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[MUSIC PLAYING]
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- What is it? - It looks like a skull.
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ANDY WILLIS (VOICEOVER): We realize it
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still had brain matter in it.
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It's obvious this isn't a prank.
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This is real.
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NARRATOR: A suspected hoax turns into a crime
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beyond rational explanation.
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As I was there alone in my laboratory,
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I literally got chills, because it was one
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tiny cut mark after another.
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I remember just being in disbelief thinking,
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am I seeing what I'm seeing?
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Who could do this?
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NARRATOR: Can Dr. Beth Murray solve
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a homicide from just a skull?
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When a ranch hand disappears, suspicion of murder
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hangs in the air.
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I thought it was strange that Tommy would just take off.
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He should've have said, you know, goodbye.
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NARRATOR: Now, it falls to Dr. Murad
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to literally piece together the fragments of a puzzle
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and prove how a young man died.
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I don't know that anybody could be prepared or expect
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what we found there that day.
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NARRATOR: On the outskirts of a small Midwestern town,
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two boys head to an isolated lake for a day of fishing.
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Look.
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What's that?
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NARRATOR: But what begins as a day of fun
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is abruptly cut short by a grizzly discovery.
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It's a human skull.
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Look at it.
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Oh my god.
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Is it real?
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It looks real.
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Let's go.
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NARRATOR: Initially, police are skeptical of the boy's
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discovery.
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At first, we thought that it possibly
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might have been a discarded skull from the school, which
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is on the other side of the lake and the kids
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were just pulling a prank.
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NARRATOR: They soon see that it's anything but a prank.
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ANDY WILLIS (VOICEOVER): We realized it
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still had brain matter in it.
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It's obvious this isn't a prank.
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This is real.
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NARRATOR: Homicide detectives rush to the scene,
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to look for additional remains.
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But after a thorough search of the surrounding area,
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they come up empty handed.
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In my 33 years of police work, this
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is the first case involving this skull by itself
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appearing from the waterways.
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NARRATOR: All signs point to foul play.
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But first, Detective Nugent needs to figure
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out who this skull belongs to.
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I returned to that police department,
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started searching through our missing persons reports.
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NARRATOR: He finds four missing persons from the area,
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three men and one woman.
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Investigators then turn to the only expert
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they know who could help identify the remains,
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forensic anthropologist Dr. Beth Murray.
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Each victim is a witness to their own death.
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I'm merely there to speak for this person who can't
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speak for themselves anymore.
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NARRATOR: Investigators deliver the skull
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to Dr. Murray's lab at the College
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of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio.
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DR. BETH MURRAY (VOICEOVER): You never really know what's
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at stake when you start a case.
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NARRATOR: But Dr. Murray does know where to start,
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with a biological profile.
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A biological profile is basically
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a description of who, scientifically,
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the individual is in question.
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NARRATOR: Though she has only the skull to work from,
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Dr. Murray is hopeful it will help her
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identify this unknown person.
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If you get only one part of the body in a case,
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I would hope it's the skull.
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A skull provides critical information
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that can be used to assess the sex of the person
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and the ethnicity of the person.
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NARRATOR: That critical information
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can be learned by measuring the skull's key features.
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There are a lot of landmarks on the skull from which we take
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measurements, the length of the skull,
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the breadth of the skull, the size of the eye orbits,
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the height and width of the nasal aperture.
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All of these landmarks are measured.
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NARRATOR: Then, she inputs these measurements
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into a computer program.
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The individual measurements are compared
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to the skeletal measurements in a databank
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of known individuals.
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And the result will be a probability
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of whether this person is male or female, whether this person
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has African-American ancestry, European-American ancestry,
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for example.
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NARRATOR: Within a day of receiving the skull,
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Dr. Murray makes her first conclusions.
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The measurements suggested that the skull
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was that of a female and that she was very likely Caucasian.
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NARRATOR: Her findings mobilize the investigation.
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This information she supplied us gave us some place to start.
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NARRATOR: Since only one person from the area is female,
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police focused the search around her.
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The missing person was a young woman named Tracy Stark who was
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21 years of age, who left for work one day,
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leaving her mother-in-law in charge
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of babysitting her child.
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NARRATOR: As police learn about Tracy,
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they uncover a heartbreaking story of abuse and neglect.
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Tracy never knew her real father.
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And her mother was committed to a mental facility
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during Tracy's adolescence.
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When Tracy was 14, her stepfather sexually abused her
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and was sent to prison.
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But Tracy was resilient.
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And by the time she turned 21, she was already
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getting her life on track.
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She started work at a local grocery store
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to help pay her way through college.
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She was also the proud mother of a beautiful 18-month-old
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daughter, Alisha, and lived with common law husband Rob Venton.
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She was a beautiful young lady, a beautiful smile,
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kind of long, darkish hair.
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And she looked vibrant.
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And I mean, she just looked like a fun person to be around,
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full of life.
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NARRATOR: But then, on June 4th, 1996, Tracy disappeared.
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Rob's mother filed a missing persons report.
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Nugent learns that, at the time, her husband Rob told police
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Tracy had simply abandoned him and their daughter.
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But now that a skull matching Tracy's biological profile
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has been found nearby, Detective Nugent suspects that there
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may be more to his story.
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He brings Rob in for further questioning.
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I'm listening, Rob.
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Tell me something. DET.
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JAMES NUGENT (VOICEOVER): During the course of this interview,
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I could read that he was being evasive and untruthful
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in our conversation.
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His body language, his blood pressure, and his heartbeat
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increased in his nervousness in the chair.
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But he stuck to his story that she left and returned
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to where she was originally from and left him and the baby.
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She left behind an 18-month-old baby.
