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[Music]
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up next
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my wife heard a really awful screen from
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our apartment complex
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a college co-ed goes missing and police
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suspect it's foul play
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it's pretty brazen could have been a
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peeping tom could have been a car
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burglar
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a witness thinks he sees the victim's
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car but doesn't get a good look at the
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driver
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this guy kept looking at him in that
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rearview mirror he would look at people
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on the side of the street and wonder i
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wonder if that could be julie's killer
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for eight years the mystery goes
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unsolved until
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a pair of shoes and the cell phone call
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give new life
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to a very cold case this did not strike
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me
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as a run-of-the-mill murder
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for 21-year-old julie buskin a
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bachelor's degree in dance from the
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university of oklahoma
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was the culmination of a lifelong dream
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julie always knew she wanted to be a
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ballet dancer from the time she went to
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a recital of her friends in first grade
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her goal was to teach children
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possibly even special ed children and
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have a dance studio
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julie completed all of the courses for
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her bachelor's degree by christmas
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so her parents drove from arkansas to
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help julie move her belongings home
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when they got to her apartment julie
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wasn't there
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and neither was her car a police officer
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came to me and asked who we were
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ask if we were the buskins said yes and
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he said
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you need to contact the ou police
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department your daughter's missing
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and mary jean said you know something's
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bad wrong and i said you know she's
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somewhere
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everything it'll be okay police learned
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that julie took her girlfriend to the
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airport around four o'clock that morning
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and told her friend she was going back
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to her apartment
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and that was the last that julie was
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seen by any of her friends or family
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around 5 30 someone in julie's apartment
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building called police
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yeah we were just sleeping and my wife
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heard a really
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strange like really awful screen from
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our parking lot of our apartment complex
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do you see anything outside no i'm kind
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of afraid to go outside actually
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one of the neighbors heard a male voice
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say shut up
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get in the car several of the neighbors
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heard a woman scream
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one of the neighbors heard a car leaving
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the scene
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i believe the scream that was reported
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to the norman police department
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at that time in the morning probably was
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the scream of julie buskin i have no way
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of proving that but i believe it to be
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so
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12 hours after she disappeared julie
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buskin's body was found on the bank of
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the lake
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about 15 miles from her apartment
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she was in the water from about the
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waist up her hands were tied behind her
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back
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tied with a pair of shoelaces she had
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been shot
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once execution style the gunshot wound
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to the back of her head
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was very obvious it was a contact wound
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meaning the pistols barrel was in actual
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contact
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with her scalp and there were signs
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of sexual assault the evidence would
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certainly indicate
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that her pants had been pulled down at
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some point in time
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then i got mad as hell and i went
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outside
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and i cussed at god i wake up it's mad
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you feel very helpless
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there's just nothing you can do nothing
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and nothing was going to help
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police hope that evidence at the scene
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would lead them to julie's killer
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[Music]
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julie buskin had many friends at the
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university
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police interviewed as many as possible
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to see if anyone
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could provide useful information julie
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had lots of
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friend boys but they weren't boyfriends
