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[Music]
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up next
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tragedy at a texas college she's cold
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she's called to the touch yes ma'am oh
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my god
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it's very unusual for a 20 year old girl
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to die suddenly of natural causes
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tiny drops of blood could mean an
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accident
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or a murder we had no idea what had cost
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her death they were just more questions
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than answers eyewitnesses place a man at
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the scene but
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are their descriptions accurate they had
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us really scratching our heads
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bryan texas is a college town that lies
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in the shadow of texas a
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m it's home to blinn college
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where jenna verhallen and spencer hood
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were inseparable jenna's parents say
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that
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he was just the love of her life that
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they had dated for several years
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went to prom together in high school
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jenna just absolutely adored spencer
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jenna and spencer planned to pursue
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careers in either
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law or government and they lived in
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separate apartments at the same complex
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the autumn woods apartment complex is
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right next to blinn college
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and so there's quite a few students that
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live there it's easy for them it's close
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easy access to the college on april 9
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2008 after attending his morning classes
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spencer stopped by jenna's apartment to
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pick up a book he'd left there
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when spencer arrived at jenna's
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apartment he found the door unlocked
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and he went inside
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spencer found jenna's lifeless body on
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the bedroom floor
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and asked a neighbor to call
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she's just laying 911 the ground i'm
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talking she's not breathing
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okay can you touch her and see if she's
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warm to the touch
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can you touch her if she's warm to the
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touch
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she's cold she's cold to the touch yes
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ma'am
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oh my god
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police and paramedics pronounced jenna
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dead at the scene the only injuries that
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we could find on her were a small
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bruise on her forehead she had also
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clinched down on her tongue with her
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teeth
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it didn't appear to be any kind of
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robbery her purse was hanging on a hook
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right next to the door
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credit cards were there in her purse
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there was cash in her purse
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her keys were in the purse there were no
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pills no alcohol
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there were no indications that she had
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committed suicide
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spencer told police he last saw jenna
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the night before
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around midnight the two of them studied
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and then he left and went to his
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apartment at 12 30 that morning
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and then made a phone call to jenna a
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few minutes later to tell her a good
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night
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phone records showed that he had placed
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a call at 12 47 a.m
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we know that she was discovered about 11
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30 the next morning so we've got
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you know probably less than a 12-hour
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window when
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jenna was killed during the autopsy
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the medical examiner found no evidence
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that jenna had been
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sexually assaulted but he couldn't rule
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it out either
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it has been my experience in some 30
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years of
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performing autopsy examinations that the
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lack of genital injuries does not rule
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out
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a sexual assault but he did find
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small broken blood vessels in the whites
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of jenna's eyes
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known as paticual hemorrhages
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peticile hemorrhages are in that
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constellation of findings
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that we refer to as stigmata of
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asphyxiation
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it tells me that i need to look for a
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cause
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of asphyxiation and he found it
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jenna's larynx had been crushed the
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conclusion was inescapable
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this is a strangulation and in great
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probability
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manual strangulation by hands
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[Music]
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a background check revealed that over
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the years spencer and jenna had broken
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up several times
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dated others but always made up and got
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back together
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knowing that there were no signs of
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forced entry i think you immediately
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think
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this was some kind of lover's quarrel
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gone bad
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we did ask spencer if he killed jenna
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and his response was absolutely no
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but would the forensic evidence support
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his claim
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as investigators looked into jennifer
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holland's background
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they learned she was well liked and
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respected by her friends and classmates
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at blinn college in texas she didn't
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have any enemies she didn't have fights
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with people she didn't have arguments or
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disagreements
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everybody had nothing but good things to
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say about her jenna was a dedicated
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student
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who was working her way through school
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as a waitress at a local restaurant
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she worked for everything that she had
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and didn't have a
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i think an almost full-time job at wings
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and more while taking classes
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on the night of her murder jenna worked
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at the restaurant until
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9 00 p.m surveillance tapes revealed
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nothing suspicious all we found was
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jenna just walked into her vehicle
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we didn't find anybody following her
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jenna returned to her apartment around 9
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30.
