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[Music]
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at one time tourists in south florida
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were a favorite target for criminals
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hundreds of visitors were robbed some
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were assaulted and eight were murdered
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it was an out-of-town journalist who
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made an unexpected journey from tourist
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to victim to advocate
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in september of 1993
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oovy wilhelm rockabrand and his wife
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flew from germany to florida to spend
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their honeymoon
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they rented a car for the short trip to
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their hotel
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the two german tourists were less than
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five minutes from the airport just time
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enough to read safety precautions in a
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visitor's guide when they became the
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newest victims
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a band pulled behind them and ran their
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car
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the couple knew
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this wasn't an accident but a ploy
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robbers use to get drivers to stop their
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cars
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they call it bump and rob but the rocker
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bronze did what they were supposed to do
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and did not stop then the gunman pulled
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alongside and fired a single shot
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[Music]
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thirty-three-year-old uve wilhelm was
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killed instantly his 27 year old bride
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catherine was unharmed
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by the end of the year
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there were eight tourist murders in
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south florida hundreds more were robbed
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and many more seriously injured
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tourists were easy targets
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you can't change people's behavior
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the lost tourists
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looking at street signs a holding up of
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maps the camera bags the luggage in the
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back seat
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you know it's not too hard to identify a
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tourist especially around the airport
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and they have what criminals want
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cameras jewelry video equipment laptop
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computers and they usually carry plenty
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of cash
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helga loose covered these tourists
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crimes as a journalist for german
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television
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i was working on a piece that was
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focused on the rash of crime that had
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taken place in the united states
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specifically tourist directed crime in
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florida and during the course of that
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piece we talked about safety tips for
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german tourists that would be traveling
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to the united states
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elga and her mother had scheduled their
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own florida vacation before the crime
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spree started
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we decided to keep our plans of flying
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into miami and then going on to the
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florida keys just for four days very
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brief
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stay but particularly because i
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had just done this piece about safety
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tips
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and felt that my awareness was
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you know pretty strong at that point
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their vacation was relaxing and
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uneventful
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their return to the airport was not
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[Music]
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they got lost looking for the airport
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rental car area
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[Music]
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helga drove onto a side street to turn
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around
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she soon realized someone was following
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her
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[Music]
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the man reached through the window put
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the car into park disconnected the horn
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and assaulted the two
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my mother said take whatever you want
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but please don't hurt us
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the passenger from their vehicle said
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shut up [ __ ] we're going to kill you
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both of the perpetrators were coming
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taking turns
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beating me through my window and
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you know every punch
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that
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i
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took weakened me
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the attackers tried desperately to grab
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the car keys i was able to get in a good
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couple of blows myself
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[Music]
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somehow helga got the car into gear and
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drove away to try to stop her the
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attacker bit her arm
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i hit the driver from their car with the
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front of our car
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after a short distance the man was
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forced to let go
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i had tremendous injuries to my head
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my neck my back
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dislocated jaw lost the feeling in my
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left side of my face which i've never
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regained
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um and
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the bite wound was
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very painful
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the bite wound was deep
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it went through the muscle
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even animals don't do what he did the
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way he did it
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even animals don't do that there's no
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need for that
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to punch somebody almost killing
