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[Music]
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up next
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a young boy witnesses a terrible crime
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she was gagged
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she's been tired her hands were tired
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and everything the chief suspect
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virtually turns himself in he appeared
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exactly like the composite sketch we
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have him with no alibi
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but forensic tests failed to tie him to
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the crime
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it was not a cheerful day for the
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prosecution i couldn't believe they were
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going to let him
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walk to possibly do this to somebody
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else could forensics provide the answer
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[Music]
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the laurel village mobile home park in
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delaware was home to 32 year old
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kaye robinson a single mother living
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with her 11 year old son
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laurel is a farming town and a
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regular working class person lives there
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one night around two in the morning
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kay was awakened by someone banging on
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her front door
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[Music]
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she went to the door look out the window
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and see this
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stranger out there they said they want
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to use the telephone
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said their name was jack wilson and they
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needed a ride
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could they use a telephone kay refused
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to let wilson inside think you should
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leave
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you need to go kay robinson called 9-1-1
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and the delaware state police did
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respond
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but didn't see anything out of the
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ordinary so they
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cleared the scene without any further
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investigation
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thinking everything was all right kaye
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went back to bed
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a half hour later she was awakened again
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by a noise
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in her kitchen that's when she saw
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the same man she had seen on her porch
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in her kitchen
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holding a butcher knife he chased kay
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through the house grabbed her by the arm
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put a knife to her throat and told her
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to follow his orders
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if not he said he'd kill her son who was
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in the adjoining bedroom
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from that point as little she could do
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it was
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just completely three hours of torture
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just horrific
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torture that she endured
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[Music]
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after sexually assaulting her the man
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told kaye that he lived in the same
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mobile home park
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and had two children then he stabbed her
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almost 30 times and left her for dead
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before leaving the perpetrator checked
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on kaye's son
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who pretended to be asleep
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when the man left the house kay's son
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rushed to their neighbor's house for
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help
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in one word what's your emergency um if
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my next door neighbor has been robbed
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and she's been stabbed
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it sounded like they might have raped
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her
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police arrived to find kaye near death
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her neck was cut as bad as anyone's neck
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i've ever seen in my life she was
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stabbed
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several times in her back i it was over
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25 times
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and her neck was cut basically from side
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to side
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as kay was rushed to the hospital
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paramedics noticed
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that her attacker had drawn a smiley
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face on her back
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in her own blood the smiley face is one
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of those
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chilling details uh of a crime scene
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that seems to serve no purpose other
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than to
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sort of mock or demean the victim of
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that attack
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you have to know that this person is
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very sick very violent
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and possibly a serial killer
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miraculously despite being stabbed
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28 times kay survived
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when i woke up i didn't want to be there
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i was furious that i was on life support
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my throat was cut in 10 to 15 different
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places
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i basically felt like he was trying to
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decapitate me
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um i felt like i was in a horror movie
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they didn't
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sever her carotid artery or her jugular
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vein
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or spinal cord so that she would have
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been paralyzed or anything like that
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she's
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extremely lucky it's just unbelievable
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a miracle in my book and i think
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everybody felt that way
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kaye not only survived she said she'd be
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able to identify her attacker if she
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ever saw him
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he didn't blindfold me i was making
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myself remember
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every little detail that i could about
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him right down to the length of his
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fingernails
