01x05 - The Girl with the Star Tattoo

[bunniefuu]

It was a huge deal to be
a Playboycenterfold
back in the '70s,

and Star Stowe was
at the center of that.

Star was different
from the other girls,

and she loved that.

[Pat LaLama] She probably had
the feeling that this
will last forever.

Sadly, that rarely happens
in this world.

[Jeff Olson] Hef made it
very clear to Star

that this is what
you had to do

if you want to keep
this lifestyle.

It was really
an indoctrination.

You were groomed
to be a certain way.

He admitted that
he drove her to a location

and dropped her off
for a rendezvous.

It's quite a coincidence,
wouldn't you think?

At this point, it was
really starting to look

like this could be
the work of a serial k*ller.

If you go down the road
of false promises,

there's no way out.

[Dennis Pickering] It was
the 16th of March.

I received a phone call
to respond to a scene.

I think it was about 3:30
in the afternoon.

We had an unidentified
white female,

late 20s, maybe early 30s...

...and she was partially nude
from the waist up,

laying over in the wood line
behind the Eckerd drug store.

She was facedown

with one of her arms, I think,
was underneath her.

Upon examination of the body,

they found that
she had been strangled.

I noticed she had a star
tattooed on her body,

and I kind of kiddingly said
to the detective,

"You know," I said,
"Back in the '70s,

there was a girl
who was dating Gene Simmons

who had a tattoo
in the very same spot.

She was a centerfold
forPlayboy."

And he says, "What are
the odds of that?"

Star Stowe was
the Playmate of the Month
in February 1977.

It was a huge deal to be
a centerfold back in the '70s.

The sexual revolution
was really at its height.

Almost 6 million people were
reading Playboyevery month.

Just a layout in a magazine
would make you
much more famous

than it would today.

And Star would've been
at the center of that.

I worked at the Playboy
Mansion West in Holmby Hills

from 1978 to 1980.

I was a hostess
at the front door.

I would guide people
through the party.

Once you were in that house,
you had to play the game,

and Star was very good at it.

She loved the whole idea
of thePlayboy world.

It was everything,
and she was gonna
climb to the top.

The beginning of Star's story
must have felt

like an absolute
dream come true.

But she had no idea
about the dark side ofPlayboy

or the way
things were going to go.

She was from
Little Rock, Arkansas,

and she had
a small-town-girl vibe.

And she had aspirations
of being a dancer

and a musician.

[Olson] She got out
as soon as she could.

She wanted to explore,

and she wanted
to be in a rock group.

So as soon as she was 18,
she left for Las Vegas.

It was 1975, and she was
at the Sahara Hotel,

and there's Gene Simmons
without his makeup.

I don't know how
she recognized him,

but she did,
and they got to talking,

and they kinda took a shine
to each other.

She said he was
just an adorable guy,

really nice, down to earth,

not like his persona on KISS.

They hit it off
almost immediately,

and it turned into
a 3-year-long relationship.

She was crazy about him,

and he was crazy about her.

[LaLama] You look
at Gene Simmons
and Star Stowe,

and you think, "Well,
they sort of were part
of writing the original book

on how to be a famous couple
in La-La Land."

[Holly Madison] She's
a young, small-town girl

hanging out with some
of the biggest rockstars
in the world.

It just must have felt like
such an incredible experience.

Gene was a big act
at the peak of his career,

and she was everything to him.

And it wasn't just a romance
between the two.

There was actually a romance
between Star and the band.

She was their muse.

In his own autobiography,

Gene Simmons takes credit
for suggesting to Star

that she send her materials
toPlayboy.

Gene had sent the pictures in,

and there was
a scout that went out,
then reported back.

And from there,
it just spiraled.

So many beautiful women
were trying out to be
Playmates each month,

and if one of the photos
would have come along

with a recommendation
from a rockstar
like Gene Simmons,

that would've
definitely stood out.

[Olson] Hef saw the pictures
and loved it

and thought it was great

and wanted
to make her centerfold.

That was her big, big moment.

She was flown to Chicago,

because that's where all
the main shoots for the girls
was always done.

In the 1970s, Chicago was
still the home of Playboy
and its main hub.

The Playboy Mansion in Chicago
was definitely just
as extravagant

and decadent and crazy
as the Playboy Mansion
West in LA.

Hef had it customized
in kind of a way that nobody
had ever seen before.

