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madeline murray o'hare was america's
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best-known atheist principally
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responsible for abolishing prayer in
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public schools madeline you either liked
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her you hated her
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in 1995
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madeline murray o'hare mysteriously
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disappeared from her texas home along
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with her son john murray and
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granddaughter robin
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over 600 000 of their organization's
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money disappeared along with them
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what is it not to love about this story
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it involves greed it involves gold it
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involves the most hated woman in america
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this is a sexy story and we should tell
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it
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it was a local newspaper reporter
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playing forensic detective who helped
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solve the case
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[Music]
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[Music]
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the most hated woman in america
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mr withers is this a form of harassment
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because i will leave i am creating the
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record now no you're not creating this
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and you are wasting my time these are
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when you're done reading that call me
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i'll be in the ladies room is it your
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understanding that you have brought no
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doctors in the ladies room when you are
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done
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she was an avowed atheist who achieved
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fame in 1963 by opposing prayer in
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public schools
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she took her case all the way to the
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united states supreme court and won
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she founded the non-profit group the
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american atheists as well as a magazine
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preaching the gospel of strict
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separation of church and state
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she also wrote articles for larry
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flint's hustler magazine and was the
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subject of a playboy magazine interview
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madeleine o'hare was a difficult woman
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to work with and was notorious for
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speaking her mind
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all right then don't [ __ ] with me
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i have never encountered a more bitter
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more distasteful person than madeleine
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murray o'hare don't touch him
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she
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was extremely foul-mouthed to the point
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that even though we were doing an
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interview about something that she
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wanted us to do a story on
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we had to stop the interview in
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the middle because she was cursing so
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much
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you have a limited opportunity this
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morning to ask me questions why don't
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you get to the question
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in august of 1995 77 year
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seventy-seven-year-old madeline her
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forty-year-old son john and
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thirty-year-old granddaughter robin left
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austin texas without saying a word to
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anyone
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the staff of the american atheist
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organization found a note on their
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office door saying the o'hares had been
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called away for an emergency and didn't
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know when they would return
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john's mercedes-benz and robin's porsche
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were gone too
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but they left their passports behind as
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well as madeleine's diabetes medicine
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and her three dogs
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madeline may not have cared very much
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for people but she sure loved those dogs
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we were told couldn't get in touch with
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them and i got concerned so i started
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making phone calls and then i called
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john's cell phone and that's when
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madeline answered
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but madeline wouldn't tell board member
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ellen johnson where she was
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johnson said the calls were short and
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strained and she worried that madeleine
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and her son were under some sort of
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duress
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i questioned him about what was going on
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and and
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you know he tried to reassure me that
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everything was okay and i believed it
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just one month later
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madeleine and john stopped answering
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their cell phone calls
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when ellen johnson took over the
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american atheist group in madeleine's
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absence she discovered that since the
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o'hares disappeared more than 600 000
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was missing from the organization's bank
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account
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suddenly you have three people and a
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very large amount of money
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all disappearing at the same time and
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this makes it far more interesting
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john mccormick covered the disappearance
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for the express news in san antonio
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texas
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among the atheists there was a very
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peculiar
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silence but beneath it was a very
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profound concern they were very
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concerned they didn't know what to do
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they hadn't really attempted to get any
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help from law enforcement
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no one associated with the american
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atheist reported the three missing and
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it wasn't until a year later that bill
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murray madeleine's estranged son filed a
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missing person's report with austin
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police
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madeleine and bill had a rocky
