00:00:03
When we were younger, there was always a box in my grandparents basement and it had Janet written on the [music] side
00:00:10
and we were always told, "Do not touch it." Janet was a very, very happy person and
00:00:18
Janet seemingly had everything to look forward to in life. Janet was very wellliked. She had a lot
00:00:24
of friends. She was both on the musical and the [music] geeky side, so to speak.
00:00:30
My name is Franchesco Keltieri and I am Janet Walsh's brother. >> They were really close. Really close.
00:00:37
Cuz I've heard my entire life uh about my aunt Janet and everything that happened.
00:00:43
>> She's just a kid. She's just a 23-year-old. She had been out the night before with a couple of girlfriends.
00:00:50
We found out that she didn't show up for work that morning. >> I'm Andy G. And in 1979, I was the first
00:00:58
police officer at the Janet Walsh homicide scene. I drove up to the front of the house and
00:01:10
ran up to the door and Pete Calori, Janet's father, told me that she was in the back bedroom.
00:01:18
I walk in and I pull the sheet back slightly. There was no need to even check for a pulse because you could tell
00:01:25
by the her face and the scarf around her neck that she was dead. >> The word dead just didn't apply. She's
00:01:34
she's my sister. There's nothing that could make my sister be dead. I had to go in and see for myself. But my
00:01:44
my brother would not allow me to. He put me in a bear hug and he would not let go.
00:01:51
He did not want that to be the last memory I had of my sister. [snorts] >> I have a plot from an old TV show like
00:02:01
Murder She Wrote where we have five suspects and I can't put a finger on any of them.
00:02:11
In the late 2000s, the Pennsylvania State Police Cold Case Unit began to relook at the investigation.
00:02:18
This was everything collected by the Pennsylvania State Police at the time of the crime in 1979.
00:02:24
>> Assistant District Attorney Britney Smith was assigned to prosecute it. >> And this has been preserved by the state
00:02:30
police since that time. >> In a way, this is a a time capsule. We're going back to the late 1970s.
00:02:38
We're going to the death scene now. >> The cord from [music] her own bathrobe was used to to bind her wrist.
00:02:47
She more than likely let her killer in and it was someone known to her >> at that time. This was almost the
00:02:52
perfect murder. It was for 34 years. I'm Peter Vans. Tonight on 48 hours, >> Janet's secret.
00:03:19
>> [music] >> Britney, what do we have here? This is Janet's purse. This would have been the
00:03:45
purse she used the night she went out from August 31st, 1979 into the early morning hours of September 1st, 1979.
00:03:54
>> Britney Smith, a prosecutor in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, hadn't even been born when 23-year-old Janet Walsh last
00:04:02
carried this bag on the final night of her life, September 1st, 1979. mint, gum, makeup, brush, keys, those
00:04:13
types of things are in every woman's purse. It definitely makes you feel as if there's a connection to her. And
00:04:19
Britney learned Janet was firmly connected to this place, the tiny town of Manaka, about 30 m outside
00:04:28
Pittsburgh. >> Janet moved next door to us when she was either two or three years old and we
00:04:34
became best friends. She had a couple brothers. I had brothers. So, she was like my little sister.
00:04:41
>> Janet's best friend, [music] Susan Needgall. >> Who lived where? >> Okay, this is the house that I grew up
00:04:47
in. And this is the house that Janet grew up in. And my bedroom windows right here, and her bedroom window is right
00:04:53
there. At one point, my mother bought us little princess bones, and we were able
00:04:57
to talk back and forth. >> Our childhood was probably just like everybody else's. You know, we each got
00:05:03
on each other's nerves, and I probably made it a goal to get on her nerves, being a little irritating brother.
00:05:09
>> Janet's brother, Francesco Cultieri, remembers a big sister bursting with talent.
