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Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode

June 01, 2022 / 41:35

This episode covers the case of baby boy doe, later identified as Stevie Crawford, whose body was discovered in 1963 at Keene Creek Reservoir in Oregon. The investigation into his identity spans nearly 60 years, utilizing advancements in genetic genealogy and forensic science.

The episode begins with the shocking discovery of a child's body by a fisherman in Jackson County, Oregon. Wrapped in blankets and weighted down, the body was initially unidentifiable, leading to a cold case that baffled investigators for decades.

In 2008, the case was reopened, and efforts to identify the child intensified, including DNA analysis and 3D reconstructions of his face. Despite these efforts, the investigation faced numerous challenges, including a lack of matching DNA in existing databases.

In 2021, a breakthrough occurred when investigators connected with genetic genealogist CeCe Moore, who identified potential relatives of the child. This led to the confirmation of his identity as Stevie Crawford, revealing a troubled family history.

The episode concludes with reflections on the emotional impact of the case, the challenges faced by families of special needs children, and the ongoing quest for justice regarding Stevie's death.

TL;DR

The episode reveals the identification of baby boy doe as Stevie Crawford, a case unresolved for nearly 60 years, highlighting advances in forensic science.

Episode

41:35
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july 11 1963 jackson county oregon a
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suspicious bundle is found by a local
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fisherman
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at the keene creek reservoir
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when the fisherman opened up the
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blankets
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he got the shock of his life
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right away
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knew there was something wrong and went
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to local law enforcement and reported it
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and that was when they found this
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concealed body of a of a young child
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an investigation is immediately launched
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to find the little boy's family
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baby boy doe
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name known only to god
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police finally run out of leads the case
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goes cold
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this is the story of baby boy doe also
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known as the boy and the bundle
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his name and his background remain
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unknown for nearly 60 years until
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finally he is identified through the
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science of genetic genealogy
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i'm nancy grace this is bloodline
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detectives
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[Music]
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1963 a summer day in jackson county
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oregon a local man out fishing with
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friends at the keene creek reservoir
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he notices a suspicious bundle lying
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half submerged in the water
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the fisherman who was out with his
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family he ended up
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snagging and bringing up this bundle
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when he reeled it in and he looked at it
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and he opened it up
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the shock of his life
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there was a baby a child
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this little body was discovered wrapped
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in blankets and then wrapped in a
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homemade quilt
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it was also bound with wire and then
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weighted down with some weights he
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alerted the oregon state police i
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believe through a local fire resource in
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that area the oregon state police took
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an initial statement from him and
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notified the jackson county sheriff's
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office
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the bundle removed from the reservoir an
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autopsy very carefully performed
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he was taken to a funeral home for that
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examination just based on facilities
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that were available at the time
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i think everyone in that room was
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probably horrified because as you're
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unwinding this wire
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you see this homemade quilt which is
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just such a personal object and you
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unfold that and there's another blanket
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and you unfold that and then there's
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this child probably quite unrecognizable
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at that point based on how long he'd
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been there
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there was an aqua blanket there was a
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patchwork quilt there were many windings
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of wire different kinds of wire to hold
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the bundle together and inside the
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bundle were some iron molds used in
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mining to weight the body down
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they could find no
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damage to the child's skull they could
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find no broken bones in the child's body
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there was no indication that the child
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had been hit
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or there was some kind of injury left
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marks on the body
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he was wearing some little trainer shoes
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he was wearing corduroy pants he had a
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red and white striped shirt on
