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in august of 1986
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betty wolcifer a 32-year-old housewife
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and mother was strangled and murdered by
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an assailant who had broken into her
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home
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her husband dr glenn wilsopher was also
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strangled and knocked unconscious but
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survived the attack
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his younger brother neal lived right
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across the street and was the first to
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arrive at the scene
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a few months later
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neil wulcifer was dead too
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some say because of what he learned
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about the intruder
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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glenn and betty wilson had been married
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for nine years it was the romance that
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had begun 20 years earlier
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the family both on betty site and on
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glenn's side came from very well
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established influential families within
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the community
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very well liked by all of the community
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betty and glenn were childhood
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sweethearts they went through high
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school together
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glenn wilsopher went on to dental school
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later married betty and after graduation
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the couple returned to their hometown of
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wilkes-barre pennsylvania to set up
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practice
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the wolsifers bought a home on birch
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street just a few houses away from
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glenn's younger brother neal
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the two brothers were unusually close
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they were almost like twins
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they very rarely did things apart they
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were really big into sports and and
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they they just grew up together like
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that and they lived near each other and
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they were inseparable he and his brother
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and when glenn and betty gave birth to a
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daughter danielle their life together
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seemed perfect
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but tragedy struck
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on saturday morning august 30th 1986
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just after dawn glenn wilsopher called
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his younger brother neal telling him
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that an intruder had broken into his
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home
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neal ran across the street to glenn's
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home and when he saw that glenn had been
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assaulted neal phoned police
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when police arrived glenn wilsopher was
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downstairs on the floor fading in and
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out of consciousness
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upstairs had been ransacked furniture
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was overturned desk drawers emptied
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one of the officers then went upstairs
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found his daughter who was still
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sleeping in her bedroom five-year-old
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and then went into the
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the wallsphere's bedroom and found betty
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laying on the floor and she was dead at
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that time
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betty wilsopher's body was on the floor
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next to the bed
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there were abrasions around her neck and
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her face showed signs of a severe
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beating
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it was obvious that it was a homicide
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because of the marks around her neck and
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and the uh
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you can see it was a vicious attack upon
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this woman
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my father had told me
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that that betty was murdered and they
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were the specific words
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how or what had happened i didn't know
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but that just took me
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totally by surprise of course
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and
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so many things go through your head you
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just
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you can't even sort them out
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it appeared that the intruder climbed a
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ladder to the roof over the back porch
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and entered through a second story
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window
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the window screen had been removed and
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placed on the roof
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glenn wilsopher told police that he was
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asleep when he heard a loud noise in the
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back of his house around 6am
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he said he grabbed his gun and saw a
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masked intruder running down the stairs
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and he followed him
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[Music]
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[Music]
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the intruder surprised him from behind
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strangled him with a belt and knocked
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him unconscious with a blow to his head
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[Music]
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sometime later when glenn regained
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consciousness he phoned his brother
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now it's me get over here
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now come on things like that just didn't
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happen in wilkes-barre
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a very nice woman getting killed in her
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own home did not make sense to a lot of
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people
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glenn wilsopher told police that
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thirteen hundred dollars in cash was
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missing from his desk in the study and
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some gold and diamond jewelry and a
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house key were also missing
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but police noticed something suspicious
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the phone in the kitchen was hanging off
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the hook
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police wondered if the victim's brother
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neil had simply forgotten to hang up the
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phone after calling police or
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whether it was evidence of crime scene
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staging
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[Music]
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the news of betty wolcifer's murder and
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the assault on her husband glenn stunned
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the small industrial community of
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wiltsboro pennsylvania
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dr glenn wilson was a successful dentist
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in town his wife an active volunteer for
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many local charities neither had any