00:05:16
>> She played the obo in the orchestra in the band and then she sang and she played the piano. Jen was also a Manaca
00:05:23
Indian. She was an avid sewer. So, she would go out and she'd buy material and she would
00:05:29
sew her clothes before she go on dates, >> cut it out and sew it together and wear
00:05:33
it out that night. I saw her do that more than once and it was just amazing. >> By high school, those dates were with
00:05:40
just one young man, Scott Walsh. >> We just were inseparable. I didn't hang around with buddies too much. It was
00:05:48
mostly her and I just going out. Janet and Scott were like two little puppy dogs in love.
00:05:55
>> My high school yearbook, sophomore, junior, and senior year. Right here, she signed to Scotty. I'll always love you,
00:06:02
Janet. >> So, it came as no surprise when the high school sweethearts decided to tie the
00:06:11
knot. >> Got married August 14th of uh 1976. I was 20 and she was 20. Like a lot of young men in western
00:06:20
Pennsylvania in those days, Scott had followed the tradition of going straight to work in a steel mill after high
00:06:27
school. I decided not to go to college because back in the 70s in in this area here,
00:06:34
the steel mills were booming. >> But despite a steady income, the newlyweds soon hit a rough patch
00:06:41
financially. We had the new mortgage, the new house, and two new vehicles, and it became a financial burden on both of
00:06:48
us. That's what led to our separation. >> In the summer of 1979, after just 3 years of marriage, the couple separated.
00:06:57
Janet moved into the ground floor of a two family house. >> I think she was a little apprehensive
00:07:03
about living alone because she never lived alone before. >> Janet got an office job at a local
00:07:09
refrigeration company. [music] And when Friday of Labor Day weekend rolled around, she decided to spend a
00:07:15
girls night out with three friends bar hopping and dancing. Getting home around 4:00 a.m. just hours before she was due
00:07:24
at work. >> My sister's boss, Ron, had called and told my mother that, "Hey, Janet didn't
00:07:31
show up for work this morning, and it's not like her." >> Janet's parents raced to her apartment.
00:07:37
My dad saw that there was somebody in bed and saw that her hands were bound, that she had something around her
00:07:43
throat. >> Rookie patrolman Andy Gaul was just 25 years old at the time. >> I had handled a couple of suicides and
00:07:52
two fatal traffic accidents, couple other serious crimes, but was clearly the first homicide that I had ever
00:07:59
responded to. >> And what G found when he got to Janet's house was chilling. Wearing only a short
00:08:05
night gown, Janet was face down in bed, her hands tied behind her back with the robe tie from her own bathrobe. Around
00:08:14
her neck, a light blue bandana tied tight. It appeared she had been suffocated to death.
00:08:22
>> I have never had a similar scene since during my career. >> Rich Mattis was a Pennsylvania state
00:08:30
trooper back in 1979. Like Andy Gaul, Mattis was looking at his first murder. >> So whenever you enter a crime scene, you
00:08:40
let the crime scene tell you what it has to say. What did this crime scene tell you?
00:08:44
>> Everything was very neat, very orderly. >> No bruising. >> No bruising, no cuts, no lacerations, of
00:08:52
course, no firearms injuries, nothing. >> Cops believe that Janet must have known
00:08:58
her killer. Why? Well, the front door was chained shut. There was no sign here of a forced entry, so she must have
00:09:06
recognized the man and let him in. The two then made their way back here into Janet's bedroom. Who would possibly want
00:09:16
to kill Janet Walsh? At that time, I had no idea. The older [snorts] detectives and investigators,
00:09:25
their automatic was, it's got to be the husband. You always look to the closest.
00:09:31
Janet's parents were at the Manaka police station when their arange son-in-law arrived.
00:09:37
>> They were crying and I started crying. And I'll never forget her mother grabbed
00:09:41
my hand and she said to me, she said, "Scott, you didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" And I looked at
00:09:46
Mrs. Keel Toran and said, "Mrs. Kel Torque, I think you know the answer to that question." And she shook her head
00:09:50
to me and said, "I know you didn't." >> But police weren't so easily convinced. For one thing, Scott Walsh, now suspect
00:09:58
number one, had been spotted at Janet's residence just hours before her body was
00:10:04
discovered. He says he was just dropping her support check in the mail slot. >> On the first of the month, I would give
00:10:11
her a check as part of our separation agreement. >> Also suspicious, police say Walsh had no
00:10:19
alibi after Janet got home. You didn't get up out of bed and say, "I'm going to find out what that woman, my wife, has
00:10:26
been up to on this night." >> Absolutely not. No. >> You didn't go in and confront her?
