by

police.

Denofa threw Rachel's body in
the truck, and her blood seeped

underneath the plastic lining of
the truck bed.

He drove over the bridge into
New Jersey, where he was

photographed with what looked
like Rachel's body in the back.

Photographed with what looked
like Rachel's body in the back.

With little traffic on the
bridge that time of night, he

threw Rachel's body over the
side, thinking her death would

be ruled a su1c1de.

But her blood and the fibers
from her sweater were found on

the side of the bridge... proof
she was injured before she was

thrown over, proof that it
wasn't su1c1de.

He was buying her drinks,
tipping her, and obviously

trying to get something out of
her that she didn't want to give

him... whether it was money,
sex, or dr*gs... and when she

didn't give it to him, he got
angry, and he hurt her.

And the total lack of respect
that he had for her, he just

dumps her body like she's
garbage.

We can only assume how it
actually started, but at least

we know what happened after it
started.

In November of


guilty of first-degree m*rder
and given a sentence of 30 years

to life in prison.

It was a bizarre m*rder.

Two crime scenes were
extensively cleaned, but a few

spots of blood survived and
pointed directly to Jack denofa.

They didn't have much to work
with in their defense.

They produced no experts,
because I'm sure they couldn't

find any that could attack the
validity of the DNA or any of

the other evidence.

The evidence and the
eyewitness accounts kept

pointing back to Jack denofa.

It would've been criminal for us
to not look at him.

Jack denofa certainly wasn't
the big shot he pretended to be.

He wanted to be a big shot in
the worst way, you know?

He wanted to own divas when he
walked in there.

And he was just a small, little
man and perhaps the most

incompetent k*ller that
bucks county's ever seen.