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known enemies
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they were very popular couple everybody
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knew them they were
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the pretty couple
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betty was very popular he was kind of
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quiet type but still he was a jock good
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looking and so for those reasons
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everybody knew who both of them were
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police acknowledged that there had been
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a number of recent burglaries in the
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wolfers neighborhood
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since 1300 dollars in cash and some
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jewelry was missing from the
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woolsepher's home robbery was a possible
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motive
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it appeared that the intruder used a
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ladder the wulcifer stored on the side
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of their house to gain entrance through
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an open second story window
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a partial palm print was discovered on
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the inside of the windowsill which did
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not match anyone in the family or the
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police
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the autopsy on betty wilsopher was
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performed by luzerne county coroner dr
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george hudoc who found no evidence of
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sexual assault
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the cause of death was strangulation
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which would take from three to five
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minutes
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during that time it was obvious to dr
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hudak that there had been a fierce life
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and death struggle i believe that she
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really fought back with fury
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and that she inflicted
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some injuries on whoever has sailed her
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blue fibers and a small speck of blood
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found under betty's fingernails
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confirmed that she had been in close
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contact with her killer
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but dr hudoc noticed something unusual
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despite a severe beating there was no
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blood on betty wilson's nightgown and
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very little blood on her face that was
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the outstanding thing that imprinted
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itself on my brain when we saw the body
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you didn't have to be a trained forensic
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pathologist to recognize it there was
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something suspicious there
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all of the injuries to the mouth and the
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neck and no blood on the face and no
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blood on the clothing
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it appeared that after killing betty
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wilsopher the killer had washed her face
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and changed her nightgown
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police search for her bloody clothing in
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the house the surrounding neighborhood
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and the nearby susquehanna river without
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success
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since the body was lying in front of the
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fan time of death was difficult to gauge
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but dr hudoc estimated that betty
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wulcifer had been murdered between 2 30
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and 4 30 in the morning
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two to four hours before glenn said he
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heard the intruder and there was another
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inconsistency
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doctors at mercy hospital noticed
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injuries on the back of glenn
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wilsopher's neck even though he said he
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was strangled from behind it doesn't
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make any sense it just could not happen
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that way the only way you could get that
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entry to the back of your neck is
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somebody pulled from the front
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friends told investigators that glenn
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often wore a gold chain around his neck
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if he was involved with a fight with his
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wife where his wife would have been
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saying the bed underneath him and he was
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on top of her in that position he would
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have sustained those type of injuries
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from that piece of jewelry
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that type of force would have damaged
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the spleenus capitus muscles two long
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muscles which support the head the same
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injury emergency room doctors diagnosed
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in glenn wulcifer after his wife's
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murder when investigators dug a little
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deeper into glenn wilson's dental
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practice they discovered his
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relationship with his dental assistant
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was more personal than business the two
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had been carrying on an affair for five
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years
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she told investigators that she expected
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glenn to leave his wife for her
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but she realized that wouldn't happen
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when she discovered that glenn was
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carrying on another affair with an
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aerobics instructor in town
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from motel receipts police learned that
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glenn would sometimes have trysts with
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both women on the same day before going
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home to his wife here was a man who not
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only had an affair and cheated on his
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wife but here was a man who had an
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affair and cheated on his girlfriend at
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the same time
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and police wanted to know why glenn's
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younger brother neal failed to go
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upstairs to check on his brother's wife
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and child while he waited for the police
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to arrive
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while on his way to the district
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attorney's office to answer that very
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question neil made a decision that would
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change the course of the investigation
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when homicide investigators learned that
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betty wulcifer's body had been washed
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and her clothes changed after the murder
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they looked a little closer at the
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statements glenn and his younger brother
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neil both gave to police
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on the night of the murder
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glenn wilsopher said he was out with
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friends at a local nightclub
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and drove home around 2 30.
