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[Music]
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Shirley and Ed Andronich were regulars
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in a neighborhood bar a few blocks from
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their home in Winnipeg, Canada.
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On one of their nights out, Ed decided
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to leave early. Shirley wanted to stay.
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There was a brief argument and Ed went
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home alone.
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It was surely Andron Witch's last night
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alive.
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[Music]
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Ed and Shirley Andronowich had been
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married for 20 years. Ed was a
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construction worker. Shirley was a
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housewife.
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They lived in the Fort Rouge section of
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Winnipeg, Canada with their three
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teenage daughters.
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They went out that night together and
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just as usual, they went out for a good
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time. And I guess a few hours later, my
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dad came home. He was tired. He didn't
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want to be there anymore. And she just
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wanted to stay. And his friends are
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there, so she stayed with his friends.
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>> Shirley left the bar around midnight and
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walked home.
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>> I heard her come home that night.
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She was by herself. I don't know if she
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was drunk, but you could tell that she
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had been drinking.
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>> Ed and Shirley argued again when she
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came home.
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Ed said Shirley went for a walk to calm
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down, but never returned.
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The next morning, an employee at a
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nearby high school discovered a woman's
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body in the schoolyard.
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>> It was very gruesome scene.
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There was some very senior homicide
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detectives that were there that were a
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little taken aback of uh of what was
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discovered there.
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They came to the door and I went and got
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my father and I went upstairs.
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Then I got called downstairs and uh
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the uh the police looked at my father
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and said, "Do you want to tell her?" And
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he just kind of hung his head and
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kind of nodded. And uh they told me they
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told me that you know we found your
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mother and
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she's been killed.
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Shirley Adronowich had been sexually
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assaulted, beaten, and mutilated with
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bite wounds over much of her body. It
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appeared that she had been strangled,
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then hit with a large piece of concrete.
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there was the destruction of the facial
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features and there was an obvious sexual
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assault had taken place. So this this
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was a uh a definite uh uh gruesome uh
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scene.
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>> I've been a prosecutor for 23 years and
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I have never seen any case with as much
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brutality to a human body. In a written
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statement, Ed Andronowich admitted that
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he argued with his wife that night, but
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said he had no idea what happened to her
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after she left their home.
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Homicide investigators Bob Marshall and
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Ron Oliver decided to question Ed
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Andronich again to learn more about what
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happened on the night Shirley
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Andranowich was murdered. At one point
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he was sort of asked in a in a sort of a
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helpful sort of a question to him if he
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had any idea who may have killed his
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wife.
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>> 12:30 in the morning.
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>> The answer Andronowich gave was a
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bombshell. He said he was the murderer.
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>> He actually had some knowledge of some
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of the aspects of the crime. For
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example, he knew where the body was. He
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knew that it was in behind the Grand
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Park High School. And
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>> I was angry with the with the police. I
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mean, they thought it was my dad. And I
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was angry with people who thought it
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could even be my father because I knew
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it wasn't. And
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not only should they just, you know,
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knowing my father, know that he could
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not have done that, but trust my word,
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even though I was only 14.
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>> To make absolutely sure, police
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questioned Andronic again on the
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following day, and again, he confessed.
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Ed Andronic was charged with secondderee
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murder.
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Ed Andronovich was held in a Winnipeg
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jail after confessing to the murder of
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his wife. Although parts of his
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confession were inconsistent with the
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murder scene, Andranovich said he had
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been drinking on the night of the murder
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and his memory wasn't entirely clear.
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Police began their forensic
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investigation by turning to Dick Monroe,
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a forensic geologist with the Winnipeg
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Police Department.
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The murder weapon was a 55 lb concrete
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block found near the body.
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>> His trunk was full of concrete
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particles. That was exciting at the
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outset because he saw all this concrete,
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but the trick was, can you match the
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concrete to the block? Can you put that
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block in his trunk?
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>> The process was tedious since there were
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hundreds of particles recovered from
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Andron Witch's trunk. All very small
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>> because the murder weapon was rough.
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because it was a broken piece of
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concrete. You're looking for like a
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jigsaw puzzle, a piece that would fit
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onto it. Could you get a physical match?
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>> But Monroe was unable to find a match.
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Next, police sent photographs of the
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victim's bite wounds to Dr. Davidu, a
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forensic odontologist at the Bureau of
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Legal Dentistry in Vancouver.
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Ed Andronowich wore dentures, which were
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also sent for analysis. The question
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that came up obviously was can
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artificial teeth in the form of a
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complete upper and lower denture
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actually bite hard enough to remove
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human tissue.
