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[Music]
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up next
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the secret life of a call girl
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often a very dangerous profession they
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found a female face down didn't appear
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to have any signs of life she would be a
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natural target because she would usually
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have significant amounts of cash on her
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person the evidence points to one man
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looks like rambo acts like rambo and
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dresses like rambo it may be rambo until
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one tiny clue turns the case around
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[Music]
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it was after midnight on a chilly march
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evening when virginia russell was
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driving home from a party with her
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boyfriend rodney hartman
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the couple had been dating for three
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years and were talking about getting
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married
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but on this night
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tragedy struck
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she was thrown from the car
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the car flipped like eight times and
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they were both ejected from the car
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when an ambulance arrived they
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pronounced rodney hartman dead at the
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scene virginia was rushed to the
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hospital
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for 48 hours
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virginia hovered between life and death
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but she survived
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toxicology tests showed virginia had a
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blood alcohol level of 0.16 almost twice
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the legal limit
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i had charged her with the felony dui
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i mean it struck home pretty hard and
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like i said it wasn't like it was a
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stranger
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that she had hit or anything it was
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somebody that she had been dating that
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the family had known for years
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virginia was convicted and sentenced to
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six years in prison for vehicular
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homicide
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it was hard enough that she had lost
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somebody in her life
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and then to be doing time for it
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and
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be taken away from her family again i
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mean it was very difficult time for
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virginia
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when virginia was released from prison
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she told her family she found work
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cleaning houses
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one evening while spending time with her
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family
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virginia got a message on her pager at 8
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54 p.m
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yeah i can do that
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we asked her where she was going
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and she tells us that she has to go
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clean a house for an individual
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we said our goodbyes and hugged her and
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told her we loved her
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and she told us as well
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and that was the last time
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early the next morning
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a man walking his dog
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found a woman's body near an athletic
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field in rosewood south carolina
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the victim had been shot three times
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execution style in the head
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two shell casings were found nearby
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fingerprints identified the victim
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as virginia russell
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pretty shocking
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absolutely she hadn't been out
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two months
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when this incident happened
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she was missing her right shoe
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there was no dirt or debris on her foot
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but her stockings were ripped
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and she had scrapes on her knees
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the missing shell casing indicated
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virginia may have been shot once in
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another location and then
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dragged to where she was shot two more
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times
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[Music]
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there's obviously more to this homicide
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than just this one particular location
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where the body was found
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police found two empty beer bottles 20
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feet from virginia's body
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no one was sure if they were connected
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to the murder
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they also found
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a single hair on virginia's body
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as we do at all crime scenes we've
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collected everything that we could
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possibly collect
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there was no sign of sexual assault but
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two purses were found near the body
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they weren't but two dollars in change
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in the purses so investigators believe
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that part of the motive may have been
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robert
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a background check stunned virginia's
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family
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her real profession
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wasn't cleaning houses
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she was a call girl it was a total shock
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but then again
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i guess virginia had to do
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what she needed to do because it was
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very difficult for her to find work
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because of her background
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as the family coped with the tragedy
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investigators were forced to deal with a
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problem of their own
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virginia's profession meant
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a large list of potential suspects
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[Music]
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investigators found virginia russell's
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car in an abandoned parking lot two
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miles from the location of her body
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there was a single shell casing inside
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obviously she was initially
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shot in the vehicle you could see the
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blood spatter that went throughout the
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car consistent with her having been shot
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in the head
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on the passenger floorboard spattered
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with blood
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was a potential clue we found a
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six-pack of michelob beer that the
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carton was still there but it had one
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bottle
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full bottle still left in the carton
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this was the same brand of beer as the
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two beer bottles found near virginia's
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body
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blood inside the door confirmed virginia
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had been dragged from the car
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her missing shoe
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was on the driver's side floorboard
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[Music]
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in a search for virginia's killer
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investigators wanted to know who had
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paged her on the night of her death the
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call was traced to this apartment
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rented by 27 year old justin bullard who
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owned an aquarium cleaning business
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justin bullard denied any involvement in
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the murder and said he never met
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virginia
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he had no criminal history
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mr bullet's alibi was his at home alone
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and the problem with that was
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him being home alone and no one else to
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cooperate
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him being there at the time
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with a search warrant
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investigators found a wealth of evidence
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inside his apartment
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we find in his apartment a
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380 caliber pistol
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the pistol registered to justin billard
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was apparently the same caliber as the
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gun used in virginia's murder
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and investigators found something else
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there are several pages uh ripped out of
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the phone book and each of those pages
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relate to escort services
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and phone numbers for escort services
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on a pair of bullard's boots
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analysts noticed some slight
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discoloration the boots were examined
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under a microscope
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they were stained with what appeared to
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be
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high impact blood spatter
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high impact spatter might be invisible
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if the surface that it's deposited on
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is absorbent or dark in color
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it's very likely that it would be very
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difficult to simply visualize it
