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[Music]
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an unknown assailant walked into a
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retail store and fired three shots
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killing the owner
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police had suspects but all had alibis
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forensic scientists found more than a
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crime perpetrated in broad daylight
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hidden in the shadows
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was a killer
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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autumn is a particularly pretty time in
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spring grove pennsylvania
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[Music]
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landscape photographers and local
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artists usually found their way here to
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the gray fox gallery the owner jennifer
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myers was a well-known picture framer
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just a wonderful woman a wonderful
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mother a wonderful wife
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and a good friend to a lot of people
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managing a retail shop isn't easy
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one year earlier jennifer was robbed in
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the store at gunpoint
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since then her husband steve stopped in
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every afternoon on his way home from
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work at the local factory
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most afternoon visits were uneventful
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but october 20th 1997
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was different
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my wife's been
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shot shot
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gray fox gallery in spring grove hurry
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okay sir listen to me okay do you know
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who shot her no i don't okay we're out
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on her body is she shot in her face okay
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is she breathing
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sir is she breathing
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when police arrived
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jennifer was dead on the floor behind
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the counter
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she had been shot three times
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several workers nearby said they heard
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popping noises a few hours earlier
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around 1pm
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no one thought they were gunfire
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several witnesses saw a man with long
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black hair running from the shopping
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center sometime around 1pm
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this was someone that went in there
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with the sole intent to kill the victim
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there was no struggle a fight didn't
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precipitate this homicide a robbery
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didn't precipitate this
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no money was missing from the cash
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register or jennifer's purse
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when something like this happens people
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feel as though their world has somewhat
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been changed and their sense of security
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is gone because if something like this
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can happen in spring grove pennsylvania
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it can happen anywhere
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this brazen attack in a busy retail area
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at midday told police that the killer
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was willing to risk everything to kill
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jennifer myers
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it's somebody who definitely wanted her
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dead that had a problem with her
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and excluding robbery as being a motive
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that's what you have to start looking at
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who wanted jennifer myers dead
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a ballistic examination identified the
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murder weapon as either a 357 or a 38
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caliber revolver
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in pennsylvania there's a database as
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far as registered handguns so we began
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to look at that and we found that
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stephen myers did have a 357 that he
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owned
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steve myers willingly turned over the
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pistol for forensic analysis
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but he didn't resemble the man seen
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running near the shop earlier in the day
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[Music]
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witnesses said they heard popping sounds
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which police suspected were gunfire near
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the gray fox picture frame shop around
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one o'clock in the afternoon
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approximately two hours later steve
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myers discovered his wife jennifer shot
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to death on the floor of the store
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another witness saw a man running from
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the area wearing light blue jeans and a
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blue plaid flannel shirt
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we believe that the shooter
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came in the store
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used a blitz style tackle on her walking
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right towards her firing the first shot
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and striking her in the shoulder area
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and then firing a second shot striking
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her in the abdomen the last shot was to
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the face
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ballistic experts examined the bullet
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fragments recovered from the victim and
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concluded the killer used a 38 or 357
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caliber revolver
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the victim's husband steve owned a 357
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revolver
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when the bullets from the crime scene
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were compared to those test-fired from
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steve myers revolver analysts concluded
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they were not a match
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police also confirmed
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that steve myers was at work when the