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and
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and that was she just wasn't i don't
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think ready for that i don't think she
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had time for it first of all right
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right at that point i wasn't over any
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boyfriend troubles that she'd had i
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wasn't aware of any
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bad breakups or anything like that
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police found julie's apartment in
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perfect order
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there were no signs of a struggle they
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found julie's car
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in an apartment complex just one block
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away
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it was a little eerie knowing that that
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vehicle had been sitting
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right across the street in another
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complex
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probably since whoever had used it had
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dropped it off and been sitting there
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all day waiting to be discovered
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red sand on the floor of her car looked
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like the sand from the banks of the lake
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where her body was discovered
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that struck me as bizarre that uh
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whoever had
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abducted her had uh then brought the
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the vehicle back why if you commit a
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crime like this
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uh you want to get rid of the car
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obviously but you don't want to
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take a chance of returning almost to the
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literally to the scene of the abduction
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there was no blood inside the car and no
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obvious signs of a struggle
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investigators could find
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no foreign hairs fibers or prints
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we knew immediately that the cell phone
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was missing and
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several things out of her ring julie had
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on an opal ring
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and the girls knew she had that on and
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it was missing
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julie's cell phone records indicated
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someone had used her phone
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after her death there was a call for the
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weather forecast
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and one to a number not in service at
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the time
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at the lake investigators discovered
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possible evidence in the sand near
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julie's body there were two sets of
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prints that went down to the lake
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only one set returned one set appeared
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to match
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julie's shoes the other didn't that set
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we believe belonged to the person that
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killed
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julie buskin a strong wind had blown
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sand into the shoe prints
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obscuring some of the tread pattern even
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so
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analysts found an identifiable pattern
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consistent with a size 9 men's
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nike running shoe from the photograph
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that we sent the nike corporation
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they were able to identify the specific
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shoe
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that they believe made this impression
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in the sand
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it was a nike air 2 running shoe
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about 20 feet from the body
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investigators found
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a crumpled pink leotard with the
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initials
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jb on the label it was julie's
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it had material on it that turned out to
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be
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seminal fluid the leotard was sent for
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dna testing
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an autopsy confirmed julie was shot to
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death
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with a single 22-caliber bullet
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ballistics experts were able to
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determine that it had been
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fired from a distinctive gun
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the projectile had 16 lands and grooves
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with a right hand twist
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and that's a little bit uncommon it
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allowed me to narrow the
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number of firearm brands down to just
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just a handful of possibilities
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research showed only six companies made
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22 caliber handguns
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with this combination of lands and
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grooves
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despite the leads and a seventy thousand
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dollar reward
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there were no significant breaks in the
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case you began to believe
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this sort of break in the case was never
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going
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to happen there was a great fear with
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law enforcement that
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if this crime were not solved if this
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person were not taken off the street
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that there would be other other
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homicides that we would be
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investigating but a month later after
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seeing a picture of julie buskin's car
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on the news a man called police to say