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relationship
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in 1980 on mother's day
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bill told maglin that he had embraced
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christianity and was no longer an
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atheist
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he then went public writing a book and
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making a film attacking his mother's
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beliefs
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my mother loved confrontations and she
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never hesitated to use me as an
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accomplice in her schemes
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she wanted to push the school prayer
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issue as far as she could so she
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instructed me to keep a record of prayer
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and bible reading at school
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it was here in my home my mother made me
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a spy for the cause of atheism
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madeleine immediately disowned him and
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bill never again spoke with his mother
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his brother john or his daughter robin
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bill didn't know
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if his family's disappearance was foul
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play or if they had stolen the atheists
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money and fled
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[Music]
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a year after madeleine murray o'hair
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disappeared with her son john murray and
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granddaughter robin journalist john
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mccormick learned what the american
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atheist group already knew
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that john murray had withdrawn over six
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hundred thousand dollars from the
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atheist bank account just weeks after
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the three disappeared
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mccormick also examined john's cell
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phone records which indicated he had
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been living in san antonio texas after
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his disappearance many of the 200 calls
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were suspicious
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they've been calling financial
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institutions they've been calling
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airlines they've been calling
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uh drug stores to get madeline's uh
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prescriptions uh there were more than
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150 calls they called jewelry stores
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one of those jewelry stores was on
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frederickson road in san antonio
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the owner said that john murray
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purchased six hundred thousand dollars
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worth of gold coins using cash
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even after madeleine's son bill murray
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reported the three missing the austin
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police showed little interest
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there was no investigation by the austin
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police department it was a total joke
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the police reaction may have been based
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on their belief that madeleine and her
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family absconded with the atheist money
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and that it was an internal matter
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how can somebody that's that famous turn
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up missing with all that money and still
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no one wants to look for
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so i decided i'd be part of the team
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that went looking
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television news reporter valerie
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williams discovered that john murray
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sold his mercedes-benz for 15 thousand
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dollars well below the car's value to
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this man
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mark sparrow
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john
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the seller identified himself as john
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murray
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[Music]
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low miles yeah it's 20 000 is that about
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right
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but when shown a picture of john murray
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sparrow said it wasn't the man who sold
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him the car he said his name was john
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murray and that's not the guy that's on
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my car
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would you mind taking a look at these
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mug shots for me
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after reviewing mug shot pictures mr
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sparrow identified the impersonator as
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another missing person
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an ex-convict named danny fry
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this was an interesting coincidence
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danny fry's family told police that
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danny had been working with another
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ex-convict david waters who had once
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worked for madeleine o'hare and had a
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falling out
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in 1993
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madeleine hired david waters as her
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office manager
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within a few months she fired him
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maintaining he had stolen fifty thousand
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dollars from the atheists organization
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waters was charged with theft
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he accepted a plea agreement and paid
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the money back
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and in so doing
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avoided jail time
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but madeline was furious that
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authorities allowed waters to go free
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using the power of the pen madeleine
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wrote an article in her magazine
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exposing waters as a thief and implied
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waters had homosexual relationships
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while serving an earlier prison sentence
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for assault
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when water saw the article
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friends say he vowed revenge
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journalist john mccormick called waters
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and asked him if he had anything to do
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with madeleine's disappearance
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i didn't believe a word he said but uh
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he spoke as though uh you know it was
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the truth
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mccormick discovered that david waters
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danny frye and another ex-convict gary
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carr were all working together in austin
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texas around the time the o'hares
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disappeared in august of 1995.