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and they were good quality clothes so it
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made them think that the little boy
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didn't come from
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perhaps like an impoverished family or a
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transient family he seemed to be well
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cared for
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investigators now try to establish the
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identity of the little boy using
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every tool they know
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at the autopsy they couldn't determine
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who he was there was no missing child in
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the area that matched his description
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they thought he might have died of
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natural causes and then
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a parent disposed of him in this way
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of course there's the possibility that
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he died in an accident or
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was murdered and then he was hidden away
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investigators were able to take
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footprints and they
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sent those to the fbi and the fbi was
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able to check
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the hospitals all over the country for
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those matching footprints if you could
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get that footprint and compare it to the
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birth certificate footprint you might be
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able to get a match
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investigators believe the boy might be
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from the local area
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all the residents had to be interviewed
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what did they know had they seen
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anything had they heard anything were
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they aware that a child was missing they
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would put out flyers literally posting
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them on a tree
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so that people would be aware that there
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was a child who had been found
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police make some progress in identifying
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some of baby boy doe's clothing
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they did discover that some of the
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clothing came from jcpenney they talked
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to shoe store owners and found out about
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the shoes that the little boy was
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wearing but unfortunately that style of
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shoe was sold up and down the west coast
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so
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again not something that they could use
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to help pinpoint
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exactly where did this child come from
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and who might have bought the shoes
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the clothing that he was wearing would
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have been considered more high-end
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clothing for the time so
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you know being in a rural area not a lot
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of people would have access to clothing
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like that
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investigators also try to find out more
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about the weight that anchored the tots
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little body in the reservoir
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they were so thorough in their
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investigation talking to so many people
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in the mining industry that they found
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the exact type of mold listed in a
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catalog and it cost 1.25 they knew the
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exact model of the mold
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the police took these iron objects to
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the mining companies around
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oregon and around medford
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nothing
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i think a lot of people would
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think about it as if this was my child
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or if this was a child that i was
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involved in their life
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you know
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this would not be what i would want for
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my family or what i would like to see
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for my family not what i want in my
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community
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police go after every lead that comes in
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and even get help from top officials at
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the fbi
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there was a letter signed by j edgar
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hoover
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who was the head of the fbi in
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washington d.c where he was sending out
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requests to police agencies for
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information
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there is incredible interest in the
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outcome of this case
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as we see next on bloodline detectives
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investigators are confident that they
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will discover the identity of baby boy
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doe
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jackson county oregon july 1963
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police investigating the discovery of a
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taut boy's body at king creek reservoir
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that summer the case is known locally as
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the boy in the bundle
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the community obsessed with the
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sheriff's office solving the case
