00:00:04
[music playing]
00:00:07
NARRATOR: Early Monday
morning on October 19, 1992,
00:00:11
23-year-old Laura Houghteling
was seen leaving her Bethesda,
00:00:15
Maryland home, walking
to the train station
00:00:19
on her way to work.
00:00:21
She never arrived.
00:00:27
A clue to her disappearance
was a peculiar strand of hair
00:00:32
found in her hair brush.
00:00:37
[music playing]
00:01:02
Laura Houghteling was
an ambitious young woman
00:01:04
with a bright future.
00:01:06
She had recently graduated
from Harvard University
00:01:09
and had moved back home
with her mother, Penny.
00:01:12
Laura worked for a public
relations firm in Washington DC
00:01:15
and was contemplating
law school.
00:01:18
[trumpet playing]
00:01:22
ANNOUNCER: Flag is
up, and away they go.
00:01:23
NARRATOR: On the Saturday
before she disappeared,
00:01:26
Laura attended the
Gold Cup Steeplechase
00:01:28
Horse Races in Virginia.
00:01:31
When Laura didn't
show up for work,
00:01:33
a co-worker called the house,
but there was no answer.
00:01:37
Laura's mother was out of
town on a business trip.
00:01:40
Next, Laura's brother
Warren was called.
00:01:42
He lived nearby.
00:01:44
When he arrived at
the house, he found
00:01:47
that the back door was
unlocked, but there
00:01:50
was nothing missing inside.
00:01:52
As time went on, nobody
had heard from Lauren.
00:01:56
And this was just
totally, totally out
00:01:58
of character for her.
00:02:00
There was-- we checked
her bank account,
00:02:02
credit cards, checking account.
00:02:04
There was nothing there where
she had withdrawn money where--
00:02:09
that she would have needed
to survive somewhere else.
00:02:12
NARRATOR: Fliers with
Laura's photograph
00:02:14
were distributed at the
train station in the hope
00:02:17
that someone might
have seen her.
00:02:20
Police also searched the walk
in between the drain station
00:02:24
and Laura's home looking
for possible clues,
00:02:27
but found nothing.
00:02:30
When detectives searched
Laura's bedroom,
00:02:33
they noticed that a
fitted sheet and mattress
00:02:35
pad were missing from her bed.
00:02:38
Laura's mother said that
Laura always made her bed
00:02:41
before leaving for work.
00:02:43
Four days after Laura
Houghteling disappeared,
00:02:47
investigators made
a grim discovery
00:02:50
in the woods near Laura's
home at the base of a tree.
00:02:54
They found a bloody
pillow and pillowcase.
00:02:58
Immediately, I-- I recognized
the pattern on the pillowcase
00:03:02
was identical to
what I had remembered
00:03:04
had been on Laura Houghteling
bed a few days earlier.
00:03:08
NARRATOR: The blood
on the pillow case
00:03:09
was type A, Laura's blood type.
00:03:13
A police bloodhound,
named Sherlock,
00:03:16
was given some of
Laura's clothing
00:03:18
to establish her scent.
00:03:20
When Sherlock was
released from his cage,
00:03:23
he went directly to the
tree where police had
00:03:26
found the bloody pillowcase.
00:03:29
The bloodhound followed the
scent through a church parking
00:03:34
lot, through a residential area,
and straight to the back door
00:03:41
of Laura Houghteling's home.
00:03:43
The dog had a
very strong track
00:03:45
and actually ran the distance,
which indicated to us
00:03:49
that he was very, very
definitely on the scent
00:03:52
of Laura Houghteling.
00:03:54
NARRATOR: Police suspected foul
play, but they had no suspects.
00:04:00
We spoke to everyone that
we could that had seen Laura
00:04:05
or knew Laura within
the last year or two,
00:04:10
and no one could give
us any reason for anyone
00:04:14
to want to do any harm to her,
have any harm to come to her.
00:04:18
NARRATOR: But police wondered
why the bloodhound tracked
00:04:21
Laura's scent to her back
door when she was seen
00:04:24
leaving the front
door of her home
00:04:27
on the morning she disappeared.