00:10:31
>> Not at all. No. >> Perhaps most damning, Walsh was given two lie detector tests following the
00:10:38
murder. In both, he failed one key question. >> So, Scott Walsh is given this lie
00:10:46
detector test. >> Yes. And he's shown to be deceptive on a rather important question. Did you kill
00:10:52
your wife? >> Yes. >> You told him, "Of course you failed this question and he knew that and you
00:10:58
pressed him on it." >> Sure. What did he say? >> He wasn't involved. >> Police were starting to think they had
00:11:07
their man until they heard about a stranger on the dance floor who had his eye on Janet.
00:11:28
This case [music] is about a young woman, 23 years old in 1979 who is tragically murdered
00:11:39
and it completely tears apart and devastates [music] her family. In the days following the horrific
00:11:49
discovery of Janet Walsh's lifeless body, rookie investigator Andy Gaul reached for leads in every possible
00:11:58
direction reconstructing [music] Janet's final hours. >> She was a typical 23-year-old girl.
00:12:09
Gaul learned that while bar hopping, Janet crossed paths with a stranger in town.
00:12:15
Robert McGra, a man cops describe as a drifter. When we were asking her friends,
00:12:22
"Anybody show interest in Janet that night?" He clearly came up. He came up right away.
00:12:27
>> He was interested in Janet. He was >> Yeah, I was I was interested in her. Yeah, she was an attractive girl.
00:12:34
>> Robert McGrael, suspect number two. He remembers spotting Janet out that night at one of the bars.
00:12:45
>> I asked her to dance and it was a disco dance. She was very good, very good dancer. I enjoyed dancing with her.
00:12:55
>> After a few more dances, Mcgrael decided to ask Janet for a favor. >> I asked her if I could get a ride home
00:13:03
with her. McGrael says Janet declined and put an end to the evening. >> She says, "I'm separated from my husband
00:13:12
and he gets very angry if he sees me with someone." And she said, "It might be good if you just left because I don't
00:13:20
want you to get hurt." >> Rejected, Mcra told police he walked home alone that night. Police believed
00:13:30
him until >> about six or seven days after the homicide, a lady's driving up Ninth
00:13:36
Street and she sees a checkbook laying in the gutter. >> And there's a name inside that
00:13:40
checkbook. Whose name is it? >> Robert Mcgra. >> Robert Mcgrael, one of the last people
00:13:44
to see Janet. She's dead just down the block here. What are you thinking as an investigator at that moment?
00:13:52
>> I'm thinking Mcra is jumping to the top of my list. Investigators learned that no checks had
00:13:59
been written on McGrael's account since the night of Janet's death. >> I don't know whether I lost it that
00:14:04
night at the club, whether someone could have taken it out of my sport coat. >> Did you walk over to her place that
00:14:11
>> I didn't even know where she lived, >> but your checkbook is a half a block away from her apartment.
00:14:16
>> Did you follow Janet back to her? Did you kill Janet Wall? >> No, I did not. >> Absolutely not.
00:14:23
>> Absolutely not. So, did you give a polygraph to Robert McGra? >> We did. The state police gave him a
00:14:31
polygraph and it showed deception. >> So, you have two people who have shown deception in a polygraph. Janet's
00:14:39
husband and Robert Mcgrael. >> Correct. >> And soon there would be suspect number
00:14:45
three, another [music] stranger. On the last night of Janet Walsh's life, that stranger knocked on a neighbor's door.
00:14:56
>> About 8:00 at night, someone comes to his house, well-dressed young man, asking where Janet Walsh lives. He lives
00:15:05
two doors away. He showed him exactly where Janet Walsh lives. So, we put it out to the public. While cops hoped
00:15:12
someone had seen this man, Janet's best friend, Susan, gave police yet another lead. Who could have done
00:15:22
this to Janet? What did you think? >> My first thought it was her boss, Ron. >> Ron Sakoszi.
