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a man was dead in a michigan junkyard
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[Music]
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and there were no clues or forensic
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evidence at the scene
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but computer forensic experts found
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evidence of a crime that had everything
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sex
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lies
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and a videotape
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[Music]
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[Music]
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on november 8 1999 chuck miller got a
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frantic call from his sister-in-law his
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brother bruce was missing
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bruce hadn't come home for dinner and he
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wasn't answering his telephone at work
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chuck drove out to his brother's
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junkyard to look for him
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the door was shut open the door and
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walked in and hollered his name he
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wouldn't answer and we walked around the
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corner of the desk and he was laying on
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the floor
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bruce miller was dead of a gunshot wound
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to his chest
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the telephone receiver was near his head
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bruce normally kept around two thousand
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dollars in his front shirt pocket to
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make change for his customers that money
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was missing
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the motive appeared to be
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robbery
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two thousand dollars cash in the pocket
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would look good to a lot of people in
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the area we just thought it was just a
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random someone just walked in and shot
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him because he always kept money in his
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front pocket and
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took that money
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it just appeared to be another robbery
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another day in flint
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criminalists from the michigan crime lab
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used one-sided tape to collect possible
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evidence from bruce's shirt
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the tape lift that i took from this
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particular victim
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only had his his own head here on it
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there was nothing foreign that was
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determined on the tape left
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and there were other signs that this
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crime scene was a little too clean
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we're talking about a business that
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hadn't been cleaned and probably since
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it opened we're talking grease oil
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everything that leaves a good latent
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print a good boot impression
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so he knew what to touch what not to
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touch
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and might have even taken other
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protective measures in order for him not
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to be found it was also troubling that
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bruce was on the phone when killed
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but to whom was he speaking
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no one's called and said i was on the
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phone with bruce miller and i heard a
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gunshot
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there's no latent prints that were no
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bloody prints
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no
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money fallen where they were in a hurry
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to get it out why the pocket wasn't
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ripped
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when they're taking the money out
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bruce miller was 48 years old
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six months earlier he married 28 year
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old cherie
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and he was about to adopt her three
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children
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by all accounts seem to be a very
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hard-working kind of mellow guy
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who
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you know took a chance with marrying
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sherry miller and her kids and
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taking on that load as well as having
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two jobs working at general motors as
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well as running a
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junkyard according to friends and family
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it was a happy marriage
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she would talk to them in length about
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bruce miller
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how is the best thing that ever happened
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to her how he was a good lover
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how her kids
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endeared him this was an older gentleman
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that caught the young woman and he
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treated her
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like a princess
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cherie had been at home all day with her
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children and several friends and wasn't
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considered a suspect
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but she had a pretty good idea
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of who might be responsible
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she told detectives that one of her
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former boyfriends john hutchinson owed
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her husband several thousand dollars
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bruce had run-ins with
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john in the past arguing over him
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stealing auto parts from the business
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late at night and they argued just
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recently over a sale of a twenty dollar
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tire to john hutchinson's stepson
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hutchinson claimed he was at home alone
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at the time of the murder
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it was an alibi that couldn't be
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corroborated
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it would take a second death
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before detectives would get to the truth
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[Music]
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john hutchinson emerged as the key
