02x08 - The Black Widow of Pensacola

[bunniefuu]

[Female narrator]:
On a cold December evening,

a beloved wife and mother
is viciously m*rder*d

in a small Texas town.

She was a very devoted Christian
who prioritized her family.

It was a horrific scene.
There was blood everywhere.

[Narrator]: Detectives race
to find an elusive k*ller.

You always look at the
persons closest to the victim.

The husband was well respected
throughout the community.

Nobody is ruled out.

[Kelly]: She was gonna
go meet a stranger,

and no one had heard from her
since earlier that afternoon.

[Narrator]: An epic
investigation spans decades.

The investigator had
the wherewithal to collect

those fingernails.

[Narrator]:
But to get closure,

investigators must
get permission

to perform an exhumation
like no other.

[Dr Hughes]: He was buried
in a cardboard box.

And it may make it difficult
to get useable DNA.

[Frank]: There was probable
cause to believe

that the offender who
was buried is the k*ller.

[theme music]

[music]

[Narrator]: Nestled in the
heart of Brazos County, Texas,

College Station is a little city
bustling with youthful energy.

College Station is about


home of Texas A&M University.

[Ken]: It was a bedroom
community for the university.

Mostly professors
and, uh, uh, students

lived in College Station.

It's a great place
to raise a family.

It was nestled in
the heart of Texas.

Very little crime.

In the '80s, people
didn't lock their doors.

[Narrator]: At 7:00 PM
on December 1, 1981,

45-year-old Charles Freeman
is waiting for his wife

to come home from work.

[Joshua]: Virginia Freeman,
uh, was a real estate agent.

She had some plans with
her family that evening.

[Kelly]: She's late.

This is very unlike
her to be gone,

um, not touch base.

So he started calling
her, uh, coworkers

to see when they
last heard from her.

They said she got a call from
a man who was very interested in

investing in property
off of Greens Prairie Road.

And no one had heard from her

since seeing her in the
office earlier that afternoon.

[Narrator]: In a panic, Charles
rushes their two children

to a neighbor's, then races
to retrace Virginia's steps.

[Kelly]: Her husband
got the address

of where Virginia was
supposed to be meeting

this potential customer.

It was out kind of in a
rural area of the county.

He drove up on this residence,

and lo and behold,
there was her car.

The vehicle was in
the driveway of the home.

[Narrator]: He frantically
begins to walk the perimeter

of the deserted, empty house...

and nearly stumbles
on something.

It was his wife.

There was blood everywhere.

It was a horrific scene.

She was dead.

[Det Elliott]: He was
in a state of shock,

and he immediately notified
the sheriff's office.

[siren wailing]

We got the call in the
evening, after 7:30, 8 o'clock.

When I arrived, the
husband was distraught.

We wanted to make sure that
we didn't contaminate the scene,

so we had him go
on home to his kids.

And I said we would talk
to him later that night.

When I made my first cursory
walkthrough of the scene,

it was very gruesome.

[siren wailing]

It was one of the
worst I've seen.

There was a lot of bleeding
from the neck area.

I could tell that
she had been stabbed.

[Joshua]: There was a large rock
that was found near her body

that... that had some blood on it

that we believe was used to
strike her with some force.

[Chris]: She was
mostly disrobed,

which certainly lends, uh,
credence to the fact that

it might've been a sex crime.

[Det Elliott]: She had
defense wounds on her hand,

which indicated to us
that she put up a struggle.

The viciousness of the attack
on a woman really got to me.

We call it overkill.

[sirens wailing]

[Narrator]: The sheer
brutality of the scene

leaves police asking,
who would so savagely k*ll

this innocent real estate agent?

[Det Gulledge]: It looked
like the k*ller's car

had probably been
parked in front of hers,

because of the way the
tire tracks were getting out

of the, um, driveway.

They had moved down
the side of the house.

About halfway down, there had
been an obvious altercation.

There was blood there.

[Chris]: I remember seeing her
finger claw marks in the dirt

around the side of the house.

It was really horrid to know

that someone suffered
in that manner.

[Narrator]: As he
studies the grisly scene,

Detective Gulledge
sparks on an idea.

[Det Gulledge]: In those
days, we didn't have DNA.

But we could get blood type.