He had this giant indoor pool,
an underwater tiki bar,

like, a fireman's pole,
a bowling alley.

[Donna Pazdera] So,
while she was in Chicago

for a photoshoot
for the centerfold,

her life at Playboy
really seemed like
a nonstop party.

She was hanging out
and partying with all
kinds of rockstars

such as Elton John,
Rod Stewart,

Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P.

And all this attention
being paid to her,

it had to have
been incredible.

[Olson] When she did
her sh**t in Chicago,

she said it was just, like,
anything you wanted,

you could ask for there,
you could get it.

It would be brought to you.
They catered to you.

You were just like
an A-list movie star.

This was a 20-year-old girl
from Arkansas.

It just makes your head spin,

because she is in
a totally new, different
world and situation.

[Stella Tetenbaum] This was
her big moment.

You were the Playmate
of the Month.

That was a really big thing.

That wasn't just a pictorial
where people were just
going through it.

It was like, "There I am.

I'm the one."

I have personal friends
who did a lot of photography
for Playboy,

and they would express to me

that many of the women
were uncomfortable,
insecure, afraid.

Uh, not Star Stowe.

She walked into that
photography studio
ready to go.

It definitely stands out
among the history of all
the Playboycenterfolds.

It's very unique.

The whole motif of the spread
was that she was this
rock and roll girl,

which was
incredibly appropriate,

because that's what she was.

There were
pictures of rockstars
on the walls behind her.

She was holding this blue
Rickenbacker bass guitar.

If you look at her face,
you see the sultry baby face.

So it was sort of
this combination
of the innocence,

but yet the sultry,
vixen-y vibe.

She really saw herself
as this radical, kick-bottom
kind of rock chick.

[Madison] Playboy tends
to stick to one style
with their centerfolds,

just, like, an upscale,
kind of generic look.

And Star very much had
a theme, you know?

She was trying to get
into the music industry.

She was dating
a very famous musician.

So they gave her kind of
this glam rock centerfold.

It's really nice to read
her words in the article

and kinda get
a feel of who she is
and what she was like.

Here, she says,
"Once in LA," she recalls,

"While Gene was onstage,
I flashed him.

I just opened my jacket
for a split second

and I wasn't wearing
anything underneath."

[reading]

"Sometimes, when
I'm in the audience
watching Gene perform,

every once in a while
during the concert,

it seems like he's
looking directly at me

and it's such
a great feeling."

[reading]

A normalPlayboy centerfold
pictorial would be nude,

but you would usually only see
a woman from, like,
the front or back.

[Tetenbaum] Star was
at the forefront.

She was the first one
with a tattoo.

She was the first one to do
the full-front, open leg,

and it was a turning
of everything.

It got more and more
like soft porn

than the tasteful,
pin-up girl thing

that they started out with.

When her centerfold
came out in 1977

for the month of February,

it was huge.

She's the most popular girl
in America for a month.

Star found it
very overwhelming

because of all the attention.

She received a lot of money,

and from going
from poverty almost

to getting anything you want,

uh, a lot of people
can't handle that.

[LaLama] She probably
had the feeling that,

"I've made it,
and this will last forever."

Sadly, that rarely happens
in this world,

because for all the glamor
and all the excitement,

there is an ugly underbelly
breathing beneath the surface.

[Tetenbaum] I think
it was hard for Star.

This little girl
from Arkansas,

she didn't know
the ways of Hollywood yet.

She didn't know
about the mansion
and what was expected.

It was a very,
very scary time.

It was a dangerous time

underneath and behind
the closed doors.

Star didn't understand much
about what would happen

after she was used up

and there wasn't
somebody there to catch her.

[Olson] Star went
to her sh**t in Chicago,

and then she came
to Los Angeles.

She was living in Hollywood
and at the mansion.

Playboywas huge at that time.

Everybody who was anybody
was at the mansion.

She used to tell me
that she was hit on
all the time.

Everybody that went up there
wanted to be with her.

If you drove down the street

where the Playboy Mansion
was situated,

you would never imagine,
oh, my gosh,

the stuff that goes on
behind those walls.

It was like a whole open house

all the time, 24/7.

I kid you not.
It was just a whole lifestyle.

[Madison] When people think
ofPlayboy or, like,

crazy stories
from the mansion,

it definitely stems
from the 1970s.

I think even in Hollywood,
nobody had seen anything
like this before.

There would just be, like,
orgies in the grotto

and all kinds of crazy things
happening upstairs.