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he might have seen
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her killer on the morning of julie's
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murder
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he saw a car like hers pull out in front
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of him and they almost collided
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[Applause]
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this was near the lake where julie was
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killed
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it made him mad he stayed right on the
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little red car that was
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speeding quite rapidly he got a little
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road rage going
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he followed the red car for about five
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miles
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he's watching him through the rearview
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mirror he was that astute to realize
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that something's not right here
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and so he kept watching because the guy
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kept looking at him kept looking at him
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in that rearview mirror
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the witness wanted to describe the
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individual
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but wasn't sure he could when you view
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this person in your mind
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what's the first thing that pops up is
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the hairstyle is it the body structure
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forensic artist harvey pratt showed the
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witness
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examples of each facial feature trying
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to get a reaction
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he didn't realize he actually was a
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witness to something until
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someone tweaks his memory his recall
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that's what i refer to as a
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disassociated witness
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slowly a portrait emerged
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of a young man possibly a college
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student possibly hispanic
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with long black hair and a muscular
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build
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this was eventful and so he was able to
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focus on what it was because
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this guy almost ran over him i remember
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being very excited when that profile
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came out of course
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you know i'm pretty literal of a person
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and so i
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expected that looks just like the guy
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and they're going to have him in no time
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because now they know what he looks like
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or did they
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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a witness was able to describe the man
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he saw driving julie buskin's car
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on the morning of her murder the
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composite sketch
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was broadcast repeatedly by the local
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media in oklahoma
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when you believe it's a stranger as
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opposed to an acquaintance it certainly
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broadens the investigation and rather
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than a few suspects you're now looking
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at hundreds of thousands of suspects
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but no one recognized him and the case
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eventually went cold
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we would drive down the street and look
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at people on the side of the street and
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wonder
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i wonder if that could be julie's killer
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he was walking around
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he walked around for a while so we may
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have passed him somewhere along the line
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then four and a half years after the
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murder
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police received a letter from a female
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inmate at the oklahoma county jail
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she said an old acquaintance 23 year old
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dennis sturmer
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might have murdered julie buskin sturmer
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a construction worker had no criminal
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record but at the time of the murder
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he lived only four blocks from julie's
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apartment
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and he bore a resemblance to the
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composite sketch
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police tracked him down he refused to
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answer questions
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and he wouldn't provide his dna sample
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so police had to get a court order to
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collect his dna
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after almost five years it looked as if
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the case might
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finally be solved his dna profile
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was very very close to
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the sample that was taken off the
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leotards
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and off the underwear that she was
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wearing at the time
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but unfortunately being very very close
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is not a match and unless it's an exact
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match
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they're excluded so mr sturmer was
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excluded as a suspect in the case
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but sturmer's profile was so similar it
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opened up a whole new avenue
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of potential suspects the chemist at the
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time
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felt so strongly that the dna was so
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close
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that it was their opinion that it could
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possibly be a relative