So I had asked that
her fingernails be scraped

for possible skin particles
from our perpetrator.

And so we bagged her hands.

We didn't do autopsies
in the county,

so we sent her to Austin, Texas,

to the medical
examiner's office.

[Narrator]: Before they finish
up their work at the scene,

police have one more job to do.

I did a canvass of the area,
talking to the residents

and seeing if they saw
anything suspicious.

They didn't remember
ever seeing anything.

We had no clue as to
who this could've been.

[Narrator]: None of the
residents detectives speak to

can remember anything
remarkable about that evening.

But most have only kind
words to say about Virginia.

[Linda]: Everyone
called her Ginger.

Ginger was a very
beautiful, vivacious woman.

She was a very devoted Christian
who prioritized her family,

and so that drove
everything she did.

Ginger's husband,
Charles, was an engineer.

She was high energy,
very quick to smile

and very quick to laugh.

You just got the impression

there was never
a dull moment with Ginger.

She loved her life,
and she loved her husband,

and her children
were her heartbeat.

[Narrator]: Despite the
reverence for the Freeman family

in the community,
detectives have no choice

but to turn their attention to
Virginia's husband, Charles.

Just by statistics,
a homicide victim

usually knows the offender.

You always look at the
persons closest to the victim.

And of course, that would've
been Virginia Freeman's husband.

[Det Elliott]: Was
there life insurance?

Was there problems
in the marriage?

Was there a pending divorce?

We had to investigate
all the aspects of that.

[Narrator]: Despite the
horrific night he endured,

Virginia's husband
agrees to come in

for a late-night
talk with detectives.

Mr. Freeman was
devastated, of course,

after finding his wife
had been m*rder*d.

He told us that he was at work
when the m*rder occurred.

[Narrator]: Detectives will
need to verify Charles's alibi.

But regardless, motive is
missing from the equation.

[Det Elliott]: He said
he was very much in love

with his wife, and he very
much wanted this case solved.

Charles Freeman
was well respected

and very well liked
throughout the community.

Nothing jumped out
at us as, like,

the husband could
be the suspect.

[music]

[Narrator]: And when detectives
contact Charles's coworkers

the next morning,

they're even more
convinced of his innocence.

We interviewed coworkers.

And it was shown that
Mr. Freeman was at work

at the time of the homicide.

[Det Gulledge]: His
alibi checked out.

I knew if it's not the husband,
this one's gonna be tough.

[Narrator]: Without proof
tying Charles to the crime,

investigators are immediately
on the hunt for other suspects.

So they head to
Virginia's office

to try to piece
together what she did

in the hours before her death.

I was completely stunned
and shocked by it.

It seemed surreal.

[Det Gulledge]: She told
us the realtor office

had received a call,

and the man said he had
$72,000 to invest,

which of course perked her
ears up real well as a realtor.

[Narrator]: Virginia's
coworkers tell police

that she had gone
to meet the man in person.

[Det Gulledge]: They had
no callback number for him.

This was way before
everybody having cellphones.

[Narrator]: Who was this caller?

And could he be responsible
for Virginia's horrific death?

We began to check, well,
did she have any enemies?

Had she ever had a realtor or
client ever get mad at her?

[Linda]: We didn't know
who had k*lled her or why.

But there was just no way
that anyone who knew Ginger

would want to k*ll her.

[Narrator]: Determined
to find the person

who took Virginia's life,

the sheriff gets the
word out to the locals

that a k*ller is on the loose.

Within hours, a call comes
in from a local brick mason

who claims he had been
driving past the house

where Ginger was k*lled
around the time of the m*rder.

At that house, and
also had seen the car.

Law enforcement,
they're very excited,

thinking this could be
the best clue we have so far.

[Narrator]: Coming up,
detectives dig deep on a hunch.

He was put under
forensic hypnosis.

[Det Gulledge]: There
was enough information

that was given, that a
composite sketch was made.

[Narrator]: And a breakthrough
in tech innovation

takes the case in a
whole new direction.

With a profile from
Virginia's fingernails,

they were able to do a genealogy
search through open sources.

[Frank]: The only
way to solve that,

to say truthfully, once and for
all, is to do an exhumation.

[theme music]

[theme music]

[Narrator]: Investigators
in Brazos County, Texas

finally have a lead
in the horrific m*rder

of local real estate
agent Virginia Freeman.