When Star first got there,

she literally was like
a little, you know,
flower child.

She had this
straight, long hair,

very, like,
sensual, beautiful,

just stunning.

And she was
a really good friend.

But she also was friends
with a lot of the girls
in the house,

which was unusual,

'cause it was
a very catty atmosphere.

There was hierarchy,
and Star was a Playmate,

so that made her
on the upper level.

I was Hugh Hefner's
personal valet

from 1978 to '82.

We would have
a lot of conversations

because she found out
I was from Maryland,

and she was from Arkansas,

and we would talk
about Southern food
and things like that.

One of the main rules
at the mansion

was we were not allowed
to talk to any of the girls.

So it all had to be
done in secret

in the pantry
where the butlers hang out.

[LaLama] So, not only is
she reaping the rewards

of being Miss February
Centerfold 1977.

She later on becomes

Playboy Japan's
Centerfold of the Year.

She must have just been
feeling like she was
living the life,

and she was.

Star was different
from the other girls
that were living there.

She knew she was valuable
to thePlayboy magazine.

She had so many fans

from her centerfolds,
from her pictorials.

I think she knew her power.

We had a nickname for her,
"El Tigre."

Because she was feisty,
and she loved that.

She was a fighter.

[Madison] Sometimes
when we're young,

we feel like
we're more invincible
than we are.

But I don't think
there's any way

Star could have been prepared

for the type of debauchery
that awaited her.

The parties were
just extravagant,

and Star and all the starlets
followed Hefner around
in the party.

It was unreal.

I remember Star showed up,
I think it was Midsummer
Night's Dream party,

with a pacifier
and a baby diaper
and nothing else.

She did what
nobody else would do.

Star was always
at Hefner's table at the time,

in the era that I was there.

She was one
of the main beautiful girls.

[Olson] She and Hef
were very close.

Hef liked her personality.

He liked her body,

and being seen with her
was good for him, too.

In Star's era,
a lot was expected.

There were definitely
a strict set of rules

the Playmates had to follow.

[Stella] The rules basically
were you're Hefner's girl.

Nobody else can have you...

...if you were
Playmate of the Month.
That was it.

You had to have scheduled
sex with Hefner privately
two days a week.

[Olson] She was with Gene
right at that time,

but she told me she
had slept with Hef
more than once.

I think she felt
she had to do it

if she wanted to continue
because she had heard
from other Playmates

that you really had
to sleep with Hef

to advance your career.

And it wasn't just Hef.

Anybody that came there
that was important.

If they came to her
and chose her,

then she had to
sleep with them.

Hef made it very clear to Star
that this was what
you had to do

if you wanted to
keep this lifestyle.

[Stella] It was really
an indoctrination.

You were groomed
to be a certain way.

And that was your normal.

Star would be
an ambassador for Hefner

and go to the different
advertising account executives

and do a lot of schmoozing
and pleasing the men.

And there were
a lot of favors.

There was always
a lot of favors.

She was expected
to be a play thing.

You can't keep
that lifestyle up
and, and be okay

and wake up
and feel good, you know?

[Olson] At times she was
as happy as can be
and feeling great,

and other times
she was depressed.

I could see it was
everything that was
being forced upon her.

Being forced to
sleep with men.

She told me, "I don't want to
sleep with these guys,
they're gross."

Star was basically advised
to take drugs

and alcohol because
you gotta party,

and when these people
want you,
you have to do this.

So, you increase
your alcohol consumption,

adding more and more and more
until you really don't care
what you do.

They had an extensive
open bar at all times,

and they also had
extensive drugs.

There was always drugs.

There was certain places
they would keep the drugs,

and Star would go
to these places.

She knew where
to open the box.

take out, sh**t sh**t,
snort snort.

Hefner would usually give
the girls Quaaludes,
that was his thing.

[Olson] It was a date r*pe
drug basically,

which would make her
relaxed and lethargic,
really didn't care.

After a year of the fame
and the glamor

and the fast lane and the sex

and the orgies and...
It hardens you.

She was just in a haze.

[Madison] Star was really
a fish out of water.

She was brought into
this environment where,

you know, if things are
starting to go off
the rails for her,

who's gonna notice?

You know, her family
and her friends
aren't close by.

[Stella] Some girls had
a certain limitation,

and they knew it.

Star didn't have that.

She didn't know how to stop.