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That also is highly unusual.
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If a woman is going to take off, she is going
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to take an 18-month-old baby.
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NARRATOR: And interviews with Tracy's friends
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reveal that Rob was not always the caring husband
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he seemed to be.
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He had a very quick flash point.
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He did have a temper.
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He was very easy to set off.
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NARRATOR: Rob quickly emerges as a suspect
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in his wife's disappearance.
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But investigators still face many unanswered questions.
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Although certain activity might
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seem suspicious or not natural, that doesn't give us a crime.
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We still didn't know who this person was.
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And that's where we, again, had to turn to Dr. Murray.
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NARRATOR: They are now counting on Dr. Murray,
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more than ever, to tell them if this skull
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belongs to Tracy Stark.
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People are often identified by matching
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their teeth to dental records.
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But that won't be possible in this case.
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Except for two wisdom teeth, all the teeth
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are missing, which is odd.
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Teeth do fall out after death.
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But the molars typically don't.
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The molars on top have three roots that
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hold them in pretty tightly.
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But the molars are gone.
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And Dr. Murray notices something alarming about the missing
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teeth.
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DR. BETH MURRAY (VOICEOVER): There's a lot
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of breakage of the bone here.
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You can see just the fractured tip of a root.
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Teeth fall out all the time.
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But they don't leave their roots behind.
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NARRATOR: The broken root suggests
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that the victim's teeth didn't naturally fall out after death.
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Someone removed them, by force.
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I could actually see the plier bites
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from needle nose player marks.
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It appeared the teeth were snapped out, you know,
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in this kind of motion.
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And I'm turning turning this over in my lab
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and I'm thinking, you know, I can't believe what I'm seeing.
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NARRATOR: And Dr. Murray thinks she knows why this was done.
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It's commonly known that teeth are used in identification.
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So that somebody was going to extreme lengths
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to disfigure this person, so that they
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couldn't be identified.
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NARRATOR: Surprisingly, Dr. Murray
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discovers that two of the victim's teeth do remain.
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The only teeth that were still there were the wisdom teeth.
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They were unerupted.
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NARRATOR: Wisdom teeth typically erupted
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between the ages of 17 and 25.
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In some people, the teeth never emerge.
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When that person was alive, when they were fleshed,
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those teeth would've been hidden underneath the gums.
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He or she only removed the teeth that they could see.
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NARRATOR: But the forced removal of teeth is only the beginning.
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As Dr. Murray examines the skull more closely,
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she discovers the killer has gone
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to even more extreme lengths to disguise the victim's identity.
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DR. BETH MURRAY (VOICEOVER): As I was there alone
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in my laboratory and began turning this over,
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I literally got chills, because it was one tiny cut
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mark after another, all types of tiny little insults,
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tiny little wounds to that skull.
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And I thought, you know, am I seeing things?
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NARRATOR: The more Dr. Murray looks,
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the more marks she sees on the skull.
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I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
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It was literally hundreds of tool marks.
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There's serrated blade marks, where it looks like somebody's
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drug a blade down the side of the skull,
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like in an attempt to deflesh it.
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This is just mutilation.
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This is just something bizarre.
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This is a person who is obsessed and is just
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clinically, methodically, painstakingly
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taking apart another human being.
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NARRATOR: If this is Tracy Stark,
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it appears her killer took her face apart, deflshing it,
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to make sure that no one would ever be able identify her.
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ROBIN PIPER (VOICEOVER): You just cringe.
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You can't believe [INAUDIBLE] the type of crime
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that has been committed.
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It just sickened me to think about the person that could
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do that to another person.
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NARRATOR: But despite the well-defined pattern
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of injuries and a clear biological profile,
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there is still no concrete evidence
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that this is Tracy's skull.
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Without a positive ID, the case can go no further.
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DR. BETH MURRAY (VOICEOVER): I knew there was a lot at stake,
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that this wasn't a run of the mill case.
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This was the most grisly case I had ever worked in my career.
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NARRATOR: Coming up, Dr. Murray hopes a DNA test will give
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her the positive ID she needs.
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But can she find the clean genetic material for the test?
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Forensic anthropologist Dr. Beth Murray
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is examining a skull found on the muddy banks of a lake.
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Police believe it may be all that's
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left of 21-year-old mother Tracy Stark, who police
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now suspect was murdered.
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And from what Dr. Murray has already discovered,
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it was a bizarre and chilling crime.
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I was seeing evidence that somebody
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had painstakingly taken all of the flesh off of this skull.
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And I remember just being in disbelief, thinking,
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am I seeing what I'm seeing?
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Who could do this?
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NARRATOR: One person who police suspect could've
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done it is Tracy's own husband.
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But they're unable to pursue any suspect [INAUDIBLE],,
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because there is still no proof positive
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that this disfigured skull belonged
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to Tracy in the first place.
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It's now up to Dr. Murray to give them that proof.
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I could see the history of the dismemberment or the defleshing
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of this person, who had a face, you know, had a scalp,
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had hair.
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It just sickened me.
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NARRATOR: Though Dr. Beth Murray has been unable to determine
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if the skull in her lab belongs to missing person Tracy Stark,
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the mutilation is nothing short of shocking.
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But she knows from experience that emotion has
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no place in the forensics lab.
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I try to step back and say, yes, this was a person,
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but my job right now is to stay focused, not
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get emotional, not get involved, not get teary eyed.
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How would my tears help this person?
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NARRATOR: The only way she can help the victim
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now is by verifying her identity.
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The killer has gone to great lengths
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to destroy all recognizable characteristics,
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including pulling out her teeth.
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But he made one critical mistake.
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Two wisdom teeth escaped removal,
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because they were unerupted, lying hidden under the gums.
