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a wealthy american executive was found
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dead in his car in mexico
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it looked like an accident
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until a forensic anthropologist found
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evidence of a chilling tale of fraud and
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deceit
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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34 year old madison rutherford had
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everything he was ambitious successful
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happily married
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and rich
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he worked as a financial advisor in
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connecticut with an uncanny ability to
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make money for his clients
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he also managed money for his friends
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like brigadier beck i thought since i am
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alone in this country
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i thought it might be wise if anything
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would happen to me
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i thought i should have him as my
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executor
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by all accounts
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madison rutherford and his wife reni
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lived lavishly and had expensive tastes
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so it wasn't unusual for madison to
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travel outside the united states
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pursuing his various interests
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madison rutherford and his wife had a
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penchant for various types of
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of animals including
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dogs and part of the reason for
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supposedly going to mexico was to obtain
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another exotic dog
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[Music]
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but a few days later
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mexican police found rutherford's car in
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a ravine near monterey
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it appeared that the car had swerved off
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the road and caught fire
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when they got there the car was burnt
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beyond recognition everything was gone
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and he opened up the driver door
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and found some bone fragments on the
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driver's side
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inside
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investigators found a medic alert
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pendant and a wrist watch
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on the back of the watch
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barely legible was the inscription
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to madison
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love reni
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also inside the car
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the charred remains of a human
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all that was left were some bones and
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teeth
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the cause of death was listed as total
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carbonization
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meaning that it was just disintegrated
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from the heat
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when rutherford's wife rene got the news
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she was devastated
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as i came into the house everybody was
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very long faces and sad and i said my
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goodness i thought what happened
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and this one person tells me that um
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there was something terrible happened
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last night max madison had an automobile
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accident and he got killed
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i thought this was just this was just
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awful you know my goodness how terrible
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fortuitously rennie said she could help
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investigators with the identification of
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her husband she proceeds to tell the
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insurance carriers that she has one of
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rutherford's teeth that was left over
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from some type of dental work
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the tooth was extremely helpful
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since its hard enamel shell often
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protects its inner core in a fire
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that core contains an individual's dna
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but one of the forensic scientists in
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mexico was suspicious
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particularly when he examined the items
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recovered from the car
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the clasp of the medical alert bracelet
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was found in the open position he
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thought that very odd if somebody had
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died and that bracelet was on them it
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would have been in the class
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position investigators wondered whether
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the open clasp was a clue or simply an
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unimportant detail
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[Music]
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although there was some inconsistencies
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in the accident scene
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the mexican authorities ruled that
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madison rutherford had burned to death
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in a car accident
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mexico wasn't pursuing this there was no
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complainant they had a a body and a
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tragic death and they've closed their
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case
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as a financial planner
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madison rutherford had planned for his
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family's future in the event of his
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death he had purchased an ample amount
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of life insurance
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rutherford had two separate policies
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with two separate companies he's doubly
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insured he's insured for seven million
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dollars
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four million from one company and three
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million from another company as a
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routine matter insurance companies like
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to make sure that a person who dies in a
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fire is in fact their client
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the tooth given to them by rutherford's
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wife
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could be used for dna comparison
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but it wasn't enough
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[Music]
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so they sent the charred remains from
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the accident to one of the most
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respected forensic anthropologists in
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the world
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dr william
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bass the best bone evidence was a small
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skull fragment and four teeth
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dr bass found something highly unusual
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about the skull fragment
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the top outside of the skull
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wasn't burned
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now i got a lot of problems with it
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if you're sitting in your car and it's
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on fire
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the top of your skull is going to burn
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it's going to burn up little pieces the
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size of a quarter
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now here's a situation in which this
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doesn't happen
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dr bass concluded there was only one way
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this could have happened
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the victim's head had to be on the floor
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of the car at the time of the fire
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this tells me then
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that
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this is a staged scene
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that this is not what happened
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in the normal
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crash of a car
