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[Music]
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up next
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a real estate developer lives in fear
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for his life
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somebody wanted this guy dead i was
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scared for him i was very scared for him
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on a spring afternoon his worst fears
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come true
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a computer search exposes some dark
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secrets
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someone was researching death but it's a
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20 year old clue
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that helps unlock the case are you
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kidding
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you found a bullet that had been fired
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in 1989
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in western colorado a successful land
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developer
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alan helmick and his wife miriam were
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going through
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difficult times professionally
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allen's real estate ventures weren't
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what they once were
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on a personal level someone had recently
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tried to take
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ellen's life while allen is waiting for
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miriam
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he notices smoke coming out the back end
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of his car
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it was right in the middle of a parking
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lot in broad daylight
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apparently someone had placed a lit fuse
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in the gas tank
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fortunately alan saw the smoke and got
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out in time
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for whatever reason the conditions
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weren't right for an explosion the car
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did not explode
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unfortunately the parking lot had no
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surveillance camera so it was impossible
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to tell
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who had planted the device do you know
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anyone that would have a problem with
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you
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there are two people that have had a
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problem with me okay who are those two
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people uh
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our two entities one was the state bank
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the president the vice president
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they were trying to accuse me of an
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illegal loan which i didn't make they
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made
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i had the sense and i think the
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investigators had the sense that this
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was
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going to be a drawn out deal did a
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business deal go bad
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there was some sales of some properties
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that involved
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various people were one of those people
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angry
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and took it out on allen in a different
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way maybe because they lost
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money six weeks later
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allen missed a scheduled lunch date with
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his wife
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[Music]
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when miriam drove home she found him
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on the floor of his office
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what's the problem tell me exactly what
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happened he was
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on the fly and it looks like somebody
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came in and robbed them
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when police and paramedics arrived they
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pronounced alan helmick
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dead at the scene he'd been shot once in
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the back of his head
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a shell casing from a 25 caliber handgun
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was next to the body suicide was
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immediately eliminated
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no weapon present and the location of
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where the injury was
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was not feasible to to be suicide
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allen's son-in-law learned of the murder
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when he arrived at the scene
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[Music]
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it was terrible for all of us
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it was it was beyond terrible
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it's terrible for someone to get shot
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because this is a person that people
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loved and respected and he loved his
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family and he tried to make his life
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better and
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he loved people around him at first
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it looked like robbery was a possible
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motive
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several drawers were pulled out and the
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jewelry box was empty
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but there was no forced entry so that
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theory was quickly ruled out
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it was not consistent with other
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burglary cases that i have worked
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the rest of the house was not ransacked
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as you would expect to find
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in most of the burglary cases that we've
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worked
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since miriam helmick found the body
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she was automatically considered a
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suspect but she willingly agreed
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to take a gunshot residue test
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anyone who fires a gun usually comes
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into contact with the gases
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discharged when the bullet is fired
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detectives swabbed marion's hands arms
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and face
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but no gunshot residue was detected
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investigators now wondered who
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wanted alan helnick dead and why
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i'm missing my right my right arm i feel
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like
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i'm just missing my life
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i came in and found it
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alan and miriam helmik had been married
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for about two years
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it was a second marriage for both allen
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and miriam were known as being
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inseparable
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social friends of theirs said they were
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always together
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they were like two peas in a pot
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miriam was convinced that alan's murder
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and the attempted car bombing six weeks
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earlier
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were both related
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a week after allen's funeral miriam
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found a greeting card under her front
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doormat it was addressed to
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the grieving widow she opened the card
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and it read insanity is doing the same
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thing
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over and over again and expecting a
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different result
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allen was first your next run run run
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miriam
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essentially collapses physically
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collapses many words in the message were
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misspelled including
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alan's name there was no postmark on the
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envelope which meant
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it had been hand delivered
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miriam is frantic about this she is
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convinced
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that the killer is now out to get her
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the simple block lettering made
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handwriting analysis impossible
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there were no fingerprints on the
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envelope or the letter
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the envelope wasn't sealed so there was
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no
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saliva on the envelope flap and no dna
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to recover
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and the barcode on the back of the card
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was missing
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[Music]
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it had been cut out and as if somebody
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knew we might
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want to try to trace that greeting card
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and find out where it came from
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investigators contacted the company that