She needed to be put in rehab,

but that wasn't an option

because you can't be
normal and straight

and live that lifestyle.

You have to be out of it...

...to drown out all the hell
that you're gonna
have to go through...

...on a daily basis.

At one time she told me...

..."I think I'm
addicted to coke...

...'cause I can't sleep.

How do I kick this stuff?
I, I don't know how
to go cold turkey."

She was feeling really
down and depressed.

She told me that a few times,

she would, just out of
the clear blue,

start crying and weeping
uncontrollably.

[Stella] It was really hard
for her to be in
a relationship with Gene

because of all
the other stuff going on.

And Gene was also a womanizer,

and he was in
the mansion a lot.

And I think it was
hard for Star,

because she really wanted
him to be all hers.

[Stefan] She had told me
a few times that

she was having
problems with Gene

because he seemed
to be a purist.

Gene always claimed that
he never did any drugs.

So, when he found out
that up at the mansion

she was doing coke,
he was very angry with her.

And so, she was always...

...torn between
Gene's world...

...and Hefner's world,
where there was so many drugs.

Who knows what goes
on behind closed doors,

but it is understood that
the relationship became
quite difficult,

and he eventually moved on.

[Stella] Star had such
a hard time when
it was over with Gene.

That whole flower child thing
kinda disappeared,

and she became extremely wild.

You know, just really
out of control.

It was really sad to watch.

She woke up after a while
and realized that she wasn't

getting out of it
what she wanted,

but Playboywas definitely
getting what they wanted
out of her.

It's too late to change
once you get
wrapped up inPlayboy,

especially if they've
gotten you addicted
to drugs and alcohol.

It became a real nightmare.

[Madison] I don't think Star
could have ever imagined
in her wildest dreams

that her decision
to go toPlayboy

would have a deadly outcome.

[Stella] After Star got
her main centerfold,

and all of the work that
she had that first year,

she realized that there was
another crew coming up.

There was always turnover,

because once you start
to lose that perfect 18,
19-year old skin,

they see that you're not
that fresh young
girl next door.

You pretty much are over.

You're just a child,
but in their world,
you know, you're used up.

[Madison] There was
a real disconnect
in thePlayboy world

because they expect
Star to be this party girl,

but then the second she
develops a problem with it,
she's the problem.

It was like that even
when I was there.

It was seen as, like,
a character flaw
within that person.

So, it was a really weird,
hypocritical attitude.

[Olson] Three years after
her centerfold came out,

things were going
downhill very fast.

She couldn't handle
all this that was going on,

and then that's when
she got a*usive with Hef...

...and told him
basically to piss off
and she didn't need him,

and that's the one person
you can't get a*usive with.

Almost immediately,
everything with Playboy
turned against her,

and that was the end for her.

They didn't want her at
the mansion anymore.

She was basically cut
off for everything.

Advertising, promotions,
personal appearances.

All of her income now
is completely turned off.

[Madison] The moment that
Star was kicked out,

it must have just felt
like she lost everything.

Even if bad things were
happening to Star
at the mansion,

that was all she knew
at that time.

Those were the only people
she knew in L.A.,
that was her income.

That was her job,
it was everything.

She didn't have any
outside resources.

She was 22 years old.

She's now addicted
to drugs and alcohol,

and it just must have felt
like she was adrift.

[Olson] Star stayed in
L.A. for a little bit,

but it wasn't very long...
the Playboy corporation,

had put a stigma on her
and her name,

and no one really wanted
to hire her or do anything,

'cause they're
a powerful company.

All those people that she met,
like Gene Simmons
and Rod Stewart,

there were no calls coming
to her from them.

And she was realizing that
that was all over with.

So, she decided to leave...

...and go to Las Vegas
and try something there.

In 1981, she married
Peter Maligo,

who was an aspiring musician,
rock musician, of course.

They had a son,

and within a couple of days
after giving birth,

he forced her to go out
and start stripping

so that they could make money.

[Olson] She made decent money.

That's so she could support
a family, easily.

People still wanted to
see a centerfold.

Uh, they still wanted to
see the star that was at
her bikini line.

So, that was her gimmick,
and that worked.

Most friends of hers
said that this relationship
with this guy,

Peter Maligo, was not great.

I don't think it's
a great relationship

when you have a baby
and then, you know,

a few days later,
your husband's like,

"You need to go
back out and strip

and dance for a living."
You know?

'Cause they needed
to pay bills.

