00:00:03
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:00:18
NARRATOR: A grieving mother's conviction.
00:00:19
They said they didn't have evidence that he
00:00:22
had murdered my daughter.
00:00:24
But I just had a cold feeling he did.
00:00:28
NARRATOR: And a skeleton that's not giving up its secrets.
00:00:31
There was no evidence of blunt force trauma, sharp force
00:00:34
trauma, or a bullet.
00:00:35
Can't prove the cause of death.
00:00:36
There's nothing to go on.
00:00:39
NARRATOR: Can Dr. Murad tell if this young woman was murdered?
00:00:43
Then, Dr. Murray goes head-to-head with a ruthless
00:00:47
band of killers bent on hiding their victim's identity.
00:00:50
The torso was burned.
00:00:51
There was no head, no arms, and lower limbs.
00:00:55
NARRATOR: Are the murderer's tracks covered too
00:00:57
well for justice to be served?
00:01:00
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:01:27
[BABY CRYING]
00:01:42
It's a hot summer morning in rural Northern California.
00:01:46
A team of volunteer firemen is preparing
00:01:49
to dig a trench along a remote stretch of highway.
00:01:53
It's a routine measure to help limit
00:01:55
the spread of forest fires.
00:01:58
But this routine task is about to be cut short by a disturbing
00:02:02
find.
00:02:03
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:02:08
What is that?
00:02:10
It's not normal.
00:02:13
You see that?
00:02:14
There.
00:02:16
Looks like a hand.
00:02:18
NARRATOR: Shocked, the fire crew immediately radios
00:02:21
the local police department.
00:02:23
MARC ADAMS: I walk over to the side of the road
00:02:24
and can see a blue comforter.
00:02:28
[CAMERA SHUTTERS CLICKING]
00:02:30
There is a large amount of insect activity.
00:02:34
NARRATOR: A close look confirms the worst.
00:02:36
It's a human body, ravaged by California's summer
00:02:40
sun and scavenging insects.
00:02:43
TOM HOAGLAND: At that point, we couldn't determine
00:02:44
if it was male or female.
00:02:46
Subject was wrapped in a comforter.
00:02:49
Subject was obviously in the later stages of decomposition.
00:02:54
NARRATOR: A lonely road, an unidentified corpse,
00:03:00
with virtually no clothes, investigators
00:03:04
rushed the body to the medical examiner's office
00:03:06
for an autopsy.
00:03:08
TOM HOAGLAND: The medical examiner could not give us
00:03:10
a cause of death, and they couldn't
00:03:12
help us identify the decedent.
00:03:15
NARRATOR: Without that information,
00:03:18
this case will go unsolved.
00:03:20
But Sgt. Hoagland knows one man who might be able to help.
00:03:25
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03:26
Dr. Turhon Murad, Senior Forensic Anthropologist
00:03:30
at Chico State University.
00:03:33
TURHON MURAD: I deal with bones.
00:03:35
Bones talk to me.
00:03:36
It's a challenge to try to learn as much as I can
00:03:39
about the person from bones.
00:03:42
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03:48
Molina, let's see how much work we're in for,
00:03:51
what we're going to have to do.
00:03:52
The case arrived here from El Dorado County.
00:03:55
Before we did anything, we wanted to show what
00:03:57
we were getting ourselves into.
00:03:58
She's very badly decomposed.
00:04:01
NARRATOR: Decomposition is nature's way
00:04:03
of disposing of the body.
00:04:04
Typically, 60% of a human's body weight
00:04:07
is lost in the first six days of decomposition,
00:04:10
depending on temperature and location.
00:04:13
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:04:16
Dr. Murad can tell from what flesh remains that this
00:04:19
is the body of a woman.
00:04:21
But her identity and cause of death are a complete mystery.
00:04:26
And by the circumstances of her discovery,
00:04:28
it is a mystery with disturbing implications.
00:04:32
TURHON MURAD: This lady was found beside the road,
00:04:34
in the nude.
00:04:35
How could she have died in the nude beside the road?
00:04:38
That's not natural.
00:04:40
[SCREAMING]
00:04:42
NARRATOR: He surveys the body for clues to her identity,
00:04:46
but his initial inspection is disappointing.
00:04:49
TURHON MURAD: I don't see any tattoos
00:04:50
or anything that is obvious for us to get her identified.
00:04:55
NARRATOR: Then, Dr. Murad finds something surprising.
00:04:59
TURHON MURAD: It was a huge blister on her--
00:05:01
on her right thumb.
00:05:02
NARRATOR: It's an incredibly lucky break.
00:05:05
While skin covering the remaining fingers
00:05:07
has completely broken down, the pus and fluid
00:05:10
that formed the blister has slowed the rate of decay
00:05:13
on the outer layer of the thumb.
00:05:16
And the blister holds what could be a vital clue
00:05:19
to the woman's identity.
00:05:21
TOM HOAGLAND: Dr. Murad noticed that there
00:05:22
was a thumbprint on the right thumb that was usable.
00:05:26
NARRATOR: Though there is enough skin for a print,
00:05:27
the finger itself is too decomposed to be useful.
00:05:30
In order to generate a print, Dr. Murad
00:05:33
offers up his own finger.
00:05:34
TURHON MURAD: I cut off the loose skin
00:05:36
from around the thumb, slipped it over my rubber gloved hand.
00:05:41
NARRATOR: The ingenious method produces
00:05:43
a near-perfect thumbprint.
00:05:46
TURHON MURAD: I got two cards out.
00:05:48
And I ran about 20 fingerprints.
00:05:51
Now, it's a very important fingerprint
00:05:53
to have in California because the thumb
00:05:55
print is the one that is collected by DMV
00:05:58
when you get your license.
00:06:00
This is a good print.
00:06:02
[BLOWS] OK, would you mark that right thumb and the case
00:06:06
number on it, please?
00:06:08
I said, well, here.
00:06:09
Go find out who she is.
00:06:11
NARRATOR: With a fresh print in hand,
00:06:13
investigators rushed to the California Department
00:06:15
of Justice Forensic Crime Lab, where
00:06:18
they could search a statewide driver's license database.
00:06:21
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:06:24
Four hours later, they find a match.
00:06:27
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:06:29
The identity of the victim came back to a Janata Jackson.
00:06:34
NARRATOR: Janai Jackson, a 21-year-old woman
00:06:38
who lived in Sacramento, with her husband, Jason Scharf, and
00:06:41
their four-month-old daughter.
00:06:43
Her mother, Sylvia, had not talked to Janai in a few weeks.