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suspect in junkyard owner bruce miller's
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murder
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hutchinson agreed to take a lie detector
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test
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he collapsed during the examination
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john hutchinson had some kind of episode
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where he ended up going to the hospital
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but apparently he was pretty
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stressed out by this polygraph which he
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did not pass
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but police needed more evidence than a
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polygraph
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the autopsy revealed bruce had been
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killed with a 20-gauge shotgun
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in a search of hutchinson's home police
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didn't find a 20-gauge shotgun bloody
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clothing or the missing money
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the feeling was he had probably done it
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we've exhausted all of our leads this is
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our best prime suspect
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what aren't we doing what can we do
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differently to make it work so we can
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get the truth
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weeks went by
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then months
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there had been no new leads in the case
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but something unusual happened 700 miles
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away in kansas city missouri
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a former homicide investigator named
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jerry cassaday was found dead in his
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home
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his gun still in his hand
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there was a bible in his lap divorce
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papers were on his desk and a report
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showing he had recently been treated for
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depression
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[Music]
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in a trash can outside the home
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police found a videotape marked for
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jerry's eyes only
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it appeared to be a home video of a
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woman
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dancing seductively
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definitely a seductive tool something
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you would send a guy
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that you're trying to seduce
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friends told police they thought the
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woman on the tape was jerry's girlfriend
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who lived in flint michigan and that her
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name was cheree
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when investigators called police in
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flint
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they knew just who they were talking
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about
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it was like getting hit upside they had
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a sudden shack it's like you know i
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can't believe it she duped me
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sheree miller was brought into police
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headquarters for questioning
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she claimed that she did not even know
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jerry cassidy
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this is an audio recording of the actual
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interrogation
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did you ever send naked pictures of
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yourself to jerry
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no
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did you up some jerry
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[Music]
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when we showed her that we had this
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videotape
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of her for jerry cassidy written right
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on the tape for jerry's eyes only so she
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went from not knowing jerry cassidy to
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turn around i know him but he's crazy
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isn't it true that you were having a
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physical relationship with your maybe
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i'm mine no i'm talking
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in person
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cherie said she met jerry cassaday in a
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computer chat room
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i mean i mess around online all the time
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just to figure out something new to do
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i mean everybody does it
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computer forensic experts confiscated
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cherie's computer as well as jerry
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cassadays
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and what they discovered inside
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answered some important questions but
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raised many others
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this is one of the most bizarre cases
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i've handled in the 10 years i've been
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dealing with this subject matter there
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was deception there was a love triangle
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whenever there's an internet
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connectivity issue that relates to a
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murder case of course it's going to be
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sexy
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things were starting to get interesting
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[Music]
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police sent cherie miller's computer and
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the one used by her suspected lover
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jerry cassaday to an expert in the new
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field of computer forensics
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i get the stuff that's been deleted i
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get the space that's unused by the
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computer i get everything and that's
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what i examine as a computer forensic
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specialist
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sergeant petrovka was able to mirror the
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hard drive which means he kept the hard
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drive in its original format but makes a
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mirror image of it that we as
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investigators can use to download
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the information on there without ever
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tampering with the original best
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evidence
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forensic computer specialists can also
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gain access to password protected
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accounts on a hard drive
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passwords lock documents away from