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>> Dr. Suite performed a metric analysis
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measuring the width and arch of
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Adonich's dentures to see if they were
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similar to the bite wounds on Shirley
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Andronich's body. But Dr. could find few
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similarities.
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I think at that point we were all
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leerary of of whether we had the right
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person or not. Uh I know I had a
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question in my own mind as to whether we
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had the right person.
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>> During Shirley Andron Witch's autopsy,
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the medical examiner had swabbed the
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areas around the bite wounds for
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possible forensic evidence.
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The swabs were rolled in a moistened
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filter paper and the paper turned white.
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A positive presumptive test for the
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presence of saliva.
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The next step was to determine the blood
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type of the saliva.
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>> We had a new technique at our disposal
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called Eliza which allowed us to
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uh type
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saliva in the [ __ ]
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blood typing factors.
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>> The ELISA test revealed that the
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perpetrator had type B blood. This did
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not match Edanovich's blood type.
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>> Therefore, Mr. Andronovich being of
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blood type A could not have left the B
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type saliva found on the swabs from the
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breast.
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Thereby meaning he did not he could not
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have been in my mind the murderer.
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After two months in prison for a murder
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he confessed to but apparently didn't
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commit, Andronovich was released.
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>> Feel better today?
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>> You happy to be outside?
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>> Not saying anything.
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>> But why had he confessed?
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>> Andronovich back at that time had a
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terrible problem with alcohol. And when
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the detectives interviewed him and they
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asked him such questions as, "Did you
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have a fight with your wife last night?"
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he responded and said, "Well, I might
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have." And then when they went on and
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pressed him and said, "Well, did you hit
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her?" He said, "I might have."
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Memory lapses while drinking are called
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blackouts and happen because alcohol
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interferes with the neurotransmissions
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that form memory in the brain.
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And when they come out of the blackout,
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it's the realization, the recollection
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uh all of a sudden that uh something bad
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may well have happened. And it's very
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common for alcoholics to feel remorse,
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uh express guilt, uh even u imagine that
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they have done terrible things during
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the blackout period.
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>> Now the police investigation had to
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start all over again.
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The murder weapon was a 55lb piece of
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concrete to forensic geologist Richard
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Monroe. It appeared to be about 5 years
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old and looked as if it had once been
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part of a bumper block used in parking
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lots.
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Monroe decided to visit the murder scene
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to survey the area.
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He went around midnight to evaluate the
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scene the way it appeared at the time of
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the murder.
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Standing where the body was discovered,
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Monroe wondered what exactly took place.
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If the victim had been strangled and was
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unconscious, what happened next? Where
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did the concrete block come from?
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Then Monroe saw it. An illuminated area
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about 500 ft away.
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In the shadows, Monroe found a piece of
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concrete.
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About 12 ft away was another piece. Both
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were similar to the murder weapon.
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The killer had been drawn to the area by
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lighting, his only visual cue.
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[Music]
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[Music]
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To prove his theory, Monroe needed to
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find out whether the murder weapon and
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the pieces in the schoolyard had once
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been part of the same block.
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[Music]
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Monroe performed a petrographic
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examination.
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Petrography is the term for
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identification of minerals.
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[Music]
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Concrete is made of sand, cement, water,
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and pieces of stone which is poured into
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molds to form the bumper blocks.
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As it dries, the mixed design settles
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into a distinctive pattern which is
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visually different in each concrete
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block. When Monroe compared the murder
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weapon to the other concrete pieces
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found in the schoolyard, the mixed
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design and position of the stones were
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identical.
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>> The fit was um almost like a glove. uh
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when you get uh broken aggregates in
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your your sand and gravel inside your
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concrete, it'll break and it's usually
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an irregular surface and you'll have
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some they call class small stones that
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will break out of the concrete mold and
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what you're trying to do is fit that in.
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And it's not just one fit, it's a
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collection of fits. Monroe suspected
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that the murder weapon might contain a
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fingerprint, but lifting a print from a
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porous surface like concrete is
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extremely difficult.
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>> It's almost like uh a fingerprint is
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sitting on top of a bed of nails. So
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your latent material which is very very
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thin is sitting on top of something that
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is very very tenuous. As a last resort,
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Monroe decided to try a technique
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usually used to find prints on
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non-porous surfaces called superlue
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fuming.
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Superglue is made of cyanoacrylate
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esester.
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A drop of superlue is placed into a
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chamber along with the item containing
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the print and the chamber is heated for
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up to 6 hours. By heating the superlue,
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fumes condense and adhere to biological
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material such as the oils of a
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fingerprint.