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of this individual which caused law
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enforcement to
00:12:40
look at any relatives that this person
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might have which they did
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sturmer's only immediate living male
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relative was his brother
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and his dna didn't match
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again the case went cold
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i think as years went on and we didn't
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have an answer
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we had pretty well accepted the fact
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that we might not live long enough
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to know who did this to our daughter
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investigators
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also performed a dna dragnet
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they asked every male julie knew from
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school
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and all males in her neighborhood with a
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criminal record
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to voluntarily provide a dna sample
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virtually everyone that she came in
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contact with
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became a suspect everyone who was asked
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complied more than 200 people were
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tested in one of the largest dna
00:13:35
dragnets in u.s history
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but no one matched after 200 plus
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dna tests with no match
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you begin to get pessimistic about
00:13:47
whether this case is ever going
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to be solved
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[Music]
00:13:55
then six years after julie's murder a
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man named
00:13:59
anthony sanchez was arrested for the
00:14:02
rape of his former girlfriend
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as with all alleged sex offenders
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sanchez provided his dna sample for
00:14:10
testing
00:14:11
while that was underway investigators
00:14:14
noticed
00:14:15
some curious facts about sanchez's
00:14:18
background
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first at the time of julie buskin's
00:14:22
murder he lived
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only one mile away from julie buskin's
00:14:26
apartment
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when police tracked down his former
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associates
00:14:31
[Music]
00:14:32
one of them an old girlfriend showed
00:14:35
police her
00:14:35
diary for the month julie was murdered
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there is an entry in i believe it's
00:14:42
october
00:14:43
of 1996 where she wrote
00:14:48
anthony bought me a new set of nike
00:14:51
shoes and he bought the same style
00:14:54
but boys sanchez wore a size
00:14:58
9 shoe this was proof
00:15:01
sanchez owned a pair of sneakers the
00:15:03
same brand
00:15:04
and size as the shoe impressions found
00:15:07
next to julie's body and there was one
00:15:11
more clue
00:15:12
someone presumably the killer used
00:15:15
julie's cell phone
00:15:17
after her murder
00:15:20
the number dialed was one digit off from
00:15:23
the phone number of a girl sanchez was
00:15:25
dating at the time
00:15:27
one of anthony's former friends a young
00:15:30
lady
00:15:31
that lived here in norman had a
00:15:32
telephone at her house
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and that telephone number shows up on
00:15:38
julie's
00:15:39
phone records after she's dead
00:15:43
was it possible that sanchez tried to
00:15:46
call the girl's number from memory
00:15:48
but got one digit wrong
00:15:52
that was pretty good circumstantial
00:15:54
evidence even without the dna
00:15:57
finally sanchez's girlfriend told police
00:16:00
he had
00:16:01
an unusual habit they had received
00:16:04
information
00:16:04
from one of sanchez's girlfriends
00:16:08
that he and his father like to fire
00:16:12
22 caliber firearms
00:16:15
into the wall uh at their duplex
00:16:18
sort of an odd father-and-son type of
00:16:20
bonding
00:16:22
since julie was murdered with a 22
00:16:24
caliber weapon
00:16:25
investigators got a warrant and used
00:16:28
portable x-ray machines
00:16:30
to check the walls of the duplex where
00:16:32
sanchez lived with his girlfriend
00:16:36
when that turned up nothing they tore
00:16:38
down the walls
00:16:40
again nothing after the police had run
00:16:44
rough shot over the apartment and
00:16:45
created absolute mess in there
00:16:47
the landlord went back in and started
00:16:50
cleaning it up he had some what a shop
00:16:52
vac
00:16:53
he cleaned up and as he was emptying out
00:16:55
the bag
00:16:56
what falls out but a bullet a 22 caliber
00:17:00
bullet a ballistics test
00:17:04
showed the bullet was consistent with
00:17:06
the highly
00:17:07
distinctive one retrieved during julie's
00:17:10
autopsy
00:17:12
finally when tested anthony sanchez's
00:17:16
dna was compared to the biological
00:17:19
sample
00:17:20
from julie's leotard the results
00:17:24
were no surprise
00:17:29
the morning that the police called and
00:17:31
told us they had a match
00:17:33
to be honest it's still it's kind of
00:17:35
foggy obviously we were excited
00:17:38
we weren't sure at this point if that
00:17:41
day would ever come
00:17:42
when his dna matched the biological
00:17:45
material
00:17:46
from the crime scene anthony sanchez was
00:17:49
arrested
00:17:50
and charged with the murder of julie
00:17:52
buskin
00:17:54
sanchez was 18 years old at the time of
00:17:57
the crime
00:17:57
and lived only one mile from julie's
00:18:00
apartment
00:18:03
prosecutors said sanchez was an
00:18:06
accomplished thief and was stealing
00:18:08
christmas presents from parked cars on
00:18:10
the night of the crime
00:18:14
and that's when he saw julie buskin
00:18:17
when she returned from driving her
00:18:19
friend to the airport
00:18:20
[Music]
00:18:27
investigators said sanchez abducted
00:18:29
julie at gunpoint
00:18:30
forced her back into the car and made
00:18:33
her drive 15 miles to the lake
00:18:42
there he sexually assaulted her
00:18:45
and shot her execution style
00:19:01
sanchez left his dna his size
00:19:05
nine shoe impressions in the sand and
00:19:07
afterwards
00:19:08
tracked sand into julie's car
00:19:12
as sanchez left the area
00:19:14
[Applause]
00:19:16
he cut off another driver who got a good
00:19:19
enough
00:19:20
look at his face to describe him to
00:19:22
police
00:19:26
sanchez used julie's cell phone to call
00:19:29
his girlfriend
00:19:30
he misdialed one number
00:19:33
had he called the right number he most
00:19:37
likely would have been caught within
00:19:39
days
00:19:40
nevertheless the scientific evidence
00:19:43
eventually
00:19:44
caught up with him they said the dna
00:19:46
that was left at the crime scene
00:19:48
is what's going to convict this guy and
00:19:50
we're going to catch him
00:19:52
and they did anthony sanchez was tried
00:19:57
and convicted of julie buskin's murder
00:20:01
and sentenced to death this was a
00:20:03
senseless
00:20:04
killing by a cold-blooded killer
00:20:08
that had no respect for human life
00:20:11
whatsoever he didn't kill julie he just
00:20:14
did
00:20:15
and that's evil that's just evil
00:20:19
often in the face of senseless violence
00:20:22
the only hope for the family is justice
00:20:27
increasingly science helps provide it
00:20:31
in cases like this where there's
00:20:32
absolutely no witnesses except the
00:20:34
perpetrator and your victim who's now
00:20:36
deceased there's no way these could be
00:20:38
solved without forensics
00:20:40
how do you account for a crime like this
00:20:43
for what there's no money there's not a
00:20:47
crime of
00:20:48
passion why why do this
00:20:51
there's only one man who can answer that
00:20:53
question and he's on death row in
00:20:54
oklahoma
00:20:56
i think that julie's more at peace and
00:20:58
that maybe somebody may think i'm a
00:21:00
little crazy but
00:21:01
i do believe that julie is at peace
00:21:03
because she knows we're at peace
00:21:06
and i believe that with all my heart
00:21:18
you
