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Garden Grove California
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1987 police get a very disturbing call a
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landlord says he's found his tenant
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Shannon Lloyd lying face down in his bed
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Shannon a 23-year-old single mom the
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officers arrived at the scene they did
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discover that she was nude and had
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possibly been sexually
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assaulted investigators run out of leads
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the case goes cold 2 years later another
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murder discovered on a nearby Rural Road
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the victim 27-year-old Renee
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quas they noticed what they belied to be
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a mannequin on the side of the road so
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when they went to go investigate they
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realized it was a human body she was
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completely nude and she had ligature
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around her neck investigators have no
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idea if these Savage crimes are linked
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is there a serial rapist and killer on
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the loose in California it was like
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surreal you know just like a flip of a
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switch who is a
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monster this is the story of a 35e
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search for the killer of two innocent
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young women I'm ncy Grace welcome to
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Bloodline
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[Music]
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detectives Garden Grove California 1987
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it's a small prosperous City in Orange
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County just south of
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La the crime rate and Garden Grove in
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nearby communities is soaring in the
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1980s by 1987 Shannon Lloyd is living
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there a young single mom with a little
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boy Shannon 23 years old considered a
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lovely young
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lady you know she had some encounters
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with law enforcement
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but she was a loved daughter a loved
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sister and a loved
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mother on May 21 1987 shedon Lloyd's
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landlord comes home from work finds his
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bedroom door locked from the inside and
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the bedroom door to his bedroom was
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locked and he went to get a key to
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unlocked the door and he discovered
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Shannon in his bed he went to call the
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police because it was obvious that she
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was dead the officers arrived at the
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scene and they discovered her body she
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was on the bed face down with the covers
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pulled up to her neck upon further
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inspection that they did discover that
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she was nude and had possibly been
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sexually
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assaulted officers arrived on scene and
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detectives were called in to assist with
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the investigation one of the detectives
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was Det Ive Ron shave and other guarden
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Grove Personnel who have since
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retired inside detect as fine a gruesome
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murder scene it looks like the victim
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had no chance of
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Escape she had been strangled with a
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pair of pajamas and the pajamas were
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still tied tightly around her neck and
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the homeowner untied it thinking that
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she was possibly alive still she wasn't
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he noticed that she had rigor set in and
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uh that's when he went to call for help
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at the time in the in the late ' 80s
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there was not a lot of technology and
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and leads as far as that goes but they
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were able to Canvas the area they
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preserved the scene and collected all
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the physical evidence and any kind of
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forensic evidence they were able to