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and not long afterwards a headless
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handless male torso was discovered
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in a dallas river
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they'd spent three years trying to
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figure out who it was but they had no
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fingerprints no dental and they had no
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missing persons records that match this
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disappearance so they were totally
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stumped
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mccormick had a hunch
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that this body was somehow connected to
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the o'hare's disappearance
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[Music]
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not long after the o'hares disappeared
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a male torso was found in a dallas river
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without a head or hands fingerprints and
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dental records couldn't be used for
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identification
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forensic anthropologists estimated the
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man to be between the ages of 35 and 45
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he had a stocky build and a lot of chest
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hair
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the description didn't fit madeleine's
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son john
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but journalist john mccormick had a
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hunch he told police that it might be
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danny fry the man who had impersonated
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john murray when selling his car
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scientists took dna from danny fry's
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brother and compared it to the blood dna
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of the torso
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it was a match
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just as mccormick suspected
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the dead man in the river
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was danny fry
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the blockbuster was when we could write
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a story that said that the headless
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corpse in dallas was danny fry and by
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the way he was last seen with david
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waters in austin and by the way he spent
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his last month in san antonio at the
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same time the oh harrison so that really
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kicked in the door
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suddenly
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local state and federal law enforcement
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officials took notice and joined the
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investigation
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david water's ex-girlfriend patty
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steffen read about danny fry's murder in
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the newspaper
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she immediately called the fbi
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at first she wanted to tell us small
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bits and pieces you have to understand
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this was a woman who was terrified
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she gave investigators an important lead
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three years earlier she said that david
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waters had rented a storage unit around
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the time the o'hares disappeared and
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that waters had once gone there with
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this spray canister
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laboratory tests on the canister
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revealed it had once contained bleach
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which is sometimes used to remove blood
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evidence
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[Music]
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armed with a search warrant
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police found a tiny red stain beneath a
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piece of aluminum under the wall
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it was so small
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it was almost invisible
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with blood from madeleine's son bill for
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comparison
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a mitochondrial dna test revealed the
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stain
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was a mixture of two people
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madeleine murray o'hare
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and her son john murray
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next the fbi searched water's apartment
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we found documents that belonged to the
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o'hares that were dated after david
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waters had been fired
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from
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their organization
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mr waters himself a prior convicted
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felon who was not allowed to have guns
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or ammunition
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was found to be an illegal possession of
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about 118 rounds of handgun ammunition
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of three different calibers
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they even found books from the o'hare
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library and a bow saw
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the fbi confronted david waters with the
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forensic and physical evidence against
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him
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it took quite a while
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but eventually five and a half years
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after the o'hares disappeared waters led
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investigators to a remote burial site at
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camp wood texas
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forensic anthropologist dr david
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glassman was there when we hit the first
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bone it was kind of interesting in this
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case because the bone was
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very large
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and it was the upper leg bone
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the upper leg bone is the largest bone
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in our skeleton but this one was
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particularly large
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after 21 hours of excavation
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three adult bodies were uncovered
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in each case
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the legs had been cut off
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possibly to make it easier to transport
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the bodies
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on one of the bodies the hair was very
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well intact a female skull and the hair
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was braided down the back of the of the
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neck of the individual
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there were some remnants of clothes that
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were found but no clothes that were
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intact
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there had been some effort to burn the
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remains
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not to the point of cremation but in
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order to destroy maybe the clothing or
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any other
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you know dna evidence that might be
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there