00:06:48
SYLVIA JACKSON: I figured her and Jason
00:06:50
must've went to visit the parents,
00:06:52
or went out of town or something.
00:06:54
And I figured she'd call me later.
00:06:57
NARRATOR: But the call from her daughter would never come.
00:07:00
Instead, the call Sylvia gets is a mother's worst nightmare.
00:07:06
News that her daughter has been found dead,
00:07:08
wrapped in a blanket on the roadside.
00:07:12
SYLVIA JACKSON: Janai was a very loving, kind-hearted person,
00:07:16
sharing, very smart.
00:07:20
As a little girl, she was sweet, very quiet.
00:07:25
Playful, very playful.
00:07:27
She would do anything she could to help you, if she could.
00:07:31
NARRATOR: And investigators are perplexed when they learned
00:07:34
that Janai's husband, Jason, had not reported
00:07:37
her missing, even though she hadn't
00:07:39
been home for over two weeks.
00:07:42
TOM HOAGLAND: So our next step was
00:07:43
to contact him, see if he could shed
00:07:45
some light on the disappearance of his wife.
00:07:48
Then we found out that he had relocated
00:07:50
to Southern California.
00:07:52
NARRATOR: The fact that Jason moved away days
00:07:53
after his wife disappeared further fuels
00:07:56
investigators' suspicions.
00:07:59
So do Sylvia Jackson's statements
00:08:01
to police about her son-in-law.
00:08:04
SYLVIA JACKSON: He seemed to be a very
00:08:05
jealous and controlling person.
00:08:08
I felt that he could not be trusted.
00:08:10
I just felt that he was going to do something to her.
00:08:13
It's just this like you feel a cold chill.
00:08:17
NARRATOR: When investigators eventually track Jason down,
00:08:21
he tells them that his wife had run away, abandoning
00:08:24
him and their infant daughter.
00:08:26
His claims that the couple was on the outs
00:08:29
is confirmed by interviews with family and friends.
00:08:32
TOM HOAGLAND: During the last several months
00:08:34
of their marriage, things had become violent.
00:08:37
She had threatened to leave him several times.
00:08:39
NARRATOR: The more they learn, the more
00:08:41
Jason's story doesn't add up.
00:08:43
SYLVIA JACKSON: One of her friends
00:08:44
had told me that every time she packed her stuff
00:08:47
to leave, he would unpack her stuff, and try
00:08:50
to hold her and keep her with him.
00:08:54
NARRATOR: After a week and a half of investigation,
00:08:56
all police have is circumstantial evidence.
00:09:00
But they are so convinced that Jason
00:09:02
had something to do with his wife's death
00:09:04
that they arrest him.
00:09:06
However, their suspicions alone are simply
00:09:09
not enough for the DA's office.
00:09:12
TOM HOAGLAND: About five days after his arrest,
00:09:13
the district attorney felt there wasn't
00:09:15
enough evidence to prosecute.
00:09:16
He was released.
00:09:17
NARRATOR: A suspicious picture has emerged.
00:09:20
But without more physical evidence,
00:09:22
investigators can go no further with the case.
00:09:25
SYLVIA JACKSON: They said they had to get evidence,
00:09:27
hard evidence, before they can prove that he
00:09:30
actually murdered my daughter.
00:09:31
NARRATOR: Now, it's up to Dr. Murad
00:09:34
to prove or disprove the investigators' theory.
00:09:37
TURHON MURAD: Homicide is just standing
00:09:38
out there, glaring at you.
00:09:40
It had to be a homicide.
00:09:41
NARRATOR: The only way he can do that is
00:09:43
by scrutinizing Janai's bones.
00:09:46
But there's a problem.
00:09:48
Her bones are hidden beneath layers of decomposing tissue,
00:09:51
skin, muscle, and organs.
00:09:54
TURHON MURAD: I'm not a pathologist.
00:09:56
I'm an anthropologist, and I do bones.
00:09:59
I do not do soft tissue.
00:10:01
NARRATOR: Simply cutting away the flesh
00:10:03
could chip, mark, and damage her bones.
00:10:06
Dr. Murad needs to de-flesh Janai very gently.
00:10:10
And he comes up with a solution that is morbidly efficient.
00:10:13
He buries her.
00:10:16
TURHON MURAD: We wrapped her in a clean, white sheet.
00:10:19
Then wrapped her in wire netting that
00:10:22
was zip-locked with electrical zip ties
00:10:25
so that animals couldn't dig into her remains.
00:10:28
We buried her in a very shallow grave at a cemetery,
00:10:31
and just let nature take its course.
00:10:34
NARRATOR: After death, bacteria that live in the intestines
00:10:38
are no longer held in check by the immune system
00:10:41
and begin eating away at the body's organs and tissue.
00:10:45
Underground, the process is accelerated
00:10:48
by larvae from beetles and other subterranean insects.
00:10:51
It is gentle, but slow.
00:10:54
Dr. Murad estimates it will take six weeks for Janai's
00:10:57
body to be ready for his exam.
00:11:00
Only then will Dr. Murad be able to seek the evidence that
00:11:04
can bring justice to Janai.
00:11:06
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11:08
Coming up, Janai is exhumed.
00:11:11
But her bones aren't telling Dr. Murad what he wants to know.
00:11:14
TURHON MURAD: It had to be a homicide.
00:11:16
But how in the hell did she die?
00:11:18
NARRATOR: And later, can Dr. Murad
00:11:20
determine whether this good man met a bad end?
00:11:24
He would give you his last dollar if you needed it.
00:11:26
That's the type of person he was.
00:11:28
That's next, on "Skeleton Stories."
00:11:31
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:11:44
NARRATOR: Dr. Turhon Murad of Chico State University
00:11:48
has buried the body of murder victim, Janai Jackson.
00:11:52
For six weeks, bacteria and insects
00:11:54
have been digesting her muscles and organs, while leaving
00:11:57
her bones untouched.
00:12:00
They are bones that could hold the evidence needed to charge
00:12:04
Janai's killer with murder.
00:12:07
Police believe that killer is Janai's
00:12:09
own husband, Jason Scharf.
00:12:12
SYLVIA JACKSON: They said they didn't have evidence that he
00:12:14
had murdered my daughter.
00:12:16
But I just had that cold feeling he did.
00:12:19
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:12:26
NARRATOR: It's the moment of truth.
00:12:28
After patiently waiting six weeks,
00:12:30
Dr. Murad prepares to exhume Janai's body.
00:12:34
The method is successful.
00:12:37
The natural process was extremely gentle
00:12:39
on Janai's bones.
