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[Music]
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a christian missionary was murdered in
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her apartment
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the perpetrator left little evidence
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behind
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but a new computer program found clues
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on a bloody sheet
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and the case made forensic history
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[Music]
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[Music]
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kirkland washington
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an upscale suburb of seattle which has
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some of the best educated citizens in
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the united states over 95 percent have
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either a high school or college diploma
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27 year old dawn fairing fit right in
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don was very much interested in foreign
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languages and she was an exchange
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student paris first and learning french
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and then went to vienna austria and
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learned german
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dawn was an accomplished violinist and
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dancer who had recently returned from
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japan where she was doing christian
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missionary work
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she was living in this apartment
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building in kirkland for just two weeks
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when her neighbor a local fireman
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noticed her front door was left open
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and decided to investigate
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so he grabbed his portable phone knocked
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on the door
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called out to see if anyone was there
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and when he didn't receive a response he
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entered into the unit
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in the kitchen
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there were freshly baked cookies
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in the bedroom
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he found his neighbor dawn fairing on
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the floor
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yes you covered it no i
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i just checked the body to see um so she
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was okay dawn was pronounced dead at the
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scene
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it was totally denial for me i couldn't
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believe that it was happening i mean
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there's no motive she has no no enemies
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whatsoever i don't think she knew
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anybody i don't think she even knew the
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people across the hall she had not as
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yet
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said anything to any of us about
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these other people the other people in
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the condo
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the autopsy revealed a fist-sized bruise
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on the back of dawn's head
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she had also been sexually assaulted and
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strangled to death with the bed sheet
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it appeared to us that the attack was
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quick it didn't look like the suspect
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spent much time in the crime scene
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and again that night no one heard her
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saw anything
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and there's units above and below and
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across from her and people were home at
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the time the one thing that the
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investigators knew
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immediately when they entered the scene
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was that whomever it was that did this
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was a smoke
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they knew this from the ashes on the
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mattress and the burn mark on the table
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where he put the cigarette out
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he didn't leave the cigarette butt
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behind
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it means one of two things either he had
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a cigarette in his mouth when he went in
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or after he realized what he's done he
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said to himself oh god what am i gonna
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do now
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and it was then that he left the
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cigarette and thought about what he
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might do to try and cover it up or clean
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it up or abandon it there was also a
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blood stain on the fitted sheet
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tests showed the blood was dawn fairings
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investigators didn't find any foreign
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fingerprints or shoe impressions at the
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scene none of the neighbors saw or heard
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anything suspicious and nothing had been
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stolen from the apartment
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from a prosecutorial perspective most of
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the time you get killed for a reason
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somebody knows you
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whether it's legitimate reason or not
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and most of the time it's not but
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there's always a reason almost always a
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reason
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in this case
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there was none
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don ferring led a very low risk
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lifestyle she was involved in a romantic
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relationship
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and again her her main priorities in her
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life at that time was her christian
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faith her family and her studies to be a
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missionary so there were a number of
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times when i think we all individually
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and collectively looked at one another
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and said what the hell are we going to
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do now
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the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies
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in dawn fairing's kitchen
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provided an insight into her last
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moments alive
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grocery receipts identified the store
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where dawn purchased the ingredients
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and they showed that dawn was in the
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store at 9 45 pm
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investigators couldn't find anyone who
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had seen her between the time she left
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the store and when her body was