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anyone except the owner
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investigators easily made their way into
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jerry's and cherie's private files
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i believe we have like three four
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hundred bookmarks fragments that i had
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found that
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were relevant
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there were probably thousands of hits on
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her name on the just a cherie 1013.
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investigators found incriminating
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evidence on jerry's computer and in his
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private papers
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it was an instant message conversation
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in which jerry and cherie discussed
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murder i'll call bruce at 5 p.m and tell
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him to call when he's leaving
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jerry i'm scared is the gun loud it's
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deer hunting season here inside would be
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fast muffled pull up to the left of the
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building right to the door he'll stay at
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the desk inside take his wallet take the
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whole thing
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there was discussion about pull the car
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up i believe it was to the right side of
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the door of the office to the auto parts
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place because then when you open up the
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driver's side door of the car
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it would help hide a gun in your hand as
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you stepped out and went towards the
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front door of the business
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police confronted cherie with this
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computer message
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i'm telling you here i have an email
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that lays it out right here in front of
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me about how you and jerry cassidy
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planned his murder that's fine okay why
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would jury even
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think about changing that i don't know
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it doesn't make sense does it i don't
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have a clue maybe because he was mad
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because i wouldn't have nothing to do
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with him
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cherie said the instant messages were
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forged
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officials at aol confirmed that this was
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a possibility
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we first informed the prosecutors and
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investigators that this is an instant
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message that may not be authentic
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it possibly could have been edited but i
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couldn't say in fact it was authentic
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and did come through the american online
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service in its exact form
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it was very important for us to
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forensically
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back up this instant message and show
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that there was a relationship
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and show
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how she got jerry cassidy to kill her
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husband
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under court order aol released
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information regarding cassadays and
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cherie's computer activity
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aol verified the jerry and sheree were
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both signed onto the aol service on the
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same day at the same time and for the
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same length of time
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as the instant message indicated
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sheree also took steps to cover her
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tracks
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a day and a half after the killing of
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her husband
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she calls america online to change her
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first and last name to change her street
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address city state and zip code after
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she learned of the suicide of jerry
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cassaday she did the same thing
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and jerry's home computer showed
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hundreds of emails from the screen name
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cherie 1013 that had been deleted
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the data is still there until such time
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as the computer
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needs to write something new and the
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computer says oh that spot's open i'll
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write it there now
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and so
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the data resides
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on the card drive until it's overridden
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among a stack of papers on cherie's
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computer desk investigators found the
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name
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john o'connor which was misspelled and a
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telephone number in cherie's handwriting
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in the instant message which cherie
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claimed was a fabrication jerry wrote
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if anything happens to me call him john
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o'connor
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with the same misspelling and his
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telephone number which was also
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incorrect
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certainly corroborates the fact that
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they had been communicating in that
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instant message
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it was one in two quintillion
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chances that that alone
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could have happened by coincidence
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that's
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nineteen zeros after the two
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the forensic computer analysis also
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revealed the motive for the murder
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in a moment
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how cherie miller managed to fool a
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seasoned homicide investigator
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[Music]
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forensic computer experts found proof
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that cherry miller and jerry cassaday
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conspired to kill cherie's husband bruce