00:12:41
TURHON MURAD: When we recovered them, they were in great shape.
00:12:44
We didn't lose a single bone.
00:12:46
NARRATOR: Now, with the bones completely de-fleshed,
00:12:49
Dr. Murad sets his sight on the case's all important question.
00:12:55
How was Janai murdered?
00:12:58
He starts by examining the major bones of her head and torso.
00:13:03
These are the bones that most frequently
00:13:05
carry signs of fatal injuries because they
00:13:07
protect vital organs--
00:13:09
the brain, heart, and lungs.
00:13:11
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:13:13
But after great scrutiny, he finds no indications
00:13:16
of physical trauma.
00:13:17
TURHON MURAD: There is no evidence
00:13:18
of blunt force trauma, sharp force trauma, or a bullet.
00:13:22
We can't prove the cause of death.
00:13:23
There's nothing to go on.
00:13:26
NARRATOR: After six weeks of waiting, an earlier autopsy,
00:13:29
and an examination of her major bones,
00:13:32
Dr. Murad is still empty handed, and his options
00:13:36
are running out.
00:13:37
TURHON MURAD: It had to be a homicide.
00:13:38
But how does someone die with no evidence of blunt force trauma,
00:13:43
sharp force trauma, bullets?
00:13:45
She'd been on autopsied.
00:13:46
Toxicology comes back clean.
00:13:48
No poison involved.
00:13:49
No drugs involved.
00:13:50
How in the hell did she die?
00:13:52
[BABY CRYING]
00:13:55
NARRATOR: But Dr. Murad knows that there is one method
00:13:58
of murder that would leave only the slightest
00:14:00
of signs in the skeleton.
00:14:03
That method is manual strangulation.
00:14:07
If Janai was choked to death, it may have damaged
00:14:10
a small bone of the neck--
00:14:13
the hyoid.
00:14:15
TURHON MURAD: The hyoid is a very
00:14:16
important bone to look for in cases of manual strangulation.
00:14:20
NARRATOR: The hyoid bone is a small U-shaped bone
00:14:24
suspended between the muscles that
00:14:25
produce the swallowing motion.
00:14:28
Its major function is to support the vocal cords.
00:14:32
Thin and fragile, the hyoid is often broken or damaged
00:14:36
in cases of strangulation, when extreme pressure
00:14:39
is applied to the neck.
00:14:42
TURHON MURAD: Here I have a complete hyoid.
00:14:44
And this is the hyoid as it might
00:14:45
appear in an adult individual.
00:14:48
It has two cornu--
00:14:49
a right and a left--
00:14:50
and a body.
00:14:52
The hyoid would fit like this, up
00:14:54
high, at the top of the larynx.
00:14:56
So if someone were strangled, we might
00:14:59
expect the hyoid to be broken.
00:15:01
And that's what I was looking for.
00:15:03
NARRATOR: But when Murad finds and examines Janai's hyoid,
00:15:06
another problem arises.
00:15:08
TURHON MURAD: The hyoid usually fuses at around age 21 to 23.
00:15:12
Well, here she was.
00:15:13
The hyoid hadn't fused yet, OK?
00:15:16
Here's the body, and here's one of the cornu.
00:15:20
NARRATOR: At birth, the human body
00:15:22
contains about 300 soft bones, many of which
00:15:25
fuse together during development.
00:15:29
By age 25, most of this fusing is complete,
00:15:33
leaving the typical body with 206 separate, calcified bones.
00:15:39
Because Janai was only 21, the three
00:15:42
separate sections of her hyoid had not yet joined together.
00:15:46
This means that her un-fused hyoid
00:15:49
would simply flex under the pressure of strangulation.
00:15:52
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:15:54
This finding renders it impossible for Dr. Murad
00:15:56
to make a conclusion about Janai being strangled.
00:16:00
TURHON MURAD: Because the hyoid hadn't fused yet,
00:16:02
I could not suggest that she had died from manual strangulation
00:16:06
because it wasn't broken.
00:16:08
NARRATOR: With Dr. Murad unable to prove strangulation,
00:16:11
the investigation remains at square one.
00:16:14
There is still no evidence to charge
00:16:16
Janai's husband with murder.
00:16:18
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:16:21
Coming up-- Dr. Murad finds a final clue.
00:16:25
But is it enough to see justice done?
00:16:28
TURHON MURAD: We know she died, and we know
00:16:30
that it was something unusual.
00:16:32
And we had to look for anything at all that might point out
00:16:35
what that cause may have been.
00:16:37
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:16:39
NARRATOR: And later, a gunshot and a fire
00:16:42
may add up to murder.
00:16:44
But can Dr. Murray make them add up to justice?
00:16:47
To me, it doesn't matter who you are or what you did.
00:16:51
You don't deserve to go down like that.
00:16:54
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:17:06
NARRATOR: 21-year-old Janai Jackson is dead,
00:17:11
and police are convinced she was killed
00:17:12
by her husband, Jason Scharf.
00:17:15
But so far, Dr. Murad's exam hasn't turned up anything
00:17:19
to indicate a cause of death, much less, a means of homicide.
00:17:24
Without proof of murder, investigators hands are tied.
00:17:27
And Janai's mother, who also believes
00:17:30
her son-in-law is guilty, is losing hope
00:17:32
that justice will ever be done.
00:17:35
SYLVIA JACKSON: She had just turned 21 when she got killed.
00:17:39
I had never thought I would ever lose Janai.
00:17:43
That was my baby.
00:17:45
And then they gonna let this man walk free,
00:17:48
and my daughter will never see the light, ever again.
00:17:51
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:17:54
NARRATOR: Dr. Murad himself is losing hope, until he discovers
00:17:58
a small bone that should be connected
00:18:00
to the base of Janai's skull.
00:18:03
It's her left styloid process, one
00:18:06
of a pair of long, thin bones that protrude
00:18:08
downward from the skull.
00:18:11
TURHON MURAD: Here we have a skull with both styloid
00:18:13
processes, the left and the right,
00:18:15
attached, just as they are in most normal individuals.
00:18:20
NARRATOR: On Janai's skull, her left styloid process is broken.
00:18:24
Like the hyoid, the styloid process is delicate.
00:18:27
But it's deeply shrouded in muscle and ligament,
00:18:30
making it a hard bone to break.
00:18:32
It would take a very powerful blow to fracture it.
00:18:35
A hard blow to a sensitive part of the neck.
00:18:38
TURHON MURAD: I'm right-handed.
00:18:39
I come up and swing, and hit you in the left side of the neck.
00:18:42
Probably broke the styloid process in doing that.