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discovered the following morning
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don fairing was an innocent victim doing
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the most all-american of events which
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was making cookies for her mother for
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mother's day in the privacy of our own
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home it could have happened to your
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daughter or son could have happened to
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anyone
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just happened to be our daughter
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[Music]
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a background check revealed dawn was a
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very private person who did not date
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drink or use drugs
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she had been in town for only two weeks
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one of the interesting things that you
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learn when you do this kind of work the
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medical examiner and their observations
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that they make of a person and the
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remarkable observation that he made
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about dawn fairing was that she was so
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modest that she didn't even have pierced
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ears
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investigators checked the whereabouts of
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all registered sex offenders in the area
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and each of them had an alibi
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the registered sex offender who lived in
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this neighborhood actually had a history
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of
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abusing children and not grown women and
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not to suggest that never the two shall
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meet but most often you have one target
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group or another if you're a sex
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offender we had
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a number of potential leads we had at
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that time a serial killer investigation
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and that part of the county was underway
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the green river serial killer attacked
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dozens of women in the pacific northwest
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but those murders differed from this one
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since the green river victims weren't
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killed in their homes
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investigators were fairly certain that
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dawn's killer lived somewhere nearby
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we initially looked at everyone in the
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building there was nothing that really
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stood out people had alibis
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they were pretty much accounted for and
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when we ran the criminal history checks
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on those
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persons we didn't come back with
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anything of concern
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and it also appeared that the killer
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knew dawn lived alone
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if it had been someone who just followed
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her home from the grocery store or off
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the street they're taking a huge chance
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by entering into someone's residence and
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and gambling that they're there alone
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although dawn had been sexually
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assaulted
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the medical examiner could find no
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biological evidence left by the
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perpetrator
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the only possible piece of evidence
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was the blood stain on dawn's bed
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the blood was dawn's
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but was it possible
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that the blood held other clues the
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evidence texts looked at it and reviewed
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it
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and the officer asked what are our
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chances of identifying somebody with
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this
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and in unison they both said slim to
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none
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if the killer had touched the blood it
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might show his fingerprint
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but the blood was on a porous bed sheet
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another roadblock
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getting prints on fabric is extremely
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difficult
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pretty rare
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there's only
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you know not very many cases
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documented for that
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a quick call to the fbi's crime lab
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suggested they could try to see if there
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was a print in the blood stain with a
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substance called
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amido black
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amito black has long been used on
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laboratory slides to enhance the
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contrast
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it also reacts positively to the protein
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and blood
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with nothing to lose forensic scientist
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pat warwick took the fbi suggestion and
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soaked the bed sheet in the amido black
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solution
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none of us believed in a million years
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that we were going to get anything out
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of this because the moment this sheet
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went into the amino black solution the
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first time it
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it turned completely blue
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but to the trained eye
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something did start to appear
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we just couldn't believe it you know
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here we have this section of fabric this
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sheet
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and then we can see
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easily readily see
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hand prints fingerprints
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in blood
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on the sheet a lot of it is stuff that
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was not visible at all even right before
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we started and it was just covered with
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it
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the partial palm print that emerged
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didn't look like it could be used for
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any kind of identification
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the fabric was the real problem you have
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to get in close and look for detail