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made the card and learned
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it was sold in three different stores in
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the area
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the most recent sale happened just four
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days before the card was delivered
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it was a cash purchase at a store 13
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miles from the helmet's house
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detectives asked to see the store's
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surveillance
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lo and behold who's purchasing the
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greeting card
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it's miriam helmik based on her haircut
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her glasses the way she walked her body
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shape there was no doubt in our mind
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that it was miriam hellmich miriam was
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confronted
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with the surveillance image she did
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admit to
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placing the card at her house her
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explanation was to
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get law enforcement to refocus on the
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investigation and be more active
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now suspicious investigators searched
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miriam and alan's
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computer hard drives for possible clues
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they had two distinct computers side by
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side
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allen used one miriam used one people
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tend to be very
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intimate with their computers they will
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ask
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it questions through google that they
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would not ask another human being
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and investigators soon learned that
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miriam
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had been searching the internet for all
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sorts of
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interesting information especially
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about the prescription drugs alan had
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been taking
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i recovered approximately 180 online
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medical
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searches for things such as viagra
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overdose ambient overdose lysinopril
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overdose
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a combination of those three drugs mixed
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together
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pain killing overdoses i think she was
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looking at various ways to
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kill alan investigators also learned
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miriam would benefit handsomely as a
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result of alan's death
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allen's real estate holdings were worth
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millions
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yes the oldest motive in the world
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there was only one problem investigators
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had
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no proof miriam shot and
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killed her husband
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investigators now believed that alan
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hellmacht might have been murdered not
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by an angry business associate but
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by his second wife miriam when
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police checked her background they
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discovered
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something suspicious six years earlier
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miriam's first husband jack giles shot
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himself to death
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while he was sleeping next to her
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anytime you hear that a woman has more
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than one husband die of a gunshot wound
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to the head
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you get concerned and colorado
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investigators soon discovered something
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odd about this suicide
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for one thing it was miriam's
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half-brother a local policeman who was
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first
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on the scene and declared the death a
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suicide
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this despite the fact jack giles
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apparently
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killed himself with his right hand
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jack couldn't do anything with his right
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hand
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he was a complete lefty and yet he would
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choose to shoot himself
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kill himself with his offhand his right
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hand
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that didn't make sense to us also
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strange
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was miriam's explanation as to why
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jack committed suicide she said yes he
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was very depressed
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because of her daughter amy who had
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supposedly overdosed miriam
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changed that story when she told it to
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me quite a few times
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it was overdosed once and one time it
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was uh
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some sort of min uh physical
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uh ailment records showed
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miriam was the beneficiary of jack giles
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100 000 life insurance policy
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she apparently gets some insurance
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settlement
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and very quickly is back living
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the life while trying to solve the
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murder of miriam's second husband
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alan helmek investigators found
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a series of checks totaling 40 000
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made out to miriam the checks were
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signed by allen
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but now police weren't so sure
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we believe there were a lot more checks
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that
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she probably forged but we tried to
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limit them to the checks that we thought
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we had the best
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evidence on forensic document examiners
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determined
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ten czechs were forgeries although it
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was impossible to say conclusively
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that miriam was the forger
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police now believed that the attempted
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bombing of alan's car
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was miriam's work
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she was conveniently away from the car
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inside the store
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when alan found the lighted wick
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sticking out of his gas
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tank to investigators
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it reminded them of the car bombing
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scene in the hit
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film no country for old men
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the villain in that particular movie
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blows up a car using a homemade wick and
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we wondered if
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alan and miriam had actually seen that
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movie
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we checked their cable billing
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statements
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and sure enough they had rented that
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movie
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four days before this attempted car fire
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in delta colorado police had a wealth of
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circumstantial evidence the surveillance
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image in the card store
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the czech forgeries the attempted car
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bombing
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and the computer searches there are so
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many
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components and if you look at the
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totality of
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all the components it's very clear what
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happened in this case
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the only thing they didn't have was the
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murder weapon
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a 25 caliber handgun
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allen's daughter told police her father
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did own a 25-caliber gun that was a
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family heirloom
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my little sister christy recalled seeing
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the gun that they believed was used in
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the murder
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in my father's dresser drawer under the
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socks she was putting away laundry for
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him