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collect and preserve the canvas the area
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interviewed neighbors uh family members
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and whoever they could in regards to
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what had occurred to try to learn what
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happened to Shannon and that was the
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evidence that they were able to work
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on detectives Chase every lead they
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quickly come up with a clear picture of
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Shannon Lloyd's final day she had a
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friend who had been at the house with
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her prior to the two of them going out
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to Harbor Boulevard York they took the
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homeowner's car to get around that car
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was found at Harbor and garden girl
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Boulevard by an officer by the name of
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Rob mathys and then the actual assigned
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detective turned out to be my future
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partner in homicide Ron shave and he is
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one of the best homicide investigators
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I've ever worked
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with Detective Ron shave and his team
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began working the case their first
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suspect is the person who reports the
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murder Shannon's landlord his Alibi is
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solid he's quickly eliminated as a POI
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Person of Interest we were able to
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eliminate him quickly he had Witnesses
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at work and the time of death made it
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impossible for him to have been the
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killer Santa Lloyd's murder goes cold
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then two years later there's a murder of
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another young woman also in Orange
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County are the two murders connected we
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find out next on bloodline
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[Music]
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detectives 1987 Garden Grove Orange
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County California police investigating
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the murder of Shannon L Lloyd a
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23-year-old single mom her brutalized
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body discovered by her landlord there at
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the apartment where Shannon lives
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detectives work the case but there's
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certainly no quick break
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through they did a phenomenal job they
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had a sexual assault kit they had finger
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prints they had bedding there was a what
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they believed at the time to be a used
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condom the condom wrapper clothing
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cigarette butts uh some used some
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partially used there was a Vaseline jar
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and some other items of clothing that
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were
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collected the protocols would be that
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you want to freeze the seam you want to
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document it through charts and
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photographs and then collect the items
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of evidence individually you're looking
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for Witnesses you're looking for
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suspects we thought that uh our
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techniques were pretty state-of-the-art
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we had techniques to identify fibers and
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the whole science of fiber
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identification the blood work that we
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could do at the time would help us
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eliminate a lot of suspects just by
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being a secretor or not and blood type
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could be obtained from that at that time
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I had no idea that just a few years down
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the road we'd have DNA evidence
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available in 1987 forensic science is in
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its infancy 21st century DNA
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investigative techniques are still years
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away so Garden Grove Police rely on Old
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School police methods we had
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investigators canvasing the area hoping
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to see somebody come or go from the home