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I believe they were still there,
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because the perpetrator didn't know that they
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were underneath the flesh.
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NARRATOR: And the teeth may contain
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the precious piece of information
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needed to ID the skull, DNA.
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DNA can be obtained, typically,
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from basically the guts or the inside of a tooth.
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The pulp cavity of a tooth contains
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enough living, organic tissue that would have
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cells that would contain DNA.
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NARRATOR: But even if Dr. Murray can obtain a DNA sample
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from the molars, it needs to be matched from a sample
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from one of Tracy's blood relatives.
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This time, luck is on Dr. Murray's side.
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She did have a child.
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And from the child, we could get blood
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and we could compare it to the DNA within those teeth
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and hope for a match.
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Detective Nugent came to the prosecutor's office and we
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assisted him in getting a court order for a blood sample
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from the 18-month-old baby.
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NARRATOR: But the results from the first DNA test
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are disappointing.
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When the DNA results came back from the lab,
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they were inconclusive, because that skull had been in a lake
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environment with a lot of other small living
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organisms whose DNA can contaminate the specimen.
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NARRATOR: The lack of a positive DNA match
00:17:13
is devastating to investigators.
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The investigators and I were, initially, disappointed,
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obviously, in the DNA results.
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And I think that some of the detectives
00:17:24
thought that this might be the end.
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What are we gonna do?
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NARRATOR: Things are looking bleak.
00:17:29
But Dr. Murray has one last trick up his sleeve.
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Most people think of the skeleton as a static thing.
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But bone is alive.
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NARRATOR: Bones, like teeth, are living tissue.
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And living tissue is comprised of cells that contain DNA.
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And I said, you know, I think that we could
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get some core bone samples that might be able to give us
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some DNA, despite the lake water, some deep areas
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of thick, dense bone that may have been protected
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from the contamination.
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NARRATOR: The back of the skull, the thickest, densest part,
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offers the best hope of a clean DNA sample.
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I take my drill, I put the surgical core on it,
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I core into it, under sterile technique,
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take out the samples, put them in a sterile container,
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ship them off to the lab for DNA analysis.
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NARRATOR: As Dr. Murray anxiously await the results,
00:18:23
police continue their investigation
00:18:26
of their prime suspect, Rob Venton.
00:18:29
We found out that she had a bank account.
00:18:32
Money had been taken out of her account
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after she was reported missing.
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And they came up with a photograph of Rob
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taking money out of an ATM machine.
00:18:42
NARRATOR: All clues suggested Rob Venton killed his wife.
00:18:47
But Rob is sticking with his story
00:18:49
that Tracy simply left town.
00:18:51
And investigators have little else to go on.
00:18:55
If the DNA of the skull doesn't match,
00:18:58
then that case will go cold.
00:19:00
When you hear how horrific it was,
00:19:03
you hunger to solve the case.
00:19:06
You have to have closure in such a horrific case.
00:19:14
NARRATOR: Two months later, Dr. Murray's
00:19:16
efforts bring police one step closer
00:19:19
to the closure they need.
00:19:21
The DNA results concluded that this was in fact Tracy Stark.
00:19:25
NARRATOR: The test is conclusive.
00:19:27
This skull is Tracy.
00:19:30
Despite the killer's extreme efforts
00:19:32
to destroy all traces of the victim's identity,
00:19:35
Dr. Murray has outwitted him.
00:19:38
But even though she has confirmed that this skull
00:19:41
belongs to Tracy, investigators still have no evidence
00:19:45
against her husband.
00:19:47
Their only hope is to get help from the most unlikely
00:19:51
of sources, the suspected killer himself.
00:19:58
Coming up, Dr. Murray's findings are
00:20:01
put to the ultimate test, when they are used to confront
00:20:04
the suspected killer.
00:20:06
Maybe we're gonna finally be able to put the pieces of Tracy
00:20:09
Stark back together, literally.
00:20:14
NARRATOR: Later, what could've happened to a farm hand
00:20:17
with a hidden past?
00:20:18
BOB HAMMETT (VOICEOVER): Tommy would do anything for you/
00:20:20
great help for me around here.
00:20:22
He was like a son to me.
00:20:24
NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
00:20:40
Dr. Murray has proven that this skull is Tracy Stark's
00:20:45
and that it has been systematically defleshed,
00:20:49
her killer's futile attempt to hide her identity.
00:20:53
But that wasn't the end of the story.
00:20:55
NARRATOR: Police are eager to confront
00:20:56
their prime murder suspect, Tracy's
00:20:59
common law husband Rob Venton.
00:21:02
But before they can, they'll need
00:21:04
to know every detail of what was done to Tracy Stark.
00:21:08
They again turn to Dr. Murray.
00:21:13
It's my job to create a scenario
00:21:16
of a sequence of events.
00:21:19
Then, law enforcement can take that sequence of events,
00:21:22
presenting the suspect with the information.
00:21:25
NARRATOR: Scrutinizing this grisly patchwork of wounds,
00:21:28
Dr. Murray catalogs the cutting tools and the manner
00:21:31
in which they were used.
00:21:33
There's at least four different tool mark classes
00:21:36
here, a serrated blade, and then something like a large machete
00:21:40
or a meat cleaver, and then a little tiny pocket
00:21:43
knife-sized knife perhaps.
00:21:47
NARRATOR: As soon as Dr. Murray completes
00:21:49
the horrific forensic narrative, police are ready to confront
00:21:53
suspect Rob Venton.
00:21:55
We made the joint decision, yes, pull him in,
00:21:58
find out what he has to say.
00:22:01
NARRATOR: Police immediately hit him
00:22:03
with a barrage of damning details, details
00:22:06
that Rob thought only could know.