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her boyfriend spencer hood said he
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stopped by and they spent about three
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hours studying together
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and he left after midnight
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then jenna's neighbors provided a
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possible lead
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on the night of the murder the neighbors
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were playing sand volleyball in the
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courtyard in between the apartment
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buildings
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around midnight they saw a man walking
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from the direction
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of jenna's apartment he was shirtless
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and he was acting
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very upset we learned that this
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suspicious male had come out
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anywhere between the hours of midnight
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and 2 am in fact some of the girls that
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were playing
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said that he looked scary witnesses said
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the man resembled
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26 year old shawn stevens also a college
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student
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who lived in an adjoining apartment
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building
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according to friends he'd once made a
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vulgar remark to jenna
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in the parking lot it was more or less
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just some
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cat calls and stuff from sean's balcony
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down to the girls and there were some
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words exchanged between jenna and sean
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shawn's apartment had a direct line of
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sight to jenna's apartment
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we contacted him sean was extremely
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nervous
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and was literally shaking sean denied
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any involvement in jenna's murder
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he also said he wasn't the shirtless man
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walking from jenna's apartment
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on the night of her murder but he
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couldn't provide accurate information
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about where he had been that night
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due to a large consumption of alcohol
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then police uncovered a startling
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piece of information
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two months before her murder jenna told
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her family
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about an incident involving her
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apartment's maintenance man
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it happened one morning after she got
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out of the shower
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she found the maintenance man standing
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in her living room he was there
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when he wasn't asked to be
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and she didn't know that he was there
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according to janna
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the man claimed he didn't hear the water
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running
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and believing the apartment was empty
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walked inside it's creepy
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it's creepy just to think about you
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don't stick around while someone's in
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the shower
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and then when they come out leave jim
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became very upset and contacted the
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supervisor of the maintenance worker
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and explained to him what had happened
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worker's name was jeremy rosser
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he was 29 years old divorced with two
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children
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he had never been in trouble with the
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law he comes from
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a religious background his father is a
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pastor in a nearby
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town but police were more than a little
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suspicious
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so they conducted an experiment to see
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whether rosser's explanation
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had been truthful when detectives fry
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and matthews go back to the apartment
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complex
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they actually stand right at the front
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door and have someone go into the
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jenna's bathroom turn the shower on
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close the door to the bathroom and they
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say from the front
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threshold of the door you can clearly
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hear that the shower's running inside
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that apartment
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coincidentally rosser was fired one week
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after jenna's murder
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he had been terminated or fired because
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he wasn't coming to work anymore
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police wanted to question rosser but he
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left town after he lost his job
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and no one knew where he was
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they also discovered that jenna's
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boyfriend spencer hood was missing
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too certainly our first area focus was
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on spencer
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as he was the last one to see her and
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the first one to find her
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it did not help his case any that he had
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suddenly left town
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that left sean stevens and he was
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nowhere to be found either he's gone
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he's not at school anymore he's not his
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apartment complex anymore
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this made us a little bit suspicious i
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started to realize they just have no
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idea
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they have no idea who did this
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police had three persons of interest in
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the murder of jennifer holland
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her boyfriend spencer hood shawn
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stevens who matched the description of
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the man seen leaving jenna's apartment
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building
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the night of the murder and jeremy
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rosser
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a maintenance man at jenna's apartment
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complex who had once entered her
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apartment
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under suspicious circumstances
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investigators hoped scientists could
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find forensic evidence
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that would help narrow their search
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we're looking for biologic evidence
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is there skin is there hair there may be
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fibers there may be bits of material
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from a scene or from
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dirt or something on a person's clothing
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first
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scientists discovered skin cells under
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jenna's fingernails which is not
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unusual when a victim is involved in a
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struggle
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they extracted dna and discovered
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there were two genetic profiles both
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male one a minor contributor and one a
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major contributor
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investigators also found a drop of blood
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on jenna's shirt collar
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and two drops of blood on the carpet
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near jenna's body one of those did come
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back to be jenna's dna
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and the other one came back to be the
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same unknown male contributor that was
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detected
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in the nail samples and on the neck of
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the shirt
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she's fighting for her life she is
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scratching him
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scratching him deeply and hard enough
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that he's actively bleeding
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this cna evidence was extremely exciting
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to us because we knew
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if we could ever get dna from a suspect
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that matched we would have our killer
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armed with the killer's dna
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investigators wanted dna samples from
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jenna's boyfriend
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spencer hood her neighbor shawn stevens
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and the maintenance man jeremy rosser
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mysteriously all three left town
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after jenna's murder while police
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searched for them
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they also conducted a dna dragnet
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they asked other men who lived in her
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apartment complex
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as well as male co-workers for dna
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samples
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nearly 50 people willingly complied
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but no one matched the dna from the
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crime scene
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if we're eliminating people that are
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around her that have a connection with
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her
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if this is a completely random act then
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how
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how are we ever going to locate that
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person again to get their dna