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or a car to come or go from the home but
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we had nothing back then we didn't have
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ring cameras we didn't have video
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surveillance on homes like we do today
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so everything had to be eyewitness
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testimony we didn't have anything that
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could capture video evidence the
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investigation goes nowhere investigators
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hope an autopsy of Shannon's body will
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reveal important Clues Blood and Tissue
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samples are taken at
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autopsy and tested for drugs and
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alcohol and a rape kit was collected at
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autopsy it was revealed that Shannon had
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passed from strangulation at the time
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that they did discover the body she had
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a piece of cloth tied around her neck so
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that is likely what was
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used the evidence from the autopsy is
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useful but it's not enough to advance
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the investigation months pass and one by
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one the leads dry up when detectives
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exhaust all those possible leads and
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there's no other further leads to go on
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a Case unfortunately goes cold they hold
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on to the case hoping that either
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someone becomes forward or new
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technology becomes available where then
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they could revisit reopen those cases so
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it's very important for detectives and
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police departments to make sure that
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those cases are never
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forgotten and that's what happens in
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Shannon Lloyd's case her murder is not
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forgotten two years later another young
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woman found dead there in Orange County
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her body discovered by three men near
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the eloro Marine base just 15 short
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miles north of Garden Grove they noticed
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what they believed to be a mannequin on
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the side of the road so when they went
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to go investigate they realized it was a
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human body she was completely nude and
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she had a ligature around her neck
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Orange County Sheriffs identify the
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victim as another single mom 27-year-old
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Renee
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quas she had a a similar lifestyle to
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Shannon and she was also very loved by
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her family she was also sexually
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assaulted and the cause of death was
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strangulation the rural crime scene
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where Renee qu is found does not provide
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police with very many Clues there were
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two individuals that they had suspected
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that Renee had been associating with at
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the time and those two individuals they
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had a criminal history but none of those
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leads panned out there was no concrete
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evidence to tie those individuals to
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Rene's
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homicide investigators now have two
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murders both of young women both women
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assaulted both single moms and both
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killed just 15 short miles apart is that
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a coincidence the evidence available
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yields nothing else to link the two
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cases once they kind of identifi those
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individuals who were the primary Persons
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of Interest at the time and they
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couldn't make any concrete connections
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there was no additional physical
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evidence then that's kind of when the
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case went called
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years past both murders go cold but
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there's still active
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investigations DNA technology is