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murder took place
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he didn't need an alibi but as far as
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him uh being at work
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uh that just was one more piece that fit
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in that he was not involved in his
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killing whatsoever
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police had another promising lead
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jennifer's murder took place just one
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day before she was scheduled to testify
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against 40-year-old kevin dowling
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the man jennifer claimed had robbed her
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at gunpoint a year earlier
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okay well now we have perhaps
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a motive
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for someone to want
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to have this woman dead
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so that she was incapable of testifying
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kevin dowling had the opportunity to
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commit the murder since he was free on
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bail that day however when questioned by
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police dowling said he had an alibi
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he was fishing on a boat in muddy run
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lake a story confirmed by his wife
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mrs dowling was very cooperative she
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truly believed that her husband was not
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involved in this homicide whatsoever and
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therefore was very helpful in improving
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her husband's innocence
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dowling also had evidence to support his
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alibi
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he said he made a home video of his
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fishing trip that day
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his wife willingly turned the video over
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to police
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as i said here we are
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lake
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because i wanted to help prove him
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innocent that he did not do this
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so i was more than happy to help them
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and it was sort of like a slap in the
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face for them ha ha he did not do it if
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this is truly tape of him fishing
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it's an airtight alibi
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i want to secure it
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as evidence
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so that there's no further questions
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the first thing police noticed
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was that the videotape was recorded with
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the date and time of day the footage was
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shot
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pretty quiet nice and peaceful out here
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the tape showed dowling fishing in the
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middle of the lake from 10 46 in the
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morning until 4 pm on the day of
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jennifer meyer's murder
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muddy run lake was a 45 minute drive
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away from jennifer's store
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dowling also had store receipts for fish
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bait food and the boat rental
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but something about the videotape looked
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odd
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he's trying to get something
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on tape of him fishing but this is
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clearly not someone who's interested in
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catching any of the fish
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kevin dowling's family confirmed the
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tape was made on october 20th the day of
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the murder
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in fact that evening when he came home
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and my girls were home and after dinner
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we all sat around and watched the tape
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with them together
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on the tape
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kevin spoke to his children about his
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impending robbery trial he also
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expressed his hope that if convicted the
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children would not misbehave while he
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was imprisoned
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i gotta face what's ahead i mean i'm not
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responsible for what happened but
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no one seems to want to help me and i
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don't know what to do
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my main concern is what's going to
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happen to mommy and
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all you kids
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he's accounting for almost
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everything he did that day
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which in itself began to struck me he's
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striking me it's kind of odd that
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he has these receipts and
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the day seemed too perfect
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as far as
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using the word alibi
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police wondered if dowling had somehow
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doctored the videotape and if he had
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could forensic science prove it
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kevin dowling insisted he did not kill
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jennifer myers despite the fact that she
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was scheduled to testify against him in
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an upcoming robbery trial
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dowling also had an alibi
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claiming he was fishing at the time of
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the murder and he offered this time and
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date stand videotape as evidence
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there's some big fish on this fish
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finder
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just wish i knew how to get them to hit
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the tape contains scenes shot from 10 in
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the morning until after 4 pm jennifer's
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murder took place around 1pm
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and her store was only 45 minutes away
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from the lake
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dowling's videotape gave him an airtight
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alibi