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as the remains were unearthed
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shining in the afternoon sun
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was the metal plate
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of an artificial
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medical records revealed that madeleine
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o'hare had undergone hip replacement
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surgery several years before her
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disappearance
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the serial number of the hip in
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madeleine's medical file matched the
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number on the hip and the grave
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forensic odontologist compared the
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o'hare's dental records to the skulls in
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the grave and confirmed
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that these were the remains of madeleine
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her son john and granddaughter robin
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for john murray when he was in the grave
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and uncovered he did have a plastic bag
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over his skull
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and when the plastic bag was removed
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there were small fractures that occurred
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to the skull itself indicating some
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blunt trauma
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had been done to him during the time of
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his death
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the cause of death for madeline and
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robin couldn't be determined by looking
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at the bones
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but since their heads were covered in
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plastic it was assumed
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they were asphyxiated
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but investigators found
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something else
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an extra head
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and two extra hands
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the head showed a single gunshot wound
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at the base of the skull
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forensic scientist used a photo
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superimposition technique for
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identification
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they suspected the skull was that of
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danny fry
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the man whose torso was found in the
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dallas river
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scientists took a photograph of danny
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fry
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then photographed the skull at the same
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angle and size
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the two photographs were superimposed to
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see if the facial features matched the
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skull
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for example the distance between the
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eyes and the shape of the nose
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and the distance between the nose to the
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teeth
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the distance across the cheeks
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and every area that i examined in the
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video superimposition
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matched up
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the motive for the o'hare's murder had
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been revenge
00:18:01
but why had danny fry been murdered
00:18:07
[Music]
00:18:09
the forensic evidence found years after
00:18:11
the o'hare's disappearance tied david
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waters and his two associates danny fry
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and gary carr to their murders
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david water's girlfriend patty stephens
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told police that waters kidnapped the
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o'hares because of the unflattering and
00:18:28
inflammatory article madeline had
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written about him
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his girlfriend said he fantasized about
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torturing her cutting off her toes
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and so basically i think this whole
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thing came down to
00:18:40
not just money but really ugly uh
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personal chemistry between two
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uh
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dysfunctional personalities
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for david waters it was about revenge he
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wanted the ultimate revenge on madeleine
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o'hare and the money was just a
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byproduct
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after kidnapping the o'hares waters
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forced john murray to withdraw six
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hundred thousand dollars from the
00:19:03
atheist bank account and then took him
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to the jewelry store to exchange the six
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hundred thousand dollars for gold coins
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the o'hares were most likely dead by the
00:19:16
time danny frye impersonated john murray
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to sell his car
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but why was danny fry killed too
00:19:27
the answer
00:19:28
was his drinking
00:19:30
we knew that danny fry
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drank
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and uh loose lips sink ships and by what
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david had told bob fry about his brother
00:19:38
and that was you know your brother has a
00:19:40
big mouth
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could be
00:19:42
the thing that caused his death
00:19:45
but david waters made several crucial
00:19:48
mistakes
00:19:51
[Music]
00:19:54
although waters cleaned the room with
00:19:56
water and bleach
00:19:58
scientists still found a tiny speck of
00:20:00
blood three years later identified by
00:20:04
mitochondrial dna as that of john murray
00:20:08
and madeleine o'hare
00:20:12
but removing danny fry's head and hands
00:20:15
still didn't prevent identification
00:20:18
dna and skull photo superimposition were
00:20:22
all scientists needed
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ironically
00:20:28
after stealing the six hundred thousand
00:20:30
dollars from the o'hares waters never
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got the opportunity to enjoy the money
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it was stolen from him
00:20:39
well his first mistake was putting his
00:20:40
money in a storage locker up in austin
00:20:43
and having three bozos from san antonio
00:20:45
who were looking for used tvs
00:20:47
open up the locker with a master key and
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find a suitcase with a half blade in
00:20:50
gold
00:20:51
[Music]
00:20:54
for his role in this case
00:20:57
david waters was sentenced to 80 years
00:21:00
in prison
00:21:01
his accomplice gary carr was sentenced
00:21:04
to life in prison
00:21:07
mr carr fully admitted his role in
00:21:09
involvement with david waters in the
00:21:11
abduction
00:21:13
robbery and murder of the o'hares
00:21:15
and uh he indicated that he had assisted
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in dismembering the bodies and putting
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the body parts and 55-gallon drums in a
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storage unit here in austin it was a
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nice neat ending they found the bodies
00:21:27
the bad guy goes to prison
00:21:28
and you know the heroes right off into
00:21:30
the sunset
00:21:31
for his persistence
00:21:33
john mccormick is one of the heroes of
00:21:36
this case
00:21:38
and forensic science played an important
00:21:41
role too
00:21:43
well i mean this was definitely one that
00:21:45
if it wasn't for dna we'd probably still
00:21:47
be scratching our heads
00:21:49
as to who this person was
00:21:51
a lot of times i kind of forget about
00:21:53
the case when the next case comes in
00:21:56
and so i really don't have one that
00:21:58
always jumps to mine but i'll remember
00:21:59
this one for a long time
00:22:02
[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
00:22:36
you