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advancing and the national DNA database
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codus is created police revisit the two
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cases hoping DNA from the crime scenes
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might match an existing person from a
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different
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crime so in July of
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1997 a suspect DNA profile was obtained
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in the Renee quas Case by the Orange
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County crime
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lab and that came from evidence both at
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the scene and from her body and at that
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time it was uploaded into cotus and had
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no hits cotus is the combined DNA index
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system that is operated by the FBI in
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the United States it is a network of
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local state and National DNA databases
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consisting of convicted offender DNA
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profiles arrested DNA profiles and
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profiles from crime scene evidence which
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are known as forensic unknowns the codus
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database at the national level which is
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known as endis is over 20 million
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profiles in California the state
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database known as the Cal doj esce is
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over 3 million
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profiles the advancements of DNA really
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started in the early 90s there was a
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case handled by the Orange County
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Sheriff's Renee quas and they developed
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a genetic male profile from that
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investigation fast forward a few years
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in 2002 we developed a genetic male
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profile on our case so from that point
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they had uploaded that DNA into
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codus the codus results yield both good
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and bad news for investigators the
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unknown male DNA from the murders is a
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match Shannon Lloyd and Renee quas are
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victims of the same sadistic killer the
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bad news the DN does not match any
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offenders in the kota's
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database we were excited because that
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meant we had more parameters that we
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could compare to determine just based on
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who was in those vicinities at the time
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would help us focus and at that time
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Garden Grove had really put a lot of
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effort they had some retired
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investigators come back to work for them
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and they were trying to follow up on
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what leads that they had and maybe
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identify other cases by Mo that they
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could request DNA samples on so there
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was a lot of work going on behind the
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scenes that required step-by-step timec
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consuming efforts that don't necessarily
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lead anywhere until you get that magic
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hit investigators from Garden Grove and
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the Orange County Sheriffs now know
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they're looking for one man responsible
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for two murders and they've got his DNA
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profile but can they get his name that's
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next on bloodline
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[Music]
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detectives Orange County California two
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murders 2 years apart one suspect the
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first murder in 1987 is when Shannon
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Lloyd a single mom in her early 20s
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found dead in her apartment then another
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young woman found dead in
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1989 Renee quavas also a young single
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mom DNA proves the Killer is the same
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man but now police need a name they need
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to identify
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him I was reassigned to homicide I had
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worked uh domestic violence prior to
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that and in 2018 I received a phone call