[Kelly]: Law enforcement got
a call from a bricklayer,

and he thought perhaps he had
seen the person who did this

at that house, and
also had seen the car.

[Narrator]: When they bring
the caller in for an interview,

it's clear he was at the
right place at the right time.

But when asked for details,
his memory is fuzzy.

So in an effort to spur a memory
that he couldn't recall,

he was put under
forensic hypnosis.

He was put into a quiet,
relaxing situation.

They asked him to
describe what he saw.

[Det Gulledge]: He said,
"I stopped at the stop sign."

He saw a car in front of
Virginia's station wagon.

Now, that would've
been our k*ller's car.

He said that the driver
had long hair and glasses.

The hypnotist asked him
to, uh, describe the car.

You could see him intently
trying to look at something.

And he read off a license plate.

It was astonishing to think
that we might've gotten a lead

that could solve the case.

[Narrator]: Police hit
the ground running.

[Det Gulledge]: He
gave a partial plate,

and we ran the heck out
of that partial plate.

And also, the bricklayer told
us as much as he could remember.

And the composite
sketch was made.

[music]

[Det Elliott]: We put it
out through the local media.

It went out statewide.

[Chris]: There were
people that believed

they recognized that person.

But nothing that led to
anything substantial.

It was just another
dead end for us.

[Narrator]: The sheriff's
office keeps pressing for leads

while detectives
examine the findings

from the autopsy report.

[Det Gulledge]: Clothing was
removed from her at autopsy

and sent to the lab, where
it would've been processed

to see if he had left any
evidence on the clothing

that hadn't been
previously spotted.

The medical examiner found
a cluster of 11 stab wounds

on the left side of her neck.

They also found that her
hyoid bone had been fractured,

associated with
manual strangulation.

With the blood loss
from the jugular,

coupled with the strangulation,

either one of those
could've produced her death.

[Narrator]: One
finding in particular

comes as a surprise
to detectives.

[Dr. Hughes]: The report
does note that there were

no physically
identifiable injuries

to her external genitalia.

[Det Gulledge]: So, in my
opinion, it did not appear

that it was a sexual as*ault.

It appeared that the
clothes possibly came off

because of the dragging.

[Narrator]: Who
could've committed

such a brutal crime in
this small, friendly town?

And why?

Amid the crippling fear,
Virginia Freeman's loved ones

gather at a local
church for her funeral.

It was a beautiful service.

The whole community
was grieving.

And we hardly knew
what to say to each other.

There were no words to
describe how we were feeling.

[Ken]: 900 people showed
up for her funeral.

And then when you
know about her,

you understand why there
was such a large crowd.

I was the youngest in the
office when I first met Ginger.

Ginger was wonderful
to work with.

She was very energetic
and fun to know.

Ginger was very involved
and connected in the community.

She was a local church leader.

She was loved by all.

[Linda]: I do remember
talking to Charles,

and he was wondering,

how is this going to affect
my children long term?

How are we going
to get through this?

Charles wasn't an
outwardly emotional person.

But there was no doubt that
he was completely torn up inside

when he lost Ginger.

The shock and confusion
that we were experiencing

was just... traumatic.

And we still had
so many questions.

We just didn't know.

And we were still on guard
and wondering if this k*ller

was going to attack
someone else.

[Narrator]: Two weeks
into the investigation,

a viable lead
has yet to surface.

Then, the sheriff's office
gets the call from the lab

they've been waiting for.

The FBI and, uh, DPS
both looked for fingerprints

on Virginia's clothing.

But there was nothing
to go on there.

It was so frustrating.

This was driving me crazy.

I looked at stuff every day.

What did we forget?

What could we do?

[Narrator]: It's
as if the k*ller

has vanished without a trace...

until June of 1983,

two years after
Virginia's m*rder,

when a man named Henry Lee Lucas
is convicted of k*lling a woman

in Ringgold, Texas,
about 250 miles away

from where Virginia's
body was found.

Before leaving the courtroom,

Lucas makes a shocking
statement to the judge.

He confessed to
k*lling 100 women.

[Ken]: If a man tells
you he k*lled 100 women

during the time period
that he was in Texas,

you really need to talk to him.