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dna tests on the bloody boots tied them
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to virginia's murder
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the swabs were subjected to pcr testing
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and the results came back consistent
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with the victim
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whoever was wearing those boots
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was probably in contact with the victim
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at the time she was murdered
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next investigators tested bullard's
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handgun
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the firearm that was submitted to me was
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a russian manufacturer makarov
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semi-automatic pistol chambered to fire
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380 auto caliber ammunition
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shell casings from the crime scene and
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casings from a test firing of the gun
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were examined with a comparison
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microscope
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viewed side by side
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the shell casings left no doubt
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the murder weapon
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was justin bullard's gun
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i was able to determine that those
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cartridge cases those 380 autos that
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were from the scene were fired by this
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particular firearm the boots were mr
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bullard's the gun was mr bullard's the
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last phone call from the victim was to
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mr bullo's apartment
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but despite the overwhelming evidence
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bullard not only denied he was the
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killer
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he came up with the incredible tale that
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someone must have stolen all his things
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committed the crime
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then returned them
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[Music]
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the prime suspect in virginia russell's
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murder was justin bullard
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inside bullard's apartment investigators
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found all the evidence they needed for a
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conviction
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virginia's blood was found on bullard's
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boots
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his handgun was the murder weapon
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names and phone numbers of escort
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services were near his telephone
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and virginia russell was paged from
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bullard's phone
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just hours before her murder
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looks like rambo acts like rambo and
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dresses like rambo it may be rambo
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bullard claimed a roommate might have
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committed this crime with items taken
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from his apartment
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bullard said
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he had allowed a friend to live with him
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temporarily because the electricity in
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his friend's apartment had been turned
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off due to lack of payment
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as preposterous as this seemed
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it took on more significance when
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prosecutor knox mcmahon learned of a
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similar crime that happened three days
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before virginia's death
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[Music]
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a call girl went to an apartment
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to meet her client
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she said
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there were no lights on in the apartment
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only candles
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the client
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wouldn't identify himself
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but asked her to undress
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[Music]
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then without warning he pulled a knife
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and demanded money
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he then tells her to run and don't look
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back
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she's only partially clothed
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the apartment was leased to a known drug
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addict
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roy beck
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but was he
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the perpetrator
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the victim was shown a photo lineup
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she positively identified roy back the
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physical description she gave fit roy
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back
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it's not fit mr bullard
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coincidentally
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roy beck was the friend justin bullard
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said was living with him at the time of
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virginia russell's murder
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that meant
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two suspects were staying in the
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apartment that was the source of all the
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evidence in virginia russell's murder
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you definitely have two people bullard
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owns the gun owns the boots it's his
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apartment and
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roy beck is staying there and has access
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to these items also
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there was no root on the hair found on
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virginia's body
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so scientists couldn't perform genetic
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dna testing
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all analysts could say was
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that visually it looked more similar to
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beck's hair than bullets
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but inside roybeck's apartment the one
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with no electricity that the call girl
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visited police found a potential clue
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we found three
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bottles of michelob beer
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so now you have uh
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two michelob light beer at the body
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scene
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one
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unopened
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and a carton in virginia russell's car
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and three
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it beck's unpowered apartment
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scientists swabbed the beer bottles from
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the murder scene looking for a possible
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connection
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unfortunately they didn't find enough
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saliva or skin cells to generate a dna
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profile
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testing for saliva at that time on the
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mouth of a beer bottle wasn't as
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commonly done
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as it is today
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the bottles were then subjected to super
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glue fuming
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these fumes will adhere to finger oils
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and often produce quality prints
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glass is a very smooth surface
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and the residue that builds up on the
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ridges and the fingers and in the palms
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of the hands easily will transfer from
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the surface of the hand onto a glass
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surface and that glass surface will hold
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it after 15 minutes in the fuming
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chamber
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one partial palm print emerged on one of
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the bottles found near virginia's body
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this partial print
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didn't match virginia russell
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justin bullard or
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roy beck
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the forensic evidence from virginia
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russell's murder pointed to justin
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bullard
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the gun
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the bloody shoes the telephone calls to
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the escort service from his apartment
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but bullard had no criminal record and
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no apparent motive
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some of the circumstantial evidence
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pointed to his friend roy beck
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the beer bottles in his apartment were
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the same brand as those found next to
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virginia russell's body
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and the background check revealed beck
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was addicted to crack cocaine
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he was a drug addict and obviously to
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feed that dragon you got to have a lot
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of cash
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prosecutor knox mcmahon
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thought the beer bottles at beck's
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apartment and those found at the crime
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scene were too much of a coincidence
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so he decided to take a second look
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if you look at those beer bottles there
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is a born on date and there is a code
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under the born on date
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the date was october 22nd
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1996
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followed by the letters
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wf
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w is the geographic location in this
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case williamsburg virginia within
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williamsburg virginia there are multiple
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lines within the plant and f designates
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which line the bottling took place on
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but the key piece of information
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was the final part of the label
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the number
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58.