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from Shannon's brother Tom and boy did I
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get an earful and he was not happy he
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consistently called for updates by the
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time that I intercepted the call he was
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frustrated understandably so he wanted
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answers his mom had passed away and she
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wasn't able to get that closure that she
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needed at the time of her death his
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emotions were also really heightened so
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I had this conversation with him and I
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just listened to him and I didn't know
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much about the case at that time so
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after that phone
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conversation I thought about it a lot
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and it stuck with me and I said well in
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order for me to really have a good
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understanding I'm going to have to learn
00:16:09
this case like the back of my hand and
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that's what prompted me to pull the case
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to see everything that we had and what
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more we could do and that's when I
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learned the details of the
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investigation she really wanted this to
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be solved for the family and she really
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kept it alive I don't want to say it was
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ever truly closed but her interest is
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the reason that it it got to the point
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of IGG
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consideration IGG or investigative
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genetic genealogy is a forensic tool
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that delivers incredible results in
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cases that seem impossible to crack when
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I was with the Orange County homicide
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task force they came out with a list of
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people that had DNA but no hits in the
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codus database even though there was not
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a match in the database it matched the
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two crime scenes together so that was
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kind of a a higher profile case because
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we we knew at the time that he had been
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responsible for at least two
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murders detective terara Ramirez
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determined to find this brutal
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killer after my initial phone
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conversation with Tom we stayed in
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constant contact I told him I said I I
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read your sister's case I'm moving
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forward with this I will not re Tire
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until we solve this which is a big
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promise to make and it was a heavy
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promise because I did a lot of praying
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hoping that the right answers would fall
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into my lap it just reminded me of the
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purpose and you realize that these
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families victims you're their Lifeline
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something that they dwell on day in and
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day out they don't have other cases they
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don't have other distractions this was
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the most horrific thing to happen in
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their life and you were their only
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Lifeline to give them the answer that
00:17:57
they're searching for when studying the
00:18:00
Case Files detective Ramirez struck by
00:18:02
the level of detail passed on by the
00:18:06
original investigative
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team detective shave did such an
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incredible job with his investigation I
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was hoping that maybe they missed
00:18:14
something or they had overlooked or
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there was still a potential witness or
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somebody that I could get that would
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generate a new lead for us they covered
00:18:24
everything maybe the most important
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thing the original investig ative team
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does is that they save crucial evidence
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like DNA samples that can be analyzed
00:18:36
when forensic science techniques improve
00:18:40
in 2018 the notorious Golden State
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killer murders in California are solved
00:18:47
by a team using investigative genetic
00:18:51
genealogy could this technique also
00:18:54
provide a breakthrough for the two