[theme music]

[theme music]

[music]

[Narrator]: When convicted
m*rder*d Henry Lee Lucas

makes a chilling confession
in a Texas courtroom,

it gets the attention of
Brazos County detectives,

who are trying to solve
the mysterious m*rder

of local real estate
agent Virginia Freeman.

He had said he had
k*lled hundreds of women.

Henry Lee Lucas was a name that

the whole country
came to know very quickly.

[Narrator]: When sheriff's
investigators dig deeper,

they notice chilling
similarities between

his crimes and Freeman's m*rder.

He did stab people.

He did choke people.

That does draw your attention,
and you focus on him.

[Narrator]: Going through
the Lucas case files,

investigators look
for his whereabouts

in December 1981,

and are stunned
by what they find.

[Det Gulledge]: He
had been in Texas,

and we believe had gone
through Bryan-College Station.

It is very possible that he
could've been a suspect in this.

[Narrator]: Law enforcement
wastes no time

questioning Lucas.

And as a picture of Ginger
is placed in front of him,

he begins to spill.

He said, "Yeah, I
remember stabbing her."

"Where did you stab her?"

"In the neck."

Well, she was
stabbed in the neck.

At that point, it was determined

that we wanted him
to come over here

and see if he could
recognize anything.

[Bill]: He flew in
to Brazos County.

And to determine if he
was telling the truth,

was could he take us
to the crime scene?

So we got in the van
with Henry Lee Lucas,

the Texas Ranger,
and the sheriff's office.

I spent a lot of time
just staring at him

and thinking through
how a man like that

could do the things that he did.

[Narrator]: Then Lucas
begins to direct the driver

to the house where he supposedly
k*lled Virginia Freeman.

[Bill]: Henry Lee Lucas took us
to the right part of the county.

We had been warned in
advance not to do things like

quit talking when it got close.

Or let off the gas, so as not
to tip Henry Lee Lucas off

that we were nearing
the crime scene.

We drove by the crime scene.

He just kept talking.

He couldn't recognize it.

He had no indication
that that's where it was.

He never spotted
anything he recognized.

He had no idea.

We realized that,
okay, this was an attempt

at a false confession.

We learned that there had been
a number of false confessions.

He was trying to
stay off of death row.

As long as law enforcement
needed him to clear other cases,

could that delay his
sentence being carried out?

So we ruled him off
as a suspect.

After Henry Lee Lucas was ruled
out two years after the m*rder,

we went back to frustration.

We went back to wondering
who did this, how did it happen.

The case was as
cold as you can get.

So the news coverage of
the case kind of faded.

[Linda]: I was fine with
the news coverage fading.

I didn't see it as having
any positive impact

on the family for sure,
and not for us.

So it began to fade,

and we weren't constantly
reminded about it.

[music]

[Linda]: The Freemans
experienced a lot of support

from the community and from
the church, from our office.

From what we could see,
they were coping.

They were managing.

They were in pain.

But they were able
to keep going.

And that was amazing.

[Chris]: After a period of
time, Charles got remarried.

He moved to Waco.

He wanted to start new
and get away

from all of the bad memories.

[Narrator]: Virginia's
family does their best

to move on with their lives.

But detectives remain
haunted by the case.

[Det Elliott]:
Going to and from work,

every single day, I drove by the
house where she was m*rder*d,

so it was always on my mind.

[Det Gulledge]: I thought
about the case all the time.

Just that kind of crazy thought
of that case not being solved,

it just... eats at ya.

Virginia Freeman's
tragic m*rder,

her cold case file
changes hands.

I just finally left
the sheriff's office.

But I was still involved.

It never left me.

[Det Elliott]: I took the case.

Any time any information came in

through Crime Stoppers
or a telephone call,

we would run down each lead
and investigate it fully.

[Narrator]: For the
next nine years,

Elliott keeps working the case...

Until 1997, when he discovers
a powerful new tool.

At that time, the homicide
DNA hadn't been developed.

[Frank]: But
gradually, over time,

this whole forensic DNA
field began to evolve.

[Narrator]: Investigators
quickly realize

that this new technology
may be the key

to solving this horrific crime.

[Chris]: It's remarkable that
d*ck Gulledge, the investigator,

had the knowledge
and the wherewithal

to collect those fingernails.