00:22:09
We know this, this, and this.
00:22:11
We know you pulled her teeth out with needle nose pliers.
00:22:14
We know that you dragged a serrated blade down the skull
00:22:17
and defleshed her.
00:22:18
That's often enough to get somebody to kind of crumble,
00:22:21
if you will.
00:22:23
NARRATOR: At first, Rob refuses to budge.
00:22:26
But as he's confronted, blow by blow
00:22:28
with Dr. Murray's findings, eventually, he crumbles.
00:22:33
A year after her disappearance, Rob Venton
00:22:36
confesses to the brutal murder of his wife.
00:22:41
The investigators are stunned as he recounts
00:22:44
the grisly story of how he killed
00:22:46
and defleshed his wife, Tracy.
00:22:55
It's the first Friday night that Tracy
00:22:58
has had off in three months.
00:23:00
And she's decided to leave the baby with Rob's mother,
00:23:03
so she and Rob could have some fun alone together.
00:23:07
They start the evening with some cards,
00:23:10
a simple game of Gin Rummy.
00:23:13
But things soon get out of hand.
00:23:15
I don't need to cheat to win at card with you.
00:23:18
He stated that he and his wife Tracy
00:23:21
got into a vocal argument.
00:23:25
NARRATOR: Rob accuses Tracy of cheating
00:23:27
and the situation quickly escalates.
00:23:31
Tracy Starks flees into the bathroom to escape
00:23:34
her husband's violent temper.
00:23:38
DET.
00:23:39
JAMES NUGENT (VOICEOVER): He had a filet knife in his hand
00:23:43
and but her throat.
00:23:46
She started bleeding.
00:23:47
He panicked, ran from the house.
00:23:52
NARRATOR: Fatally wounded by the man who claims to love her,
00:23:55
Tracy bleeds to death, most likely the result
00:23:58
of a severed jugular, the primary vein that
00:24:02
drains blood from the brain.
00:24:05
She spends her last moments alone.
00:24:10
DET.
00:24:11
JAMES NUGENT (VOICEOVER): After a short period of time,
00:24:13
he returned to the house, found her laying in the bathtub,
00:24:16
dead.
00:24:19
He started disassembling her, cutting her up in pieces.
00:24:27
He told us how he defleshed her bones, how he carved her skull.
00:24:36
It goes hand-in-hand with what Dr. Murray said,
00:24:39
as far as the blade striking the skull.
00:24:43
He also told us how he extracted her teeth
00:24:46
using needle nose pliers, which is consistent with what
00:24:51
Dr. Murray told us.
00:24:56
NARRATOR: He then puts her body parts
00:24:57
in two large garbage bags.
00:25:00
He buries them near the local sewage plant
00:25:03
and disposes of the skull in the lake on the outskirts of town.
00:25:12
With a confession secured, using Dr. Murray's findings,
00:25:16
Rob is charged with voluntary manslaughter
00:25:18
and abuse of a corpse.
00:25:21
He receives a 10 to 25-year sentence
00:25:24
and is still in prison.
00:25:26
His mother is currently raising his and Tracy's daughter.
00:25:31
The murder, the dismemberment, the fact
00:25:34
that he used her credit cards after he had done all this,
00:25:38
he went to such extreme measures and treated
00:25:41
with such callousness, a woman that he
00:25:44
loved and had a child with, I can't understand
00:25:48
those sorts of things.
00:25:49
So I don't try.
00:25:51
I just don't even try.
00:25:53
NARRATOR: Detective James Nugent and prosecutor Robin Piper
00:25:57
are forever grateful to Dr. Murray for helping
00:26:00
them solve this gruesome case.
00:26:02
The information that Dr. Murray
00:26:04
supplied us made the case.
00:26:07
Without Dr. Murray, we wouldn't have developed
00:26:09
the identity of the victim.
00:26:12
We wouldn't have developed the suspect.
00:26:14
We wouldn't have closure.
00:26:18
I guess I'd like to think that, if justice is served
00:26:21
and if I was a part of that, then
00:26:23
people can move on with their lives, as best they can.
00:26:27
NARRATOR: Rob's mother buried Tracy's remains
00:26:29
in a local cemetery.
00:26:31
From time to time, Detective Nugent still visits her grave.
00:26:35
DET.
00:26:36
JAMES NUGENT (VOICEOVER): She had a rough life.
00:26:38
This is my way of recognizing her,
00:26:40
letting her know that someone does care about her.
00:26:48
NARRATOR: Coming up, a remote chicken ranch is littered
00:26:51
with hundreds of bones.
00:26:53
Unless Dr. Murad can determine which
00:26:55
bones belong to a young ranch hand, a murder may go unsolved.
00:27:00
There were bones scattered all over the place, all kinds
00:27:03
of beef rib bones and turkey bones, all of which
00:27:06
had to be identified and analyzed.
00:27:08
That was my job.
00:27:09
NARRATOR: That's next on "Skeleton Stories."
00:27:43
It's 5:00 AM on a Western Nevada ranch.
00:27:47
While stacking lumber, the ranch's caretakers
00:27:49
find what looks to them like human bone,
00:27:52
partially visible beneath the woodpile.
00:27:55
Alarmed, they phoned the ranch owner, Bob Hammett.
00:28:00
BOB HAMMETT (VOICEOVER): Came as a big shock.
00:28:02
In disbelief, I thought, no.
00:28:03
It's got to be cow bones.
00:28:05
It's got to be coyote bones or something.
00:28:07
You know, I had-- you know, human?
00:28:08
No, no, no.
00:28:10
NARRATOR: Hammett immediately summons the police.