00:18:56
Orange County murders
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the big takeaway for me is that the
00:19:03
traditional law enforcement codus
00:19:05
database is completely different from
00:19:07
investigative genetic genealogy DNA
00:19:10
you're talking apples and oranges and
00:19:11
you can't use one for the other it's a
00:19:14
completely different process but
00:19:16
investigative genetic genealogy uses
00:19:18
familial relationships to
00:19:22
identify unknown individuals uh is the
00:19:25
the end goal but based on the number of
00:19:29
DNA segments and the length of DNA the
00:19:32
more of those segments that match the
00:19:34
closer related you
00:19:36
are I thought well why can't we do that
00:19:39
with ours maybe that's our answer maybe
00:19:41
that'll be something that we can use and
00:19:45
that's where I started doing my research
00:19:47
but at that time it was so new it wasn't
00:19:50
familiar this is no one really knew what
00:19:52
to do with that I contacted an
00:19:54
independent lab company and they seemed
00:19:58
promising and I thought this is going to
00:19:59
work we we're going to get our answer
00:20:02
however when I got the letter I noticed
00:20:04
in fine print that they were going to
00:20:06
retain all evidence again this was new
00:20:09
to me so I'm I'm learning as I'm going
00:20:12
through this and I reached out to our
00:20:14
crime lab the question was if we use all
00:20:17
this DNA and it doesn't work out I've
00:20:21
now exhausted all the evidence that we
00:20:24
have because the Orange County Sheriff's
00:20:26
Department the Renee quas case
00:20:29
they didn't have any usable DNA or
00:20:31
evidence to use it was only in our
00:20:33
Shannon Lloyd
00:20:35
case the stakes could not be higher
00:20:38
detective Ramirez must decide whether to
00:20:41
gamble on using the last bit of DNA
00:20:45
evidence for one final
00:20:48
test because I had such a good
00:20:50
relationship with Tom I called him and I
00:20:53
said Tom look this is my predicament
00:20:55
this is the situation I'm in and
00:20:58
ultimately he said Tera I I trust what
00:21:01
what you decide to do and if we need to
00:21:03
wait we wait I sat on it and it just you
00:21:06
know you get a gut feeling sometimes and
00:21:08
I said it's as much as I want this
00:21:10
answer now it's not the right time and
00:21:12
this isn't the right thing to
00:21:14
do so you fast forward two 3 years the
00:21:18
advancement in the genetic genealogy
00:21:21
skyrocketed and it became more and more
00:21:23
advanced and people were more familiar
00:21:25
with what to do with it and then that's
00:21:27
when I reached out to the Orange County
00:21:29
Crime Lab the investigated genetic
00:21:30
genealogy unit and that's where I came
00:21:33
into contact with Dave dekin and then
00:21:35
the forensic scientist Anna I had heard
00:21:38
wonderful things about her and we came
00:21:41
up with a plan the plan is to extract an
00:21:44
uncontaminated DNA sample from the crime
00:21:47
scene and this proves far more difficult
00:21:50
than first thought I did some research
00:21:53
to figure out if snip testing could be
00:21:56
done for this case and if Poss
00:21:59
what lab would be the best choice to do
00:22:01
this testing as to not compromise The
00:22:03
Limited evidence that we had
00:22:06
remaining a snip profile is a profile
00:22:11
that allows you to look at over 400,000
00:22:14
points of
00:22:16
identification and it's compared in
00:22:19
public databases to other snip profiles
00:22:23
and allows distantly related persons to
00:22:28
be
00:22:29
known as far as on a match list and from
00:22:33
match list that you get you can put
00:22:35
together family trees and hopefully come
00:22:38
to an area where you believe that you
00:22:40
have an investigative lead that would
00:22:42
lead to the identity of either the
00:22:44
suspect or the missing person snip
00:22:46
testing for IGG is still a fairly new
00:22:49
technology and it's constantly evolving
00:22:52
at the start of IGG with the Golden
00:22:55
State killer case only single Source DNA
00:22:57
samples were used for IG testing however
00:23:01
this testing has continued to evolve at
00:23:04
this point the testing had evolved and
00:23:06
the challenging sample for the Lloyd
00:23:07
case was able to be tested for IGG so
00:23:11
the sample was set for snip testing and
00:23:13
in March of 2022 we obtained matchless
00:23:16
results from both Jed match and family
00:23:18
treat
00:23:19
DNA it's now been over 30 years since
00:23:22
the brutal murders of Shannon Lloyd and
00:23:24
Renee quas and at last the net seems to
00:23:28
be closing in on the killer when we
00:23:31
first obtained these match lists I
00:23:33
analyzed the DNA to identify the top
00:23:36
matches establish if there's any genetic
00:23:39
networks of relatives within the match
00:23:41
list that are related to each other and
00:23:43
to see if there's any other DNA related
00:23:45
information that can help in our family
00:23:47
tree building process we had a number of
00:23:50
matches with our highest match being in
00:23:52
the second cousin range and a number of
00:23:54
other matches in the second cousin to
00:23:55
third cousin range as we were bu
00:23:58
building these trees what we were
00:23:59
looking for was uh someone that would be
00:24:03
in the age range that we predicted the
00:24:05
suspect would have at the time of the
00:24:08
crime and who would have connections to
00:24:11
the Orange County area so on March 23rd
00:24:15
20122 she came across a
00:24:18
gentleman that's a loose term named
00:24:22
Ruben Jack Wilson Smith he was of the
00:24:26
right age frame he also had an Orange
00:24:30
County address and when you looked at
00:24:34
that
00:24:35
address he
00:24:37
lived 8 miles from where Shannon Lloyd
00:24:41
was
00:24:42
murdered and approximately 11 miles from
00:24:46
where Renee qu's body was
00:24:49
located a 30-year investigation may be
00:24:53
coming to an end police have a suspect
00:24:56
and the Savage murders of two young moms
00:24:59
his name Ruben Smith who is Ruben Smith
00:25:03
and where is he we find out next on
00:25:06
bloodline
00:25:09
[Music]
00:25:15
detectives Garden Grove California 2022
00:25:19
detectives closing in on a prime suspect
00:25:21
in the homicides of not one but two
00:25:24
single moms in the80s 2003 they came
00:25:28
cases are linked by DNA it proves the
00:25:31
same man killed both women it takes over
00:25:35
two decades and remarkable advances in
00:25:39
investigative genetic genealogy to
00:25:41
finally deliver the name of a prime
00:25:44
suspect who is he Ruben
00:25:47
Smith he was born in Michigan he did
00:25:50