[Det Elliott]: We were very
hopeful that we could get

a DNA profile of
the k*ller off of 'em,

and it would be vital
in solving this case.

[theme music]

[theme music]

[Narrator]: 16 years after
Virginia Freeman is m*rder*d

in College Station, Texas,

DNA technology becomes available

to investigators
working her case.

In April of 1997,

they submit evidence
from her body

and get their first break in
the case in well over a decade.

We found there was an
unknown source of DNA

under the fingernails
of Virginia Freeman.

We knew she struggled.

It was obvious that
that was the k*ller's DNA.

And so that really set us
off to find that person.

[Narrator]: Brazos County
Sheriff's Department

immediately teams up with

the Texas Rangers
Cold Case Taskforce

to officially reopen the case.

[Det Elliott]: We
had news conferences,

made the public aware
that the case was reopened.

Told them that if anyone
had any information,

to come forward with it,
and took it from there.

[Narrator]: The task force
sets out on a sweeping campaign

to test the DNA of any
and all suspects in the case,

including Charles Freeman.

There was no doubt in our minds

that he was not responsible
for his wife's homicide.

[Frank]: Mr. Freeman
and his children were

obviously devastated at the
loss of their wife and mother.

We just need to rule him out
of this case once and for all.

[Det Elliott]: You could
tell he wanted closure,

and so we obtained his DNA.

And it was not linked to
the fingernail clippings.

He just asked that we continue
to investigate the case,

that he wanted the k*ller
brought to justice.

[Narrator]: Meanwhile,
the task force

is working around the clock.

I was going back and looking
through the case file.

The one thing that I keyed in on

from early on in
the investigation,

they had tried to
recover a license plate

through forensic hypnosis.

[Narrator]: Ranger Ray decides
to rerun the partial plate

through a database more advanced

than what was
previously available.

I was able to narrow it
down to two possibilities.

And one person was interesting.

It was a former Army
soldier at Fort Hood,

which is only about maybe
an hour, hour and a half,

from Bryan-College Station,
so definitely close proximity.

On the vehicle, with the color

and the description
that we're looking for,

had the partial license plate.

We found out he retired in
another section of the country.

Kenny Elliott and I
jumped in our truck

as soon as we had that lead,

and we drove to, uh,
Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

And, uh, we... we spent some
time with that gentleman

and we obtained his DNA.

[Narrator]: A few weeks later,
the lab calls with the results.

[Chris]:
It did not match the sample

of what we believed
to be the k*ller.

It didn't pan out.
He didn't have any connection.

[Narrator]: But investigators
don't stop there.

Having the ability to rule
out suspects this quickly

with scientific proof
adds fuel to the fire.

We started meeting with
potential suspects.

Every person that we talked to,

we took a DNA swab
from their mouth.

We were trying to
find a DNA match.

[Narrator]: Weeks later,
the lab results come back

from dozens of suspects.

There's still no match
to the k*ller's DNA.

As time passed and
the case wasn't solved,

it became something that
was in the back of our minds.

We never forgot
Ginger, of course.

In the office, we
still talked about her.

I ended up living very
close to the house

that Ginger was
actually k*lled at.

I was glad that they were
still working on the case,

and was hopeful that they
could find Ginger's k*ller.

[Narrator]: The team begins
to expand their search

by revisiting dozens
of local m*rder cases,

hoping to rule out any offender
caught in the last 40 years.

One in particular
catches their eye...

A man named James Otto Earhart,

who has been on death row
for the past nine years.

Before his conviction,
he was a Bryan resident.

He lived with his mother.

Uh, he was 44 years old.

He was an appliance repairman.

5'10, white male.

[Narrator]: Six years
after Virginia's m*rder,

Earhart had been convicted of
k*lling a nine-year-old girl

just 8 miles away from the
house on Greens Prairie Road,

where Virginia was found.

[Bill]: At the time,
James Otto Earhart

would not have fit the mold
for Virginia Freeman's attacker.

Typically you look for consistency

in the kind of victim.

That would have an
adult female as a victim

and then a child as a victim,
uh, in separate instances.

We certainly would've still
had that tested for DNA

to match with Virginia Freeman.

But we did not have DNA
technology at the time.

[Narrator]: But now, in


to test his DNA.

Law enforcement quickly
zoomed in on this guy.