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it was like reading a diary of the
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relationship and it showed her
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saying things to this guy to really
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kind of bring his blood to both a sexual
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and emotional boil to
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really bring him in to her and her world
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as she was showing it to him
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only a month after cherie's marriage to
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bruce miller she met jerry cassaday in
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an america online chat room
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the two struck up a friendship jerry was
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going through a divorce cherie said she
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was unhappy too
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[Music]
00:14:35
eventually they met face to face and
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became lovers
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[Music]
00:14:43
when the two were apart
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cherie kept the spark in their
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relationship by sending jerry erotic
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pictures of herself through email
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she also recorded the videotape
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later found by investigators in jerry's
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trash
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[Music]
00:15:02
at one point cherie told jerry she was
00:15:05
pregnant with twins and the jury was the
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father
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although she had had her tubes tied
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years earlier
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cherie emailed a picture of a positive
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pregnancy test she had taken from a
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friend and sonograms of the fetus which
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were actually taken five years earlier
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of her son
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shuri claimed her husband bruce was a
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member of organized crime a drug dealer
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and was physically abusive towards her
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there was no evidence that any of this
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was true
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she claimed bruce had beaten her so
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badly
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that she miscarried jerry's unborn twins
00:15:45
cherie emailed jerry pictures of her
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bruised and battered body
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a feat she accomplished with makeup
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this was a situation where a woman very
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plottingly and purposefully
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created an artificial universe to cause
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this guy to believe that he would be
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doing the quote unquote right thing to
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come and murder bruce miller
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he couldn't see
00:16:13
what the truth was anymore and what was
00:16:15
a lie he was going to be the white
00:16:17
knight for sheree miller he was going to
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kill the
00:16:20
dragon and claim his property
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in an instant message
00:16:26
jerry and cherie made plans for the
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murder
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[Music]
00:16:32
cherie said she would keep her husband
00:16:33
on the phone
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while jerry went in to kill him
00:16:38
telephone records confirmed
00:16:40
this is precisely what happened
00:16:42
[Music]
00:16:46
jerry's experience as a homicide
00:16:48
detective meant he could commit the
00:16:50
crime while leaving no forensic evidence
00:16:54
behind
00:16:55
[Music]
00:16:57
just a few weeks after bruce's murder
00:17:00
cherie double-crossed jury
00:17:03
she stopped answering his calls and
00:17:05
emails
00:17:06
and she found another boyfriend
00:17:10
i think he was grief stricken
00:17:12
what have i done
00:17:14
what has she
00:17:16
led me to do and for what she didn't
00:17:19
give
00:17:20
a darn about me
00:17:23
among jerry's personal papers
00:17:25
was a suicide note addressed to his
00:17:27
parents
00:17:29
it was painfully obvious jerry still
00:17:33
believed most of cherie's lies
00:17:37
he beat the crap out of her and killed
00:17:38
my baby
00:17:40
i'm sorry mom
00:17:41
these were my babies i loved them i
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wanted them
00:17:44
i drove there and killed him
00:17:48
but jerry finally realized
00:17:51
he had been used
00:17:54
i was so blind and so stupid and so much
00:17:56
in love little did i know she never
00:17:58
meant any of it she just wanted all her
00:18:00
money and no more husband
00:18:02
sheree was involved and helped set it up
00:18:05
i have all the proof
00:18:06
she'll get what's coming
00:18:09
there was no doubt you know jerry said
00:18:10
he did it
00:18:12
jerry did it you know there was no
00:18:13
making it up you know jerry yeah it
00:18:16
wasn't that type of individual that he'd
00:18:17
pull somebody's leg like that especially
00:18:20
in a situation like this he wasn't going
00:18:22
to shoot himself and then leave this for
00:18:24
somebody if it wasn't true
00:18:27
in december 2000 cherie went on trial
00:18:31
for murder and conspiracy
00:18:33
the forensic computer analysis was the
00:18:36
state's primary evidence
00:18:39
did you kill your husband bruce miller
00:18:41
no i did not
00:18:43
did you help anybody kill your husband
00:18:44
no i did not
00:18:46
did you love your husband yes i did
00:18:51
[Music]
00:18:52
cherie continued to maintain the instant
00:18:55
messages were a forgery
00:18:58
she claimed jerry was the spurned lover
00:19:01
and did this in an attempt to frame her
00:19:06
so are you saying this entire instant
00:19:08
message
00:19:09
is fake
00:19:10
yes i am so when they talk about the
00:19:12
discs and the pictures on your back and
00:19:15
legs and whatnot and the bruises it has
00:19:18
you never had that conversation
00:19:20
no i did not
00:19:22
but the forensic computer analysis
00:19:24
proved otherwise
00:19:26
and provided a possible motive for the
00:19:28
murder
00:19:29
money from bruce's life insurance
00:19:31
policies and the sale of his junkyard
00:19:34
business
00:19:37
i told my wife that uh i think cherie is
00:19:39
grinning from here here thinking the
00:19:41
money she's gonna get from this right
00:19:42
here that was my thought the night he
00:19:44
got killed
00:19:45
because she was that kind of person just
00:19:46
a money hungry person right after the
00:19:49
homicide she redid the house
00:19:51
she spent a lot of money
00:19:53
even
00:19:54
bruce's mother bought her car with some
00:19:56
of the money that was left to her
00:19:58
so
00:19:59
money may have been a motive we don't
00:20:00
know
00:20:01
prosecutors do not believe john
00:20:04
hutchinson had anything to do
00:20:06
with bruce miller's murder
00:20:09
in december of 2000
00:20:12
sheree miller was found guilty of
00:20:14
second-degree murder and conspiracy to
00:20:16
commit first-degree murder
00:20:20
she was sentenced to life
00:20:22
without the possibility of parole
00:20:26
she had no respect for the man she she
00:20:28
married she had no respect for my
00:20:30
brother she had no respect for her own
00:20:32
kids put them through this
00:20:35
she got what she deserved i've seen
00:20:39
gunshot wounds i've seen knife wounds
00:20:41
i've seen dismemberment i've seen ax
00:20:44
murders i've seen people who've drugged
00:20:46
people by cars killed by autos but i've
00:20:49
never seen anyone killed by a computer
00:20:52
for investigators the verdict was a
00:20:55
triumph of high-tech detective work
00:20:58
and old-fashioned gum shoe investigation
00:21:02
if we had been unable to find hard
00:21:04
evidence to back up the printouts the
00:21:06
emails the instant messages
00:21:09
we would not have had a case by doing
00:21:12
the computer forensics we showed that
00:21:14
manipulation of jerry cassidy and what
00:21:15
brought him to killing bruce miller and
00:21:17
then taking his own life
00:21:19
she thought she had beaten the system
00:21:20
she thought she planned the perfect
00:21:22
murder she thought those those things
00:21:24
that she typed in would never ever come
00:21:26
back to haunt her
00:21:28
but she was wrong
00:21:30
[Music]
00:21:39
[Music]
00:21:58
[Music]
00:22:07
you