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paralyzing her and biting her and
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destroying her life
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there's no need for that at all
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helga described the attackers as young
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men approximately 25 years old they were
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driving a large dark colored car with
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tinted windows
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most crimes happen and take place in
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less than two minutes it's a hit it's a
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theft it's a
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it's an assault and it happens in a
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matter of just
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seconds
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so a positive identification of a
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suspect might be difficult
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with no other witnesses or leads
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police hoped helga's car would contain
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the forensic evidence they needed
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in 1993
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24 year old helga loose barely escaped
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with her life after a harrowing
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encounter with two men who attempted to
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overpower her
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two veteran detectives
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bassam fidel and laura lafave with the
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hialeah florida robbery squad were
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assigned to the case
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this particular robbery happened about
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10 blocks north of the airport into
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hialeah
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into a mixed residential commercial
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neighborhood
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that neighborhood surrounds lejeune road
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the only exit or entrance to the airport
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here criminals often lie in wait for
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their victims
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it's the main artery it's easy to hide
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it's easy to follow
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one way in and one way out of miami
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international airport
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they're hunters they're hunting for
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robbery victims it could have been your
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family it could have been anybody in the
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community i'm sure as they followed her
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and they tailed her and targeted her
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the discussion was how were they going
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to do it and when were they going to do
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it
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in what manner
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at the time
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rental cars were easily identified with
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stickers of the rental company and
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special license plates beginning with
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the letter y or z
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despite the increase in tourist crimes
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south florida's overall crime rate was
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less than the previous year
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nevertheless the press coverage had an
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impact
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[Music]
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miami was being hit with tourist robbery
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cases almost on a daily basis this was a
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city that
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they viewed as a violent city and
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they had no interest in coming back here
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european governments discouraged
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traveled to florida and hotel
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reservations dropped by 25
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ending the crime spree was difficult
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victims were often unwilling to return
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to florida for court hearings and trials
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this kept criminals on the streets
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[Music]
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most of the crimes were bump and robbed
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leaving behind little forensic evidence
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but helga's robbery had been unusually
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violent
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she had a bite mark located on her upper
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arm and it was rather clear
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i have a sexual battery background
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and know
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that they were developing bite mark
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comparison techniques and the
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state-of-the-art place to process her
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was the photo lab at the medical
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examiner's office
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she was very sharp to immediately
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address that before the victim left
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or before that victim saw treatment
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perhaps
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sutures or
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other miracle treatment which can damage
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or alter the bite marks on the victim's
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arm
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helga agreed to have a forensic
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photographer take pictures of the wound
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it's not enough just to take a
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photograph it has to be
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measured properly it has to be put into
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perspective it has to be documented
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properly it's important to get it done
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as quickly as you can things change very
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rapidly skin tends to discolor bruising
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tends to set in
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in every picture
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forensic protocol requires the use of a
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ruler to provide scale
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it's an l ruler
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it has three circles on it that allows
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us to
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make sure that our camera is
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perpendicular to our subject and that
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will also give us a
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sense of scale so we take the flash and
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we hold it off to
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an angle where we can emphasize the
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surface texture of the skin
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and forensic photographers take pictures
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under many different light sources
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conventional light ultraviolet infrared
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and fluorescent
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these show detail and texture not