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that this is a body that has been placed
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in there in a position that was not in
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before
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the skull fragment also provided clues
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about the victim's age
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the human skull has 28 different
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plate-like bones
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these bones come together in a process
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called fusion
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where they meet often looks like the
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stitching on clothes
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as a person grows older that stitching
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or fusion
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tends to disappear
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in this case
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it was almost non-existent
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it tells me that this is not a 34 year
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old individual
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that this is an individual
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maybe twice that
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certainly 50 plus
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because you don't
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normally
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get that much fusion in a 34 year old
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white male
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the teeth also told a story
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sometimes different races have different
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shaped teeth
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the ones recovered from the car had
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shovel-shaped incisors not something
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associated with a white or caucasian
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person
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these teeth had characteristics that are
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very specific to this is a
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japanese chinese or american indian
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characteristics these are what we call
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characteristics
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in addition
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the teeth had large unfilled cavities
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inconsistent with the wealthy man with
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access to the best in dental care
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dr bass informed the insurance companies
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of his findings
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i was told that the individual in his
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car was a 34 year old white male
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when i get through the analysis of the
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skeletal remains that's not what i see
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what is in that car
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is a 50 to 60 plus year old mexican
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peasant
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who has
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from a lower socioeconomic level
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obviously with a peasant but had done
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manual labor
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there were even more reasons to be
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skeptical and more evidence that the
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scene
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might have been staged
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insurance investigators look more
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closely at the medic alert pendant and
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the watch found in the ashes
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if the body had burned almost to ashes
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why did these items remain
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relatively
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intact and witnesses said they saw a
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bicycle on the back of rutherford's car
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earlier in the day
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but no bicycle was found at the accident
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site
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if it wasn't madison rutherford in the
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car who was it
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and where
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was madison rutherford
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forensic scientists were certain that
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madison rutherford was not the man
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killed in the car explosion in mexico
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the focus switched not so much from we
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need more proof of death we actually
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think he's alive
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and now we want to find out where
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the authorities weren't the only ones
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concerned
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his neighbor brigade beck had entrusted
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madison rutherford with her entire life
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savings about half a million dollars
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and she wanted to know where it was
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i was uncomfortable about the whole
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thing i said how is this going to play
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out
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where when do i get my money when do i
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get
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when do i have a clear picture of this
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whole thing
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brigado went to the rutherford's home
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and asked reni for answers
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she you know said um just i need to
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speak with you and
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just don't make a sound please don't
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make a sound don't say anything
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and i said what could what's what's
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happening so she leaned over kind of and
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she whispered he said madison is not
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dead
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i said what
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and i said what happened where is he
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and she said he's in hiding
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i just lost it i just thought this was
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just too much i just walked away after a
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few moments and i just cried i just i
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just broke down i mean this was too much
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for brigadier things soon got even
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stranger when madison rutherford showed
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up alive and well
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at her house
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this was all very bizarre
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and how could he do that and wouldn't he
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be afraid that he might get you know
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picked up but somebody might watch the
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house
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rutherford told brigada that his death
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had been staged for him by none other
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than the fbi
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he said that organized crime members
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were after him because he had refused to
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launder drug money
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he assured brigitte that her money was
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safe
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but instructed her to tell no one he was
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alive
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he asked me would you mind if i could
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spend a couple of weeks with you until i
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find know what i need to do next
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i said of course i mean the poor guy had
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to be hiding from the mob why wouldn't i
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help somebody
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without warning madison left brigade's
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home
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and she never heard from him again
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a few weeks later
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brigitte got another visit this time
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from the fbi
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their investigation into madison
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rutherford's financial dealings revealed
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he had withdrawn brigadier's entire life
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savings
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she was penniless
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the agent said there is no money and i
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thought maybe they made a mistake this
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cannot be
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and i realized i had nothing
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left he had dismantled
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everything little by little
