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[Music]
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a high school teacher mysteriously
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disappeared
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did she go on vacation without telling
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anyone
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or was she taken against her will
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could forensic science find the answer
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[Music]
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[Music]
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not all students do well in traditional
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schools
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for teenagers in san antonio texas the
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robins academy is an alternative for
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high school students who need extra help
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well robbins takes two kinds of students
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students who just simply don't do well
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in in the sort of traditional
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high school environment and also
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students who have failed out of
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disciplinary issues attendance issues
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behavioral issues
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58 year old diane tilley was one of the
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school's founders her success with
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troubled students earned her the
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nickname
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the miracle worker
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diane tilley was the kind of teacher who
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really believed in her students and saw
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potential
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in them and they responded to that and
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she had something about her
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that she was able to work with
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these individuals and get the most out
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of them motivate them
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raise their self-esteem
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the day before thanksgiving in 2004
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diane tully wasn't at school at her
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usual time
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so her co-workers drove over to her home
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to check on her
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they knocked on the door there was
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nowhere so they looked in the window
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they saw that the place was just in a
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state of disarray they became alarmed
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police were called to the scene and they
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knew immediately there had been a
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robbery it's ransacked things scattered
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all over the place the house looked like
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it had been turned inside out even
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the linen closet was you know had
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completely been gone through
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i just started thinking to myself okay
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what could have happened here what
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happened to this woman and where is she
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and why is her home like this
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electronic equipment was missing from
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the home
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as was diane's 357 magnum pistol she
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kept for protection
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the most ominous
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clue in the very beginning was the
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bullet hole through the couch that had
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lodged in the floor in the front room so
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there was a threat of violence from the
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very beginning
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police technicians found no foreign
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fingerprints in diane's home
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and diane's car was missing
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the lack of blood evidence raised the
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possibility that diane might not have
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been home when the crime occurred
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so i was kind of also still waiting to
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see if maybe she would come through the
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door and say hey why are you all here
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you know what happened to my house
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but there were other clues that signaled
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trouble
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in the bedroom detectives found an empty
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condom wrapper on the floor
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and a pair of tennis shoes with one of
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the laces missing
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diane's purse was still in the home
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but her atm card was gone
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on the kitchen table investigators found
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three atm withdrawal receipts time
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stamped around 8 p.m
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from the night before
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interestingly
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all three withdrawals were unsuccessful
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but who would forget their pin number
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three times
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and still have
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a transaction receipt come out
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there's something
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something's not right with this
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so investigators decided to set a trap
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they asked diane's bank to keep her
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account open
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a lot of banks wouldn't have been this
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cooperative upon notification that this
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that this card was very likely being
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used in
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in uh fraudulent uh criminal
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transactions a lot of banks would just
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close this thing down and so i was like
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please use that card please use that
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card so that we can zero in on you and
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we can find you and hopefully we could
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find diane tilly as well
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the disappearance of diane tilly made
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headlines in san antonio texas
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she had helped many students with
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learning problems and in the process
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made many friends
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most students don't talk to their
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teachers about their personal problems
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but almost all the students talk to her
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about theirs
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diane was a divorced mother of two grown
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children she lived alone which explained
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why no one seemed to know where she was
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investigators spoke to her boyfriend a
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municipal court judge who lived in
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dallas 300 miles away
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he told police he was in dallas the
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previous night and he'd spoken with
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diane at 6 p.m
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phone records confirmed his story
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this was a serious relationship this was
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not
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someone who was
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you know vindictive or out to to harm
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her in any form or fashion he was overly
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concerned
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for her welfare
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police checked the airlines and found no
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evidence that diane took a flight to
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dallas or anywhere else for that matter
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and they had to consider
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whether any of diane's students might
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have wanted to harm her
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that was something that we really looked
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at carefully her students were troubled
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kids troubled use like i said some of
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them with with
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background gang member backgrounds and
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things like that
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while investigators looked into that
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possibility they had only one sure lead
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to follow
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the atm receipts found on diane's
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kitchen counter
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a code number on the receipts identified
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the atm that rejected diane's card
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it was inside a shell gas station just a
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mile from diane's home
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fortunately there were high quality
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security cameras
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we were able to actually see an
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individual walk up to the atm attempt to
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use the atm card and then leave the
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store with the three declined
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transaction receipts in his hand
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the man was black or hispanic
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tall and thin
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twenty minutes later
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a young girl used diane's atm card at