00:04:33
Police suspected foul
play in the disappearance
00:04:36
of 23-year-old Laura
Houghteling when
00:04:38
a bloody pillow
from Laura's bedroom
00:04:41
was found in the
woods near her home.
00:04:45
To find out whether the blood
on the pillow belonged to Laura,
00:04:48
blood samples were taken
from Laura's mother,
00:04:50
Penny, and her brother, Warren.
00:04:54
Using a DNA test called
Restriction Fragment Length
00:04:58
Polymorphism, or
RFLP, scientists
00:05:02
concluded that the blood came
from a biological offspring
00:05:06
of Laura's mother,
Penny, and was
00:05:09
that of a biological sibling
of Laura's brother, Warren.
00:05:13
The blood on the pillow was
that of Laura Houghteling.
00:05:17
Next, scientists used
another illuminating test
00:05:21
on the mattress
to look for blood
00:05:23
that may have been cleaned
up with water or detergents.
00:05:27
Luminol is a chemical
compound that
00:05:30
reacts with the hemoglobin
component in blood,
00:05:33
causing it to glow in the dark.
00:05:36
And it works with
fairly minute traces.
00:05:38
And once this
begins to glow, you
00:05:42
can get a pretty
good idea of what
00:05:44
the-- the pattern of the blood
flow was on a particular area.
00:05:49
NARRATOR: This
demonstration shows a carpet
00:05:51
with a visible blood
stain, and next to it,
00:05:55
an invisible blood stain
that has been cleaned
00:05:58
with the water and detergent.
00:06:00
The tiles with X's are
targets used as reference
00:06:04
points in the dark.
00:06:07
When the luminol is
sprayed, within seconds,
00:06:11
the invisible blood stains glow.
00:06:14
After luminol was sprayed
on Laura's mattress,
00:06:18
an invisible blood
pattern emerged.
00:06:21
The left side of
the mattress was
00:06:24
giving us no response at all.
00:06:26
But when we started spraying
the right side of the mattress,
00:06:29
we were seeing areas of
very intense luminescence.
00:06:34
And this proceeded
from the headboard
00:06:35
all the way down to the
foot of the mattress.
00:06:38
NARRATOR: Next, forensic
scientists examined the hair
00:06:42
brush found on Laura's dresser.
00:06:45
They examined over 30 hairs,
presumably, Laura's hairs.
00:06:50
They were all microscopically
similar, except one.
00:06:55
So I was scanning through
several of the hairs
00:06:57
that I recovered from the
brush, and all of a sudden, one
00:07:00
that I looked at I realized
was not a human hair,
00:07:03
in fact, was a synthetic fiber.
00:07:06
NARRATOR: The fiber was
identified as a strand
00:07:09
of artificial hair from a wig.
00:07:12
Penny Houghteling told police
that her daughter never wore
00:07:15
a wig, and had never owned one.
00:07:17
So now that put greater
value on this particular piece
00:07:21
of evidence.
00:07:22
Why was a wig fiber
in that hairbrush
00:07:25
sitting on the dresser
from her bedroom?
00:07:28
NARRATOR: Forensic
examiner Susan
00:07:29
Ballou also examined the bloody
pillowcase found in the woods.
00:07:35
She noticed blood stains that
looked like the impression
00:07:38
of a knife, which had been
wiped on the pillowcase,
00:07:42
and another bloodstain
on the pillowcase
00:07:45
was different than the rest.
00:07:47
The ridges that
I was seeing was
00:07:49
different from the weave of
the fabric of the pillow case.
00:07:53
There were enough that
was consistent with what
00:07:55
I was familiar with with
leaving an impression behind.
00:07:59
NARRATOR: It appeared to
be some sort of print,
00:08:01
but lifting a print from
a fabric is difficult.
00:08:05
For a closer look,
scientists used a protein
00:08:08
stain called amido black.
00:08:11
Next, a wash
solution was applied,
00:08:14
followed by distilled water.
00:08:17
When the print on the
pillowcase was enhanced
00:08:20
by the amido black
stain, it was identified
00:08:23
as a partial thumb print.