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and i said my god what do i have in my
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pocket
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excuse me
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i had exactly five hundred dollars in my
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checking account
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[Music]
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investigators had rutherford's home
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under surveillance
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madison never appeared
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but they finally got a break
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a check of motor vehicles revealed that
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madison owned a car that was being
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driven by a businessman in massachusetts
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his name was thomas bay hamilton
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he works as a controller for a
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technology company it's a fairly small
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company
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in downtown boston
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as investigators were about to question
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thomas bay hamilton
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they got a call from mexican authorities
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they said they found a bag full of
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bloody clothes
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and dna tests concluded the blood was
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madison rutherford's
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[Music]
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one year after madison rutherford's
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disappearance
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mexican police found a bag full of
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bloody clothing near the site of his car
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fire
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the clothing showed numerous knife holes
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all over the chest area
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dna tests of that blood confirmed it
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belonged to madison rutherford
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but this time
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investigators didn't believe it
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they were convinced
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the man they were following in boston
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thomas bay hamilton was in fact
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madison rutherford
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stu robinson the agent who arrested him
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in boston has these fingerprints with
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him when
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thomas hamilton is arrested and we roll
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his fingerprints they're the same prince
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this is our army and this is madison
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rutherford
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the fbi searched his apartment and found
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books on how to change your identity and
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travel brochures on mexico
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and they found one item
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that appeared to tie up the case once
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and for all
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in the boston apartment we find um
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an actual to-do list it says goals for
00:14:54
the year 1999-2000
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the very top thing is collects seven
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million dollars from the insurance
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company so that was a pretty good clue
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we uh
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we kind of tied them together with just
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that one piece of paper
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right after he was arrested rutherford
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called his wife from prison
00:15:14
this call may be recorded or monitored
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the first thing is we have to keep you
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from getting picked up for anything they
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think you did which you didn't
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okay you got to go somewhere where they
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don't know the address they'll be for
00:15:26
you tomorrow morning they'll get it
00:15:27
they'll get an arrest warrant by then
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what happens to everything
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i don't know let's do this piece by
00:15:32
piece
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i know but we gotta get you out of here
00:15:38
renny originally denied she had anything
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to do with the attempted fraud
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but when investigators showed her
00:15:44
evidence that her husband was dating
00:15:46
other women while living in boston
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reni changed her mind
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she was not happy she went through a
00:15:53
range of emotions
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in a short period of time
00:15:57
and ending with with anger
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with rennie's help
00:16:02
prosecutors learned that they had been
00:16:05
planning this crime for months
00:16:10
while madison was in mexico
00:16:13
he drove to a desolate graveyard in the
00:16:15
mexican countryside
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and removed a body
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apparently he found a cemetery in mexico
00:16:22
near to where the crash site was went in
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to an above ground tomb
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took off the top of a casket and took
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out the corpse out of the casket
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prosecutors believe he positioned his
00:16:38
car with the body inside at the bottom
00:16:40
of the ravine
00:16:45
doused it with gasoline
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and started the fire
00:17:01
when the flames subsided he threw in his
00:17:04
medic alert bracelet and watch
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so they would survive the blaze and help
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identify the corpse
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he then took off on his bicycle
00:17:19
rutherford returned to the united states
00:17:21
and gave his wife the tooth he removed
00:17:23
from the body so it could be used for
00:17:26
possible dna testing
00:17:28
according to his wife he walks in
00:17:30
i believe with these things in a bag and
00:17:32
says to her here's
00:17:34
my seven million dollar tooth
00:17:37
to this day no one knows whose bones
00:17:40
were inside the car
00:17:42
[Music]
00:17:44
later when rutherford learned
00:17:46
investigators were on to him he was
00:17:48
forced to change his plans
00:17:52
according to reni
00:17:53
her husband got into the bathtub fully
00:17:56
clothed and cut himself
00:17:58
to make it appear that he had been
00:18:00
stabbed then
00:18:01
he returned to mexico to plant the
00:18:04
evidence
00:18:06
rutherford never realized that forensic
00:18:09
anthropology would uncover the true
00:18:11
position of the body in the car and that
00:18:13
the bones would reveal the man's race
00:18:16
and age
00:18:18
madison rutherford thought of every
00:18:19
detail but he never thought of the bone
00:18:22
doctor
00:18:23
investigators looking for a motive
00:18:26
soon discovered that rutherford had
00:18:28
gambled heavily in stocks
00:18:30
and lost
00:18:31
[Music]
00:18:33
he saw himself as a financial guru and
00:18:36
he tried to play the stock market as a
00:18:38
day trader he lost a considerable amount
00:18:41
of money in the
00:18:43
1995-1996 period and i think that he saw
00:18:46
that faking his death and getting
00:18:48
insurance proceeds was a way of
00:18:50
recouping losses and providing himself
00:18:52
with a nest egg for future investments
00:18:57
investigators learned that rutherford
00:18:59
used a number of aliases in the past all
00:19:02
were presidential sounding names madison
00:19:05
rutherford and now hamilton
00:19:10
his real name was john sankey
00:19:14
i thought it was ironic and quite
00:19:15
humorous that he was arrested on
00:19:17
election day on november 7th 2000. so he
00:19:21
this man with all these presidential
00:19:22
sounding names didn't get a chance to
00:19:25
vote for the next president people think
00:19:27
that the fbi doesn't have a sense of
00:19:29
humor but i think this proves that we do
00:19:31
[Music]
00:19:32
when faced with the evidence against him
00:19:35
madison rutherford pleaded guilty to
00:19:38
fraud
00:19:40
federal sentencing guidelines limit his
00:19:42
sentence to five years
00:19:45
his wife rennie was sentenced to 18
00:19:47
months in prison for her part in the
00:19:50
attempted fraud
00:19:52
since rutherford had withdrawn half a
00:19:54
million dollars from brigadobeck's
00:19:56
accounts
00:19:58
she has nothing left
00:20:00
she confronted him during a telephone
00:20:02
conversation while he was in prison
00:20:07
can i ask you one question
00:20:09
um
00:20:13
[Applause]
00:20:14
let's talk next week
00:20:16
why next week
00:20:18
only because i can't do anything that
00:20:20
let's talk next week and go through
00:20:22
stuff
00:20:23
because you know i want to know a few
00:20:25
things okay yeah let's talk next week
00:20:28
okay let's talk next week
00:20:30
he ruined my life he ruined my my
00:20:34
security
00:20:36
he couldn't care less
00:20:37
my my wonderful friend heard and i
00:20:40
turned into a monster
00:20:42
to me
00:20:43
and i hope that anybody that would find
00:20:46
themselves in the same or similar
00:20:47
situation be careful with so-called
00:20:50
friends
00:20:54
no criminal charges could be brought
00:20:56
against rutherford for embezzlement
00:20:58
since brigade had given him power of
00:21:00
attorney
00:21:03
for investigators
00:21:04
rutherford was clever but clearly
00:21:08
no match
00:21:09
for forensic science
00:21:11
this is one of the better cases
00:21:14
that we have been able to solve from the
00:21:16
use of science and we're able to show
00:21:19
that the actual events
00:21:21
do not fit the story that we were told
00:21:25
there's an old adage that goes something
00:21:26
like you're only as smart as you are
00:21:28
educated and clearly madison rutherford
00:21:31
as well educated as he might have been
00:21:33
was not educated in the area of
00:21:34
forensics
00:21:37
[Music]
00:21:50
[Music]
00:22:07
you