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another location
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and that one showed a hispanic to black
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female they couldn't really
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tell
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at the time a little heavy set
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in probably mid teens
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with a striped shirt on
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on this attempt the girl used the
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correct pin number and successfully
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withdrew
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four hundred dollars from diane's
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account
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i thought
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wow how gutsy or
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just how dumb
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you know but then again i was thinking
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great this is a criminal at work doing
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their thing
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and this is what's going to lead us to
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them
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and the two were driving what appeared
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to be a fleetwood cadillac which looked
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like
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diane tilley's car
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a few hours later
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a motorist found diane's car on fire in
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a deserted field
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when i got to the scene and saw them
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extinguishing her car
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i remember thinking god please don't let
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her be in that trunk of that car
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fortunately she wasn't
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another witness saw a white pickup truck
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leave the scene but he didn't get the
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license plate number they gave the same
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descriptions
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of
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the suspects
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that we had in the surveillance videos
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back in diane tilley's home
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investigators were able to find a
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partial fingerprint on a liquor bottle
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i think that he wore gloves through most
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of the
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most of what was going on in diane
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tilley's house
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he apparently took the gloves off long
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enough to enjoy a drink from some scotch
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the giant until he had in her kitchen
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thus leaving the the fingerprint on the
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bottom of the bottle
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investigators desperately wanted to find
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the man and young girl using diane's atm
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card
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they knew that diane tilley's life
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might depend on it
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we're just all holding our breath and
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there are many prayers going up i can
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assure you today for her i'm angry and i
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want to know where she's at and i just i
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just miss her afraid to go outside
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i have not found a body
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we have not found substantial amounts of
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blood
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something's not right the prime suspects
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in diane tilley's disappearance with the
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middle aged man and young girl who were
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last seen driving a white pickup truck
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every policeman in the area was on the
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lookout
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and it wasn't long before a patrolman
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stopped two people in a motel parking
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lot who fit that description
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they were identified as
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old pearl crews
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and her 33 year old father
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ronnie neal
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both denied any involvement in diane
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tilley's disappearance but they admitted
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stealing her car he said i was at a car
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wash and i found diane tilly's car and
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he said you're not going to believe this
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but the car was was running and the door
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was open and there was all this stuff in
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it and
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i just couldn't resist it
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and how did he get diane tilley's atm
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card
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well what he said was in the glove box
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of this car he found diane tilley's atm
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card and he was a little piece of paper
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just below it with the pin number i knew
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he was lying i mean there's
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you could tell by his body language by
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just just everything that that came out
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of his mouth was a lie
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neil said he was following diane's
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disappearance in the news and didn't
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want to be linked to it so he got rid of
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diane's car
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his story made no sense whatsoever
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this was just a man who was just
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grasping at straws
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a background check revealed ronnie neal
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had multiple convictions for robbery and
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had recently been released from prison
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for a weapons violation
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and police discovered a link between
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diane tilley and ronnie neal ronnie met
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diane first through his lawn mowing
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business diane had apparently
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hired him to do some work in her yard
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ronnie neal's fingerprint matched the
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partial print found on the liquor bottle
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in diane's home
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and a check of neil's cell phone records
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indicate he called his ex-wife on the
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night of diane tilley's abduction
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he gets on his cell phone he calls elisa
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stanley proliant cruises mueller and we
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actually have this cell phone bouncing
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bouncing off a tower
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the area was about 15 miles from diane
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tilley's home
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an area encompassing hundreds if not
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thousands of acres
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it did however lead to speculation i
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believe you're standing over the body of
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diane tilly when he called
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lisa stanley
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when questioned
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alisa stanley confirmed the call but
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claimed she knew nothing about diane's
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abduction
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according to ms stanley neil told her he
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came into some money and asked her to go
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shopping
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despite this evidence
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ronnie neal refused to cooperate
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so police focused on his daughter pearl
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she too refused to cooperate at least
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initially
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i recall being very angry with pearl
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anne
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over what happened
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with diane tilly and telling her that
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there wasn't a day
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that was going to go by
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that she wasn't going to think about
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this
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and after 10 days in custody
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pearl
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led police
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to diane's body
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it was the area where ronnie neal made
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his cell phone call
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a deserted field
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under a pile of brush
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15 miles from diane's home
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although the body was badly decomposed
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it was clear that she'd been shot
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several times
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her hands were bound with a dark blue
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polyester shoelace that looked like
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the missing shoelace from diane's tennis
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shoes
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both laces had the same tiny specks
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the lustering agents added to synthetic
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fibers to reduce the shine
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and there were other similarities