00:15:30
Janet's boss, suspect number four. Police say Janet and Ron had an affair. How long had this relationship gone on
00:15:42
between Janet and her boss? >> It hadn't been going on long. This started after she separated from [music]
00:15:49
Scott. >> Investigators discover that Ron had been at two of the bars Janet visited the
00:15:57
night she died. >> Detective, at this point in the investigation, give me your list of
00:16:02
suspects. >> Peter, at this point, we have a wide array of suspects. We have Janet's
00:16:06
estranged husband, >> Scott Walsh. >> We have the drifter, >> Robert Mcgrael. >> We have Janet's boss,
00:16:14
>> Ron Sakoszi. >> And we have Sketchman. >> Sketchman, unidentified. Anybody else
00:16:20
come up on the radar >> right at that time? We also get Scott Hopkins. >> Now, who's Scott Hopkins? Scott Hopkins
00:16:27
is substantially older than Janet, drives a Porsche, is a successful businessman, and we find out from one of
00:16:33
her girlfriends that they've had a relationship over the summer. Suspect number five, Scott Hopkins, had
00:16:40
[music] a home building company. Janet had started seeing him after moving into her own apartment, but kept
00:16:48
their relationship secret. Trooper Rich Mattis remembers interviewing Hopkins the day of Janet's
00:16:55
murder. >> He was not forthright in his responses. He goes from casual acquaintance
00:17:06
to sexual involvement, but it takes a while to get there during the course of the interview.
00:17:13
One reason Hopkins may have been reticent is that he had two other women in his life. a soon-to-be ex-wife and
00:17:21
another girlfriend. Both didn't know about Janet, but Hopkins had no secrets about where he
00:17:29
was when Janet was killed. >> What'd he say? >> He was at his residence. >> Hopkins tells police he was home all
00:17:39
night with his girlfriend with [music] two friends sleeping out on the living room floor, Larry Musgrave and his wife
00:17:46
Geanne. They'd all stayed over to help Hopkins prepare a pig roast for an employee Labor Day weekend picnic
00:17:54
[music] the next day. Police checked out Hopkins story and moved into the >> This is Larry Musgrave today.
00:18:02
>> We got up at 5:30 in the morning and Scott was the one that woke me up to get
00:18:08
the hot fire going to roast the pig. Georanne says she's a light sleeper and is clear about one thing. Hopkins never
00:18:18
left the house that night. >> I heard nothing that night. Absolutely nothing. >> And Scott Hopkins
00:18:27
is alabi. He's alabi. Okay. >> After interviewing about 20 people in the first three years, the case turned
00:18:39
cold. There were no witnesses, no forensic technology to single out a killer. Then in 1983, [music] 4 years after the
00:18:53
murder, suspect number six emerged, Victor Sakoszi. No relation to suspect number
00:19:01
four, Ron Sakoszi. Victor lived just two blocks away from Janet. >> He's in a restaurant. tells the waitress
00:19:09
that he knew Janet and that he had dated her just prior to the murder. When he's
00:19:15
describing that story to her, he said a far away look in his eye and he was talking about that there was not a hair
00:19:22
out of place as though he was reinvisioning the crime scene. We looked at the reports and we knew that Victor
00:19:29
had been at the getaway, the last bar that Janet Walsh was at. Even with so many suspects, [music]
00:19:36
Janet's brother, Francesco, remembers hope draining away in his family's household. One of the things that we
00:19:44
were told early on in the investigation was that even if the killer walked into the
00:19:50
police station and confessed today, we would not be able to take them to trial because we do not have enough evidence.
00:20:00
But all that would change when cold case detective Rocco Demo uncovered a clue that would knock him
00:20:08
off his feet. I was literally standing at my desk. My knees buckled. I said I sat down. I said, "Are you you kidding
00:20:14
me? I don't have any eyewitnesses. I don't have any physical evidence. I have no serious motive.