00:08:26
We then sat down
with the family,
00:08:28
would have been
Laura's brother and--
00:08:30
and her mother, and
explained to her
00:08:34
that we felt that Laura
possibly may have been murdered
00:08:40
in the bedroom based
on the amount of blood
00:08:42
and based on the circumstances.
00:08:45
10 days after 24-year-old
Laura Houghteling disappeared
00:08:48
from her Bethesda
home, her family
00:08:50
tells reporters they believe
they know what happened to her.
00:08:54
She was first considered to
be a missing person, but now,
00:08:58
the high-tech equipment that
is now available to the police
00:09:04
have shown that she died here.
00:09:08
NARRATOR: Police now had
solid evidence that might
00:09:11
lead them to the murderer.
00:09:17
Although police suspected that
Laura Houghteling had been
00:09:20
murdered in her bedroom, they
were unable to find her body,
00:09:24
and had no solid leads.
00:09:26
Laura's brother, Warren,
told police of an incident
00:09:30
he had with a part-time gardener
who worked at his mother's
00:09:33
home, Hadden Clark.
00:09:37
The night after
Laura disappeared,
00:09:39
Warren was outside
his mother's home
00:09:41
and saw Hadden Clark driving
through the neighborhood.
00:09:43
Hadden.
00:09:45
NARRATOR: When he
attempted to speak
00:09:46
with Clark to ask him if he had
seen Laura, Clark sped away.
00:09:51
40-year-old Hadden Clark
was known to police because
00:09:55
of a past arrest for burglary.
00:09:57
A few years earlier,
Clark had also
00:10:00
been a suspect in
the investigation
00:10:02
of a missing young girl, a case
that has never been solved.
00:10:06
Clark was born with
brain damage and had
00:10:10
difficulty throughout his life.
00:10:12
He trained as a chef, but
had difficulty keeping jobs.
00:10:15
He was currently working as a
gardener and other odd jobs.
00:10:19
He was, at one time, in
the United States Navy,
00:10:22
and he was discharged
and diagnosed
00:10:25
as a paranoid schizophrenic.
00:10:27
NARRATOR: Clark was
basically homeless, often
00:10:29
sleeping in the back of
his truck, which he parked
00:10:32
in a church parking lot
not far from the woods
00:10:35
where the bloody
pillow had been found.
00:10:38
Clark got into an argument
with Penny Houghteling just
00:10:41
one week before
Laura disappeared
00:10:43
over some tools Penny said
were missing from her toolshed.
00:10:48
The Houghtelings also kept a
spare house key in the shed.
00:10:53
When police researched
Clark's financial records,
00:10:57
they learned that he
had purchased duct tape,
00:11:00
braided rope, and
nylon cord several days
00:11:04
before Laura's disappearance,
and paid for the items
00:11:07
with a personal check.
00:11:09
Investigators were
alarmed with what they saw
00:11:12
written in the memo section.
00:11:14
One word.
00:11:16
Laura.
00:11:18
On the day Laura
disappeared, Clark
00:11:21
purchased a queen-sized sheet
from a department store, a size
00:11:26
that was too large
for the mattress
00:11:27
in the back of his truck,
but was the same size
00:11:31
as Laura's mattress.
00:11:33
From Clark's financial
records, police also
00:11:37
learned that he rented a
storage locker in Warwick,
00:11:40
Rhode Island, 450 miles away.
00:11:44
An employee of the
storage unit told police
00:11:46
that Clark visited
his storage locker two
00:11:49
days after Laura disappeared.
00:11:52
Armed with a warrant, police
searched Clark's storage unit
00:11:56
and discovered a secret
side of Hadden Clark's life.
00:12:01
He had falsies that
he would place in bras.
00:12:04
Apparently, he had bras, he had
dresses, he had female shoes,
00:12:10
he had female coats, he had
wigs, everything that he could
00:12:15
wear and look like a female.
00:12:19
NARRATOR: Was it possible that
the individual seen leaving
00:12:22
the Houghteling's home
on the morning of Laura's
00:12:25
disappearance wasn't Laura
at all, but was, in fact,
00:12:30
Hadden Clark dressed as Laura?
00:12:33
Penny Houghteling told police
something about Laura's attire
00:12:37
that they hadn't heard before.