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Under a laser light, the biological
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material flueses, producing a clear
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image of the print.
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Monroe followed these steps with the
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concrete, placing both the superglue and
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the concrete in a vacuum chamber.
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[Music]
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But the color of the concrete is the
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same as the cyanoacrylate.
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In order to see a print, Monroe needed
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to find a chemical that would attach
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itself to the cyanoacrylate.
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After a number of tries, Monroe finally
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found one that worked. It was a
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biological stain known as Sudan black.
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Monroe found what he was looking for,
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the killer's fingerprint,
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but it was badly smudged.
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Unfortunately, with the circumstances of
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the event, uh, with the end of it being
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used as a pile driver and, uh, repeated
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blows on on the victim, uh, there was a
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certain amount of slippage taking place
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with 55 lb block on the on the hands.
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>> But the discovery of the related
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concrete pieces in the schoolyard was
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important. It revealed that it was a
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crime of opportunity and that the
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perpetrator may have been on foot.
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But a full year passed and the trail was
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turning cold.
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One year after the crime, local
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television stations and newspapers
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carried stories about the unsolved
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murder, hoping to jog someone's memory
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or conscience. The media campaign led to
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the break police were hoping for.
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[Music]
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One year after the brutal murder of
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Shirley Andronovich,
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an informant came forward saying that
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his roommate had returned home on the
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night of the murder with stains on his
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jeans and boots that looked like blood.
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I'm going to take a shot.
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They lived in an apartment building
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across the street from the murder scene.
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Mark German was a 29-year-old unemployed
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construction worker. The informant also
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revealed that German had burned his
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clothes the day after the murder.
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Samples of German's blood and saliva
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were sent to the forensic lab.
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Tests revealed that Mark German had type
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B blood, the same blood type as the
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saliva found on the victim.
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Photographs and impressions of German's
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teeth were also sent for analysis.
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German had a distinctive wear pattern
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that had ground the biting edge of the
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upper and lower teeth into a flattened
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surface. There were also some unusual
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spaces between the teeth and several
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chipped areas had not been restored.
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>> As a result of some of the testing that
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I did and the comparison with the
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suspect's teeth, I was able to determine
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that his teeth were in fact consistent
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with causing these marks. Or another way
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to explain that is his teeth could not
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be excluded in this case as causing
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those marks.
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Finally, police had a shopping list they
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found in the schoolyard on the night of
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the murder. It was a big schoolyard, and
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police weren't sure whether the shopping
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list had any connection to the murder.
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On the shopping list was a fingerprint.
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That print belonged to Mark Gar, placing
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him in the schoolyard around the time of
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the murder.
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After initially denying he was involved,
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Mark German eventually confessed.
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German said he was at the same bar as
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Shirley and Ed Andronic on the night of
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the murder, but he didn't speak to them.
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[Music]
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He said he ran into Shirley Andranowitch
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later near the high school while she was
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out walking.
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>> Can I see you at the bar before?
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>> German said they talked and had
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consensual sex.
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[Music]
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German said he killed Shirley Andronich
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when she threatened to tell her husband.
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German said he emptied the contents of
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her purse to make the scene appear to be
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a robbery.
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But investigators didn't believe
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German's entire story.
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Staff Sergeant Dan Ron is a blood
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spatter expert who studied the crime
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scene photos and noticed an
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inconsistency in German's story.
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The distance blood travels from a head
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wound struck by an object the size and
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weight of a cement block is 10 to 12 ft,
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creating medium velocity impact spatter.
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On the papers found within 10 to 12 feet
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of Shirley Andronich's body, Ron
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discovered medium velocity impact
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spatter.
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>> The pictures of the evidence actually
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showed that the contents of her purse
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had been strewn around at some location
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in a position where they were exposed to
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the bloodletting,
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>> which meant that Shirley Andronich's
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purse was ransacked before she was
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murdered, not afterwards.
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Mark German was convicted of firstdegree
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murder and sentenced to life in prison
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with no chance of parole for 25 years.
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>> He took my mother.
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I was 14 years old.
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It's
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it's almost half my life, you know, I've
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been without her now.
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And you can't I don't know how I'm ever
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supposed to forgive somebody for doing
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such a terrible thing to me.
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[Music]
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There isn't a punishment severe enough
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that we can give this guy for taking
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something like that from us. Not a day
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goes by when she doesn't come into my
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mind.
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I just think about what it would have
00:20:56
been like if she was still here.
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I miss her.
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[Music]
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Heat. Heat.
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[Music]
00:21:25
[Applause]
00:21:27
[Music]