00:28:13
The ranch hands direct them to a stack of old lumber
00:28:16
near the chicken coop.
00:28:19
As the police pull logs off the stack,
00:28:21
they discover part of a skull and a set of rib bones
00:28:27
inside a torn flannel shirt.
00:28:30
They also find a clump of red hair.
00:28:35
Ranch owner Bob Hammett isn't skeptical any longer.
00:28:39
In fact, he claims he knows whose body it is,
00:28:43
a young red-haired laborer named Tommy Bledsoe, who came to work
00:28:48
on the ranch two years earlier.
00:28:50
You know, I really miss Tommy.
00:28:52
He was a sweetheart of a guy.
00:28:54
He was a younger fella.
00:28:55
NARRATOR: Tommy grew up in Texas,
00:28:57
dreaming of becoming a pro rodeo star,
00:29:00
until a back injury dashed his hopes.
00:29:03
Since then, he drank too much and spent his share
00:29:06
of nights behind bars.
00:29:09
But things changed when he showed up looking
00:29:12
for work on the Hammett ranch.
00:29:16
Tommy, I met and he needed work.
00:29:19
There was always stuff to do around here,
00:29:21
you know, burning firewood or cutting firewood.
00:29:25
NARRATOR: Tommy took to the work and to ranch owner Bob Hammett.
00:29:30
BOB HAMMETT (VOICEOVER): Tommy would do anything for you.
00:29:32
He was great help for me around here.
00:29:35
He was like a son to me.
00:29:38
NARRATOR: But after a month, Tommy's new life took
00:29:40
a tragic turn for the worse.
00:29:43
His girlfriend of over two years was suddenly
00:29:45
killed in a car accident.
00:29:49
Her death sent Tommy into a deep depression.
00:29:52
Tommy had gotten very, very despondent, withdrawn.
00:29:56
Basically, his personality changed.
00:29:58
He felt somewhat responsible for her death.
00:30:02
As a result of that, he talked suicide.
00:30:05
NARRATOR: Then, one morning, Tommy disappeared.
00:30:10
I thought it was strange that Tommy
00:30:12
would just take off and leave.
00:30:15
I thought it was strange, because he
00:30:16
should've said goodbye, or tell us if he's coming back.
00:30:20
NARRATOR: If this pile of bones is the last of Tommy Bledsoe,
00:30:24
then Bob Hammett's lingering questions will be answered
00:30:27
and police can begin a real investigation.
00:30:30
But is it?
00:30:32
Any time we have human remains in skeletal form, that's
00:30:35
when we contact Dr. Murad.
00:30:38
NARRATOR: Police turn the Dr. Turhon Murad.
00:30:41
Bones do have a story to tell.
00:30:44
I like to think that I can help tell the story from bones.
00:30:48
It's what I do.
00:30:56
NARRATOR: Dr. Murad immediately heads to the Hammett ranch.
00:31:00
The property itself is over 10,000
00:31:02
acres of brush and wilderness.
00:31:05
At it's center are the run down farm buildings where
00:31:08
the remains were discovered.
00:31:11
TONY BURDINE (VOICEOVER): We're lucky in this county.
00:31:13
We have Dr. Murad right here, which
00:31:14
gives us the advantage of having him coming out to the scene.
00:31:17
I'd never been to a place like this before.
00:31:19
It was very strange, almost surrealistic.
00:31:23
I don't know that anybody could be prepared or expect
00:31:26
what we found there that day.
00:31:28
NARRATOR: For Dr. Murad, the first step
00:31:30
to learning whether these remains
00:31:31
are Tommy's is to sort and collect all
00:31:34
the human bones at the scene.
00:31:36
But as he surveys the ground, it becomes clear
00:31:39
that this will be a tall order.
00:31:40
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): This is not what
00:31:42
I thought I was getting into.
00:31:43
There were bones scattered all over the place.
00:31:45
And I don't mean just human bones.
00:31:47
Human bones are what I do.
00:31:48
It's what I'm there to help them with.
00:31:50
But there were all kinds of beef rib bones and turkey
00:31:54
bones and just everything lying around this place, all of which
00:31:57
had to be inventoried, identified,
00:31:59
and analyzed before it was even picked up.
00:32:01
And that was my job.
00:32:05
NARRATOR: Bird bones are easily distinguished from human.
00:32:08
They are thin walled and hollow, which makes them lighter
00:32:11
and easier to keep airborne.
00:32:13
But bones from mammals, like sheep and cows,
00:32:17
require closer scrutiny.
00:32:19
Piece by piece, Dr. Murad separates man from beast
00:32:24
and identifies a growing stack of human bones.
00:32:27
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): There was a skull.
00:32:28
And it wasn't complete.
00:32:29
It was broken up.
00:32:31
And in the firepit itself, there were
00:32:33
portions of a human vertebra that had been burned.
00:32:35
So unbeknownst to whoever did it,
00:32:38
they were cooking their meal over burned human bone.
00:32:43
Bizarre to say the least.
00:32:46
NARRATOR: Seven grueling hours later,
00:32:47
Dr. Murad and investigators have collected more than 100
00:32:52
human bones and fragments.
00:32:54
Now, he must rely on these bones to answer
00:32:58
the two questions at the forefront of detectives' minds.
00:33:03
Is this Tommy Bledsoe?
00:33:05
And how did he die?
00:33:07
Because there was no flesh, the pathologist
00:33:10
couldn't perform an autopsy.
00:33:12
They wanted answers to both of those questions.
00:33:13
Who might this be and how might they have died?
00:33:20
NARRATOR: To shed light on these mysteries,
00:33:22
Dr. Murad brings the bones back to his laboratory,
00:33:26
the Physical Anthropology Human Identification
00:33:29
Lab at the California State University.