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all police had to do was find him
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k robinson will never forget the look on
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the man's face
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who mercilessly stabbed her over and
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over again
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he was asking are you dead yet [ __ ] and
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when i tried to reply i mean he
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continued stabbing me with even more
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force
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i knew right away that i was going to
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have to pretend to be dead
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this is a very brutal crime and the way
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it happened
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the random way it happened in the
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horrific way it happened let everybody
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start feeling a little bit uneasy and a
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little bit unsafe
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the intent was to kill it was not to
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wound it was not to leave a mark
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it was to kill the attacker did
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something police found highly unusual
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he left the bedroom light on throughout
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the attack
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so kaye was able to watch him over an
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extended period
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from her description police artists
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created a composite sketch
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which was released to the media however
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they didn't tell the media about the
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smiley face
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drawing the attacker made on kaye's back
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it was not part of any press release
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therefore this would be something that
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would only be known to the attacker
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or be familiar with to the attacker
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kaye also said she made a mental record
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of everything he touched
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the man took pains to wipe off his
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fingerprints
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but kate thought he might have
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overlooked one of the items
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a blue glass
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he drank out of the glass and then he
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made a point to
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take his sleeve and wipe the prints off
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of the glass but then
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grab the glass out of his hand and set
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it back on the table
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there were several prints on the glass
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we
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thought it may have been some kind of
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lubricant
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used by the perpetrator fearful that the
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prince might smear
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or even melt pegman placed the glass in
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a freezer
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the idea to put the tumbler in the
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freezer was actually to
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set the print to cause it become rigid
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so we could apply
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powder at some point in time and left it
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three full prints were lifted and
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photographed
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two weeks after the attack police were
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called again to kay robinson's home
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this time by her neighbors they said a
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man
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drove up to kay's home lit a candle
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and got down on his knees to pray
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he was very concerned that the person
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who attacked k robinson
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be apprehended and wanted to pray for
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that
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to happen and to assist police in any
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way that he could
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to see that that attacker was
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apprehended
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the man was 38 year old doug de silva
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in his truck taped to his windshield
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he had a newspaper article about the
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case with a copy
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of the attacker's composite sketch when
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he was asked about that why he had that
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he said that
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so that he could drive down the road and
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look for the suspect
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and keep his eye on the composite at the
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same time to try to find someone that
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looked just like that
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but someone did look just like that
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doug de silva he very distinctly
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resembled the composite
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drawing of the suspect in that attack
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da silva lived a hundred miles away but
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his ex-wife and daughter both lived in
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the same mobile home park as
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kaye robinson a year earlier
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he was a suspect in the murder of a 16
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year old girl at a nearby high school
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he was also a person of interest in a
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murder that had occurred six months
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prior to
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the attack on brenda k robinson
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police brought da silva in for
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questioning
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in the middle of the interrogation he
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did something very odd
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he asked for a job application because
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he said he wanted to become
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a state trooper we thought maybe he
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might even be taunting us at that point
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we were very suspicious of that
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police put together a photo lineup and
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kaye robinson identified
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de silva as the man who attacked her
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she immediately picked him out as the
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person that was in her house there was
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no doubt in her mind
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i know that this is the man that did it
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it was more like an
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internal reaction so with the physical
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appearance and that i was very confident