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but police were still suspicious
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although dowling shot scenes throughout
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the day
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the entire running time of the tape was
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only 12 minutes
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he talked several times in the tape
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about catching fish
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yet you never saw any fish on a tape
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which again struck me odd that if you're
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catching fish you'd want to show them on
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your videotape
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something else about the tape bothered
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maori
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kevin dowling repeatedly glanced at his
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wrist watch
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which struck me kind of odd if he was on
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a casual day of fishing why he was so
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concerned about the time of day
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in some parts of the tape dowling's
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watch faced the camera
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investigators isolated and enlarged
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clips of the watch
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the timepiece was too blurry to read
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mowry
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asked scientists at the federal bureau
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of investigation to try digital
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enhancement
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but the tape quality was too poor for
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the process to work
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determining the time when dowling shot
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the video was critical since police were
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well aware that the time and date stamp
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can be manipulated
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the sun was out periodically throughout
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the tape
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and was casting very good shadowing by
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determining
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shadowing positioning can we work
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backwards and calculate the time of day
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using the sun it's positioned in the sky
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detectives posed the question to nasa
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scientists at the goddard space flight
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center in greenbelt maryland
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surprisingly
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nasa identified a local astrophysicist
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to help them
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the guy that could probably do this was
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right in her own backyard
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and that would be dr robert boyle at
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dickinson college
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dr robert boyle is an associate
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professor of physics and astronomy
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when he first saw the tape he wasn't
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optimistic
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my heart just dropped because this was
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clearly not going to be a cut and dried
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case of oh there's shadows you use them
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like sundials you can tell the time
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because here was a picture where the
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camera was on a moving boat
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as the earth rotates
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the position of the sun changes creating
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different shadows
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when using the sun to tell time
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two characteristics are observed the
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sun's height overhead or altitude
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and its direction along the horizon or
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azimuth
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the north point being zero degrees
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azimuth the east point
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being 90 degrees
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uh south point being 180 degrees the
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west point 270 degrees boyle said he
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needed more than just the videotape to
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conduct a study he needed specific
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scientific information
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he would need
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some measurements of the boat he would
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need the measurements of kevin dowling
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he would need the measurements of the
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hat
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that kevin had wore in the video
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but the most crucial piece of
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information dr boyle needed was the
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magnetic north compass heading of the
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boat when the video tape was shot
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to find out
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police took the same boat onto muddy run
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lake
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and identified its exact location by
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matching the landscape shown on the tape
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then they identified the heading of the
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boat with a compass
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out of the eight frames that professor
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boyle had given us we believed that we
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had matched seven of the frames and we
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used a
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degree
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of plus or minus five degrees as far as
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our degree of inaccuracy
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next using an artist's model
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a light bulb and the protractor dr boyle
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calculated the sun's azimuth or
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direction based on the shadows
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the model represented kevin dowling
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the light bulb the sun
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dr boyle adjusted the light to produce
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the same shadows that were in the video
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the protractor identified the sun's
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position based on the angle between the
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model and the light
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i essentially measure the angle between
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the direction of the the camera and the
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direction of the sun which is being
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mimicked by a light bulb