And so, she
and the husband split.

One of the biggest challenges
of making money off of
the way that you look

is eventually that fades.

When the...

...stripping jobs in Vegas
started drying up,

she moved to Fort Lauderdale
with her son

in order to make a living.

A lot of the clubs around here
thought that she was
sort of a celebrity,

because she had
been in Playboy,

and so that was
sort of an attraction.

[Olson] She thought that there
was places she could
dance, and she did.

But she got older...

...and that rock and roll
lifestyle, with the...

...alcohol and the drugs,
was catching up to her.

[Madison] It must have been
really hard for Star

to be 30 and not being
booked at the exotic
dancing clubs,

because it was really
all she had known,

was dancing, was
posing forPlayboy.

From an outside perspective,

it seems like there could
be so many options,

but when your self-esteem
is at a certain place,

and you've been told
for so many years

you're only good
for one thing,

it can feel very differently.

[LaLama] She needed to pay
her bills, she need to have
a roof over her head.

She didn't have the body
and the beauty

by Hollywood
standards anymore,

but she still could have sex,
and still make money

by using her body for sex.

And it is this...

...dire need to survive
that led Star Stowe

to become a prost*tute.

I told her,
"That's a definite no-no.
You gotta do something else.

You've already gone
through that withPlayboy."

And then she'd say,
"What can I do?"

A couple times when I went
to see her at the house,

and she was already drinking
and doing drugs.

I would say to her, "You know,
this is not your life.

You know, you can't
do this, it's gonna
take its toll on you."

And she just said,
"I can handle it.

I can quit any time I want."

But you can't.

She had hoped that
she might be able
to stop someday,

but she needed
to drink and do drugs

so she didn't have
to think about it
and didn't have to feel.

About this time, she sent
her son to go live with
her mom in Arkansas,

because she just felt
like he deserved
a better upbringing

than what she was
able to provide.

She had been a prost*tute
for a number of years.

And then in 1990,
Star was jailed for
drug possession.

When Star was in jail,

she wrote a letter
to her best friend,
Mitchie Stone.

I think this letter is,
is really interesting,

because it speaks
to her aspirations

and what she dreamed of
and a lot of regret.

She said, "I had
such high hopes,
and now they're gone.

I did it to myself,
and it's a nightmare.

But when I get home...

...I get to go be the old me.

I get to be by my son
and go to church,

and it will be good, someday."

[Madison] Unfortunately,
Star was not able to
turn her life around.

I think Star had a huge
struggle ahead of her,

just trying to get away
from all the addiction
and all the demons

that really originated from
her time with Playboy.

You can have this idea, like,
"I wanna change my life,"

but then when the rent's due,

you know, there was just
so much stacked against her.

Almost 20 years to the day
since her centerfold came out,

Star was last scene
getting into a car
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The next day,
Star was found dead.

[Olson] I was heartbroken.

Nobody deserves
to be m*rder*d,

and especially someone
that is trying to get
back on the right track.

Because she told me
she was gonna try,

and I believe she would
at some point.

I called her mother
on March, uh, the 17th.

She was uncontrollably crying,
obviously.

I mean, it's your child...

and, you know,
it's a tough thing.

Her mother did tell us
of a friend of hers
named Mitchie Stone,

and we spoke with Mitchie,

and she said
she was afraid for her,

and she was trying to get Star
out of that lifestyle.

Mitchie told us
that she had an ex-boyfriend.

They had broken up
about three weeks prior

to her disappearing
and being k*lled.

[Pazdera]
Star was staying with Mitchie
at the time of her death

because she
and her former boyfriend
broke up.

They had
a pretty okay relationship

for a while,

and then a couple of days
before Star was found m*rder*d

they got into a fight.

And she ended up with
this nasty bump on her head

and got away from him.

We did find out
that he was actually arrested
for domestic violence.

We thought he had potential
as a suspect.

We knew
we had to speak with this guy.

He was arrested
for domestic violence,

except the charges
were dropped

because the witnesses all said
that he never did strike her.

She was so highly intoxicated
that she fell down

and actually got the bump
on her head.

He was very upset.

He obviously had
a very clear love for her,

and I don't think
he had the wherewithal
to do something like that,

so we eliminated him
as a suspect.

[Pazdera]
The police were working
hundreds of leads.

They were out there
getting rid of shoe leather
and handing out fliers,

knocking on doors,
talking to people,

just trying to, you know,
figure out

if they could deduce,
you know,

who might be responsible
for the death of Star Stowe.