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that that was the person that attacked
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me
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and kaye's son also identified de silva
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the man actually came into his room and
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he was able to see him
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but he pretended to be asleep so he was
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able to also get a good enough
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look at the person that he was able to
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also identify him in a photo lineup
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when da silva completed his job
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application to become a policeman
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he turned it in that's when
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investigators noticed the most bizarre
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thing they'd ever encountered
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there was a smiley face on the
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bottom of the document and that had the
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same
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chilling effect on the investigators
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because they knew that on kay
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robinson's back that the attacker had
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drawn a smiley face in blood
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since this detail hadn't been released
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to the press
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investigators were certain they had
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their man
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doug de silva never did deny that he was
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involved in the kay robinson case
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he'd made several statements that he was
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sorry for what happened to her
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wanted to apologize for what happened
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but investigators and kaye robinson were
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in for a big surprise
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just two weeks after kay robinson's
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vicious attack
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she identified doug de silva as her
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assailant
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from the photo lineup i was very certain
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i wanted to hear him say something
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to be sure that that was him when i
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heard him speak i thought that that was
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the person that was in my home
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de silva had no alibi for the night of
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the crime
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i've never been so sure in my life as a
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detective
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that doug da silva was was the right
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person
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the silva was arrested and charged with
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the attempted murder of kay robinson
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he said to tell her i'm sorry i didn't
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mean to do it
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i remember going there but i don't
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remember stabbing her
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to me that's a confession but then
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came the bad news the silva's
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fingerprints
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did not match the prints taken from the
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blue plastic glass in
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kaye's home the fact that we didn't get
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any fingerprints that matched doug de
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silvas from the scene
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never led us to believe that he wasn't
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the suspect
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because a lot of times we don't find any
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fingerprints
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and perhaps the worst piece of news was
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that the silva's dna profile did not
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match the evidence collected from kay
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robinson's rape kit
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dna evidence has conclusively ruled out
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douglas
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silva as being involved in this crime it
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was i mean
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almost like being struck in the head by
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two by four we were
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extremely shocked it was like someone
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had punched you in the stomach
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this was devastating the investigators
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the prosecutors in the case that were
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just
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flabbergasted did not know what to do
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in fact they ran the dna test twice just
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to make sure
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again the dna didn't match
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and at that point you can't go forward
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with the prosecution of douglas da silva
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even though the dna report said that
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this wasn't the person that broke into
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my home i was still
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convinced that it was i couldn't believe
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they were gonna let him
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walk to possibly do this to somebody
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else
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so kaye decided to take matters
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into her own hands i bought a gun
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i found out where he lived i went to his
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house i
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sat outside of his home i wanted
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to go to the door and knock on the door
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and just ask him if he remembered me and
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i mean i just wanted to take care of it
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myself
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but kaye thought better of it the
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primary reason was my son
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i wanted to raise my son i didn't want
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to be in jail
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but if de silva wasn't the perpetrator
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a violent sexual sadist was walking the
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streets
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and police had no new suspects
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i will never be able to understand why a
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man who was innocent of a crime
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allowed himself to get so close to the
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crime
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and allowed himself to become
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so suspect you go back through your
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investigation because then you start to
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doubt yourself
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a little bit did i miss something did i
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overlook something
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years passed with no solid leads
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the longer we worked the colder the case
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got