live in the Orange County area in the
00:25:53
1980s and then later moved to Las Vegas
00:25:56
Nevada in the '90s
00:25:58
he was in the military for a short
00:26:00
period of time we did some criminal
00:26:05
history indexes in California and did
00:26:08
not find anything so an inquiry was made
00:26:13
regarding contacts with law enforcement
00:26:15
in Nevada and we
00:26:18
learned that in
00:26:20
1998 he was arrested for attempted
00:26:23
murder and sexual assault and after
00:26:26
obtaining that report
00:26:28
it was clear that he seemed to be what
00:26:33
we would expect the suspect and those
00:26:35
two other murders to
00:26:38
be Garden Grove Police and Orange County
00:26:41
Sheriffs uncover more about Ruben
00:26:44
Smith's background they discover a
00:26:47
brutal sex assault charge in
00:26:50
Vegas it was late 1998 where we found
00:26:54
that he had been arrested for a sexual
00:26:57
assault and and an attempted murder of a
00:27:00
female while she was still alive and so
00:27:04
we dug into that just to see what the
00:27:06
circumstances were and the hairs on your
00:27:10
neck stood up because I was like this is
00:27:13
Shannon Lloyd this is a
00:27:15
survivor of what Shannon Lloyd I imagine
00:27:18
went through because the details were so
00:27:21
similar and in my gut I knew that this
00:27:24
was going to be the right guy but again
00:27:26
we still had to move forward
00:27:29
the attack where he was arrested
00:27:31
occurred on July 30th of 1998 and it
00:27:35
involved a woman who accepted a ride
00:27:38
from
00:27:39
Reuben and she was a a pretty StreetWise
00:27:44
person and she got into that car
00:27:47
willingly and it was obvious that once
00:27:51
she was in that car that he had a plan
00:27:53
for her he drove her where he wanted to
00:27:56
drive her he tried to kill her while
00:27:59
sexually assaulting her and she's a true
00:28:02
hero for being able to break loose and
00:28:05
to flee and to actually report the crime
00:28:09
in which he got arrested
00:28:11
for when I first met him he was very
00:28:14
nice he was very charming and so I got
00:28:18
in the car with him I felt safe with him
00:28:21
and as we were driving he kept telling
00:28:24
me he had to make one stop to a storage
00:28:26
unit and when he pulled onto the street
00:28:30
I knew right then something was wrong I
00:28:32
go out of the car somehow we got out
00:28:34
outside and he grabbed me by the back of
00:28:37
my hair and when he smashed my head up
00:28:40
against the brick wall I knew I was
00:28:42
going to die I I knew it it's the the
00:28:45
evil in him the feelings he generated
00:28:49
off his body I knew if I didn't fight I
00:28:51
was going to die it was like surreal you
00:28:54
know the man was so nice and so friendly
00:28:59
and then just like a flip of a switch he
00:29:01
was a
00:29:03
monster she ultimately is like the hero
00:29:07
and all this because without her
00:29:08
statement and without her will to
00:29:11
survive we wouldn't be here today
00:29:14
because she ultimately was who exposed
00:29:18
Reuben Smith to his the horrific crimes
00:29:21
that he he was doing to these
00:29:23
women because of his arrest a Blood
00:29:27
Stained card was retained even though
00:29:29
the case was not prosecuted and other
00:29:32
evidence had been destroyed the Las
00:29:35
Vegas Metro Police Department still had
00:29:38
that Blood Stained cart from
00:29:40
him thanks to the Las Vegas Survivor
00:29:44
police have a clear picture of the
00:29:47
pattern of Ruben Smith attacks on women
00:29:50
but now they've got to be certain the
00:29:52
DNA blood sample taken by Vegas cops
00:29:55
matches the DNA from the Mur ERS of
00:29:58
Shannon Lloyd and Renee quavas sounds
00:30:02
routine right but of course there's a
00:30:06
hitch he was married he had a an older
00:30:11
son and living in Las Vegas he had been
00:30:14
arrested for another sex crime he knew
00:30:17
that he was going to be going to
00:30:19
trial he obviously was aware that
00:30:22
there's DNA evidence nowadays uh so his
00:30:26
fear must have been
00:30:28
lingering and maybe even a guilty
00:30:31
conscience either that or he's afraid of
00:30:34
going to prison but he killed himself in
00:30:38
front of his wife and son maybe
00:30:41
represented guilt I don't know we don't
00:30:45
understand a lot even today what goes on
00:30:48
in the mind of an offender like that
00:30:50
there are people I've come across that
00:30:53
are no doubt just evil and there are
00:30:57
others who are
00:30:58
driven
00:31:00
by their own
00:31:03
Phantoms that haunt
00:31:05
them Ruben Smith's suicide makes it so
00:31:09
much harder to tie him to the two
00:31:11
victims in Orange County but still
00:31:14
police have that crucial blood sample
00:31:16
taken from the Vegas attack in
00:31:20
1988 now we were aware that he had
00:31:23
committed suicide at this stage and he
00:31:26
had been cremated we were able to secure
00:31:30
a portion of that Blood Stained card and
00:31:32
the Orange County Crime Lab was able to
00:31:34
develop a
00:31:36
profile which matched the suspect
00:31:39
profile in both the Shannon Lloyd and
00:31:42
Renee qu's suspect that crime that he
00:31:46
committed in Vegas mirrored exactly what
00:31:49
the belief was that both Shannon and
00:31:53
Renee willingly got into a car with him
00:31:57
and yet he had a plan to kill and
00:32:02
sexually assault
00:32:03
them over 30 years later two devastated
00:32:08
families and three law enforcement
00:32:10
agencies in Orange County finally have
00:32:14
answers I was told by detective remirez
00:32:18
that they found out who the true killer
00:32:20
was to these cases and I was extremely
00:32:23
happy not only for the present
00:32:26
detectives but also the past detectives
00:32:28
that had worked so hard on this case the
00:32:31
forensic scientists all the crime scene
00:32:35
investigators uh for all three uh
00:32:38
agencies it was very very joyful day
00:32:41
when we found out who the killer was and
00:32:43
and also for the victim's
00:32:46
families the first family member
00:32:48
detective Ramirez tells is Shannon
00:32:50
Lloyd's brother
00:32:53
Tom so closure for you would be
00:32:58
to find out who did
00:33:01
it what if I tell you we have that that
00:33:03
answer for
00:33:08
you we do
00:33:16
Tom all right I know that you've been
00:33:20
wrestling with this for many many years
00:33:23
and um we we have a name we have a
00:33:27
person
00:33:28
that is responsible for for your
00:33:30
sister's death his name is Ruben Smith
00:33:33
and I can show you a picture of him if
00:33:35
you'd like I would love to
00:33:40
see so what I can say is it doesn't look
00:33:43
like there's any connection there was
00:33:45