00:20:43
I have no one coming forth. Roco Deo, a Pennsylvania state trooper working in a cold case squad, says in late 2010,
00:21:00
all of that would change. Time and technology finally caught up to Janet's case.
00:21:10
>> These are markings that the state police crime lab would put on the item. This
00:21:14
would be where a sample was taken here, for example. De Milo sent some of the physical
00:21:20
evidence from Janet's crime scene out for new analysis. A lab tech called him with a game changer. They had found
00:21:30
semen on the top sheet that had covered Janet's body. >> And I'm thinking it's just going to be
00:21:35
some minor itty bitty trace. And she says, "No, we have a lot of it in a lot of locations."
00:21:40
>> [music] >> including on the back of Janet's night gown and the robe tie that had bound her
00:21:47
wrists. It was more than enough to create a DNA profile. >> They didn't know at the time who it was,
00:21:55
but they knew that whoever's DNA this was would be the killer. >> Decades have passed. It's not 1979
00:22:04
anymore, and this is a huge moment in this long investigation. What do you do first,
00:22:10
>> Peter? I've been keeping tabs on these guys for years. I have to get their DNA.
00:22:14
First thing I do is get the DNA and eliminate Scott Walsh. Then Ron Sakoszi and DNA eliminates Victor Sakosi.
00:22:21
>> So, three down, two to go. We have Scott Hopkins and Robert McGra. >> I knew when they came here and they
00:22:29
wanted my DNA that they must have considered me a suspect. >> Robert McGra was now living up in
00:22:37
Massachusetts. In December 2011, he voluntarily met Andy Gaul and another detective at a local police station.
00:22:48
>> You were never in her apartment. That's right. You never had sex with her. That's right.
00:22:54
>> McRail, the man whose checkbook was found around the corner from Janet Walsh's house just 6 days after her
00:23:02
murder, refuses to voluntarily give police his DNA. But Andy Gaul hadn't come 32 years and
00:23:11
600 miles to be turned away. >> You open your mouth, please. >> He brought a warrant for McGrael's DNA.
00:23:18
>> Relax your mouth. >> Then Gaul picks up exactly where he'd left off in 1979. Gaul grills Mcgrael for 7 hours.
00:23:30
>> I didn't kill anyone. >> Put your arms down and have a seat. Mcgrael agrees to take a lie detector
00:23:39
test. >> Everything is answered with a yes or a no. >> Remember, he'd shown deception on his
00:23:46
first one back in 1979. >> Did you kill that woman? >> No. >> Did you ever lie to the police?
00:23:53
>> No. >> Were you ever in that woman's home? >> No. Do you want me to finish scoring you up?
00:24:00
>> When the test is over, >> so how did it go? The technician delivers the bad news to
00:24:06
Mcgra. >> You score in the negative on the first one when I asked you, did you kill that
00:24:11
woman? >> And you also scored in the negative when are you the person who killed that
00:24:15
woman? >> Suspect Robert Mcgrael has failed another polygraph. >> Are you going to be looked at as being
00:24:22
an honest man that wanted to help in the end or >> I'm getting disgusted with that
00:24:26
statement. No, sir. I have nothing to be remorseful about. I did not do what you're accusing me of.
00:24:33
>> So Andy, you take Robert McGra's DNA sample back to Pennsylvania. What is the
00:24:38
result of that test? >> It was not a match. >> Not a match. So Robert McGrael is now
00:24:44
eliminated. Who does that leave? >> It's down to one. Scott Hopkins. >> Scott Hopkins. And back in 2011, give me
00:24:52
a sense of what his life was like. >> Scott Hopkins was now a very influential person in our community. He was an
00:24:58
elected councilman. He's 65 years old. He's a semi-retired, very successful businessman.
00:25:06
>> When I asked him for the DNA, he says, "Absolutely not." >> He said, "I'm not going to give my DNA."