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then nine years later detective
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rob hudson got a call from detectives 30
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miles away
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in neighboring maryland they had a case
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that was very similar to the 1995 case
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with kay robinson the maryland victim
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was a single mother living in a mobile
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home
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since she saw a man in her room bedroom
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and she thought she was dreaming
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she saw a knife and a rolling pin in his
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hand
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and he told her he was not going to hurt
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her if she gave him what he wanted
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the man tied her up sexually assaulted
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her
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and carried on a lengthy conversation
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when she pleaded for her son's life the
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man's demeanor changed
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he begged her for forgiveness and then
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he gave her some
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directions to not get up until
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a certain time and take a shower and
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then she was allowed to go to work but
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not to call the police
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the man's point of entry a broken window
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at the front of the house
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it appeared that he picked the window up
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after he busted it and set it
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leaning against the trailer at the base
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of it
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43 year old mark eskridge was tied to
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that crime through
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his fingerprints the known standards of
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one mark eskridge were identified to the
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latent prints that recovered from the
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glass from the point of entry from the
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crime scene
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the cave robinson case is similar in
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many ways single mothers
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a trailer park with a sun early morning
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hours
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lots of conversation uh a knife was used
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in both
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and eskridge looked similar to the
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composite drawing of k
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robinson's attacker nine years earlier
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he matched the height the weight he had
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the
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facial uh configuration that she had
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described with
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the scruffy beer unfortunately
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eskridge's fingerprints did not match
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the prints on the drinking glass
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found in k robinson's home
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and k robinson said eskridge
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wasn't her attacker i did tell the
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detectives that this was not the person
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would this be yet another dead end
00:16:38
mark eskridge was the prime suspect in
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the rape and attempted murder of kay
00:16:43
robinson
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after he committed a similar crime in
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maryland
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a background check revealed that
00:16:51
eskridge who was married
00:16:52
and had a small child lived in the same
00:16:56
mobile home park as kay robinson
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when the attack occurred he lived
00:17:01
in fact just a few streets away from k
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robinson
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he may have had the opportunity to
00:17:06
observe her
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and know that she resided in that house
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with her son
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investigators were sure that eskridge
00:17:15
was their man
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but there was only one problem k
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robinson
00:17:20
was unable to identify mark eskridge as
00:17:23
her attacker
00:17:25
that was not the man that broke into my
00:17:26
home but it had been
00:17:29
nine years since her attack memories
00:17:31
change
00:17:32
and so did eskridge's appearance
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fortunately investigators had the dna
00:17:40
of k robinson's attacker and when they
00:17:43
compared
00:17:43
eskridge's dna to the biological sample
00:17:46
from k
00:17:47
robinson's rape test kit investigators
00:17:50
finally got the answer they'd been
00:17:53
waiting for
00:17:54
when i received the call that the dna
00:17:56
was a match i couldn't believe it
00:17:58
i was overjoyed i couldn't wait to call
00:18:01
k robinson
00:18:02
i went through a lot of emotions i
00:18:04
thought oh my god i'm glad i didn't
00:18:06
kill the silva because it would have
00:18:08
been the wrong guy
00:18:10
but i mean he could have been his twin
00:18:12
they were identical
00:18:15
investigators believe mark estridge
00:18:18
targeted kaye robinson
00:18:19
since they lived in the same mobile home
00:18:21
park and he probably knew
00:18:23
she was a single mother living alone
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with her son
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prosecutors think that eskridge knocked
00:18:31
on kay's door
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claiming he had car trouble because he
00:18:35
wanted to make sure no
00:18:36
men were in her home
00:18:45
later that night he broke in and
00:18:49
[Music]
00:18:54
attacked
00:18:58
he told kaye that he lived nearby
00:19:01
because he had no intention of letting
00:19:03
her live
00:19:04
[Music]
00:19:05
he attacked her repeatedly with a knife
00:19:08
but kay robinson's will to survive was
00:19:11
too great
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i still had a life to live and i wanted
00:19:15
my life back
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and i was going to take it back a piece
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at a time eskridge left
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valuable dna evidence behind
00:19:23
more reliable than any eyewitness
00:19:27
a decade after the crime mark eskridge
00:19:30
went on trial for the sexual assault
00:19:33
and attempted murder of kay robinson
00:19:36
he was convicted and sentenced to life
00:19:39
in prison
00:19:40
plus 20 years he was a sick individual
00:19:44
i don't believe that you can stab
00:19:45
somebody that many times
00:19:48
taunt them and then spend that much time
00:19:50
with him
00:19:51
and not have something really really
00:19:53
wrong with you
00:19:54
would he be considered a serial rapist
00:19:56
or is he a serial sex predator
00:19:59
i mean he's a serial something
00:20:02
authorities cite the case as a reason to
00:20:04
be skeptical of
00:20:06
eyewitness identifications especially
00:20:09
when the witness is under extreme duress
00:20:12
you have an eyewitness identification
00:20:14
which is as certain as certain can be
00:20:18
but you have science and dna evidence
00:20:21
telling you otherwise
00:20:23
doug de silva's bizarre behavior and his
00:20:26
equally bizarre resemblance to the
00:20:28
actual attacker
00:20:29
almost landed him in jail doug de
00:20:33
silva's whereabouts are unknown
00:20:36
even to his ex-wife it's still very very
00:20:39
strange
00:20:40
and very puzzling as to why doug de
00:20:43
silva
00:20:44
had ever gotten involved in the case why
00:20:47
he introduced
00:20:48
himself into the case you always know
00:20:50
somebody's going to get caught
00:20:51
or you're going to catch them it's just
00:20:53
you don't know when sometimes
00:20:56
so i just say you know hats off to dna
00:20:59
is a great
00:21:00
a great tool and i tell you it's in this
00:21:03
case
00:21:04
to be able to free one man and convict
00:21:06
another
00:21:07
i say that says a lot for justice