00:12:39
RICHARD FALLIN: Laura
never, ever wore slacks.
00:12:42
Laura was a tall girl and she
would wear skirts or dress.
00:12:47
She didn't want to accentuate
her height by wearing slacks.
00:12:50
So she never wore slacks.
00:12:52
Didn't own a pair of slacks.
00:12:54
NARRATOR: Fibers from all of the
wigs in Clark's storage locker
00:12:57
were compared to the wig fiber
found on Laura's hairbrush.
00:13:02
It's very easy to
remove some of these wigs
00:13:05
as being the contributor
just from color.
00:13:07
Very blonde or other colors
were not a possibility
00:13:10
since we were dealing
with a brown tone
00:13:13
as far as the dye goes
for this wig fiber.
00:13:16
Then, doing microscopic
exam narrowed it
00:13:19
down to one particular wig that
was identical in all respects
00:13:23
to this particular fiber.
00:13:25
NARRATOR: Hadden Clark's
wig and the fiber
00:13:28
from Laura's hairbrush
from her bedroom
00:13:31
were sent to the
Trace Evidence Unit
00:13:33
at the FBI laboratory
in Washington DC.
00:13:37
In their analysis,
they used what
00:13:39
is called a
microspectrophotometer,
00:13:43
an instrument that can
discern between the 7,000
00:13:47
commercial dyes used
in the United States.
00:13:50
MAX HOUCK: It takes
a beam of light
00:13:52
and runs it through an
object, such as a fiber,
00:13:55
and it measures the amount
of light that's lost as it
00:13:58
passes through that fiber.
00:14:00
Light is lost at different
wavelengths, wavelengths
00:14:03
relating to color,
so a dark brown fiber
00:14:08
will absorb more light
than a light brown fiber
00:14:12
and would absorb
different colors of light
00:14:15
than, say, a light blue fiber.
00:14:17
So we simply measure
those differences
00:14:20
and then plot that on a chart.
00:14:22
NARRATOR: Dyes are
proprietary and are
00:14:24
trademarked by the manufacturer
to protect against duplication.
00:14:29
The dye from the wig fiber
found in Laura's hairbrush.
00:14:33
Was identical to the fibers
from Hadden Clark's wig.
00:14:37
MAX HOUCK: It indicated
to us that they exhibited
00:14:39
the exact same color optically.
00:14:42
Therefore, the questioned
fiber is consistent with coming
00:14:44
from that wig that were
dyed to the same color,
00:14:47
the same industry
standard, and probably,
00:14:50
from the same dye lot.
00:14:52
NARRATOR: Finally, police
turned their attention
00:14:55
to the bloody thumbprint found
on the pillowcase in the woods.
00:14:59
When they compared it to
Hadden Clark's thumbprint,
00:15:03
it was a match.
00:15:05
Police now knew how Hadden
Clark fooled the neighbor
00:15:09
and left the crime scene
without creating suspicion.
00:15:14
But where had he
taken Laura's body?
00:15:22
Hadden Clark was
arrested and charged
00:15:24
with first degree murder in
the death of Laura Houghteling.
00:15:28
Although her body
had never been found,
00:15:31
prosecutors hoped that
they had enough evidence
00:15:33
to convince a jury that Laura
Houghteling was, in fact, dead,
00:15:37
and that Hadden Clark
was the murderer.
00:15:40
The first degree
murder trial was
00:15:42
set to begin on June 14, 1993,
but the trial never took place.
00:15:48
The defendant
in the Houghteling
00:15:50
case just pled guilty.
00:15:53
The plea was accepted.
00:15:55
The-- the plea was to
second degree murder.
00:16:00
NARRATOR: As part
of the plea bargain,
00:16:02
Clark revealed to prosecutors
where he had buried the body.
00:16:08
He led them to a shallow
grave less than half a mile
00:16:11
from Laura's home.
00:16:14
It had been eight
months since Laura
00:16:17
Houghteling's disappearance.
00:16:19
RICHARD FALLIN: There was a
skeletal part of the body that
00:16:22
was sticking out of the ground.
00:16:24
The rest of the body was
still intact under the ground.