00:25:14
>> Scott Hopkins current wife, Karen, says the fact that her husband had a relationship with Janet Walsh, made any
00:25:21
DNA test pointless. >> He said, "My DNA is going to be there because I was there. I did have sex with
00:25:28
her." So that's why he didn't give it. >> Still, investigators persisted. Police didn't have enough evidence to
00:25:37
get a search warrant for Hopkins DNA, at least not yet. They hatched a plan. >> Andy Gaul set it all up. Scott Hopkins
00:25:46
was a Bridgewater Councilman. Every day early in the morning, he came into the Bridgewater Burrow building where the
00:25:52
police department is located also and took a drink out of a water fountain and would throw his cup away.
00:26:00
Investigators had the police chief secretary standing by to pick up the trash after Hopkins morning water break
00:26:09
and retrieve the cup. It was tested and the result was the moment cops had waited for. Hopkins was a match to the
00:26:19
crime scene DNA profile. That enabled investigators to get an official warrant for Hopkins DNA.
00:26:28
>> I said, "Hey, Scott, I told you I'd be back. I have a warrant." And he actually
00:26:33
fell into a chair and he says, "You think I did this?" >> All that was left was to wait for the
00:26:40
results of Hopkins court ordered DNA test. Rocky Deio calls and says, "It's done. It's sure. It's him. We're getting
00:26:49
an arrest warrant." [music] >> Andy Gaul, who'd been first through the door when Janet Walsh was killed, was
00:26:57
the first [music] man through the door when Hopkins was arrested in January 2012.
00:27:06
>> I brought my handcuffs that I had in 1979 and put the cuffs on them. >> But would this DNA evidence really be
00:27:14
enough to catch a killer? Remember, Scott Hopkins and Janet were lovers that summer.
00:27:20
>> Even then, I'm worried because I know of all the suspects, only Hopkins had told
00:27:27
us that he had sex at that apartment in that bed. I knew it wasn't a sure thing just yet.
00:27:50
November 2013, Scott Hopkins, now 67 years old and a grandfather, goes on trial for the
00:27:58
murder of Janet Walsh in 1979. No cameras were allowed in the courtroom. >> Good girl. Janet's younger brother,
00:28:07
Francesco Calieri, says as the proceedings began, all he could do was pray. >> Please God, give everyone the strength
00:28:17
to do what is right and to do your bidding. >> Hopkins defense attorney Chad Bowers
00:28:25
says in the 34 years since Janet's death, Scott never acted like a guilty man. >> Scott Hopkins never left town. In fact,
00:28:35
he's done the opposite. He's stayed in Beaver County. He's dug his roots even deeper into Beaver County.
00:28:41
>> He is a giving person. He's a loving person. He gives everything that he possibly can to the community, to his
00:28:50
church. >> Karen is Scott's third wife. Back when they were still dating, Scott had told her he'd once been seeing a
00:29:01
young woman who'd been murdered. He was sorry that something terrible had happened, but he also was glad that he
00:29:10
[snorts] had had three people with him that night so that he would not have to be involved in this.
00:29:18
>> At trial, those three people, Scott's alibi witnesses, would all testify. Diane St. George, Scott's girlfriend at
00:29:27
the time, who'd go on to become his second wife, said she spent the night next to Scott in a water bed.
00:29:34
>> This was our model home. It was a split entry that we built, and this is where
00:29:38
we worked out of. >> Larry Musgrave was Scott's partner in a home building business.
00:29:44
>> Scott Hopkins was going through a divorce and he moved here and moved into the back bedroom of the house.
00:29:54
Larry and his wife Georanne were asleep on the floor of Scott's living room. Remember, they'd slept over to get up
00:30:01
early to prepare for an employee Labor Day weekend picnic the next day. They told jurors Hopkins never left the house
00:30:10
that night. >> I know it didn't happen. I was here. >> How do you know that? >> Well, I would have heard him leave. I
00:30:17
would have heard him come back. >> I wouldn't sit here and lie. Not for anybody. And all I can say is I feel
00:30:24
they have the wrong person here. >> Would you lie to protect your friend? >> Never. If I felt he did it, I would turn
00:30:31
him in. >> But prosecutor Brittney Smith says the Musgraves [music] are mistaken.