00:33:33
Here, he can examine the bones more closely.
00:33:36
One of the most accurate ways to verify whether this is or isn't
00:33:40
Tommy is to compare Tommy's dental records
00:33:43
with the placement of the teeth found in the skull.
00:33:46
If they match, it's as good as a fingerprint.
00:33:50
But in this case, there's one glaring challenge.
00:33:54
Both the skull and the jaw are in pieces.
00:34:05
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): There were lots of fragments.
00:34:07
The face, essentially, was missing.
00:34:08
The mandible was broken.
00:34:09
There were these fractures to the top of the head.
00:34:11
NARRATOR: Without the skull in one piece,
00:34:14
there is literally nothing to match the dental records to.
00:34:18
Dr. Murad must put it back together.
00:34:21
He'll first need to learn which of the hundreds
00:34:24
of bone fragments lying before him belong to the skull.
00:34:30
One set of clues that guides him is the unique patterns
00:34:33
made by veins on the inside of the skull,
00:34:36
the menengial arteries.
00:34:37
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): And you can see, very subtly,
00:34:39
there's some grooves in there.
00:34:41
Those are what [INAUDIBLE] from the menengial arteries.
00:34:43
OK?
00:34:44
The menengial arteries are the coverings of the brain.
00:34:46
By virtue of this kind of surface, on that bone,
00:34:49
I know that this is a cranial bone.
00:34:51
It doesn't-- it's not like from an arm
00:34:52
or a leg or anything like that.
00:34:53
This is from the skull.
00:34:55
NARRATOR: Much like assembling a jigsaw puzzle piece
00:34:57
by tiny piece, Dr. Murad painstakingly tries
00:35:01
to put the skull back together.
00:35:03
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): So if I have a pretty good idea
00:35:05
as to where this might fit, then I'm gonna set it aside
00:35:08
and I'm gonna look for other fragments that I can identify.
00:35:11
Once I have those identified, then I will try
00:35:14
to literally fit them together.
00:35:16
And if there is a good fit, then I will glue them together.
00:35:22
NARRATOR: Six hours later, the skull is in one piece.
00:35:25
MICHAEL L. RAMSEY (VOICEOVER): It
00:35:26
was the forensic anthropologist that
00:35:28
put that skull back together.
00:35:30
Then, it got to a forensic dentist
00:35:32
that was then able to establish this was the victim.
00:35:37
NARRATOR: The forensic dentist confirms
00:35:39
that this was Tommy Bledsoe.
00:35:43
But now, they need Dr. Murad to answer a question
00:35:46
with much graver consequences.
00:35:49
How did Tommy die?
00:35:52
And was he murdered?
00:35:55
There are only four ways a person can die,
00:35:58
homicide, suicide, natural causes, and accident.
00:36:03
MICHAEL L. RAMSEY (VOICEOVER): Was there a crime here?
00:36:05
Or was there a person that had just died,
00:36:08
been thrown under a lumber pile, and we
00:36:11
had no crime other than perhaps burying
00:36:14
a body without a permit?
00:36:19
NARRATOR: Coming up, Dr. Murad finds
00:36:22
vital clues in the fragments of the young man's face.
00:36:25
In this case, the bones are talking to me.
00:36:27
They're telling me things.
00:36:42
NARRATOR: Thanks to the work of forensic anthropologist Dr.
00:36:45
Turhon Murad, investigators have confirmed that a skeleton found
00:36:49
on a remote Nevada chicken ranch was once
00:36:52
Tommy Bledsoe, a farmhand who had
00:36:54
disappeared two years prior.
00:37:00
Police returned to the crime scene
00:37:02
to question ranch owner Bob Hammett,
00:37:05
hoping he can provide clues to Tommy's death.
00:37:08
The detectives came to me after they
00:37:09
talked with the anthropologist and asked me
00:37:12
who had been on this ranch in this time period.
00:37:15
NARRATOR: Hammett tells detectives
00:37:16
of another man who worked on the ranch around the same time
00:37:20
as Tommy.
00:37:21
His name is Hubert Wilkins.
00:37:25
Hubert and Tommy, they were friends.
00:37:27
They were very dissimilar.
00:37:29
Tommy was a smaller individual.
00:37:32
He was only about 5 foot 9, maybe 150 pounds
00:37:35
thereabouts, a very outgoing person.
00:37:40
On the other hand, Hubert was a very large individual,
00:37:43
in excess of six foot and extremely muscular,
00:37:47
and an introverted type, somewhat of a loner,
00:37:49
had very few friends, and pretty much kept to himself.
00:37:53
NARRATOR: When Tommy suddenly disappeared from the ranch
00:37:55
in the summer of 1994, it was Hubert who
00:37:59
claimed to know what happened.
00:38:02
BOB HAMMETT (VOICEOVER): And I asked where Tommy went.
00:38:04
And he says, I think he went back to Arizona.
00:38:07
And I said, ah, he wouldn't have done that without coming
00:38:10
and saying goodbye to me.
00:38:12
NARRATOR: A few weeks later, Hubert took
00:38:14
a cue from Tommy and vanished.
00:38:18
BOB HAMMETT (VOICEOVER): He wanted me to take
00:38:19
him to town to do his laundry.
00:38:21
He just never came back.
00:38:22
There was nowhere to be found.
00:38:24
He just disappeared.
00:38:26
Hubert's gone, in the wind, not to be seen again
00:38:29
We have Tommy, who two years after Huber's disappearance
00:38:32
is found underneath the woodpile.
00:38:34
So there's a strong finger of suspicion pointed at Hubert.
00:38:39
NARRATOR: Did Hubert Wilkins to Tommy Bledsoe?