00:18:45
Styloid process would have caused some bleeding, probably
00:18:48
some swelling in her neck.
00:18:50
NARRATOR: Dr. Murad knows that the swelling from such a blow
00:18:52
could easily lead to asphyxiation.
00:18:56
This finding strongly suggests that Janai
00:18:58
was struck violently on the side of the neck,
00:19:00
and died because of it.
00:19:03
TOM HOAGLAND: He sparked an interest in us,
00:19:05
in telling us that it would take a severe blow
00:19:07
to damage the styloid process.
00:19:10
NARRATOR: But police still have no hard evidence linking
00:19:12
Jason to his wife's murder.
00:19:15
They need a confession.
00:19:17
And they hope that Dr. Murad's new discovery
00:19:19
will be the key to getting one.
00:19:21
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:19:25
Investigators tracked Jason down again,
00:19:28
this time in Southern California.
00:19:31
TOM HOAGLAND: He basically had set up a whole new life.
00:19:34
He was living down there with his young child.
00:19:36
Had a fiance.
00:19:38
NARRATOR: The investigators' plan is simple--
00:19:41
confront him with Dr. Murad's findings
00:19:43
and try to provoke a full confession.
00:19:47
But it's a gamble.
00:19:49
If Dr. Murad's theory is wrong, the plan could backfire.
00:19:53
Jason would go free, and there would be no justice for Janai.
00:19:58
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:20:00
TURHON MURAD: They now confront him with the fact
00:20:03
that they have evidence of a broken
00:20:04
styloid process in the her left side of her neck.
00:20:11
Perpetrators don't know what can be found.
00:20:14
And the fact that something-- in this case, so very minor--
00:20:17
might be found, he got a little concerned, I'm certain.
00:20:20
He began to think, my gosh.
00:20:22
There's evidence here.
00:20:25
NARRATOR: Hearing the forensic evidence laid out step-by-step,
00:20:29
Jason finally breaks his silence.
00:20:32
TOM HOAGLAND: He knew that he couldn't
00:20:34
go on living like this.
00:20:36
He had told all of his family and friends
00:20:38
that she had just left him, and left the baby and everything.
00:20:42
And I don't think too many people were buying that.
00:20:47
It was like getting the weight of the world off his shoulders.
00:20:51
NARRATOR: Confronted with Dr. Murad's evidence, no longer
00:20:54
able to lie to investigators, Jason confesses
00:20:58
to the murder of his wife.
00:21:02
Investigators are now able to piece
00:21:03
together what happened to Janai Jackson
00:21:06
during her final moments.
00:21:08
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:21:14
It's 10:00 PM on the evening of June 11th, 1997.
00:21:18
Jason Scharf and Janai Jackson are arguing again.
00:21:23
Janai tells her husband she's going to leave him.
00:21:25
[ARGUING]
00:21:27
Enraged, Jason lashes out.
00:21:30
[BABY CRYING]
00:21:32
TOM HOAGLAND: At 6' 4", 290 pounds,
00:21:35
he could really throw a blow.
00:21:36
He just said, one blow with a clenched fist
00:21:38
and she immediately went to the ground.
00:21:40
TURHON MURAD: It only takes an immediate five pound blow,
00:21:43
a real chop to the neck, and it could
00:21:46
cause enough swelling for a person to die from asphyxia.
00:21:49
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:21:52
NARRATOR: This is the blow that breaks the styloid process
00:21:55
and causes her throat to swell.
00:21:57
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:22:00
TURHON MURAD: If there is enough swelling in the throat,
00:22:02
it could cut off the windpipe, the trachea.
00:22:05
And it only takes a few minutes from a lack of oxygen
00:22:08
to the brain for someone to die.
00:22:11
I think that that's what happened.
00:22:12
She died from asphyxia, as a result of these organs
00:22:15
in her throat being swollen to the degree
00:22:18
that she couldn't breathe.
00:22:20
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:22:23
NARRATOR: Then the grim realization
00:22:24
of what he's done sinks in.
00:22:28
TOM HOAGLAND: He notices she had stopped breathing,
00:22:30
and basically said that he had freaked out
00:22:32
and he didn't know what to do.
00:22:34
And then he realized he had to get rid of his wife's body.
00:22:38
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:22:41
NARRATOR: But Jason maintains that what happened
00:22:43
was a terrible accident.
00:22:45
On April 5th, 2000, he's convicted
00:22:47
of voluntary manslaughter and receives an 11 year sentence.
00:22:51
TURHON MURAD: It wasn't intended, he says.
00:22:53
But it was a result of this argument that they had.
00:22:56
Well, it's hard to prove intent.
00:22:58
He's now convicted himself, essentially.
00:23:00
But it's a manslaughter and not murder.
00:23:03
SYLVIA JACKSON: I think it's unfair that Jason is going
00:23:05
to be out of prison in 11 years, walking this earth,
00:23:09
and my daughter will never see the world again.
00:23:12
I think he should have life imprisonment for taking a life.
00:23:16
TURHON MURAD: Families have every right to think
00:23:18
that their son or daughter is going to grow up and make them
00:23:21
grandparents.
00:23:22
They have a whole life to look forward to.
00:23:23
And then they're killed for stupid reasons, reasons
00:23:27
that nobody can understand.
00:23:30
Someone's life cut short.
00:23:32
And not only what the perpetrator
00:23:34
did, and the sadness to the family,
00:23:36
but I felt sad because of what I had to do to her
00:23:40
in order to examine her bones.
00:23:42
That is, I buried her and I dug her up.
00:23:45
OK?
00:23:46
But it had to be done.
00:23:48
NARRATOR: Despite the voluntary manslaughter charge,
00:23:52
Janai Jackson's mother is grateful.
00:23:56
SYLVIA JACKSON: Once the anthropologist did all
00:23:58
his thorough investigation, and tested her and gave out
00:24:04
all the evidence, then they went and picked
00:24:07
up Jason and arrested him.
00:24:10
[THUNDER]
00:24:12
It brought me satisfaction that he
00:24:16
tested her and found out exactly Jason
00:24:19
was the one who murdered her.
00:24:21
He eventually got it.
00:24:23
TURHON MURAD: That's the only satisfaction
00:24:24
sometimes you ever get.
00:24:26
If no one's-- if nobody had been prosecuted,
00:24:29
and no perpetrator had been discovered,
00:24:33
I could still take satisfaction in knowing
00:24:36
that we helped identify her.
00:24:39
She was cared for.
00:24:41
She still thought of.