[Det Elliott]: We knew our
only chance of solving the case

would be a DNA match.

[theme music]

[theme music]

[Narrator]: In


in College Station, Texas,
want to test the DNA

of a previously
convicted m*rder*r,

James Otto Earhart,

to see if it's a
match for the DNA

found under Virginia
Freeman's fingernails.

But there's a problem.

We tried to get a search
warrant to obtain his DNA,

but it was denied because

we didn't have enough
probable cause.

You've got to have more
than mere suspicion

that would give any person a
reasonable degree of suspicion

that James Otto Earhart

was in fact the k*ller
of Virginia Freeman.

It's kind of
frustrating, you know?

We have the k*ller's
DNA profile,

but we can't get
James Otto Earhart's DNA

to try to match it.

[Narrator]: Earhart is still
strong on the suspect list.

But detectives have to
keep following other leads.

[Joshua]: I traveled to
Tennessee and South Carolina,

and all over Texas,

and months later,
you get DNA results,

you find out that's
not your person,

and then you start
back at square one.

[Det Elliott]: We made a promise
to bring closure to the family.

The case would not go cold,
that we would work on it

until I retired.

[Narrator]: As the years
tick by, technology evolves,

and Elliott's patience
once again pays off.

We learned of a
laboratory in Virginia

that could take DNA profiles,

do composites of the
possible suspect.

[Joshua]: They're able to take
these certain characteristics

that are specific
only to your DNA,

and they take it and they
form a composite sketch.

And so we contacted them,
sent them a DNA profile.

[Narrator]: The results from
the lab don't disappoint.

[Det Elliott]: In April of


releasing a composite
and information on

a possible suspect.

[Chris]: It was incredible.

They analyzed the DNA under the
fingernails of Virginia Freeman

and determined that our suspect

is most likely a fair
to very fair skin color,

has green to blue eyes,

has hair color in a confidence
of 97% that it's brown or black.

[Narrator]: Investigators
can't help but notice

that the sketch
resembles someone

already on their radar.

[Joshua]: James Otto
Earhart, in essence,

did look like the sketch.

[Narrator]: But they still
need the definitive proof.

Then, investigators take
advantage of the new world

of ancestry DNA databases.

[Det Elliott]:
From a profile from

Virginia's fingernails,
we used GEDmatch.

They were able to do a genealogy
search through open sources

and create a profile
from great-grandparents

and their six children.

[Narrator]: The test concludes
the k*ller is most likely

the grandson of one
of those children,

and generates a list
of potential suspects.

One of the names on the
list was James Otto Earhart.

[Narrator]: But proving
Earhart's guilt turns out to be

their biggest obstacle yet.

[Det Elliott]: Once
we started looking at

James Otto Earhart again,

we learned that he
was ex*cuted in 1999.

It was very frustrating,
but we just didn't stop,

'cause we owed
that to the family.

They're never gonna
get Virginia Freeman back,

the people who
loved her and lost her.

But it's important
in closing that door

and knowing who k*lled her.

We believe that the offender
who is in the ground,

who is buried, is the k*ller.

But the only way to
solve that, to say truthfully,

once and for all,
is to do an exhumation.

That's the only way
that we can make sure

that without a doubt, the
sample that we collected

from under the fingernails
of Virginia Freeman

was the sample of
James Otto Earhart.

[Det Elliott]: We
wanted to exhume

James Otto Earhart's body,

but we did not have the
probable cause to do so.

[Narrator]: A judge rules that
the only way to exhume the body

is to directly procure DNA

from one of Otto's
close family members,

with their explicit consent.

Through our
investigation, we learned

that James Otto Earhart had
a son living in east Texas.

We contacted him
and met with him.

He, uh, decided, hey,

I don't think I wanna
be any part of this,

having to be related
to this person

and having to deal with this.

And I totally understood that.

Uh, but at the same time,
we're pursuing justice,

uh, for Virginia Freeman
and her family.

So I tried to explain
that to him.

We talked it through
with him for a long time.

And ultimately, he cooperated,
and he provided us his DNA.

24 hours later, they called
me the very next morning

and said, "Yeah, he's your guy."

[music]

That was the evidence that
the sheriff's office needed,

that the district
attorney's office needed,

to develop probable cause.