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ridge detail friction ridge skin
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detail
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so we look at it with magnification as
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soon as you get in close
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all you can see is the weave of the
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fabric
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you can't really see any detail because
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the weave is interfering with that
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that's all you can see
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the palm print now looked like a dead
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end
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and detectives had to face the
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possibility that dawn's murder would
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never be solved
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but investigators kept digging
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and being at the right place at the
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right time
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produced results
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while they were standing outside dawn's
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apartment
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a passerby started asking questions
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i stood outside of that scene for hours
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and i vividly recall standing in the
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parking lot and watching this
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big fat slob for lack of a better turn
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meandered down the stairs and as he
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walked by all of the investigators he
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sort of shouted out hey man do i have to
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be concerned about my personal safety
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around here quote unquote
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his name
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was eric hayden
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and he lived with his girlfriend in the
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apartment above dawn fairings
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the first time the detective spoke with
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eric hayden he claimed he'd never seen
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the person who lived there before the
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second time they spoke with him he
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claimed that he'd seen her but they
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never had any contact with her at all
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when questioned about his whereabouts on
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the night of the murder hayden claimed
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he was out drinking with friends until
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very late that night
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and he had no prior arrests for
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sex-related crimes
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we felt it was significant because this
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is a very unusual thing just to wake up
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one day
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in your
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early 30s and go out and commit a crime
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like this
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that's unusual
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but something about hayden
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bothered the investigators
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eric's hand was shaking he pointed it
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out himself and he says wow look at me
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my hands are shaking
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this is really
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making me uh nervous
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was a simple conversation with police
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that nerve-wracking
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or
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was there something else
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eric hayden a 32 year old mill worker
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was starting to emerge as the prime
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suspect in dawn fairing's murder
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he lived in the same apartment building
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and according to other residents hayden
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behaved suspiciously
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there was a female neighbor that
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described eric hayden as weird
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and when i asked her what do you mean by
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weird she said well on one occasion i
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saw him
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down in the parking lot it was raining
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he didn't have any shoes on he was
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smoking a cigarette and he
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he was watching people come and go
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and as i watched him i realized he was
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paying particular attention to the women
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and during questioning
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hayden initially claimed he was out
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drinking with friends at the time of the
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murder later he said
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he was drinking alone
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when his story started changing they
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consider the fact he admittedly drinks
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to the point where he doesn't know
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what's going on hayden was also a smoker
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which was significant since the killer
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left cigarette ashes behind
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but the only forensic evidence in this
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crime
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was the palm print on dawn's bed sheet
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and the print was so poor there was no
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way to make a comparison
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desperate for answers
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detectives called in forensic
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investigator eric berg
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they wanted another opinion on whether
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or not something could be done with
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those sheets since they had reached
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the limit of what they were able to do
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with chemistry
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berg took a digital photograph of the
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print on the bed sheet
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and scanned it into his computer
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the problem
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was immediately apparent
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the ridge details on the print
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were obscured by the thread patterns on
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the sheet as if a screen had been placed
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over the print well i want to find out
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who left this because i think it's my
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bad guy i see the outline of a hand but
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i can't see the details
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how do i get rid of that screen that's
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really the question i'm asking myself
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when i'm looking at the screen how do i
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get rid of that then berg had an idea
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he needed some way to remove the thread
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pattern from the image but he needed to