any prior connection to him uh knowing
00:33:48
Shannon prior to uh the night that they
00:33:52
met but um yeah by all means let me I
00:33:56
will show you
00:33:58
[Music]
00:34:07
piece of
00:34:08
garbage have no sympathy for him at all
00:34:12
the circumstances are terrible but to be
00:34:14
able to give this closure and this
00:34:17
relief of someone who's waited almost 30
00:34:21
years and deep down inside he thought it
00:34:24
would never get solved it to me there is
00:34:28
there's no better feeling and it it's
00:34:30
the driving purpose of the sacrifices
00:34:32
that you make as a detective it's
00:34:35
something that you don't understand
00:34:36
unless you're in Tom shoes and you don't
00:34:39
understand really how much you are their
00:34:43
lifeline and that's that's that's pretty
00:34:47
powerful Ruben Smith may be dead but it
00:34:51
does not deny two families and law
00:34:53
enforcement answers they've wanted for
00:34:56
35
00:34:58
years that's next on bloodline
00:35:02
[Music]
00:35:09
detectives Orange County California July
00:35:13
2022 police prosecutors victims families
00:35:16
deliver an emotional news conference to
00:35:19
announce the murders of Shannon LD and
00:35:22
Renee quas are finally
00:35:25
solved today is a good day
00:35:28
I will not speak about the individual
00:35:30
who took the life of my cousin Renee but
00:35:32
rather share her life with you Renee was
00:35:36
loved by our grandma Mercedes Renee had
00:35:39
Brothers Michael Kelly and Victor she
00:35:42
also had a sister named Rene she was
00:35:45
surrounded by Family Who Loved Her Renee
00:35:47
had a son named Lou
00:35:49
Ramirez he resembles her
00:35:52
Plenty he was her Pride and Joy Renee
00:35:56
was the kind of mom that gave her son
00:35:57
the unconditional love that only she can
00:35:59
give him if I could speak with my cousin
00:36:02
again I would tell her how sorry I
00:36:05
am I would make her laugh so I can see
00:36:08
her beautiful
00:36:09
dimples someday I will get a chance
00:36:11
again to hug you and to tell you I love
00:36:15
you save a place for me in
00:36:18
heaven it's always good to give some
00:36:22
sense of justice to the family obviously
00:36:25
it's not going to bring their loved one
00:36:26
back but to know know that the person
00:36:29
who was responsible this has been held
00:36:31
accountable unfortunately he was
00:36:33
deceased at the time so there was no
00:36:34
prosecution but it gives the family some
00:36:36
closure to know that number one we still
00:36:39
look after these loved ones cases after
00:36:42
so long and number two that uh they were
00:36:45
able to identify a
00:36:47
suspect it had been a long time since
00:36:49
I'd seen anybody related to the family
00:36:52
and that's moving when you see
00:36:55
their um r resp I can't imagine great
00:37:03
it I'm sorry I can't imagine waiting
00:37:06
that long to find
00:37:08
out we would have loved to be able to
00:37:10
actually apprehend Ruben Smith and bring
00:37:13
him to justice but sometimes it doesn't
00:37:15
work that way but that's okay we still
00:37:17
found out who he is what he did and we
00:37:19
know the
00:37:21
truth the team that finally solves the
00:37:24
case pays tribute to detectives who
00:37:27
precede them and the incredible science
00:37:30
of investigative genetic
00:37:34
genealogy this was the key to solving
00:37:36
the puzzle because that name wasn't on
00:37:39
anybody's radar
00:37:40
whatsoever I don't think it would have
00:37:42
been solved without IG you had a a
00:37:46
person that had committed suicide and he
00:37:49
knew what the monster he was and I think
00:37:52
he also
00:37:54
realized DNA was on his way and it was
00:37:59
becoming known that crimes were being
00:38:03
solved to see how powerful DNA could be
00:38:06
in a case such as the Shannon Lloyd and
00:38:09
Renee quas cases was incredible they
00:38:11
were tested multiple times using DNA and
00:38:14
then in the end the newest DNA
00:38:16
technology which is IGG was able to put
00:38:19
closure on both cases that's why I think
00:38:22
it's still important to test DNA from
00:38:24
old cases an old sexual assault kit with
00:38:26
the newest DNA technology CU you never
00:38:29
know what other cases that it may link
00:38:32
to I'm just really happy that we were
00:38:36
able to bring closure to the victim's
00:38:38
families and that we have detectives
00:38:41
from all over not only California Orange
00:38:44
County that are continuously working
00:38:47
these cases and sometimes we may not
00:38:49
have the answers at that time sometimes
00:38:52
we may not have the resources readly
00:38:54
available but we do have a lot of men
00:38:57
and women that are working hard and
00:38:59
never quitting to solve these
00:39:02
crimes I'm grateful that Garden Grove PD
00:39:05
is putting such an effort into cold
00:39:07
cases the transition that I saw from a
00:39:10
little farming Community to what it is
00:39:13
today was rewarding but I really can't
00:39:16
even imagine what the coming days are
00:39:18
going to look like with artificial
00:39:20
intelligence or new DNA technology or
00:39:24
face recognition things that uh I never
00:39:27
dreamt of as an
00:39:30
investigator investigative genetic
00:39:32
genealogy is no longer the future when
00:39:35
it comes to catching vicious criminals
00:39:38
it's the here and now it's the present
00:39:41
and it is
00:39:43
mindboggling to think what forensic
00:39:45
science will evolve into in the
00:39:49
future the more that these types of
00:39:51
cases are are revealing themselves and
00:39:54
they're um they're being solved it is
00:39:56
it's it's these suspects know that
00:39:59
whether it was a year whether it's been
00:40:01
20 years that at some point it will
00:40:04
catch up and it is going to catch up and
00:40:06
I look at the advancements from just the
00:40:08
'90s to now I I can only imagine what's
00:40:12
going to be in 20 years I think that if
00:40:14
you are doing wrong this is definitely a
00:40:16
testament to the advancements and their
00:40:20
time will
00:40:21
come for someone that's committed a
00:40:23
crime and left DNA your day will come
00:40:26
and it's coming soon
00:40:29
Shannon Lloyd and Renee quas both young
00:40:33
beautiful loving single mothers had
00:40:36
their entire lives ahead of them when
00:40:40
they were savagely brutally murdered the
00:40:44
determination of three generations of
00:40:47
detectives plus incredible forensic
00:40:50
science at least now provides answers to
00:40:54
loved ones left behind
00:40:57
I'm Nancy Grace thank you for being with
00:41:00
us here at bloodline detectives
00:41:04
[Music]
00:41:14
[Music]
00:41:34
[Music]
00:41:35
for
00:41:36
[Music]