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i think initially they believed it was
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going to be a local child
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at a certain point they were working any
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missing children leads
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for for that time frame
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investigators lose their initial
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confidence the case of baby boy doe
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goes cold
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and no one's working the case and then
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you look at the date and that was
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during the time of the kennedy
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assassination and it was all efforts on
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that
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the materials were put away in a box and
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then not discovered until later when
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they decided again to do another sweep
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for cold cases
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the community and the investigators did
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organize
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a burial for the child
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he was buried at hillcrest memorial
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cemetery baby boy doe
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name known only to god
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45 years after baby boy doe was found
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dead bundled submerged in a reservoir
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his case reopens there at jason county
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sheriff's
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detective colin fagan had found some
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boxes full of old files and he asked an
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investigator named jim tattersall to
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look through those
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and jim tattersall found this case of
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the king creek boy as they called it at
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the time and said here's one where it's
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the body of a small child that was
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discovered in king creek reservoir and
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nobody has been able to find the
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identity yet
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they decided to exhume the child's body
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and extract dna
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it looked like a crime and while maybe
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there was some innocent explanation
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the affidavit that they submitted to the
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judge said
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this appears to be a crime it is
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probable cause to issue a warrant
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for the exhumation of the body
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they went to the cemetery they
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made a scheduled appointment with all of
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the investigators that were on the case
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at that point the medical examiner was
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there and they simply knew exactly what
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plot he was in they took all of the dirt
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away got his casket out and then
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proceeded to do a second examination on
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him
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the immediate question
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what will be the condition of baby boy
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doe's body when he is exhumed
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will his remains be
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in any shape that would allow
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an extract of a dna sample for testing
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this body was placed in an embalmed
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situation where
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once you open that casket
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it should be well preserved this body
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had deteriorated
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we were able to re-examine the skeleton
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we were able to apply new resources to
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it forensic anthropologists took part in
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that
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who are experts in bone development
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congenital defects
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body structure body composition
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there was a sample that was taken from
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his upper thigh bone and that was sent
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to the university of north texas
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center for human identification
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and they provided dna analysis and
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processing to us and they created
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or concluded with a dna profile from him
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his entire dna profile was uploaded into
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the national
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dna system and began to search against
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missing people and there was never an
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association at that point
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dna
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wasn't as widely used so a lot of
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dna databases in the country were
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basically just databases of criminals
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investigators get assistance from a very
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unlikely source
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two local dentists had a new 360 degree
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imaging machine so they took the child's
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skull there and also with the help of an
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anthropologist who helped to rebuild the
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skull they were able to reconstruct the
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skull and get good images of that
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anthropologists will usually reconstruct