00:16:29
NARRATOR: The autopsy report
also listed suffocation
00:16:32
as a possible cause of death,
since Clark told prosecutors
00:16:36
that he suffocated her.
00:16:38
Clark also admitted using
a knife from the kitchen
00:16:41
and a pair of scissors
consistent with the blood
00:16:45
imprints found on the
discarded pillowcase.
00:16:48
SUSAN BALLOU: When you
hold a pair of scissors
00:16:49
to these marks, they, in
fact, fall right in line
00:16:53
with the outline impression
of the marks on the pillow.
00:16:57
NARRATOR: Clark did not reveal
his motive for killing Laura.
00:17:01
Police theorize that Clark was
angry over the disagreement
00:17:05
he had with Laura's mother
over the missing tools
00:17:08
from the shed.
00:17:09
Looking into
Hadden's background,
00:17:11
we found that any time,
especially, a female,
00:17:16
would cross him in any
way, he would retaliate.
00:17:21
It's hard to say exactly why.
00:17:24
And I don't know if
we'll ever know why.
00:17:26
NARRATOR: Clark's
confession and evidence
00:17:28
gathered by the police told
prosecutors all they needed
00:17:32
to know about what happened
to Laura Houghteling
00:17:35
in the early hours
of October 19, 1992.
00:17:42
Hadden Clark knew Penny
Houghteling was away
00:17:45
when he entered the home
through the back door
00:17:47
sometime after midnight.
00:17:52
He picked up a knife
from the kitchen
00:17:55
and went to Laura's bedroom.
00:18:03
He suffocated her with a pillow,
and then, he stabbed her.
00:18:08
Clark used the scissors to
remove her earrings, which left
00:18:12
the blood impression on the
pillowcase, and in that blood,
00:18:16
the partial thumbprint uncovered
by the amido black stain.
00:18:25
There was no blood
trail in the house
00:18:28
since Clark wrapped the body
in bed linens and plastic.
00:18:31
[music playing]
00:18:44
While transporting
the body to the woods,
00:18:46
he accidentally dropped
the bloody pillowcase
00:18:48
with his thumbprint
later found by police.
00:18:58
Before dawn, he
returned to clean up
00:19:01
as much blood from the
mattress as he could,
00:19:04
found with the luminol.
00:19:07
At daybreak, Clark
needed to exit
00:19:10
the house without being seen,
so he dressed up as Laura.
00:19:17
Before leaving, Clark
made a second mistake.
00:19:21
He used Laura's hairbrush
to comb his wig,
00:19:25
leaving behind the
single fiber, linking him
00:19:30
and his wig to the murder scene.
00:19:34
Later that day, he purchased
a replacement bed sheet
00:19:38
for Laura's bed.
00:19:40
He may have been on
his way to replace it
00:19:43
when he encountered Laura's
brother outside the home
00:19:46
the next night.
00:19:49
A partial thumb print
and a single wig fiber
00:19:53
all marked a grisly
tale of murder,
00:19:57
madness, and mistaken identity.
00:20:01
He planned it, he knew
exactly when he was gonna do it,
00:20:04
exactly how he was gonna do it,
and he almost got away with it.
00:20:09
Of course, the
bloody fingerprint
00:20:10
on the pillowcase, the
hair, the wig fiber, but I
00:20:16
was impressed with the dog.
00:20:18
This was the only wig
fiber that was recovered.
00:20:22
If this had been missed
or not even examined,
00:20:26
it's very doubtful that we would
have put together everything
00:20:28
that we knew after the fact
as to what actually happened
00:20:32
on that Monday morning.
00:20:34
Now, with the new
technologies that are--
00:20:36
that are helping us out, it
allows an investigator to have
00:20:41
new tools to help him find that
little tiny bit of evidence
00:20:46
that sometimes is there.
00:20:48
Sometimes, it's not,
but when it is there,
00:20:52
and you have those
tools, and you're
00:20:53
able to find that
little bit of evidence,
00:20:56
makes all the
difference in the world
00:20:57
and allows you to get
people like Hadden Clark
00:21:00
off the street.
00:21:02
[music playing]