00:30:38
>> They were sleeping during a substantial period of time. >> With the model home just a 10-minute
00:30:48
drive from Janet's house. >> Ready? >> Here we go. Prosecutors say Hopkins would have had
00:30:57
time to arrive. >> We're now at 8 minutes 16 17 after Janet got home at 4:00 a.m.
00:31:10
commit the murder and get back to his own house to awaken his guests at 5:30. But if Scott Hopkins is guilty,
00:31:23
what exactly happened that night? [music] >> There was something sexual that occurred
00:31:27
in that apartment. Whether it was consensual by her or not, we don't know. >> Assistant DA Britney Smith lays out the
00:31:36
prosecution's theory. >> As part of this sexual act, he strangles her and takes it too far and she ends up
00:31:42
dead. >> Could this have been an accidental death? The problem with it being an accidental death is that strangulation
00:31:48
takes a period of time that he continuously applied pressure to her neck through the use of the bandana and
00:31:54
that takes a few minutes to do. So her life is essentially leaving her and he continues to apply pressure to her neck.
00:32:03
>> As they did at trial, Smith and Frank Martacei, >> this will be the night's shirt. the
00:32:08
co-prosecutor on the case demonstrate how the DNA evidence condemns Hopkins. First, when the Pennsylvania State Lab
00:32:17
found semen in the old crime scene evidence, it was given a rating of 4 plus. >> That means Scott Hopkins seminal fluid
00:32:25
is on that location in a concentrated manner and it is not consistent with having been washed. meaning prosecutors
00:32:33
say that Hopkins DNA was deposited the night of the murder, not from a previous encounter. And then there was something
00:32:42
else, something huge. >> We always go back to location, location, location, because the location of the
00:32:48
DNA is what tells us when it was put there. >> We believe that she was laying face down
00:32:52
on the bed and he was on top of her at the moment that he was strangling her. It turns out the DNA identified as
00:33:01
Hopkins was found to line up perfectly on the back of Janet's night gown, on the rope tying her hands, and on the top
00:33:09
sheet left covering her body. >> If you look at all the evidence in conjunction with one another, and how it
00:33:15
lines up, that's what tells you that her killer deposited it. And the prosecution would end up hiring
00:33:22
a famous messenger to deliver that news at trial. None other than the renowned forensic
00:33:30
pathologist Dr. Sirill Wacket who's consulted on world famous cases. >> John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King,
00:33:39
Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and of course, one of the most famous autopsies of all, the alien
00:33:45
autopsy. >> Well, yes. I would prefer to say for the time being that is humanoid.
00:33:51
>> Wet admits he's not a DNA expert. >> Here you are. >> He says he was just brought in to
00:33:58
interpret the crime scene. >> I think that you can be quite comfortable with the fact that Hopkins
00:34:04
was the perpetrator. >> When it's the defense side's turn, they counter the celebrity testimony of Dr.
00:34:11
Wet. The question is >> was someone who is an internationally recognized DNA expert
00:34:18
>> based on their calibration. >> Dr. Mark PL >> we have a max statistic of a thousand
00:34:22
>> who says wet has no business talking about DNA on the stand. >> Do you believe that Dr. Sarel wet
00:34:30
testifying in Scott Hopkins case is that dangerous in your opinion? >> Uh I think it's very dangerous.
00:34:37
The defense investigation found something that the prosecution missed. Turns out Hopkins DNA was not the only
00:34:46
DNA at the crime scene. There was unidentified male DNA on Janet's robe and seaman from a third man.
00:34:56
Someone police knew all too well. >> There was an indication that her ex-husband was possibly on one of the
00:35:03
sheets as well. The defense claims they know how Hopkins DNA lined up. They say his DNA was on
00:35:14
Janet's night gown from past sexual encounters. Then when the real killer had sex with Janet, her perspiration
00:35:22
transferred Hopkins old DNA from the night gown to the rope tie to the sheet. In this case, the prosecution said was
00:35:31
there was only one possibility and that's clearly false. And in science, if you have two possibilities that can
00:35:38
equally explain the data, it's a wash. [music] I was transported back 30 plus years to
00:35:57
being just having my energy just shredded. My heart didn't even know how to work.