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find some kind of filter the filter is a
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nice word for algorithm it's a
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mathematical process that can go through
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an image and do something to it we have
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one that i designed
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that basically seeks out repetitive
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patterns something that repeats itself
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in a predictable way and allows you to
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remove that without affecting the rest
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of the image
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berg
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took a sample of the bed sheet's thread
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pattern
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and had the computer
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subtract that pattern from the image
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leaving only the palm print
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and it worked
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it was beautiful i didn't expect this or
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i didn't expect to be that that clear
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but
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details are suddenly just
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the hdtv analogy that were popping off
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the screen that you did not see before i
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mean you could see formations but you
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weren't seeing the details and all of a
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sudden you were seeing those details
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and there was a remarkable amount of
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detail
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here we have pretty much
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half of a hand
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from
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the fingers all the way down to the base
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of the hand
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that's in view that is readily
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visible
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so we had just a tremendous amount of
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information as far as doing a latent
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print examination or a comparison
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the digitally enhanced palm print from
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dawn fairing's bed sheet
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was then compared to eric hayden's palm
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prince
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pat warwick focused on the ridge
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patterns and breaks in the patterns
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these are unique to each person
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there was no doubt
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the print on dawn fairing's bed sheet
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was made
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by eric hayden
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so we call him and just said you're not
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going to believe it it's the guy who
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lives upstairs you know it's him
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and and they just were like what you
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know
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where and it was just amazing we're like
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yeah it matches the card that we have it
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matches him
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eric hayden was arrested and charged
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with first degree murder
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prosecutors were convinced
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they had an ironclad case
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but would the judge allow this evidence
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to be used in court
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as eric hayden awaited trial for the
00:16:37
murder of dawn fairing
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prosecutors had to deal with a number of
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problems
00:16:42
the technology used to reveal the print
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had never been admitted as evidence in a
00:16:46
criminal trial
00:16:48
the standard argument in this particular
00:16:50
type of case is that the evil empire the
00:16:53
cops are out there and they're just
00:16:54
trying to convict innocent people out
00:16:56
here of murder and all kinds of terrible
00:16:59
crimes and they'll stop at nothing to do
00:17:00
that including taking computer evidence
00:17:03
manipulating adding information
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putting stuff in there that would
00:17:07
unfairly bias the case against their
00:17:09
client
00:17:11
when prosecutors walked into court they
00:17:13
had to convince the judge that the only
00:17:16
thing they did to the palm print on the
00:17:18
sheet was to enhance it
00:17:20
we don't add anything to the evidence
00:17:22
the evidence is what it is
00:17:24
we will take away that that is
00:17:26
interfering with our ability to identify
00:17:29
subtracting
00:17:30
but we're not going to put in a
00:17:31
fingerprint ridge or a palm
00:17:34
detail or anything that's missing
00:17:36
the judge left it to the jury to decide
00:17:40
eric berg brought his computer into the
00:17:42
courtroom
00:17:43
and demonstrated the process
00:17:46
everybody looked at it and they were
00:17:48
just amazed
00:17:49
it was readily apparent that it was a
00:17:51
palm print and i remember i was standing
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back behind the jury
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looking at them
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look at eric berg and in the background
00:17:59
was the defense counsel
00:18:01
who
00:18:02
looked took one look at me and threw his
00:18:03
tie over his shoulder and spun around in
00:18:05
the chair and just essentially saying it
00:18:07
i'm done and for all practical purposes
00:18:10
eric hayden was done
00:18:12
the palm print told the story
00:18:15
of what happened to dawn fairing
00:18:20
prosecutors believe eric hayden was
00:18:22
drunk when he returned to his apartment
00:18:25
on the night of the murder
00:18:27
as he walked up the stairs to his
00:18:29
apartment
00:18:30
he noticed dawn's door was slightly ajar
00:18:37
she may have left it open because of the
00:18:39
heat from baking the cookies
00:18:42
the evidence shows
00:18:44
hayden struck dawn on the back of her
00:18:46
head knocking her down
00:18:49
[Applause]
00:18:52
then
00:18:53
sexually assaulted her and strangled her
00:18:56
with the bed sheet
00:18:58
[Music]
00:19:00
as he got up
00:19:01
he steadied himself on the mattress
00:19:04
placing a partial bloody palm print on
00:19:08
the sheet he smoked a cigarette while
00:19:12
trying to compose himself
00:19:14
not knowing
00:19:15
that the palm print
00:19:17
later enhanced by computer technology
00:19:20
clearly placed him at the scene
00:19:25
this is the classic example
00:19:27
of
00:19:28
of investigators trained investigators
00:19:31
walking into a scene and having the good
00:19:33
sense to preserve something whether it's
00:19:35
going to turn into a piece of evidence
00:19:36
or not doing nothing to contaminate or
00:19:39
screw it up before they get it to the
00:19:41
people who do know what can be done with
00:19:43
it
00:19:44
eric hayden was convicted and sentenced
00:19:47
to 26 years in prison
00:19:50
after the trial dawn fairing's friends
00:19:53
and family
00:19:54
set up a scholarship in her name for
00:19:57
students who wish to do
00:19:59
missionary work there's been over 20
00:20:02
thousand dollars that's been working in
00:20:04
the world that would not have been there
00:20:07
if it hadn't been for her death
00:20:10
the technology used in dawn's case
00:20:13
set a legal precedent
00:20:15
and is now used in cases
00:20:17
all over the world
00:20:19
it was the first time anywhere in the
00:20:21
world
00:20:22
that prime laboratory folks were able to
00:20:25
identify
00:20:27
handprint impressions finger or palm
00:20:30
hand print impressions
00:20:31
left in blood on a woven piece of fabric
00:20:35
i'm blown away looking back and some 11
00:20:37
years later that people are still
00:20:38
referring to this case and using the
00:20:40
technology that was used in it we had no
00:20:42
idea at the time how significant this
00:20:43
was going to be
00:20:45
i don't think
00:20:46
god causes things to happen
00:20:48
but
00:20:49
he makes use of them
00:20:51
and
00:20:53
the timing to me is just amazing that
00:20:56
this technology had just been found
00:20:59
at the time
00:21:00
when it was needed for solving don's
00:21:02
case
00:21:05
[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
00:21:35
[Music]
00:21:41
you