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faces
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just for a visual examination and a
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visual cue to try and determine really
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what this
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child looked like
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the dentist said that there were some
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facial characteristics
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with the skull that were consistent with
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down syndrome and so at that time that
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became another
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source of information in the case
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now for the first time investigators
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finally put a face
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to baby boy doe
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they provided this three-dimensional
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illustration or composite if you will of
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this little guy's facial features and it
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was something that we had never had
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before
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this composite of this little toddler is
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so personal and you can see
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that he was a little person he was a
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little guy it makes it hit home quite a
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bit more to see his face and to see his
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facial characteristics
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dna databases at that time mostly fill
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with convicted felons so the search for
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a match for baby boy doe comes up empty
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investigators now try circulating the
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new face they have for baby boy doe
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hoping it sparks a lead
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[Music]
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time
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kind of works in our favor in that
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people that may have known something at
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the time didn't want to say anything
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didn't want to be involved
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typically those reservations will go
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away and we'll get more information from
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them so this was an effort to
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solicit more of that information and
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maybe give folks something tangible to
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look at
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that went on a national basis out to law
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enforcement agencies and through the
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media
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it was a black and white image it didn't
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have really any defining
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characteristics other than structure
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when folks think of
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other people familiar people loved ones
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typically they'll say oh he had brown
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hair he had blonde hair it was really
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distinct because it was white or he had
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green eyes
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the case of baby boy doe the boy in the
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bundle haunts investigators they now
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turn to advanced forensic science to try
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and solve this mystery that's next on
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bloodline detectives
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jackson county oregon 2008 police
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reopened the cold case of a tot boy a
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child found in a reservoir half
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submerged in water in 1963
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baby boy doe's tiny body wrapped tightly
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in a blanket with metal wire and weighed
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down with cast iron molds
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a 3d reconstruction is made from skull
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fragments and a picture emerges of what
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this baby boy doe
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may have looked like in life
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there were tips that were coming in
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about who this little guy could
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potentially be none of them were leading
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anywhere and so i think it was very
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frustrating to the detectives that were
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working on it at that point just as it
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had been extremely frustrating to those
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detectives who had worked on it in 1963.
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investigators have another suspicion
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about baby boy doe
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they very carefully examined this 3d
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model
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baby boy doe's physical features
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lead investigators to believe the top
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boy may have suffered from a congenital
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health defect
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this child's head was flattened
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not a traumatic injury but just an
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ordinary flattening which was the result
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of a congenital
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birth defect
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all children are vulnerable and some are
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even more vulnerable and
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i know for the investigators definitely
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it just created even more of a desire to
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find out who this little boy was and
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what had happened to him
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more dna samples are obtained from the
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boy's femur bone