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he said that he went right to bed and
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slept until dawn when he heard the
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intruder and went downstairs to
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investigate
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but the police video taken on the
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morning of the murder shows that glenn
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wilsopher's car in the driveway was not
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covered with dew yet his wife's car was
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to help sort out the discrepancy police
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called in a forensic meteorologist dr
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joseph sobel who studied the weather
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patterns on the night of the murder
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dew is moisture it's condensation that
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actually forms on the object we're
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talking about whether it be a blade of
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grass or a rooftop or a car top or any
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object that happens to be outside during
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that time
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the temperature on the afternoon of the
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murder was 70 degrees so the dew point
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temperature the point when water in the
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air becomes cold enough to change from a
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gas to a liquid producing dew would have
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occurred when the temperature reached 50
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degrees we know the night was clear
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surface weather observations showed us
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that
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we know it was very cool so that the
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temperature was able to drop
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considerably and we know that there was
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little or no wind
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the temperature hit 50 degrees at 11 p.m
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glenn wilsopher said he drove home at 2
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30 in the morning yet there was no do on
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his car when police arrived at 7 a.m
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if he had driven home at 2 30 in the
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morning glenn's car would have had the
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same amount of dew as his wife's car
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the lack of do meant that someone had
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driven glenn wilsopher's car some time
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after glenn returned home from the
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nightclub at 2 30 and before police
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arrived at 7 am evaporating the dew that
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had been present
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and the same dew points produced due on
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the wilsapher's roof yet there were no
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foot or handprints in the dew on the
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roof when police arrived
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when police looked more closely at the
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ladder they discovered it had been
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placed up to the roof backwards with the
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steps facing in the opposite direction
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the partial palm print found on the
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windowsill could not be identified
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potentially corroborating glenn's story
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about an intruder
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police were also investigating what
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connection if any glenn's younger
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brother neil may have had to the murder
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he was the first one to arrive at the
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scene and was the one that called the
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police
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but when police arrived the phone was
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off the hook hanging from the wall unit
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police were also suspicious of neil's
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behavior he admitted that he did not go
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upstairs to check on glenn's wife and
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five-year-old daughter danielle before
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police arrived
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neil wolford denied any involvement in
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the crime but when asked to take a lie
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detector test he refused a lot of people
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think that neil
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knew everything
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that when he came in the house that
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glenn told him what happened and said
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you have to help me we have to concoct a
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story
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there's people that even think that neil
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may have been the one that knock glenn
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on the head
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then there's the other school that think
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that neil suspected
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and he just kept putting two and two
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together
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and things that
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glenn may have said to him and just just
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the very thought was too much for him to
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bear
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[Music]
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neil was asked to report to the district
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attorney's office for an interview
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he went past the time and he was
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supposed to arrive
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and gary sworn left the room and he came
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back in and
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he says uh
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the wilsonverse
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dead
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i was shocked
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i was shocked
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so we found out where the accident
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occurred or
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the incident occurred so he went up and
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took a look at the scene
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and it was gruesome he passed the
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courthouse
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he drove about another five miles and
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that
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his car swerved in front of a dump truck
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and he was killed instantly