00:24:43
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:24:51
NARRATOR: Coming up-- could Dr. Beth Murray outwit a killer?
00:24:55
We had many other law enforcement
00:24:57
officers and agencies that said this couldn't be solved.
00:25:00
The media made comments that this couldn't be solved.
00:25:02
We felt like the deck was stacked against us.
00:25:05
NARRATOR: That's next, on "Skeleton Stories."
00:25:09
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:25:27
[MUFFLED VOICES]
00:25:47
It's Halloween.
00:25:49
And for the late fall, it's unseasonably
00:25:51
warm in this Southern West Virginia town.
00:25:53
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:25:55
Early in the afternoon, a couple is
00:25:57
taking advantage of the weather, to indulge
00:26:00
in a favorite hobby--
00:26:01
bird watching.
00:26:03
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:26:06
But their outing is about to be cut
00:26:08
short by a grisly discovery.
00:26:12
Winding through a stretch of brush,
00:26:13
they stumbled upon what at first looks like a burnt log.
00:26:18
Oh, my gosh.
00:26:19
NARRATOR: But on closer inspection,
00:26:21
the couple realized that this is no piece of wood.
00:26:25
It's the charred remains of a human being--
00:26:29
or what's left of one.
00:26:31
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:26:35
Horrified, the birdwatchers quickly cut through the woods
00:26:38
to a nearby highway and flag down a passing police patrol.
00:26:41
MIKE CRAFT: It was one of the most
00:26:43
gruesome sights I've ever seen.
00:26:44
Instantly, we knew it was human.
00:26:47
MELINA SMITH: This body had no head, no arms
00:26:49
from below the elbow down.
00:26:50
And it was burnt, badly burnt.
00:26:52
JEFF RIEGERT: You're talking about someone
00:26:53
who had been set on fire.
00:26:55
So you're just looking at a charred lump.
00:27:00
MIKE CRAFT: So we knew that we had a very, very
00:27:01
gruesome scene on our hands.
00:27:03
And no doubt, a homicide to deal with.
00:27:06
NARRATOR: As with any suspected homicide,
00:27:08
Lieutenant Mike Craft and his team of detectives
00:27:10
will be charged with bringing the killers to justice.
00:27:13
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:27:15
But the investigation can go no further, until they uncover one
00:27:19
critical piece of information--
00:27:22
the victim's identity.
00:27:26
Who is this?
00:27:27
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:27:30
MIKE CRAFT: When you run into a gruesome crime scene like that,
00:27:33
you immediately realize that you're
00:27:35
never going to solve the crime if you
00:27:37
don't know who the victim is.
00:27:41
And identifying a victim that's body
00:27:43
was in that kind of condition was
00:27:45
going to be nearly impossible.
00:27:47
So it became obvious to us that we
00:27:49
needed a forensic specialist to come on board with us,
00:27:52
and help us.
00:27:54
NARRATOR: That forensic anthropologist
00:27:55
is Dr. Beth Murray.
00:27:58
BETH MURRAY: It's my job to find out who this person was,
00:28:02
or the kinds of things that happened to them
00:28:04
that might have caused their death.
00:28:07
My job is to figure out who and how.
00:28:11
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:28:16
JEFF RIEGERT: We had nothing.
00:28:17
We had a torso.
00:28:18
That's all we had.
00:28:19
And we knew she would just be invaluable in this case.
00:28:23
NARRATOR: Dr. Murray's first task is to observe the autopsy.
00:28:27
BETH MURRAY: I arrive at the morgue,
00:28:29
and the room is filled with people.
00:28:31
There were fire marshals.
00:28:32
There were investigators, police officers.
00:28:35
The coroner was there, along with the pathologist.
00:28:38
And they were waiting for me to arrive there
00:28:41
because they were going to do an autopsy on the torso,
00:28:44
once I arrived.
00:28:45
NARRATOR: Before the autopsy even begins,
00:28:48
the team makes a key determination from x-rays
00:28:50
of the charred remains.
00:28:52
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:28:54
BETH MURRAY: There was clearly a bullet, a projectile,
00:28:56
in the chest.
00:28:57
The projectile was seen to pierce the aorta.
00:29:02
And that would have probably resulted in the cause
00:29:04
of death in this case.
00:29:06
NARRATOR: But it's obvious that this body has suffered
00:29:08
far more than a simple gunshot.
00:29:11
BETH MURRAY: The torso was burned.
00:29:12
There was no head, no arms from mid-forearm down,
00:29:16
and no lower limbs.
00:29:19
NARRATOR: These perpetrators have gone to extreme lengths
00:29:21
to hide the victim's identity.
00:29:22
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:29:25
They dragged the body to a remote, isolated location.
00:29:30
They removed the hands, feet, and head.
00:29:34
And they set the body on fire, to burn away
00:29:38
the last traces of humanity.
00:29:40
[FIRE SOUNDS]
00:29:43
And Dr. Murray has a good idea why the body
00:29:45
is in such a horrific state.
00:29:47
BETH MURRAY: When you see these repeated attempts to disfigure
00:29:50
or disguise the identity of a victim,
00:29:53
It usually means that once that victim's identity is known,
00:29:57
that's going to link you right back to these perpetrators.
00:30:00
NARRATOR: Now she's determined to outwit the killers who so
00:30:03
cruelly mutilated this victim.
00:30:04
BETH MURRAY: When you have a situation where someone was
00:30:07
shot, they were burned, they were dismembered,
00:30:13
to me, it doesn't matter who you are or what you did.
00:30:17
You don't deserve to go down like that.
00:30:20
NARRATOR: To shine a light into the shadows
00:30:22
where the killers are hiding, Dr. Murray
00:30:24
is going to have to quickly provide police with the answers
00:30:27
they need.
00:30:28
And they need plenty.
00:30:30
MIKE CRAFT: I want Beth to give me the very basics.
00:30:33
Do we have a male or female?
00:30:34
What race is this individual?
00:30:36
How tall are they, an approximate weight.
00:30:38
Because all of these elements are
00:30:40
critical to our investigation.
00:30:42
NARRATOR: Only after the police have these basics,
00:30:44
known as a biological profile, can they compare the victim
00:30:48
to reports of missing persons.
00:30:50
MELINA SMITH: You can't just go out and randomly
00:30:52
talk to people, and say, hey, I believe you killed a person.
00:30:54
Having that person IDed is the most important thing.
00:30:57
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:31:03
NARRATOR: Despite the grotesque charring of the body's surface,
00:31:06
the killers did not succeed in destroying
00:31:08
all traces of their victim.
00:31:09
BETH MURRAY: An adult human body is about 70% water.