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these samples submitted to existing dna
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database in the hope of a breakthrough
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they exhumed the body
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and they were able to get dna out of
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that to try to search for any sort of
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match
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at that point i think
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everyone expected that the the dna would
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be a hit
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but the dna does not find a match the
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case goes cold yet again
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in order for something to hit or
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associate genetically to each other you
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have to have
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something to compare it to
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finding something new to do with a case
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this old with so few
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resources or so few
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tangible leads was next to
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insurmountable
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then investigators get a tip from a very
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unusual source
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it showed up on facebook a drawing of a
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little boy who was anywhere between one
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and three and i just said oh my gosh
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that boy looks like a williams syndrome
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baby
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she thought that this child looked very
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similar with the facial characteristics
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that her
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child did and so she gave
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the investigators that tip
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i found out that the case was out of
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oregon in the county and emailed the
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police department there and asked if
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they could pass it along to whoever had
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this case right now
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the sheriff received the tip and he
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passed it on to me said hey see what you
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can do with this and that's when i
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started making phone calls
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police reach out to the oregon state
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police medical examiner
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i suggested to the investigators that we
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take the dna sample that we already had
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and do a completely innovative dna
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technique on it
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a new type of dna testing is now
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available it's called
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phenotyping
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phenotyping is looking at locations
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in the genes
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with that dna profile to look
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specifically
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at
00:19:23
the location that determines eye color
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the location that expresses skin color
00:19:29
it's significantly more sophisticated in
00:19:31
the characteristics that it pulls it
00:19:33
looks at more genetic markers within
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that dna than a dna sample say for codis
00:19:40
would look at they look at very specific
00:19:42
markers and fewer of them
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the phenotyping results were amazing
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because it really confirmed a lot of
00:19:49
what our investigators had first thought
00:19:52
when they created the new composite
00:19:55
based on those factors even though it
00:19:57
was a very similar picture to the black
00:19:59
and white composite that had been
00:20:00
constructed
00:20:02
it gave it a much more real
00:20:04
feel
00:20:05
he was of northern european ancestry and
00:20:08
so he was either very fair or fair in
00:20:10
his skin color he had hazel or brown
00:20:13
eyes which was something we had never
00:20:15
known before so great piece of
00:20:17
information
00:20:18
he had dark blonde
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to light brown hair so again information
00:20:23
we had never had that now we have
00:20:26
those might seem insignificant as far as
00:20:28
characteristics but to investigators at
00:20:30
this point that was a huge jump in the
00:20:33
investigation because now
00:20:35
we could go to that existing
00:20:37
illustration and we could put color on
00:20:40
it and we could give him even more of an
00:20:42
identity
00:20:44
this new technology opens the case up to
00:20:47
possibly using forensic genetic
00:20:50
genealogy
00:20:53
investigative genetic genealogy is
00:20:56
really a way to find genetic connections
00:20:59
between people
00:21:00
we have the ged
00:21:03
databases and what they permit us to do
00:21:06
is to take the sample
00:21:09
of dna from a victim
00:21:12
or the deceased or somebody involved in
00:21:15
the crime
00:21:17
run that sample through the genealogy
00:21:20
the ged
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data
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and determine
00:21:25
who are the relatives
00:21:27
of the child
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that's the way
00:21:30
we solve cases on these unidentified
00:21:32
cases in oregon is we look at the
00:21:35
familial connection
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investigators now enlist cc moore one of
00:21:41
the leading scientists in dna genetic
00:21:44
genealogy
00:21:46
when she and i first started talking on
00:21:48
some of the other cases that we had
00:21:50
worked on
00:21:51
it just struck me how committed she was
00:21:54
to these cases
00:21:55
her commitment to our cases
00:21:59
was so apparent
00:22:02
sometimes we
00:22:04
try to work on a case and the dna is
00:22:06
very challenging and it looks
00:22:08
questionable as to whether we will be
00:22:10
able to use investigative genetic
00:22:12
genealogy so i was very concerned that
00:22:15
the dna might be too degraded or too
00:22:17
contaminated on this case
00:22:19
but because of whole genome sequencing
00:22:21
and our bioinformatics scientists we
00:22:24
were able to do so and i was so thankful
00:22:27
because this was a case that was
00:22:29
incredibly compelling to me and i could
00:22:31
tell how much dr vance and the
00:22:33
investigators cared about it and really
00:22:36
needed to make this identification
00:22:40
investigators discussed the findings of
00:22:42
cece moore's research
00:22:44
would the mystery of baby boy doe's
00:22:46
identity finally be solved
00:22:51
jackson county officials and
00:22:52
investigators our medical examiner
00:22:54