00:36:09
>> For Francesco Cultieri, the trial of his sister's accused killer would be bitter.
00:36:15
>> My fear, and it came to fruition, was that it would be like yesterday, like it
00:36:21
just happened. >> Francesco attended each day of Scott Hopkins murder trial. >> 30 plus years of not knowing who, why,
00:36:30
or whatever. And here's this man 10 ft away. You You can't imagine the rage. >> 34 years with no one having to pay the
00:36:41
price for Janet's murder. The trial would take only 8 days with 40 witnesses, including Hopkins himself. In
00:36:51
the end, the jury took 6 hours to render a verdict. >> It was guilty to murder in the third
00:36:57
degree. murder in the third, meaning Hopkins, while not intending to kill Janet, had
00:37:06
acted recklessly and in a manner he knew could result in death. >> And the first thought that came in my
00:37:13
head at that point was, "Jan, we got him." >> For Andy Gaul, who was just a rookie
00:37:22
that [music] September day back in 1979, the verdict closed a very big circle. to good friends, old friends,
00:37:33
>> to justice, and to Janet. [laughter] >> I'm hoping to get past these tears at
00:37:40
some point. It's just it was more than just another case. Just became way too personal.
00:37:50
>> But not everyone in that courtroom was rejoicing. After this verdict, did he turn and look at you?
00:37:59
>> He did. He turned and looked at me and and I was crying and he said, "I'm so sorry. You don't deserve this." And I
00:38:09
said, "Neither do you." >> 3 months later in February 2014, Janet's brother arrives at the sentencing,
00:38:20
wishing Hopkins would get exactly what he deserved. I got the conviction, but I'm hoping for the longest sentence
00:38:25
possible. As I understand it, this this crime carries a 20 to 40year possibility, and I know it's up to the
00:38:31
judge. >> The sentence the judge handed down was considerably shorter. >> He gave him 8 to 16 years, and my
00:38:40
husband just turned 68, so I don't know if my husband will ever get out alive. >> A few months into his prison stay,
00:38:50
>> Scott Hopkins. >> Yes. Peter Vans, 48 hours. >> We spoke with Scott Hopkins. >> Mr. Vans, I am absolutely innocent of
00:38:58
this crime. >> Why do you think the jury found you guilty? >> My own thought is we have a situation in
00:39:06
this country from watching CSI and all the crime shows that if your DNA is there, you must be guilty. And I
00:39:15
admitted to them that I was having sex with her in her apartment. Scott insists that the DNA investigation was far from
00:39:24
thorough. Starting with Janet's aranged husband, Scott Walsh. Our DNA expert found my sperm and his sperm mixed
00:39:33
together on the sheets. My DNA expert found an additional person's DNA or sperm on her robe. So, there were other
00:39:43
people's DNA there that they chose not to look at. Janet Walsh, who by all accounts was
00:39:50
just a summer fling for Scott Hopkins decades ago, would end up changing the course of his life. I
00:39:56
>> mean, I respected her as a person and as a female, and I would never do anything
00:40:01
to harm her. >> Scott, are you lying to me? >> Absolutely not. >> You swear on everything you find holy in
00:40:08
this world and the people who support you that you are telling me the truth. >> I swear on my kids' lives.
00:40:15
Hopkins had already started to mount an appeal of his conviction. For prosecutor
00:40:21
Britney Smith, the victory has been bittersweet. >> There's always this sort of sadness.
00:40:26
Even though you you get what you want to some degree, doesn't bring Janet back. She'll always be 23 [music] in 1979.
00:40:35
She's still gone. And for Janet's [music] brother, who'd kept vigil for justice all these years,
00:40:44
the time has come to let go. >> By getting rid of all these horrific momentos, the headlines, crime still
00:40:54
unsolved, case gone cold. That'll help me get to that point. I love my sister. I'll see you in heaven
00:41:04
one day. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]