[Pickering]
We went to the strip
in Fort Lauderdale

where she worked.

We hit every single bar,
we hit every single hotel,

we hit every single pawn shop.

We spent
hundred of hours on this,

just trying to find out
if anybody saw her,

you know,
during the last few hours,
few days of her life,

and everything
came back negative.

[Madison] I think often times
sex workers like Star
are targets

because they're seen as people
who don't have a lot

of close friends and family
around them

or who are kind of
lost in the system,

and I think that's why
these cases can be harder
to solve.

[Pickering] When we were doing
one of the many canvases,

we actually developed
another boyfriend.

He was a little small time
drug dealer,

but from what
everybody was telling us
that was also her pimp.

At that point,
he became more of
a suspect for us.

We conducted
an interview with him.

He admitted
that he was with her
on the night she disappeared.

He admitted that
he drove her to a location

and dropped her off
for a rendezvous.

And that's the last time
that anybody ever saw her.

We ex*cuted a search warrant
on his van.

It was just
a plain old white van.

And you could tell
there was nothing in it.

The carpet
had been ripped out of it.

Everything was out of it.
It was completely gutted.

Just had the seat to drive
and then passenger seat.

If there was
any evidence in it
it was gone.

And, of course,
he denied any knowledge
of Star's m*rder.

We didn't develop
another lead on this at all

from any of that.

It wasn't until
maybe a month later.

West Palm Beach had a homicide
and they contacted us.

It was a prost*tute
who was strangled as well.

It was a month
before Star's m*rder.

Sandra Walters
was left half naked
behind an adult video store,

February 25th.

She had similar
physical characteristics
to Star,

and so the detectives
were trying to explore

whether or not
this was something
that could be related.

We went to West Palm Beach
Police Department,

we spoke with
their detectives,

and we compared
our case to theirs
at that point.

There were parallels.
They were both prostit*tes.

They were both on drugs,
they were both alcoholics.

They did in fact
have similar, you know,
appearances and builds,

but at that point
we weren't convinced

that serial K*llers
operate like this.

[Pazdera]
The day after Thanksgiving
in 1997,

several months after
Star and Sandra Walters
were found m*rder*d,

another woman turned up dead
in Broward County.

She had fair hair, brown eyes,
and a similar height.

She also was a prost*tute,

and at this point

it was really starting
to look like

this could be the work
of a serial k*ller.

[Pickering] She was strangled
and they threw her body
in a dumpster,

and, of course, right away
we wanted to look into
that as well

to see if there was
any similarities.

By the time
it was spring of 1998,

there were six sex workers
that were found m*rder*d

and had
very similar characteristics.

[Madison]
With all these murders,

it must have been terrifying
for any sex worker

to think that possibly
there was a serial k*ller
out there

and they might be next.

In September, we got a call
from West Palm Beach

about a guy
named Kevin Johnson

that they had in custody.

He was arrested
in connection with

beating a prost*tute
so severely

that she wound up
losing her eye.

They told us that he said
that he was a monster

and he became
very, very violent
when he smoked crack cocaine.

[Pazdera] Kevin Johnson
told the detectives

he picked on sex workers
and was glad he got caught,

because he felt like

he had this monster
inside of him

and had so much rage
against women

that he was scared
what might happen next.

[Pickering] And, you know,
eventually he admitted

he had k*lled two prostit*tes.

He'd bludgeoned one to death
and he stabbed the other.

When they called us,
obviously antenna went up
at that point

because they thought
he could be responsible
for everything.

[LaLama]
This man is readily admitting

to violently murdering
two women,

and the more
cops are listening,

they're thinking, "Well,
we may have the very guy

who m*rder*d Star Stowe."

[Pickering] He didn't confess
to any other killings

other than the ones
that he was arrested for,

so we compared our cases.

But he didn't
come down this way
to Fort Lauderdale,

to the strip,
or anywhere around here.

And the way he picked them up,
where he k*lled them,
the locations,

was completely different.

You know, the messiness.

Like, stabbing somebody,
that's a pretty messy
crime scene

versus strangling somebody.

It's a big difference.

[Pazdera] Detectives
were able to figure out

that Kevin Johnson
was not responsible
for the death of Star Stowe

or any of the other women
that were found m*rder*d.

[LaLama] At this point,
police have still not found
Star's k*ller.