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dr boyle used the voyager 2 computer
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program which identified the sun's exact
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position in 15-minute increments on the
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day of the murder
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when he compared the exact position of
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the sun to the shadows on the video
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dr boyle discovered that the times
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stamped on some of the scenes
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were bogus
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late afternoon time stamps could very
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well have been correct there was a whole
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bunch of times in the middle that just
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were inconsistent with the astronomical
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data
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for example in this scene
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the background analysis shows the
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dowling is facing north
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it stamped 11 24 in the morning
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but you can see that the sun is clearly
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positioned to dowling's left
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which is west
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at 11 24
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the sun would be in the east
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dr boyle estimates this scene was shot
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closer to 3pm
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kevin dowling now had the opportunity to
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commit this crime because he was not on
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muddy run lake at one o'clock in the
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afternoon
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and he also had a motive
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but prosecutors needed more than shadows
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on videotape to get a murder conviction
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[Music]
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when police confronted kevin dowling
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with the scientific evidence that his
00:16:12
time and date stamp videotape was a
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forgery
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dowling confessed
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not to jennifer meyer's murder
00:16:20
but to deception
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he now said that after a few hours of
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fishing he went to a nearby strip club
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and altered the times on the videotape
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so that his wife wouldn't find out
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i don't need to point out the the
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strangeness of that theory first of all
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why did you videotape yourself at all
00:16:40
why didn't you just say i decided i
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didn't want to videotape myself and of
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course his wife would have never been
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the wiser
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and the videotape revealed something
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else
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dowling was wearing clothes similar to
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the man witnesses saw running from
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jennifer meyer's store
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i did not want to believe
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that my husband the father of my
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children could do something like this to
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another human being
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police found the clothes dowling was
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wearing on the fishing trip in his home
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they sent them to aj skip schwabel an
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internationally recognized expert in
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forensic gunshot residue
00:17:20
when a pistol is fired the firing pin
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ignites the elements in the projectile
00:17:26
which then turns into gas
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the gases solidify into tiny particles
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which are then deposited on the hands
00:17:35
clothing and the immediate proximity of
00:17:37
the discharge
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[Music]
00:17:40
to test clothing for gunshot residue
00:17:43
schwabel first used an adhesive to
00:17:45
extract any microscopic particles
00:17:51
the particles were placed in a scanning
00:17:53
electron microscope
00:17:55
which subjected them to extreme
00:17:58
magnification
00:17:59
and provided an elemental analysis
00:18:03
[Music]
00:18:05
an electron beam bombarded the sample
00:18:08
causing the elements within to emit
00:18:10
characteristic x-rays
00:18:13
the characteristic x-rays show up on the
00:18:15
video screen
00:18:16
as peaks or pulses at different energy
00:18:19
levels each
00:18:21
energy level is assigned an element
00:18:24
tests revealed gunshot residue on the
00:18:27
left side of each of kevin dowling's
00:18:30
garments
00:18:31
this was significant since dowling was
00:18:34
left-handed
00:18:35
we found that every item
00:18:37
had to some extent some gunshot residue
00:18:41
present
00:18:42
prosecutors say kevin dowling carefully
00:18:45
planned to eliminate jennifer myers to
00:18:48
prevent her from testifying against him
00:18:51
in his robbery trial
00:18:55
on the day of the murder
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dowling went fishing on muddy run lake
00:19:00
and used his video camera till 11
00:19:05
45. we'll be back in a little while
00:19:09
he then went ashore hid the boat in some
00:19:11
bushes and made the 45-minute trip into
00:19:15
town
00:19:17
wearing a wig as a disguise
00:19:19
dowling entered jennifer's store around
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1pm and fired three shots
00:19:26
the gunpowder residue embedded deep into
00:19:28
his shirt fibers invisible to the naked
00:19:30
eye
00:19:31
but perfectly clear to forensic
00:19:34
scientists
00:19:35
[Music]
00:19:37
dowling was back in his boat on the lake
00:19:39
sometime
00:19:40
around 2 p.m
00:19:43
when he reset the time on his video
00:19:45
camera to 11 24
00:19:48
he never realized that he was a human
00:19:51
sundial
00:19:53
his videotape told the story
00:19:55
of deceit
00:19:57
not innocence
00:19:59
i would like to kick his ass
00:20:02
he has no remorse
00:20:03
at all then you wonder how sick this man
00:20:06
really is
00:20:07
when he has no remorse over what he's
00:20:09
done
00:20:11
and that is very scary
00:20:14
despite the forensic evidence kevin
00:20:17
dowling insisted he was innocent but he
00:20:20
was convicted of first degree murder and
00:20:22
was sentenced to death by lethal
00:20:25
injection
00:20:28
his wife joanne says
00:20:30
she knew nothing of her husband's secret
00:20:32
life
00:20:33
and considers the death sentence
00:20:35
too lenient
00:20:37
i truly hate kevin dowling for
00:20:40
everything he stands for the person he
00:20:41
is what he did to people i hate him more
00:20:44
than
00:20:45
i can even
00:20:46
explain well you can't ever forget the
00:20:49
the infamous fishing tape because
00:20:53
how ridiculous is it to think that he
00:20:55
would get away with something like that
00:20:57
i mean there's technology today that's
00:21:00
going to determine that this tape has
00:21:02
been doctored
00:21:04
it's one thing to have a motive to kill
00:21:05
it's another thing to actually prove
00:21:07
that someone did it
00:21:08
and the forensics were able to give us
00:21:11
the proof necessary
00:21:13
considering they never found the murder
00:21:15
weapon it's amazing what they can do
00:21:17
nowadays and without it
00:21:20
a lot of people would go free
00:21:22
it's ironic of course
00:21:24
we often talk about criminals hiding in
00:21:26
the shadows don't we
00:21:28
and
00:21:29
in this case the shadows were actually
00:21:31
revealing
00:21:37
[Music]
00:21:43
[Music]
00:21:58
[Music]
00:22:07
you