00:31:13
And most people don't realize that that's like trying
00:31:16
to set fire to a swimming pool.
00:31:18
You're going to have to use a lot of accelerant,
00:31:20
a lot of chemicals, to try to get that burning process going.
00:31:25
What they didn't realize was it flash-chars the outside,
00:31:30
but the inside is not burned.
00:31:34
NARRATOR: A few incisions during the autopsy solved the mystery
00:31:37
of the body's gender.
00:31:38
BETH MURRAY: The internal organs were all in place--
00:31:40
heart, lungs, stomach.
00:31:42
And that examination revealed a prostate gland
00:31:45
and other internal male organs that
00:31:48
made it unquestionable that this torso was that of a male.
00:31:52
NARRATOR: On a piece of remaining skin,
00:31:54
Dr. Murray discovers another distinguishing characteristic
00:31:57
the killer has failed to erase.
00:31:59
BETH MURRAY: Some very dark, very curly hairs.
00:32:04
The kind of hairs that might be expected on the body
00:32:07
of an African-American male.
00:32:08
NARRATOR: Next, Dr. Murray focuses
00:32:11
on what she knowsw best--
00:32:13
bones-- to try to determine the victim's
00:32:15
age, height, and weight.
00:32:18
BETH MURRAY: I have to extract the bones from the soft tissue
00:32:21
so I can use them in my measurements.
00:32:23
And that involves simply dissecting them out of whatever
00:32:26
soft tissue remains.
00:32:29
NARRATOR: She then takes the bones back to her laboratory
00:32:31
at the College of Mount St. Joseph.
00:32:34
But before she can examine them closely, she must macerate--
00:32:38
or clean-- the bones.
00:32:39
BETH MURRAY: Processing them with heat
00:32:41
and different chemical solutions in order
00:32:43
to remove all the flesh.
00:32:45
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:32:47
NARRATOR: The next day, Dr. Murray
00:32:49
is ready to begin her biological profile from the few bones
00:32:51
available.
00:32:52
BETH MURRAY: OK.
00:32:53
Wow, that really processed up well.
00:32:56
OK, I will measure the humerus.
00:32:59
Do you want to record the numbers for me?
00:33:01
NARRATOR: The humerus, the upper arm bone,
00:33:04
offers clues about a person's height.
00:33:06
BETH MURRAY: Its proportion tells
00:33:07
me something about how tall the rest of that person's body was.
00:33:12
NARRATOR: The length of this humerus
00:33:14
indicates an overall height of less than six feet.
00:33:18
Next, Dr. Murray tackles the victim's age.
00:33:21
Here, an essential benchmark is found in the pelvis, which
00:33:24
is worn down in a predictable way,
00:33:27
by year after year of constant walking.
00:33:29
BETH MURRAY: And so, I can look at the face
00:33:31
of his pubic symphysis and compare it to models
00:33:35
of individuals of known age.
00:33:37
And it should give me some ballpark as to how old he
00:33:40
might have been when he died.
00:33:42
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:33:44
NARRATOR: Despite the killer's drastic efforts
00:33:46
to disfigure the corpse, they couldn't conceal their victim's
00:33:50
profile from Dr. Murray.
00:33:52
Just three days after taking on the case,
00:33:55
she gives detectives a general description.
00:33:58
BETH MURRAY: I can tell from the bones
00:34:00
that I removed from the torso that this man
00:34:04
was probably African-American.
00:34:07
He was probably somewhere in the range of 30 to 50 when he died.
00:34:12
And he stood about 5'6" to 5'10".
00:34:15
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:34:17
MIKE CRAFT: We do search for missing persons
00:34:20
that match the characteristics that Beth provided us with.
00:34:23
Then we released that information in case somebody
00:34:26
has a loved one or a friend that's missing,
00:34:28
that meets those characteristics.
00:34:30
NARRATOR: Dr. Murray's description of the dead man
00:34:32
quickly strikes a nerve in one of the local, inner city
00:34:35
neighborhoods.
00:34:36
JEFF RIEGERT: Once the word got out,
00:34:37
then the street started talking to us.
00:34:40
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:34:42
NARRATOR: Coming up, police discover who the victim is.
00:34:47
And Dr. Murray digs deeper in the evidence to pinpoint
00:34:51
exactly what happened to him.
00:34:52
BETH MURRAY: You could see the unburned bones.
00:34:55
That helped establish the sequence.
00:34:57
The burning came before the dismemberment.
00:35:00
NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
00:35:03
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:35:17
When a charred and headless human body is discovered
00:35:20
in a field in southern West Virginia,
00:35:23
it seems at first like an unsolvable crime.
00:35:25
MIKE CRAFT: We had many other law
00:35:27
enforcement officers and agencies that
00:35:29
said this couldn't be solved.
00:35:30
The media made comments that this couldn't be solved.
00:35:33
We felt like the deck was stacked against us.
00:35:36
NARRATOR: Within days of taking on the case,
00:35:38
forensic anthropologist Dr. Beth Murray
00:35:41
has provided investigators with a profile of the victim.
00:35:44
BETH MURRAY: Hopefully, knowing the man's age, his sex,
00:35:48
his ethnicity, his stature, will let them narrow
00:35:52
the missing persons out there.
00:35:54
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:35:57
NARRATOR: When police make the victim's profile public,
00:36:00
they begin to hear the same name again and again.
00:36:03
MIKE CRAFT: The old saying is, that area
00:36:05
of town, the streets talk.
00:36:07
And they really do talk, if you'll take the time
00:36:09
and listen to what they have to say.
00:36:11
NARRATOR: The name is Brandon Richards,
00:36:14
a 35-year-old African-American man
00:36:16
and alleged local drug dealer.
00:36:19
Detectives quickly contact his sister, Cassandra Taylor.
00:36:23
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: They discovered
00:36:24
a torso in the field, that they had a suspicion
00:36:28
that was my brother.
00:36:29
NARRATOR: But the only way to prove for certain
00:36:31
that the torso belongs to Brandon
00:36:34
is to compare the DNA from the charred remains
00:36:37
with a sample from his sister.
00:36:40
Despite the condition of the corpse,
00:36:43
technicians can easily extract DNA from the remaining bone.
00:36:46
MELINA SMITH: Once we believed that the victim was
00:36:48
a certain person and we contacted his family members,
00:36:52
they willingly agreed to give us samples of DNA.
00:36:55
NARRATOR: When the final results come back from the lab,
00:36:58
Cassandra's worst fear is realized.
00:37:02
The charred body is her brother.