00:38:42
Police now suspect he could have.
00:38:45
But before they could move forward,
00:38:48
they need one more key piece of information
00:38:50
that only Dr. Murad can provide them.
00:38:54
Was Tommy murdered?
00:39:01
Even though the skull found under the wood pile
00:39:04
was fractured, this doesn't necessarily go to a homicide.
00:39:08
It might have been an accident.
00:39:10
I mean, for all we know, perhaps a wood structure
00:39:12
fell down on him and he died as a result
00:39:15
of that blunt force trauma from some cave in of some type.
00:39:18
NARRATOR: Before Dr. Murad can tell if Tommy was murdered,
00:39:22
he must determine whether his skull fracture caused his death
00:39:26
or occurred after he died, the result of scavenging animals
00:39:31
or the weight of the wood pile.
00:39:34
To answer the question of when Tommy's skull was damaged,
00:39:37
Dr. Murad must examine the edges of the skull
00:39:40
fragments themselves.
00:39:42
On close inspection, he sees that the fractures
00:39:45
are not crisp and even, but ragged and bent.
00:39:48
This suggests that at the time of breaking,
00:39:51
the bone was moist and pliable.
00:39:53
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): Bone
00:39:54
responds differently after it's dried out than it
00:39:57
does when it's fresh or green.
00:40:01
Many of the fractures to this guy's face
00:40:03
suggested that he was--
00:40:05
this was near the time of death, the bone was still fresh.
00:40:07
It had a lot of organic material in.
00:40:09
It hadn't dried out.
00:40:10
NARRATOR: In other words, whatever broke Tommy's skull,
00:40:13
broke it when he was lying.
00:40:17
Next, Dr. Murad must determine if Tommy's
00:40:20
injuries could have been fatal.
00:40:22
To answer that question, he maps the fractures, so he
00:40:26
can decipher their severity.
00:40:29
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): They're fractures radiating,
00:40:31
moving away from this area.
00:40:33
I'm inclined to think that the major force was right here.
00:40:35
NARRATOR: He concludes that a massive blow to the glabella,
00:40:39
the midsection of the brow ridge,
00:40:41
split Tommy's forehead, literally, into pieces.
00:40:46
The broken bone itself would not have killed him.
00:40:49
But the shock to the brain underneath,
00:40:52
unquestionably, would have.
00:40:53
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): This blow
00:40:54
to his head was more than sufficient to have caused
00:40:57
the cerebral hemorrhage and pressure
00:40:59
on his brain, his brain to swell,
00:41:02
and to have caused his death.
00:41:03
NARRATOR: Now, he must make the final and most difficult
00:41:06
determination.
00:41:08
Are Tommy's fatal injuries proof of murder?
00:41:12
Again, Dr. Murad turns to the fractured skull for answers.
00:41:15
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): In this case,
00:41:17
the bones are talking to me.
00:41:18
They're telling me things.
00:41:20
And I enjoy listening.
00:41:22
Here's his left zygomatic, or cheekbone, that was fractured.
00:41:27
There's a fracture coming down into his left eye.
00:41:30
The mandible, when it was recovered, was fractured here.
00:41:33
He was hit at least a couple of times.
00:41:35
I can't tell you exactly how many times, but probably
00:41:38
two or more.
00:41:40
NARRATOR: This pattern of multiple fractures
00:41:42
is not at all consistent with a fall or an accidental impact
00:41:46
to the head.
00:41:46
Dr. Murad has finally found the evidence
00:41:49
investigators are waiting for.
00:41:51
Tommy Bledsoe suffered not just one single blow,
00:41:55
but a number of successive blows that
00:41:57
ultimately shattered his skull.
00:41:59
He was almost certainly murdered.
00:42:01
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): This, at one time,
00:42:03
was a young man.
00:42:04
He laughed, had family, cried, was known by people.
00:42:08
He was a person.
00:42:10
And he didn't deserve to die this way.
00:42:13
NARRATOR: The news galvanizes the investigators.
00:42:16
The hunt for Hubert Wilkins begins.
00:42:18
They track him down and learn that he
00:42:21
is working at a donut shop at Gallup, New Mexico.
00:42:24
Police decide that it's time to go pay Hubert a visit.
00:42:31
Coming up, Hubert Wilkins goes toe to toe with Sheriff Reniff
00:42:36
and Dr. Murad's findings.
00:42:37
I says, Hubert, we both know that Tommy
00:42:40
never left the property.
00:42:41
NARRATOR: That's next, when "Skeleton Stories" continues.
00:42:58
Dr. Murad has provided police with detailed skeletal proof
00:43:03
said Tommy Bledsoe was bludgeoned to death.
00:43:06
Now, armed with Murad's findings,
00:43:09
police prepare to confront their chief suspect, Hubert Wilkins,
00:43:13
a drifter who once worked on the isolated ranch
00:43:16
where Tommy's body was found.
00:43:21
Investigators question Hubert Wilkins at the donut shop
00:43:25
in New Mexico where he works.
00:43:27
Remember, Tommy?
00:43:28
You worked with him a couple of years ago?
00:43:30
That was a long time ago.
00:43:31
Can we talk to you back in private here please?
00:43:32
PERRY RENIFF (VOICEOVER): We spoke to him at length
00:43:34
for about two to three hours.
00:43:35
He kept telling us how Tommy had left the property
00:43:38
and he never come back.
00:43:39
And that was the story that he was maintaining.
00:43:43
NARRATOR: The detectives are convinced
00:43:44
that Wilkins is lying.
00:43:46
And thanks to Dr. Murad's findings,
00:43:48
they are able to turn up the heat in the interview.