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the plastic pieces on the end of the
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shoelaces are called aglets the aglets
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were the same size and the same color on
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both shoelaces
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dental records confirmed
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the body was diane tilley
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everybody had a tremendous emotional
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reaction it was very very depressing
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it really was
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it was very sad there seemed to be
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no good at all to take out of this story
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no good that could come out of it
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[Music]
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inside neil's motel room
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investigators found diane's 357 handgun
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her luggage
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and electronic equipment
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the bullets recovered from diane's body
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were badly damaged
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but the bottom part was relatively
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intact i didn't have the whole bullet
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but that at least had the entire
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circumference of the base that i could
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examine
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ballistic experts could discern the
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lands and grooves on the bottom of the
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fatal bullets
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the bullets test fired from diane's gun
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were the same as those that killed her
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you're looking for these matching
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scratches they have to have the same
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type of character in other words depth
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or the width of them and the spacing
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between them
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despite the amount of decomposition
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scientists recovered a biological sample
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from diane's body which matched
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ronnie neal's dna profile
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proof of sexual assault
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eventually
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pearl told investigators the entire
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story of what happened to diane tilly
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one
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very difficult to believe
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[Music]
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after finding diane tilley's body
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police arrested 33 year old ronnie neal
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and his 15 year old daughter pearl cruz
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and charged them both with kidnapping
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and murder
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investigators discovered that ronnie
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neal had done some landscaping work for
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diane
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and she even gave him a swing set
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she no longer needed
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diane
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took a little bit of care to engage
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pearl when they went over to pick up the
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swing said she
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mentioned something to pearl about you
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know i like your your nail polish it's
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pretty
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and i think she asked pearl where she
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went to school
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pearl crews told investigators that she
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and her father planned almost from the
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start to rob diane
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well it's a very disturbing story it's
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disturbing on many levels
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it's not an easy story
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to digest at all
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on the night of the murder
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pearl knocked on diane's door
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and told her their truck broke down a
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few blocks away and asked to use the
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telephone
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once inside pearl pulled a gun
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then opened the side door for her father
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neal tied diane's hands with a shoelace
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from one of her tennis shoes then
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stole her gun and atm card
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neal took a drink of scotch leaving his
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partial print on the bottom of the
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bottle then
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asked diane for the pin number for her
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atm card
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while pearl guarded diane
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neal went to the atm to withdraw money
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from diane's account
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that's when he discovered
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diane had given him the wrong number
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so he returned to the house and
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threatened to kill diane's cat unless
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she gave him the correct pin number
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at some point neal fired a warning shot
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into the sofa diane gave him the correct
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pin number
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and the cat was unharmed
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neal left the rejected atm receipts on
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the dining room table packed diane's car
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with stolen belongings
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and sexually assaulted her
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then all three people
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ronnie pearl and diane
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drove away
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in her car
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they found a different atm machine
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and this time
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pearl successfully withdrew
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400 from diane's account
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from there
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they took diane
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to the deserted field
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and diane's final words
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were about forgiveness
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the last thing pearl said she heard
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diane say was bless this child
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according to cell phone records
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neil stood over diane's body and called
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pearl's mother telling her he had
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recently come into some money
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and suggested they all go shopping
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later neil ditched diane's car and set
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it on fire thinking
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they had destroyed all the forensic
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evidence
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but they still left plenty behind
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if ronnie neal is not executed by this
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state then it will really be a travesty
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we the jury find the defendant ronnie
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o'neill guilty of capital murder in
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april of 2006
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ronnie neal was tried and convicted of
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capital murder
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and sentenced to death
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by lethal injection
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pearl's life was spared in exchange for
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her testimony
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she was sentenced to 30 years in prison
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if you're looking for a teenager who's
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going to get right
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well incarcerated
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i'm afraid you're going to have to wait
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in pearl's case she's a deeply disturbed
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and abused
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uh individual
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psychopaths are not born they created
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and pro-ann cruz was certainly created
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people who knew diane tilly are struck
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by the irony
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pearl was exactly the type of child
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diane devoted her life to
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diane would have connected with her
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and
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she could have turned her around
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in the end
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pearl cruz's eyewitness testimony helped
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but investigators say
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they could have gotten the conviction
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without it
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we didn't have to rely on anybody's
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independent testimony to to convict
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ronnie neal we wouldn't have put one
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person except for the scientists on the
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stand to convict this guy not knowing
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science the way we know science
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you know these criminals just don't
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think and that's
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that's an advantage for us
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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you