So we set up a meeting.
We drafted a search warrant

to exhume
James Otto Earhart's body.

[music]

[Narrator]: On June 27, 2018,

nearly 37 years after
Virginia Freeman was k*lled,

investigators arrive at
the Blackjack Cemetery

in Huntsville, Texas,

where their suspect is buried.

[Joshua]: We also
requested help from

the forensic anthropologist,
the funeral home.

And the gravedigger
came with a backhoe

and have to slowly kind of
peel away at the grave site

until you get to
where the remains are at.

[Narrator]: Once they
reach what's left

of James Otto Earhart,
they're immediately concerned.

It just wasn't what you
would think of as a coffin.

In which bones were visible.

They buried him in
a cardboard box.

[theme music]

[theme music]

[Narrator]: Nearly four decades

after Virginia Freeman
was k*lled,

detectives are exhuming the
body of their prime suspect,

James Otto Earhart,

when they discover his remains
were not buried in a coffin.

The cardboard box had
disintegrated over the years,

and thus his remains
were exposed to

the earthly surroundings,
um, which allowed his remains

to be completely skeletonized.

If the individual is in a very
poor state of preservation,

then it may make it
difficult to get useable DNA.

Bones can survive for
a long amount of time.

The DNA doesn't
necessarily survive

that same amount of time,

so it just depends on the
quality and the integrity

of the bone
that's... that's recovered.

[Joshua]: The anthropologist
got down in the grave,

and he was able to, uh,
immediately pull a femur bone.

[Female reporter]:
A clay-covered bone

in a white bucket

may be the final missing piece
in the puzzle surrounding

the death of Virginia Freeman.

[Joshua]: And then, uh, right
there at the cemetery, uh,

he took pieces of the
femur bone to test for DNA.

[Narrator]: Investigators still
have to wait for lab results.

But the now-seasoned
detectives feel strongly

they're standing over
Virginia's k*ller.

[Chris]: I told Kenny
to put handcuffs on him

before he put him back,

but, uh, there wasn't enough
left of him to do that.

It only took investigators

with the Brazos County Sheriff's
Office and Texas Rangers

an hour and a half to
exhume Earhart's body

and collect a sample of his DNA.

Useable DNA was
able to be recovered

from Mr. Earhart's femur.

We sent the results to the Texas
Department of Public Safety

crime lab in Austin, who did the
comparison between their testing

of James Otto Earhart's DNA

and the testing
of the DNA profile

from the fingernail clippings
of Virginia Freeman.

And it was a match.

At that point, we knew for


was the person that
k*lled Virginia Freeman.

[Narrator]: Virginia's
husband, Charles Freeman,

isn't alive to see
the bittersweet day.

Charles Freeman had died
a few years before that

and would never know

that justice had been served.

But, of course, consolation,
his children did.

That day, we drove
to talk to Virginia's children ,

and... and notify them that
we had figured out who it was.

They were... very
surprised, kind of in shock.

Uh, they had many
questions on why.

[Joshua]: This was a
homicide investigation

where a completely innocent lady

who teaches at church and
takes care and raises her family

was robbed of her life.

We thought that
she was lured away

from that real estate office
to go show a property

by a person who was
in fact a criminal.

[Joshua]: We didn't know...

Maybe he was looking
to sexually as*ault her,

but she put up such
a fight that, uh,

he didn't see that coming
and ultimately took her life.

I was hopeful that it would
help Ginger's children

to put some kind of sense
of closure on that aspect.

This doesn't fix anything.

This doesn't bring Ginger back.

And yet, we now know that
there's not someone out there

free, living life, who was
guilty of such a horrible crime.

[music]

[Det Gulledge]: When I found out
that the case had been solved,

I was very happy,

because it was over.

And for that
family, it was over.

We are all elated to
finally close this case.

The one regret I have

is that we weren't able to put
handcuffs on the suspect

and prosecute him for
the vicious k*lling

of Virginia Freeman.

[Joshua]: We were pretty sure
we knew he was the person.

We just needed the exhumation
to close out the case.

I worked for the
sheriff's office for 40 years,

and the Virginia Freeman m*rder
was the first crime scene

that I had ever seen.

38 years later, solve that case

and bring peace to our community

and those that cared about
Virginia Freeman, uh,

was very gratifying to me.

Very gratifying.