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investigators could find no skid marks
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it appeared that neil wulcifer
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intentionally turned in front of an
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oncoming truck the coroner ruled the
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death of suicide
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it made me feel sad the fact that
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somebody was involved
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with a crime
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and because of guilt
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some innocent person had to die
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and
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when you have the death of a person
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there's always so many other people that
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suffer
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we know that
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joy can be shared with others but how
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grief
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can only be endured alone
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and what neil wulcifer may have known
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about the murder
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went with him to his grave
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with dr glenn wilsopher as the prime
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suspect in his wife's murder police
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discovered that the all-american image
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he presented to the public was just that
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an image
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before her death
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betty wulcifer told friends that she
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knew all about her husband's affairs
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with the aerobics instructor and his
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dental assistant and that she had had
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enough
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we found out from some of betty's
00:16:46
girlfriends that she was very annoyed
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with some of these things that were
00:16:49
happening very annoyed with him going
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out at nights and not coming in until
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all hours of the morning and some of the
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girlfriends even made comments to her
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well maybe you should confront him maybe
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he should ask him what's going on
00:17:01
to see if there was any evidence of a
00:17:03
physical confrontation between glenn and
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his wife
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fbi analyst doug dietrich analyzed the
00:17:10
debris under betty wilsopher's
00:17:12
fingernails
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there he found a number of blue cotton
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denim fibers
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using micro spectrophotometry dietrich
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analyzed a spectrum of color in the dye
00:17:25
of those fibers and concluded that the
00:17:27
dye was consistent with the dye used in
00:17:30
the denim shirt and jeans that glenn
00:17:32
wilsopher was seen wearing at the
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nightclub just hours before his wife's
00:17:37
murder
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finally diedrick analyzed several head
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hairs on the bed spread next to betty
00:17:44
wolfer's body the hairs had been
00:17:47
forcibly removed and were compared to
00:17:49
hair samples from glenn wulcifer from
00:17:52
the laboratory standpoint the hairs that
00:17:54
were forcibly removed on the bedding
00:17:56
were consistent with the husband i
00:17:58
looked at other hairs that were
00:17:59
recovered from the bedding and from the
00:18:01
towels
00:18:02
and there were no hairs out of place i
00:18:05
mean the hairs that i found were
00:18:06
consistent with people that lived in
00:18:08
that house
00:18:10
on november 5th 1990
00:18:12
glenn wulcifer was charged with first
00:18:15
degree murder he pleaded not guilty
00:18:21
prosecutors stated that on the afternoon
00:18:23
before the murder glenn met his dental
00:18:25
assistant for a sexual encounter
00:18:27
[Applause]
00:18:29
a few hours later glenn saw his other
00:18:32
mistress at a local nightclub he may
00:18:35
have been hoping to have sex with her
00:18:36
too but her husband was there
00:18:42
glenn drove home around 2 30 in the
00:18:43
morning
00:18:45
and betty may have confronted glenn over
00:18:48
his sexual liaisons
00:18:50
what are you doing do you know what time
00:18:51
it is
00:18:53
the argument turned violent
00:18:57
as she fought for her life betty pulled
00:18:59
glenn's hair clutched and grabbed his
00:19:01
shirt and caused the injury to his neck
00:19:04
by forcibly pulling on his
00:19:08
jewelry after the murder glenn removed
00:19:12
his wife's bloody nightgown
00:19:14
and washed her body in what was probably
00:19:17
a psychological attempt to mask his
00:19:20
guilt over what had occurred
00:19:30
prosecutors believe that glenn used his
00:19:33
car to dispose of the bloody clothing
00:19:36
which evaporated the dew
00:19:42
when he returned he staged the crime
00:19:45
scene by placing the ladder up to the
00:19:46
back of his house
00:19:48
but he made a mistake and propped it up
00:19:51
backwards he also removed the window
00:19:53
screen and ransacked some of the rooms
00:19:58
the telephone receiver found off the
00:20:00
hook was either a mistake made during
00:20:01
the staging of the crime scene or neil
00:20:04
wulcifer simply forgot to hang up the
00:20:06
telephone after calling police
00:20:10
the jury had to choose between glenn
00:20:12
wilsopher's intruder story and the
00:20:14
circumstantial case put forward by
00:20:16
prosecutors
00:20:18
and amid the discrepancies in glenn
00:20:20
wilsopher's story
00:20:22
one fact stood out
00:20:24
after an alleged life and death struggle
00:20:26
with an intruder neither glenn or his
00:20:29
brother neil ever went upstairs to check
00:20:32
on betty wilsopher or five-year-old
00:20:34
danielle before the police arrived
00:20:38
glenn wilsopher was found guilty of
00:20:40
third degree murder and was sentenced to
00:20:44
eight to 20 years in prison
00:20:46
the death of my sister
00:20:48
it's the hurt on behalf of both families
00:20:54
very close friends and friends
00:20:56
and people in the community in general
00:20:59
that this one person is hurt
00:21:03
that's devastating that's
00:21:06
unbelievable
00:21:08
here's a guy who just cared about
00:21:09
himself
00:21:11
the only person that he ever cared about
00:21:13
was himself glenn was worried about
00:21:15
glenn and no one else and i think that
00:21:17
was shown by the verdict in this case
00:21:21
benjamin franklin once said
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three may keep a secret if two of them
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are dead
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that might have been true in this case
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had it not been for the role of science
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and when i go out to talk to people
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about forensic meteorology i always talk
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about this case and i go through the
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whole scenario and the setup and
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and then i asked people okay so where's
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the weather connection you know where
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does weather become involved and usually
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all i get is a set of blank stairs so to
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think about that and to tie it in and
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then to go get expert corroboration i
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think was really a very very good piece
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of police and detective work
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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you