00:43:52
Having a pretty good idea of what happened,
00:43:54
forensically, was vital, so that you
00:43:57
know when a suspect is lying.
00:43:59
You can call him on it.
00:44:02
Then, Sergeant Reniff hit him with the evidence and said,
00:44:05
we know you're lying.
00:44:07
Here's what the physical evidence is.
00:44:08
Now, we found the bones over here, didn't we?
00:44:11
NARRATOR: The investigators proceed to replay for Hubert
00:44:14
the exact circumstances of Tommy Bledsoe's death,
00:44:18
from the shot to the fractured cheekbone.
00:44:22
He's finding out the investigator
00:44:24
knows more detail than I thought could ever be revealed.
00:44:28
You worked with Tommy Bledsoe.
00:44:29
We found his bones this week.
00:44:32
And finally, I told him, I says,
00:44:33
Hubert, we both know that Tommy never left the property.
00:44:39
Now, do you want to continue the interview here
00:44:41
or do you want to go downtown and do it?
00:44:43
The man kind of stopped and said, OK, well, here's
00:44:47
what happened and then gave the truth.
00:44:50
NARRATOR: Nine months after discovering
00:44:52
a pile of human bones on Bob Hammett's ranch,
00:44:55
Hubert Wilkins confesses to the murder of Tommy Bledsoe.
00:44:59
It all came together.
00:45:00
NARRATOR: With Hubert's confession and Dr. Murad's
00:45:03
findings, authorities could finally
00:45:05
piece together the last few moments of Tommy's life.
00:45:15
As Hubert tells it, he began his friendship with Tommy Bledsoe
00:45:19
in 1991.
00:45:21
Both men are ex-convicts and drifters.
00:45:24
They get along well, until Tommy's girlfriend dies
00:45:27
in a car crash in July of 1994.
00:45:31
Tommy becomes depressed.
00:45:33
He was not the outgoing person that--
00:45:35
that Hubert was used to.
00:45:36
It basically was getting on his nerves.
00:45:39
NARRATOR: One afternoon, Hubert decides to head to Reno weekend
00:45:43
on the town, without Tommy.
00:45:46
The Reno rodeo was coming up.
00:45:48
Hubert wanted to go to that rodeo
00:45:51
and Tommy wanted to go with him.
00:45:52
I guess that's why they got in a fight.
00:45:55
Well, at this point, Tommy threatened
00:45:57
to turn in Hubert, who was wanted on a parole violation.
00:46:02
That was the straw that broke the-- the back.
00:46:04
PERRY RENIFF (VOICEOVER): He just exploded.
00:46:05
Picked up the splitting [INAUDIBLE]
00:46:07
and hit him, as he put it, between the running lights.
00:46:10
NARRATOR: Hubert pounds Tommy's head with the blunt end
00:46:13
of the [INAUDIBLE].
00:46:14
The blows are swift and ruthless.
00:46:18
[INAUDIBLE] are precisely as Dr. Murad has described.
00:46:24
One blow splits Tommy's cranium.
00:46:26
Another cracks his face's frontal bone and eye socket.
00:46:30
A third breaks apart his zygomatic arch,
00:46:33
Tommy's cheekbone.
00:46:37
By the end of the beating, Tommy is dead and panic grips Hubert.
00:46:43
He kind of fell apart and didn't
00:46:45
know what to do with the body.
00:46:46
Initially, he hid the body in the bathtub in the trailer.
00:46:50
That night, he went from place to place trying to figure out
00:46:54
where to get rid of the body.
00:46:55
And finally, he decided, well, I'll
00:46:57
put it next to the chicken coop and pile the lumber over it.
00:47:01
NARRATOR: He sticks around for a few weeks,
00:47:03
until questions of Tommy's whereabouts subside.
00:47:07
Then, he moves on.
00:47:10
In March of 1997, Hubert Wilkins is
00:47:13
extradited back to Nevada to face charges
00:47:16
in the death of Tommy Bledsoe.
00:47:19
Wilkins pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter,
00:47:22
but tries for the lightest sentence possible.
00:47:25
The defense was trying to say, well,
00:47:27
it's just kind of one blow.
00:47:29
I mean, it's just--
00:47:30
you know, it's just one of those things.
00:47:31
NARRATOR: But Dr. Murad has the proof.
00:47:33
The beating may have been unplanned, but it was brutal.
00:47:39
Hubert didn't just kill Tommy.
00:47:41
He battered him again and again.
00:47:44
We were able to say, no, you know, we
00:47:46
have multiple separate blows.
00:47:49
Because of the forensics that were involved here,
00:47:51
we were able to convince and judge
00:47:53
for the upper term for the voluntary manslaughter,
00:47:55
11 years in the state's prison.
00:48:02
NARRATOR: From the first hours of the investigation
00:48:05
to the final sentencing, Murad's skill made the investigation
00:48:10
and prosecution possible.
00:48:12
Without him, there would have been no justice
00:48:15
at all for Tommy Bledsoe.
00:48:18
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): Sometimes it works out well
00:48:20
and other times it doesn't.
00:48:22
Perpetrator was captured, the decedent was identified
00:48:25
and the family notified so that there could be some closure
00:48:29
on the family's part.
00:48:30
Without the physical evidence, they would've
00:48:32
never gotten the confession.
00:48:33
They would've have never solved this particular crime.
00:48:37
DR. TURHON MURAD (VOICEOVER): Bones have a story to tell.
00:48:39
I get a great deal pleasure out of interpreting
00:48:42
what those bones can say.
00:48:45
Sometimes it's very obvious.
00:48:47
Other times, it's not so obvious.
00:48:49
It's a challenge to try to learn as much as I can
00:48:52
about the person from the hard parts of their body.