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revealed by light in the visible
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spectrum
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many times
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there's something there that you can't
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see with the naked eye
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afterwards investigators examined the
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rental car hoping to find fingerprints
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but unfortunately the weather was
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against us
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processing the outside of the vehicle
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was impossible
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the car was wet because helga had driven
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through a thunderstorm on the way to the
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airport
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the interior material was textured
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which yielded no usable prints
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no fingerprints no witnesses
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and no suspects
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helga and her mother left miami not
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knowing whether the crime would ever be
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solved
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and maybe it wouldn't have been
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had the perpetrator not left behind
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a piece of forensic evidence
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[Music]
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three weeks after helga loose's assault
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she was asked to return to florida to
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look through stacks of mug shots
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she didn't see her attacker
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[Music]
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then the detective showed her a photo
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array of six
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suspects i'll go look at the lineup and
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then
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she would look at each picture carefully
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once she got to his picture to stanley
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cornell's picture and he seen immediate
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reaction in her
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physically and immediate reaction when i
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saw the defendant's
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face
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it was a very very weird mix of emotions
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one of
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joy
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because i found him
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and one of complete terror
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because it was the first time i had seen
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that face
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since it was locked on my arm biting
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through the muscle
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24 year old stanley cornett was a
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factory worker with a long criminal
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history
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since the tourist attacks happened in
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different jurisdictions near the airport
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police formed a task force to exchange
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information
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that's how lafayette first learned about
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stanley cornett
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he was arrested a few days after helga's
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attack for a nearly identical crime
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[Music]
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he allegedly stopped an elderly man in a
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rental car and robbed him at gunpoint
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but he picked on the wrong man
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the victim's son was a miami policeman
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who lived just across the street
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he called for his son and he came
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running out of the house well struggle
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ensued and the victim tried to hold back
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the robber while he was calling for his
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son and the robber at that time bit him
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bit him in the upper arm
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the similarities in the crimes were
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striking
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but despite the identification cornet
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denied he assaulted helga loost
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i had tried a number of these cases
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previously
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and the issue was always whether the
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identification
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was enough
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to pass muster with a jury especially on
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a on a case where all you have is a
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single id and a robbery case where
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where it took no longer than 20 30
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seconds
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so investigators wanted to know if there
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was any way to tell whether cornett was
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the man who bit helga's arm
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to find out police went to the same
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forensic expert who matched a bite wound
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to the notorious serial killer ted bundy
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from a bite mark if it's a good one you
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can actually get a dental profile of the
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suspect for instance an outline of what
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his teeth look like if there's a gap or
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crooked teeth or whatever
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that profile can exclude a suspect or
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increase the likelihood that he made the
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bite mark
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dr souveron had the photos of helga's
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bite wound
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but he needed cornet's dental impression
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for comparison
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cornet refused to cooperate
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you're not going to touch me basically
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what he said
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just basically you know you're not
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getting anything out of my mouth
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except maybe the swear words
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they left empty-handed but returned
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later with the court order specifying
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the use of force if necessary
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at which time he reiterated that he
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didn't want to cooperate he wasn't going
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to open his mouth and dr snooveron very
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casually brought out what's called a jaw
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jack
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for
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opening the jaws of cadavers that are in
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full rigger mortis you put it in a jaw
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and you ratchet on this thing and it'll