Things seemed to quiet down,

but then tragedy strikes
once again.

[Pazdera] About three years
after Star was m*rder*d,

there were two women
that were found m*rder*d.

Again, in South Florida.

Their bodies were found
in black duffle bags
on the side of the road.

It wasn't Kevin Johnson,
he was in jail.

It's either
a different serial k*ller

or a set
of very tragic coincidences.

[LaLama]
Their names are Sia Demas
and Kim Livesey.

It appears almost undeniable

that there is still
a serial k*ller on the loose
in South Florida.

In the m*rder cases
of Kim and Sia,

12 years later
there's a big break
in the case.

Through fingerprints,
police were able to identify
a guy named Robert Fernandes.

People ask
why does it take so long?
It's not bad police work.

Robert Fernandes
had left South Florida
after the murders.

[Pazdera]
He was a Brazilian national
who was living in Miami.

When he went back to Brazil
the k*lling stopped.

[LaLama] This is
an awakening for detectives
because they're thinking,

"Well, maybe it was him
that k*lled Star and others."

[Pazdera] Detectives
were able to figure out

that this guy
was not responsible
for the death of Star Stowe

because he was
nowhere in that area
at the time of her death.

[LaLama] It's another
disappointing turn
for detectives.

Regarding his link
to the murders of Sia and Kim,

well, their families
would never see justice

because Fernandes died
in a plane crash in 2006.

Star's case
still remains open today,
25 years later.

[Pickering] I don't think
it was just the work

of a serial k*ller
in this case,

I just don't think it was.

I think that she knew
who her k*ller was,

and I obviously
can't prove that

but just, you know, my heart,
that's what it tells me.

She didn't scratch the person
or fight.

It just seems to me
like she willingly
got in that car,

and I keep going back
to the guy who was her pimp.

You know, I can't get that
out of my head

that he gave her a ride
on the day she disappears.

It's quite a coincidence,
wouldn't you think?

[Pazdera] I found out recently

that the Coral Springs
Police Department
have reopened this case,

which I think
is pretty significant.

Detectives took some DNA
from Star's body
at the time of her death,

so it is possible
that they may be able
to find out who's responsible.

[Pickering] In '97
DNA was still kinda new.

There wasn't a whole lot
we could do with it
like today.

There was very few people
in the database, suspect wise.

DNA is like
a whole another level now.

There's some evidence
in this case

and I'm sure
the police department
will probably resubmit it

for new testing.

This case, I think,
will forever stay with me.

There's always that side
that you feel bad
because you didn't solve it,

and, you know,
you know how hard
you worked on it,

and you just came up short.

And I'm hoping that
they get some DNA back
on this,

and I'm hoping
they do arrest somebody.

It would, you know,
it would make my day.

I'm really happy that finally

the PD is gonna
open this cold case again.

I think this'll be great
if the police find the person
that did it.

That would be a good closure
for her family, and son,
and friends,

and for her
because Star deserved justice.

Not long after
she was m*rder*d,
I got ahold of her son,

and he was 14 at the time,
and he had very fond memories
of his mom.

He thought that she was
an incredibly cool mom.

They would talk on the phone
very often,

and he recalled that
when they were living together

that she would
make him stir fry,

and, you know,
they would play video games,

and just basically
have a good time.

The other thing
that he and his mom shared,
they both loved music,

and he told me that
they were both crazy about
the new Nine Inch Nailsalbum

that had come out recently.

Star Stowe's case
is heartbreaking.

Young, beautiful girl,
big ambitions of going
to the big city.

Gets there,
falls into the cesspool
of decadence

and is not prepared for it,

and something terrible
happens to her.

I thought about
what Star could have become

if she hadn't got that gig
with Playboy,

and I think
she could have made it.

She was a very good singer
and she was learning
to play guitar, too,

so she could have done it.

She would have been
a good front person
in a group.

I think she would have been
a really great rocker chick.

She definitely
could have done that.

It's just sad that
that was a dream
that never transpired for her.

I can relate to her,

because I know
what it feels like

you know, to have those dreams

and to want to be
a centerfold.

And I know how it feels
to live at the mansion,

feel like the world
is so insular,

and feel afraid.

If you're a young girl today,

I think that Star
would be a good example

of what could happen

if you go down
the road of false promises
of Playboy

or buy into that dream.

It ruins you.

There's no way out.
It's just a tragedy.

It's sad.