00:37:05
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: I still really can't believe it
00:37:06
because I didn't see his body or anything after the fact,
00:37:09
because of what they did to him.
00:37:13
NARRATOR: As Cassandra and her family grieve,
00:37:16
police swing into action.
00:37:17
MIKE CRAFT: Now we're ready to move.
00:37:19
And now it's time to find out who's responsible.
00:37:22
NARRATOR: Once again, the detectives go to the streets.
00:37:25
This time, to uncover the story of Brandon Richards.
00:37:28
JEFF RIEGERT: By getting to know that person,
00:37:29
you're going to find out what happened to that person.
00:37:31
We learned all about him.
00:37:34
It's almost like we knew him.
00:37:36
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: Everybody knew him in the neighborhood cuz he
00:37:38
just got along with everybody.
00:37:39
He was a people person.
00:37:42
NARRATOR: As a youngster, Brandon
00:37:43
was good natured and popular.
00:37:45
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: And anybody who know him,
00:37:48
he was a sweet person.
00:37:50
He would give you his last dollar, if you needed it.
00:37:52
That's the type of person he was.
00:37:55
NARRATOR: But in his 20s, Brandon's life
00:37:58
took a dark turn.
00:37:59
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: He got mixed up in drugs and stuff.
00:38:02
That's when his life turned around.
00:38:04
He got with the wrong crowd and couldn't get out of it.
00:38:06
NARRATOR: According to friends, Brandon had recently
00:38:09
begun working for three childhood friends
00:38:11
who were local drug dealers.
00:38:13
And based on information they're gathering,
00:38:15
investigators are beginning to suspect
00:38:17
that these supposed friends are the ones who murdered Brandon.
00:38:20
MELINA SMITH: We did countless interviews,
00:38:22
but they all pointed in the same direction.
00:38:24
NARRATOR: Police obtain a warrant to search
00:38:26
the suspect's apartment.
00:38:28
There, they find a vital piece of evidence--
00:38:31
a fragment of a bullet, buried beneath the floor, that matches
00:38:34
the slug pulled out of Brandon's scorched chest
00:38:37
during his autopsy.
00:38:40
Police immediately take the three suspects
00:38:42
into custody for questioning.
00:38:45
JEFF RIEGERT: You've got three suspects.
00:38:46
They're separated.
00:38:47
You've got three different stories.
00:38:48
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:38:51
NARRATOR: But getting them to confess
00:38:53
will be close to impossible
00:38:54
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:38:57
MELINA SMITH: They don't want you to know
00:38:58
their deepest, darkest secrets.
00:39:00
Like, yeah, I smashed that skull in with that axe.
00:39:02
Or yeah, I'm the one that set that body on fire.
00:39:05
Or, hey, I'm the one that come back later
00:39:06
and cut those arms off.
00:39:07
They don't want to tell you that.
00:39:09
NARRATOR: So the police plan to interview them separately,
00:39:12
and convince each one of them that the other two had
00:39:14
betrayed him.
00:39:16
To do that, they'll need information--
00:39:19
facts about the crime only the perpetrators would know.
00:39:22
And that's where forensic anthropologist,
00:39:24
Dr. Beth Murray, comes back into the picture.
00:39:28
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:39:32
BETH MURRAY: OK.
00:39:33
All right, here.
00:39:34
Let's see.
00:39:35
NARRATOR: To determine the order of events surrounding Brandon's
00:39:37
murder and mutilation, Dr. Murray first examine the skull
00:39:41
fragments found near the body.
00:39:43
BETH MURRAY: Within those burned pieces,
00:39:45
I also saw some unburned pieces of skull fragment.
00:39:49
And I began to look at those and question
00:39:53
why you would have burned and unburned pieces together
00:39:56
from the same individual.
00:39:58
NARRATOR: The unscorched fragments strongly
00:40:01
suggest that the skull was at least
00:40:03
partly damaged before the killer set fire to Brandon's body.
00:40:07
BETH MURRAY: I assume that the perpetrators attempted
00:40:10
to disfigure or dismantle the skull with a sharp object
00:40:14
before they decided to burn it.
00:40:17
NARRATOR: Dr. Murray also confirms that the fire did not
00:40:21
char the stumps of tissue where the legs
00:40:23
and arms were chopped off.
00:40:25
BETH MURRAY: The entire surface of the torso
00:40:28
was completely charred.
00:40:29
But you could see the pink meat on the inside of the cut ends.
00:40:33
You could see the unburned bones.
00:40:36
NARRATOR: To Dr. Murray's trained eye,
00:40:38
this is another vital clue to what the killers
00:40:40
did to Brandon's body.
00:40:42
And in what order.
00:40:44
BETH MURRAY: That helped establish the sequence,
00:40:47
that the burning came before the dismemberment.
00:40:50
NARRATOR: Dr. Murray believes the killers
00:40:52
made one final effort to hide Brandon's identity--
00:40:56
chopping off his head after the burning.
00:41:00
That's what left behind the burned skull fragments.
00:41:03
Now Dr. Murray can offer the police
00:41:05
a solid sequence of events.
00:41:08
After being shot and killed, Brandon
00:41:10
was brought to the dump site.
00:41:12
First, the killers mutilated his head.
00:41:16
Then they set fire to his body.
00:41:18
Sometime after that, they returned
00:41:20
and cut off his hands, feet, and what remained of his head.
00:41:25
MELINA SMITH: We needed that information when we were
00:41:26
questioning these suspects.
00:41:28
And that helped out a great deal in determining who was telling
00:41:31
the truth and who was not.
00:41:32
Because we knew what had transpired.
00:41:34
NARRATOR: But knowing is not enough.
00:41:37
Police need confessions from these men.
00:41:40
And all they have to squeeze them with
00:41:42
is Dr. Murray's report.
00:41:44
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:41:48
Coming up, investigators gamble that Dr. Murray's findings
00:41:52
will help them close the book on the murder of Brandon Richards.
00:41:56
When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
00:42:00
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:42:14
November, 2001.
00:42:17
After finding the charred and dismembered body of Brandon
00:42:20
Richards in a local field, detectives
00:42:22
are planning to trick the three suspects into turning
00:42:25
on each other by confronting them separately
00:42:28
with Dr. Murray's findings.
00:42:30
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:42:35
By closely studying Brandon's corpse,
00:42:38
Dr. Murray has figured out exactly what his killers
00:42:41
did to him, and in what order.
00:42:43
BETH MURRAY: This is what happened first.
00:42:46
This is what happened second.
00:42:49
This is what happened next.
00:42:51
And that's what I did in this case.