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at the time the williamsburg brewery
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produced 600 cases of beer every 15
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minutes
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and each of these 15-minute periods was
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given a number
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58 met the 58th
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15-minute period of a 24-hour day which
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was
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2 15 to 2 30.
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but how many bottles were filled in one
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15-minute period
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with over a million beers bottled at
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that brewery every day only one percent
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were bottled in any 15-minute period
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so only 14 000 bottles would have the
00:16:07
same code
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so what would be the chances that roy
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beck would have three bottles of beer in
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his apartment with the same code as the
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bottle found inside virginia russell's
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car and the two next to virginia's body
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the probability of that happening is
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incredibly small you would have to have
00:16:27
all the people involved at the same
00:16:29
location at the same time buying the
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same beer
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the odds of the beer bottles coming from
00:16:35
different six packs were more than one
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in 32 million
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these
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six beers came from the same
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six pack
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roy beck was arrested and charged with
00:16:49
virginia russell's murder
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prosecutors say beck desperate for money
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called the escort service to arrange for
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an out call which means the girl would
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go to the customer's home
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[Music]
00:17:07
the first time he called the escort
00:17:09
service he asked that the girl meet him
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in his own apartment
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[Music]
00:17:23
when she arrived
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beck robbed her of a couple of hundred
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dollars at knife point
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then let her go
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without power
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beck moved in temporarily with justin
00:17:40
bullard
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and when he needed more money for drugs
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called the escort service again
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this time from bullard's phone
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and set up the meeting with virginia
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russell
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sure
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he took bullard's boots and gun and
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the beer from his own apartment
00:18:01
when virginia arrived
00:18:03
beck got into her
00:18:11
[Music]
00:18:12
car and they went to a deserted location
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each drank a beer
00:18:18
and threw the empty bottles out the
00:18:20
window
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[Music]
00:18:23
prosecutors think beck was acquainted
00:18:25
with virginia from a previous meeting
00:18:27
and decided to kill her so she wouldn't
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identify him
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blood spattered on the remaining beer
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bottle and on the boots beck had stolen
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from bullard
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beck dragged virginia's body onto the
00:18:44
road
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then shot her two more times
00:18:51
[Music]
00:18:56
he stole all the money from her purses
00:18:58
then
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drove virginia's car two miles away
00:19:03
where he abandoned it
00:19:10
beck later returned bullard's
00:19:12
blood-spattered boots and gun to
00:19:14
bullard's apartment without him knowing
00:19:16
it
00:19:17
setting him up for the crime
00:19:20
but beck didn't know that the three
00:19:22
bottles of beer left in his apartment
00:19:25
would tie him to the bottles at the
00:19:28
murder site and
00:19:30
to one in virginia's car
00:19:33
it was very significant in this
00:19:34
investigation it um
00:19:37
it was the one thing that could really
00:19:39
put
00:19:40
back
00:19:41
at every cri at all three crime scenes
00:19:45
at his trial
00:19:46
roy beck insisted
00:19:48
justin bullard was the killer
00:19:51
but the science
00:19:52
showed otherwise
00:19:54
i myself did not feel it was bullard uh
00:19:58
when he was on the stand and all i mean
00:20:01
just the look in his eyes
00:20:03
i felt like it was back the whole time
00:20:06
roy beck was convicted of first degree
00:20:09
murder and sentenced to life in prison
00:20:13
investigators described this
00:20:15
as one of their most unusual cases
00:20:18
two suspects each connected to the crime
00:20:21
by the same evidence
00:20:23
until
00:20:24
something as seemingly insignificant as
00:20:27
the label on a beer bottle showed who
00:20:30
was lying
00:20:32
and who was telling the truth
00:20:35
that's what sanctum just those
00:20:37
those bottles of beer um
00:20:40
i guess he didn't have that in his plan
00:20:41
the beer bottles themselves ended up
00:20:43
being one of the more
00:20:45
telling aspects of the case and it's
00:20:47
very unusual to be able to
00:20:50
help solve a crime by the use of beer
00:20:52
bottles and the date they were made it's
00:20:54
very unusual
00:20:55
that's just the type of circumstantial
00:20:58
evidence that
00:21:01
that you just don't get every day that
00:21:03
you just don't see every day that people
00:21:05
can look at it and see it touch it and
00:21:08
relate to it
00:21:11
[Music]