personnel were all there and cece was
00:22:57
there to provide us the information that
00:22:59
she had found
00:23:00
and on page two of her report
00:23:04
she gives
00:23:06
a theory
00:23:07
and it's in bold and it's in italics
00:23:11
it was amazing i could not believe how
00:23:13
much information she was able to
00:23:16
to glean and the the things that she was
00:23:18
able to find
00:23:20
i think we all wanted to scroll to page
00:23:22
two at the very beginning but she's very
00:23:24
methodical about the way she explains
00:23:26
things
00:23:27
and when we got to page two and we saw
00:23:29
that bolded paragraph
00:23:31
and it documented the grandparents of
00:23:34
who this little boy was and then her
00:23:36
theory
00:23:38
we were blown away
00:23:41
bloodline detectives hopeful their
00:23:43
teamwork along with the new science of
00:23:45
genetic genealogy can finally solve the
00:23:48
mystery who is baby boy doe
00:23:52
that's next on bloodline detectives
00:24:04
2021 jackson county oregon police
00:24:07
investigating the 1963
00:24:09
cold case
00:24:11
of a murdered infant baby boy doe the
00:24:15
tots body carefully wrapped in a blanket
00:24:18
and put in the king creek reservoir his
00:24:20
identity goes unknown for nearly 60
00:24:23
years but now
00:24:25
investigators hopeful that recent dna
00:24:28
technology breakthroughs will help them
00:24:30
search for very distant family members
00:24:34
leading to one that may give the boy in
00:24:37
the bundle back his real name
00:24:42
numerous investigators and detectives
00:24:45
have retired without solving this case
00:24:47
so we were cautiously optimistic
00:24:51
when i first received the match list on
00:24:53
this case it was not very promising i
00:24:56
had a around 100 centimorgan top match
00:24:59
which is a good match it's maybe a
00:25:02
second cousin once removed or a third
00:25:04
cousin but i didn't have a lot of
00:25:06
supporting matches many of the other
00:25:08
matches were very distant and so i was
00:25:10
concerned that it was going to be very
00:25:13
challenging to identify this little boy
00:25:18
she was able to
00:25:20
link fourth and fifth generation
00:25:22
relatives
00:25:24
and then
00:25:25
through birth records death records
00:25:28
driver's licenses other historical
00:25:30
public
00:25:31
documents was able to narrow down a very
00:25:34
small window of people that would have
00:25:36
been associated with this child
00:25:40
i was finally able to narrow it down to
00:25:44
three sisters that i believed likely one
00:25:46
of those was going to be this little
00:25:48
boy's mother but i really couldn't get
00:25:50
it any further
00:25:52
and then something very important
00:25:54
happened in january 2021 and that is
00:25:58
that the owners of ged match made the
00:26:00
decision to allow unidentified remains
00:26:03
or jane and john doe cases to be
00:26:05
compared against the entire database
00:26:07
which is about 1.5 million people
00:26:10
that was the critical piece that we
00:26:12
needed you know nobody was going to come
00:26:14
up with tips especially after 58 years
00:26:17
when that happened
00:26:18
we received a first cousin level match
00:26:22
to this little boy
00:26:24
investigators now have the breakthrough
00:26:26
they've been waiting for all these years
00:26:31
when that report came out and cece was
00:26:33
telling us that she had found his family
00:26:36
and then her theory about the fact that
00:26:39
his name was stevie crawford
00:26:42
i was ecstatic
00:26:44
i don't typically reach out to the
00:26:46
matches in these cases but when somebody
00:26:49
so young dies
00:26:51
there are often no records that i am
00:26:53
able to access to find that this person
00:26:56
ever existed
00:26:57
we all knew then exactly what everyone's
00:27:01
role was at that point our investigators
00:27:03
need to keep investigating they need to
00:27:04
keep talking to
00:27:06
the people that had been involved from
00:27:08
the very beginning and now they had
00:27:10
names and phone numbers and addresses of
00:27:13
people that may be this little boy's
00:27:15
relative
00:27:18
i reached out to the manager of that
00:27:20
profile who was the wife of the first
00:27:23
cousin of this little boy and she was
00:27:26
very interested in helping with this
00:27:28
case she was immediately deeply impacted
00:27:31
by it
00:27:33
police began interviewing family members
00:27:36
to build a picture of what may have
00:27:38
happened to stevie crawford back in
00:27:41
1963.
00:27:44
she started reaching out to their more
00:27:47
immediate family members and asking if
00:27:50
there had been a little boy that had
00:27:52
disappeared when he was a toddler and
00:27:54
she pretty quickly
00:27:56
heard a story about a little disabled
00:28:00
boy that had existed and that had lived
00:28:04
in oregon for a very short time and then
00:28:06
had disappeared
00:28:11
one
00:28:12
woman actually stated that
00:28:14
she remembers stevie she remembers
00:28:16
playing with him she remembers holding
00:28:18
him she was the daughter of stevie's
00:28:21
mother's second husband
00:28:23
so they were children together she was a
00:28:25
little older than him here's this woman
00:28:27
who remembers him remembers that he was
00:28:30
disabled but loved him dearly so that's
00:28:33
a wonderful human connection that we now
00:28:35
have
00:28:36
said she came home from school every day
00:28:38
and held him and really loved him
00:28:41
that is one thing that really warmed my
00:28:44
heart and made me feel a lot better
00:28:45
about this whole case
00:28:47
that he was loved
00:28:50
and then one day
00:28:53
stevie was there and one day stevie
00:28:55
wasn't there and they never talked about
00:28:57
it
00:29:00
his mother and her
00:29:02
new husband had moved up to the pacific
00:29:04
northwest area for a very short time and
00:29:07
that when they came back to
00:29:10
their home
00:29:11
town that they no longer had him with
00:29:13
them
00:29:15
genetically we need to confirm
00:29:17
who this little boy is because
00:29:20
interviews can only do so much we wanted
00:29:22
to confirm exactly who he was so a half
00:29:25
brother
00:29:26
emerges from all the family history
00:29:31
and the police started questioning the
00:29:34
half brother what do you remember
00:29:37
did you have a half brother oh yeah yeah
00:29:40
i
00:29:41
i was a child and
00:29:43
and my mother had had this child and and
00:29:46
and so he was funny what do you mean he
00:29:49
was funny
00:29:50
well he had down syndrome
00:29:53
tell us some more the police said
00:29:57
well one day
00:29:59
my
00:30:00
mother
00:30:01
traveled a lot and she would go to all
00:30:03
these places and she would take my my my
00:30:06
brother with her and she came back and
00:30:09
she says
00:30:10
we don't have to worry about
00:30:12
stevie anymore
00:30:15
as their investigation and questioning
00:30:17
goes on investigators get more
00:30:19
information about stevie crawford's
00:30:21
background a picture of a very troubled
00:30:24
family begins to emerge
00:30:28
we know that the mother of
00:30:31
this little boy
00:30:32
had a very rough childhood in and of
00:30:34
herself she had seen her mother kill her
00:30:37
father the grandfather had been abusive
00:30:40
and the grandmother said she had killed
00:30:43
him in self-defense
00:30:45
stevie's mother
00:30:47
had dealt with this horrible tragedy and
00:30:49
i think that led to her living a very
00:30:52
unstable life
00:30:54
here's this poor girl who's seen so much
00:30:56
trauma and violence in her life
00:30:58
she goes on and has a series of
00:31:01
marriages
00:31:03
she had a lot of children that she ended
00:31:05
up not raising herself some stayed with
00:31:08
their father some went to other
00:31:09
relatives and so
00:31:12
what happened to stevie is not that
00:31:13
surprising when you look at this entire
00:31:17
family
00:31:18
in context
00:31:20
investigators search for any information
00:31:23
any public record they can find about
00:31:26
stevie crawford
00:31:28
i was told a very specific place where
00:31:31
the family thought he could have been
00:31:32
born which was not oregon and i was
00:31:35
communicating that to the investigators
00:31:37
and then they were immediately taking
00:31:39