00:42:53
And my ability to sequence those traumatic events
00:42:56
was leverage that law enforcement could use
00:42:58
to get these guys to confess.
00:43:00
JEFF RIEGERT: We pretty much put our plate out and said,
00:43:02
here's what we've got.
00:43:04
Your story is not matching.
00:43:05
NARRATOR: Over the next five hours,
00:43:07
the detectives move from suspect to suspect, drawing on details
00:43:11
provided by Dr. Murray.
00:43:13
JEFF RIEGERT: That information that she gave us, of the bone
00:43:15
fragments, you put that in front of them
00:43:19
and that knocks their story out of the water.
00:43:21
MELINA SMITH: So then we know when interviewing the suspects,
00:43:23
who's telling the truth and who isn't.
00:43:25
JEFF RIEGERT: But eventually, putting the evidence in front
00:43:27
of their face and saying, what you're telling me is
00:43:29
not true, then they break down.
00:43:32
And when they see the evidence, when they see you've got it,
00:43:34
when they see that, OK, you've got me,
00:43:38
then honesty starts coming out.
00:43:39
BETH MURRAY: I eventually got a phone call
00:43:41
from one of the investigators that says they're starting
00:43:44
to turn on one another.
00:43:46
NARRATOR: After eight weeks of investigation,
00:43:48
police finally obtain what they need--
00:43:50
firsthand confessions.
00:43:52
Now Dr. Murray and the investigative team
00:43:55
can replay the chain of events that
00:43:58
led directly to Brandon Richards'
00:43:59
murder and mutilation.
00:44:01
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:44:09
It's October of 2001.
00:44:12
Brandon is a frequent visitor to a shabby duplex
00:44:16
where three of his childhood friends run a drug business.
00:44:19
MELINA SMITH: It was quite frequent for him
00:44:21
to go there and obtain his supply of drugs,
00:44:23
to go back out on the street and sell.
00:44:26
NARRATOR: On October 16th, when Brandon turns his earnings
00:44:29
over to his supplier friends--
00:44:31
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:44:34
--they accuse him of skimming off some
00:44:36
of the profits for himself.
00:44:40
The argument quickly turns violent.
00:44:43
The three roommates over-power Brandon, tying his hands
00:44:46
and feet with duct tape.
00:44:50
As he lies on the kitchen floor, they beat him to show him
00:44:55
they mean business.
00:44:56
Then, one of them starts waving a handgun.
00:45:01
JEFF RIEGERT: It just escalated to the point
00:45:04
where he was trying scare him with a gun.
00:45:06
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:45:10
And then he shot the victim in the chest.
00:45:14
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:45:17
[GUNSHOT]
00:45:19
NARRATOR: Brandon dies within seconds, his aorta
00:45:21
punctured by the bullet.
00:45:24
The killers leave his body on the floor.
00:45:26
JEFF RIEGERT: My suspects tell me that they would actually
00:45:28
walk over him to go make breakfast,
00:45:31
for two days, until they finally came to the conclusion,
00:45:34
we need to get rid of it.
00:45:35
What are we going to do?
00:45:36
MELINA SMITH: How do we get rid of this body?
00:45:38
It wasn't a person anymore.
00:45:39
It was a body.
00:45:41
NARRATOR: The killers wrap Brandon in a tarp,
00:45:46
load him into a car, and drive to a remote field.
00:45:51
[MUFFLED CHATTER]
00:45:59
There, they bludgeoned his jaw in hopes
00:46:02
of destroying any dental evidence that could
00:46:04
be used in identifying him.
00:46:07
They then drench his body in gasoline--
00:46:10
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:46:15
--set it on fire, and leave.
00:46:19
JEFF RIEGERT: They come back the next day.
00:46:21
One of them gets out and goes up to the body,
00:46:23
and comes running back and says, you can still tell who it is.
00:46:25
They knew.
00:46:26
They knew that if they found out who this was,
00:46:29
everybody was going to be pointing at them.
00:46:32
They go back and they get additional equipment
00:46:34
they need--
00:46:35
trash bags, what they thought they
00:46:37
were going to need to remove the arms, the head, and the legs.
00:46:41
MIKE CRAFT: It's barbaric.
00:46:42
I mean, it's not human.
00:46:44
What happened in this crime, normal people do not do.
00:46:48
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:46:50
NARRATOR: Each step took place as Dr. Murray speculated.
00:46:55
BETH MURRAY: It's very gratifying
00:46:56
to see that your observations not only made sense to you,
00:47:00
but they were accurate.
00:47:02
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:47:07
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: Any time they went to court, I was there,
00:47:09
every single time.
00:47:10
It was difficult to hear the things that they did to him.
00:47:13
His body laid there for two or three days.
00:47:15
And people walked over his body to buy crack.
00:47:18
That was hard for me to hear.
00:47:23
MIKE CRAFT: She was at every trial, every hearing.
00:47:26
Even the ones that there was no reason for her to be at.
00:47:28
She took off work and she was sitting in the audience.
00:47:31
That was a sister that loved her brother.
00:47:34
She didn't always agree with what her brother did,
00:47:36
but she never stopped loving him.
00:47:39
[MUSIC PLAYING]
00:47:42
CASSANDRA TAYLOR: I would say he had a rough life,
00:47:45
and he got mixed up with the wrong crowd
00:47:47
and got mixed up in the drugs.
00:47:48
But he was still my mother's son.
00:47:51
He was still my brother.
00:47:54
NARRATOR: Two of the suspects plead guilty.
00:47:57
The first to tampering with evidence
00:47:59
and gross abuse of a corpse.
00:48:01
The second pleads guilty to murder
00:48:04
and receives a total sentence of 20 years to life.
00:48:07
The third man is found guilty at trial
00:48:10
of tampering with evidence and gross abuse of a corpse.
00:48:15
For detectives and prosecutors, it's
00:48:17
a triumph, a victory which they credit in large measure
00:48:21
to Dr. Murray's forensic work.
00:48:24
MIKE CRAFT: Beth gives us tools to do our job.
00:48:26
And they're critical tools.
00:48:28
And I just can't say enough good things about her passion,
00:48:31
her heart, or her ability to do this job.
00:48:35
BETH MURRAY: It came to my understanding
00:48:37
that Brandon Richards was a drug dealer.
00:48:40
You know, there might be a tendency on some people's parts
00:48:43
to say, oh, well.
00:48:44
You know, who cares?
00:48:45
Or even worse, he deserved it.
00:48:47
But he was somebody's lost son.
00:48:51
[MUSIC PLAYING]