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open any it'll break your jaw if you're
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trying to resist hard enough when
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stanley was shown the jaw jack stanley
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decided he wanted to cooperate and
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supplies with dental impressions
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and so
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we obtained our dental impressions from
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stanley cornet
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from those impressions dr seuveron made
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these plaster models which allowed him
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to duplicate the bite patterns
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test bites are made either in wax or in
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styrofoam to be able to analyze the
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patterns that these teeth are going to
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leave
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for further evaluation
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the biting edges of the plaster teeth
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are blackened and the pattern copied
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onto a clear acetate for easy comparison
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with the photographs
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odontologists use a number of different
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techniques because there's no way to
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accurately estimate the elasticity of
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the victim's skin
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the teeth have variables the skin has
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variables and when this lady was bitten
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she didn't just sit there and let this
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man
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you know
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bite her as hard as he could
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we're showing this is a dynamic
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bite with movement going on in teeth
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numbers 24 and 25
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made the marks that these arrows pointed
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to and then as the bite moved the 26
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tooth can make that mark
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there is no such thing as a bite
00:16:02
impression match
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all experts can say is whether a bite
00:16:07
wound is consistent with a person's
00:16:09
teeth
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even if they are it's still not a
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hundred percent certain
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but with the model wax impression
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acetates and precision photographs
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dr seuveron zeroed in on three lower
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teeth in the bite mark which were
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slightly crooked and overlapping
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and there was a deep mark made by an
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upper tooth
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[Music]
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even to untrained eyes it looked like
00:16:37
cornett's teeth caused the bite wound in
00:16:39
the photographs
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dr seuveron was confident in his
00:16:43
assessment
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his teeth were consistent with that bite
00:16:46
and there was nothing there that could
00:16:48
exclude him
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stanley cornett was charged with
00:16:52
attempted robbery and aggravated battery
00:16:57
but cornett said he was innocent and
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that he had an alibi
00:17:02
a jury would have to decide
00:17:04
which side they believed
00:17:07
the alibi
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or the bite impression evidence
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[Music]
00:17:13
the ironic situation of having done a
00:17:16
news piece about safety tips
00:17:19
and then going to florida and becoming
00:17:22
part of the crime statistics
00:17:24
even when you think you have all the
00:17:26
tools at your disposal to keep yourself
00:17:29
safe
00:17:30
if you're at the wrong place at the
00:17:32
wrong time anything can happen
00:17:36
as the trial approach for the brutal
00:17:38
assault of helga loose stanley cornett
00:17:41
claimed he had an alibi that he had been
00:17:44
at work at the time of the crime
00:17:46
his work record showed that he was
00:17:48
indeed at work that day
00:17:51
but coronet's co-worker said he didn't
00:17:53
always punch the time clock when leaving
00:17:55
for a break and he worked just 10
00:17:57
minutes away from where helga was
00:17:59
attacked
00:18:01
his supervisor remembers that day in
00:18:03
particular and remembered he left and
00:18:04
never came back he was soon after let go
00:18:06
of that job because of that
00:18:09
so that
00:18:10
melted that alibi it's incredible that
00:18:13
an individual would punch a time card go
00:18:16
to work like we all do in the morning
00:18:18
and he he would leave during his break
00:18:21
and go commit
00:18:23
a violent crime against a tourist
00:18:25
but that's precisely what stanley
00:18:27
cornett did
00:18:29
through various legal tactics
00:18:31
cornett kept delaying his trial
00:18:34
if my victim doesn't want to cooperate
00:18:36
then i have no case
00:18:38
and that's what these criminals count on
00:18:41
that's why they target the tourists
00:18:43
and in this case they picked the wrong
00:18:45
tourist and stanley coronette was
00:18:47
relying on wearing helga loose down to
00:18:50
the point where she just gave up he
00:18:52
underestimated helk
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she wasn't going to wear down she came
00:18:55
back for every trial date every
00:18:57
appointment she flew back for
00:19:00
at the trial
00:19:02
helga again identified cornette as the
00:19:04
man who attacked her
00:19:06
facing stanley cornett in court was one
00:19:09
of the hardest things i've ever had to
00:19:11
do through all of my testimony the
00:19:14
defendant
00:19:15
had a smirk on his face
00:19:18
so i tried really hard not to focus on
00:19:20
him
00:19:21
and focus on the prosecutor and the jury
00:19:24
and the judge and the people that were
00:19:26
there to embrace justice
00:19:30
the clarity of the bite impression
00:19:32
photographs taken by a qualified
00:19:34
forensic photographer alongside the cast
00:19:37
of coronet's teeth
00:19:38
were what ultimately convinced the jury
00:19:42
stanley cornett was found guilty of
00:19:45
attempted robbery and aggravated battery
00:19:49
because he was a repeat offender he was
00:19:52
sentenced to life in prison
00:19:54
i tell the detectives if you have a bite
00:19:56
mark case you don't tell the defendant
00:19:59
that you have a bite because they
00:20:01
certainly can alter their teeth it
00:20:03
happened to me two weeks ago where the
00:20:05
defendant when i saw him had had all of
00:20:07
his upper and lower front teeth pulled
00:20:08
while he was in prison he told me he had
00:20:10
a toothache and they pulled his teeth
00:20:12
as a prosecutor at the time
00:20:15
if it was somewhat new to me imagine
00:20:18
how new it was to a jury they had
00:20:20
certainly never heard of anything
00:20:22
remotely similar to bite mark evidence
00:20:24
the bite mark evidence i think sealed
00:20:26
this case
00:20:28
it put the final nail in stanley
00:20:29
coronet's coffin as far as the jury is
00:20:32
concerned i think it was our strongest
00:20:34
piece of evidence
00:20:37
cornet's accomplice in the crime was
00:20:40
never identified
00:20:43
by the end of 1993 the crimes against
00:20:46
vacation travelers in south florida
00:20:48
stopped
00:20:50
why
00:20:51
police increased their surveillance of
00:20:54
the rental car areas
00:20:56
rental agencies removed their stickers
00:20:58
from the cars and ended the practice of
00:21:01
identifiable license plates
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[Music]
00:21:05
after her ordeal
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helga formed an advocacy group for
00:21:09
victims of crime called
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witness justice
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she can meet them on a totally different
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level than a police officer can
00:21:18
and she can advocate for them
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she can be their voice when sometimes
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they can't find their voice
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maybe it'll be the helgas of this world
00:21:26
that make more victims come back to
00:21:28
court and get more convictions
00:21:31
[Music]
00:21:44
[Music]
00:21:58
[Music]
00:22:07
you