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eventually police found jenna's
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boyfriend spencer hood
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three hours away at his parents home
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we ended up driving to wimberley to try
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to track him down because at that time
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we believe that he may be our killer
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i asked him the question about why he
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left town
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what he'd explained was he was just
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upset him and jenna were very close
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and he wanted to be with his family
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spencer was entirely cooperative
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he allowed police to photograph him
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without his shirt
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and police found no scratch marks on his
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body
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he also answered questions without an
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attorney present
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and willingly provided a dna sample
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next police tracked down shawn stevens
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at his parents home
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450 miles away in oklahoma
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sean said he went home to see his
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brother who was on leave from military
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service in iraq
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so this gave us an explanation of why
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sean led town
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when asked sean willingly provided a dna
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sample
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without police having to resort to a
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court order
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the only remaining suspect was jeremy
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rosser
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police were finally able to locate him
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through his ex-wife
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who provided an important clue
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she said jeremy had shown signs of
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violence at the time of their divorce
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they got an argument he shoved her to
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the ground and while she was on the
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ground he kneeled over her
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and put both hands around her neck
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coincidentally
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this incident occurred right around the
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time of jenna's murder
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but for investigators it was still one
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problem
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a criminal check was done of roster's
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background and we found
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no instances where he had been arrested
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in the past this made him somewhat of an
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unlikely candidate for a crime of this
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type
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when police questioned rosser he denied
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any involvement
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and was happy to cooperate he was very
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calm very cool not someone that you
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would pin a murder on but in rosser's
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truck
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investigators found a laptop computer
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the serial number was traced to a tenant
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living in janus apartment complex who'd
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reported it stolen
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months earlier they also found
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rosser still had keys to the apartments
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this indicated to us that rosser had
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likely gone into many apartments
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during his term there as a maintenance
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worker but jenna's apartment key was not
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among those
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found in jeremy's possession
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and just like the others jeremy
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willingly provided a dna sample
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my feelings of jeremy was that we might
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not have our person
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being how cooperative he was and
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his demeanor so investigators had three
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possibilities would a dna match
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be among them or was the killer
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still at large i have other cases where
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i know who did it i just can't prove who
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did it this case is different
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whereas i can prove who did it i just
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don't know who did it
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with dna samples from three suspects
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scientists hoped to determine who killed
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college student jennifer holland
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and had it not been for science there's
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no telling what would have happened
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had we not had the dna under her nails
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or on the collar of her shirt
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or on the carpet we may never have
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solved this crime
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without the forensic evidence i don't
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think there would have been an arrest
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the dna results left no doubt jeremy
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rosser
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was in jenna's apartment on the night of
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the murder
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how would your skin cells be under here
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what snapped what made him want to want
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to do this to her
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it's weird when police arrested rosser
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he wasn't surprised
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there's no screaming yelling i'm
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innocent what are you talking about it's
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just
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oh okay and so that was
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a big indication
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prosecutors believe that rosser's
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intrusion into jenna's apartment
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while she was in the shower was no
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accident
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after that encounter prosecutors believe
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rosser used his master key
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again on the night of the murder to
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enter
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janna's apartment while she was at work
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this time they believe he hid in jenna's
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second bedroom
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and waited for her
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jenna came home around 9 30 p.m
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but her boyfriend spencer hood also
00:17:57
stopped by
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something rosser probably didn't
00:18:01
anticipate
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this forced rosser to wait another three
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hours
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spencer left shortly after midnight
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nicely i love you too
00:18:31
but he called jenna at 12 47 to say
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good night
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after that call jenna went to bed
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and at some point rosser attacked
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[Music]
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jenna fought for her life scratching him
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collecting his skin cells
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he strangled her to death
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tiny drops of rosser's blood landed on
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jenna's shirt
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and on the rug next to her body
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i would like to say that jenna in her
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last moments i guess
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fought like she always fights and she's
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been a fighter
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and that was enough to help us identify
00:19:28
who this person was so that we could
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try and achieve some small sense of
00:19:32
justice for her and her family
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when charged with jenna's murder rosser
00:19:38
admitted he
00:19:39
was guilty in order to spare his family
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the ordeals of a trial
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[Music]
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rosser never revealed his motive
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it's possible that jeremy entered
00:19:51
jenna's apartment to burglarize it
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and then once spencer left jeremy may
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have exited the bedroom
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hoping to get whatever he was there to
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steal
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and was caught by jenna and then
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subsequently had to end up murdering
00:20:06
her being that she knew his identity
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it's also possible the assault had
00:20:11
something to do
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with his marital problems at the time
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jenna looked very similar in bill
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to rosser's ex-wife he may have
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assaulted jenna based on the fact that
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he was angry with his ex-wife
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the forensic evidence was crucial to
00:20:25
this case
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because we don't have a motive without
00:20:30
his dna we don't really have a motive
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for him going into that apartment
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regardless of his motive jeremy rosser
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was convicted of jennifer holland's
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murder
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and was sentenced to 55 years in prison
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he has two children you're gonna grow up
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with a dad in prison
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so there's a lot of people affected by
00:20:52
the decisions that
00:20:54
that rosser made this case stands out to
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me and i consider it to be one of the
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most important cases that i've worked in
00:20:59
my career
00:21:00
based on the type of person that jenna
00:21:01
was she was a young person
00:21:03
that had her life ahead of her and it's
00:21:06
just a tragic event
00:21:08
that has to happen to someone like her