that information and finding more
00:31:41
information
00:31:44
and lo and behold they found the name
00:31:48
and they found the birth record
00:31:51
really i think detectives put the lid on
00:31:53
the case
00:31:55
when they found his birth certificate
00:31:56
which really confirmed that he did exist
00:31:59
he was born his name was stephen
00:32:02
alexander crawford
00:32:03
and he was the exact age that we thought
00:32:05
he should be
00:32:08
the birth certificate confirmed
00:32:10
everything that cece moore had been able
00:32:12
to research
00:32:14
and find
00:32:16
it tied all those together and made it
00:32:18
all one piece
00:32:22
investigators must now obtain a dna
00:32:24
sample from one of stevie's blood
00:32:27
relatives to confirm his identity
00:32:32
and he says i would be happy
00:32:34
to have you collect dna and do a
00:32:36
confirmation test with my dna
00:32:39
compared to this little boy's because
00:32:42
i believe i am his half brother and so
00:32:44
that was completed we collected his dna
00:32:47
parabon nanolabs again
00:32:50
processed that dna and did what was
00:32:52
considered a kinship inference
00:32:54
analysis so that's again looking at
00:32:57
connectedness between the dna from our
00:32:59
little boy
00:33:00
and the dna from this adult man
00:33:03
who they think is a half brother
00:33:07
dna lab results provide solid proof
00:33:10
police can finally confirm the identity
00:33:13
of baby boy doe
00:33:16
is stephen alexander crawford
00:33:19
the results were conclusive it showed
00:33:22
that this man was indeed a half-brother
00:33:25
of stevie crawford
00:33:27
and that information really just sealed
00:33:30
the genetic picture for us
00:33:34
the press release came into the office
00:33:36
and it said we broke this cold case from
00:33:39
1963
00:33:40
and i looked at the just the amazing
00:33:46
chain of events that
00:33:47
they had gone through
00:33:50
it finally happens investigators
00:33:53
accomplish the unbelievable they
00:33:56
identify little stevie crawford after
00:33:59
nearly 60 years but as we see next on
00:34:03
bloodline detectives they've got a lot
00:34:05
of questions about how this tiny tot
00:34:09
ends up dead in keene creek reservoir
00:34:24
jackson county oregon 2021 a dedicated
00:34:28
team of detectives and scientists
00:34:30
identify a little boy
00:34:32
tied down and left in a reservoir
00:34:36
60 years ago
00:34:38
they now know the tot's name stevie
00:34:40
crawford but what they want to know is
00:34:43
who put stevie in the reservoir
00:34:49
if there's more to the story we want to
00:34:52
know what that is
00:34:53
if there was an accident that took place
00:34:56
if
00:34:57
there's a credible history to
00:35:01
um to assign to the death where it could
00:35:03
have been a natural circumstance you
00:35:06
know we want to rule all those things
00:35:07
out and if you know if if the worst
00:35:10
happened to stevie you know we want to
00:35:12
make sure that those people are brought
00:35:13
to justice
00:35:15
obviously it's very disturbing that
00:35:17
someone
00:35:19
didn't take the time to report what had
00:35:21
happened
00:35:23
and
00:35:24
definitely didn't take the time to make
00:35:26
sure he had a proper respectful burial
00:35:29
stevie crawford's remains were found in
00:35:31
a very remote location
00:35:34
and one could speculate why that is
00:35:37
perhaps they didn't want him to be found
00:35:39
perhaps it was just a beautiful location
00:35:42
where a little boy could lay to rest
00:35:48
mothers cry
00:35:50
they spend a lifetime crying
00:35:52
over their lost child
00:35:54
not here
00:35:56
we didn't talk about it anymore since
00:35:58
the half-brother we're not going to have
00:36:00
to worry about stevie anymore said the
00:36:03
mother and never mentioned it again
00:36:06
there was no crying
00:36:08
there was no
00:36:09
wailing and lamenting about the loss
00:36:12
of a child
00:36:14
every mother's worst nightmare didn't
00:36:17
happen here
00:36:18
a lot of people don't have the resources
00:36:21
to bury their loved one to get them
00:36:24
a marker that type of thing and this is
00:36:27
not something that necessarily means
00:36:29
they didn't care about that individual
00:36:32
it was common that
00:36:35
children with you know mental delays
00:36:37
cognitive issues you know down syndrome
00:36:40
other syndromes were institutionalized
00:36:43
and they were taken and just put in
00:36:44
homes and that was just how it went back
00:36:47
then it's really speculation about what
00:36:50
her life is like at that point but it
00:36:52
had to have been very very hard
00:36:56
the case of stevie crawford affects
00:36:58
everyone involved in this investigation
00:37:04
these cases are all
00:37:06
very very near and dear to my heart and
00:37:08
i want the best for them i want the best
00:37:11
for the families that are missing them
00:37:13
and i want the best for the
00:37:15
investigators
00:37:16
that have tried so hard to find a
00:37:19
resolution for these cases but we're
00:37:20
just not there yet
00:37:23
it makes me think about
00:37:26
the care
00:37:27
and how the health was for special needs
00:37:30
children back then and having all the
00:37:32
medical
00:37:33
advances that we've had to help save
00:37:35
these kids that couldn't have been saved
00:37:37
back then
00:37:39
the painstaking work of investigators
00:37:42
and scientists and the advances in
00:37:44
forensic science
00:37:45
give little stevie crawford back his
00:37:49
name
00:37:51
it was such a remarkable
00:37:54
sequence of events each one of those
00:37:56
little pieces you know led to where
00:37:58
we're at today
00:38:01
they never stopped wanting to find his
00:38:04
identity and provide answers to any
00:38:07
family that might be out there and as it
00:38:10
turned out there was family that loved
00:38:12
stevie and wondered what had happened to
00:38:14
him and so their quest really was very
00:38:17
important
00:38:18
i feel as if we can
00:38:22
bring resolution to so many more cases
00:38:24
based on the success of this one
00:38:28
investigators still wonder if there can
00:38:31
be any finality in a case like little
00:38:35
stevie crawford's where so many
00:38:37
questions remain
00:38:39
unanswered
00:38:41
[Music]
00:38:42
it would have been really nice to
00:38:45
interview firsthand
00:38:47
those folks that were directly involved
00:38:49
and
00:38:50
you know discover what exactly happened
00:38:53
unfortunately
00:38:55
time
00:38:56
has not allowed for that
00:38:58
when you talk to families about closure
00:39:00
they always shake their head and they
00:39:01
say no
00:39:02
nothing's closed i feel now that i can
00:39:05
turn a corner i can start to grieve i
00:39:08
can start to plan i can start to reflect
00:39:13
from those family members that knew him
00:39:15
i think he was a sweet little boy
00:39:18
i think he was very lovable and i think
00:39:21
he loved
00:39:22
very deeply he could have died of
00:39:24
natural causes he was not a healthy
00:39:27
little boy and this family just may not
00:39:30
have had the resources
00:39:32
to
00:39:33
bury him the way he should have the way
00:39:34
we all wish that he had been
00:39:38
his family members remembered playing
00:39:40
with him when he was a tiny boy
00:39:43
the community never forgot about him
00:39:45
so regardless of what may have happened
00:39:48
to him
00:39:49
he was never forgotten nobody stopped
00:39:51
fighting for him everybody wanted
00:39:53
answers
00:39:54
[Music]
00:39:55
it took more than half a century
00:39:57
it took 58 years
00:40:00
but it was worth it
00:40:04
the case of little stevie crawford
00:40:06
touches so many of our human emotions
00:40:11
on one hand the picture of human frailty
00:40:15
a special needs child
00:40:17
an abused mother who can't cope with a
00:40:21
baby boy like stevie it's also the
00:40:25
picture of the strength
00:40:27
of the human spirit
00:40:29
the strength demonstrated by hundreds of
00:40:32
people led by bloodline detectives whose
00:40:35
own humanity and perseverance simply
00:40:38
want to save the spirit
00:40:40
of the little boy
00:40:42
in the bundle
00:40:45
i'm nancy grace thanks for joining us on
00:40:48
bloodline detectives
00:40:50
[Music]
00:40:59
[Music]
00:41:34
you

Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 85
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 80
    Best concept / idea
  • 75
    Most emotional

Episode Highlights

  • The Discovery of Baby Boy Doe
    In July 1963, a fisherman discovers a suspicious bundle in Keene Creek Reservoir, revealing the concealed body of a young child.
    “He got the shock of his life.”
    @ 00m 28s
    June 01, 2022
  • The Case Goes Cold
    Despite initial investigations, the identity of baby boy doe remains a mystery for decades until new techniques are applied.
    “His name and his background remain unknown for nearly 60 years.”
    @ 01m 08s
    June 01, 2022
  • A Breakthrough in Genetic Genealogy
    In 2021, investigators utilize advanced DNA technology to search for distant relatives of baby boy doe, reigniting hope in the case.
    “It was amazing I could not believe how much information she was able to glean.”
    @ 23m 13s
    June 01, 2022
  • Breakthrough in Cold Case
    Investigators receive a first cousin match, leading to the identification of Stevie Crawford.
    “That was the critical piece that we needed.”
    @ 26m 10s
    June 01, 2022
  • Family Connections
    A half-brother emerges, providing crucial information about Stevie's past.
    “I believe I am his half brother.”
    @ 32m 44s
    June 01, 2022
  • The Search for Identity
    DNA results confirm the identity of baby boy Doe as Stephen Alexander Crawford.
    “The results were conclusive; it showed that this man was indeed a half-brother.”
    @ 33m 25s
    June 01, 2022

Episode Quotes

  • His name and his background remain unknown for nearly 60 years.
    Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode
  • This would not be what I would want for my family.
    Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode
  • It was amazing I could not believe how much information she was able to glean.
    Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode
  • I was ecstatic.
    Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode
  • That is one thing that really warmed my heart.
    Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode
  • He was never forgotten. Nobody stopped fighting for him.
    Bloodline Detectives - Season 2, Episode 20 - The Boy in the Bundle - Full Episode

Key Moments

  • Discovery00:28
  • Cold Case01:08
  • Genetic Breakthrough23:13
  • Breakthrough26:10
  • Family Reunion32:44
  • Identity Confirmed33:25
  • Emotional Journey40:00

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown

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The Murder of Robin Brooks | Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace
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41:46
Okaloosa Jane Doe | Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace
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Unmasking the McCleary Rapist | Bloodline Detectives with Nancy Grace
Forensic Files | Ties That Bind | FULL EPISODE | HD | True Crime Procedure Investigation Drama
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