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that gun was now missing from the home's
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inventory
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it would have pointed the finger at
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miriam helmik the person who would have
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had access to it and
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easy access to it the gift that kept on
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giving
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every time you thought she knew
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everything something else would come up
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with her
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and investigators learned something more
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20 years earlier that same gun had been
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fired in a domestic dispute involving
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wendy's grandparents my grandfather
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went a little crazy and tried to shoot
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my grandmother
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in their front lawn one day a neighbor
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saw what was happening and
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intervened he jumped on my grandfather
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and the gun went off turns out it went
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into the lawn
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that's where this history from this gun
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comes from
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the neighbor who intervened in the
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shooting incident 20 years earlier
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was still alive and remembered it
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vividly the neighbor did tell the police
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where he believed it had injured the
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lawn
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with the slimmest of hopes forensic
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analysts
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searched for the bullet that had been
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buried for almost
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20 years we went out there
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with metal detectors and after some time
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we were able to locate
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the bullet are you kidding you found a
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bullet that had been fired in 1989
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amazing we don't get those sorts of
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breaks
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could the bullet from the 1989 shooting
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tie miriam to the gun that killed her
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husband
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family members told police that alan
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helmick owned
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a 25 caliber handgun but
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it was now missing the thing that
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alan's daughter remembered about this
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gun was that it was smallish
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and that it had a white handle
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[Music]
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a bullet from that weapon was fired into
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the ground
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20 years earlier in a domestic dispute
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incredibly with the help of an
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eyewitness and metal detectors
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investigators found that bullet
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unfortunately after two decades in the
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ground
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it had taken a beating the bullet was
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badly corroded and weathered and
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it bore marks that are consistent with
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damage caused by
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striking sand or small stone particles
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the bullet that killed alan helmuck was
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also damaged as a result of
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impact but the lands and grooves from
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both bullets were still
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visible investigators compared those
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markings to see if both bullets came
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from the same weapon i was able to
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determine
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that the bullet recovered from the yard
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corresponded
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with the bullet from the victim in
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number of land and groove impressions
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and their widths i was able to determine
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also
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that the fired bullet from the yard was
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a right-hand twist
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my result was that the two bullets could
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have been fired
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by the same firearm the ballistics
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along with the circumstantial evidence
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was more than enough to charge
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miriam helmik with murder
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prosecutors believe miriam was
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systematically
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stealing money from alan's business
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accounts and that
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at some point allen found out about it
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thinking their relationship was soon to
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end
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prosecutors believe miriam tried to kill
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alan
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first by giving him an overdose of his
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prescription medicines
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[Music]
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when that didn't work prosecutors
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believe miriam placed
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a lighted wick in the gas tank of the
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car
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while allen waited for her in a shopping
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center parking lot
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fortunately the attempt failed miserably
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but prosecutors believe miriam knew
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about the family heirloom
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25 caliber pistol allen kept in his sock
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drawer
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and when the couple was alone miriam
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waited until alan was in his office
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walked up behind him and fired a single
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shot she
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showered changed her clothes and drove
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to the chinese restaurant
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in order to set up her alibi
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she left a message on allen's voicemail
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asking
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where he was hey alan this isn't funny
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anymore i've been sitting here in front
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of the chinese dragon
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or the chinese place for 15 minutes and
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you're never late
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no one knows where she disposed of the
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murder weapon
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and her clothes but presumably she did
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so
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on her way to or from the chinese
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restaurant
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when miriam returned home she called
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9-1-1
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saying she had just found allen's body
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in a pool of blood
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it looks like somebody came in and
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robbed them
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after alan's funeral miriam purchased
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the greeting card
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and used it to make it appear that she
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too
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was a potential target she didn't
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realize
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the store's surveillance camera would
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capture the purchase
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oh it was clear as day miriam she was
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wearing some of the same clothes that
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she'd worn in the interview
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when she was interviewed by law
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enforcement during her trial
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miriam took the stand in her own defense
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trial watchers said her performance did
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more harm
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than good i didn't know what happened to
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him
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and i held his hand
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for a few minutes and tried to make some
00:19:54
sense of it all
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i don't get many opportunities like that
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and that is something that'll stay with
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me for some time because
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i had to call her more or less a killer
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in front of the jury
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and i wasn't going to beat around the
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bushes with that i was going to let the
00:20:10
jury know that i didn't buy into her
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crying act
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in speaking with the jury when i asked
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what was your impression of her
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about six people answered together and
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said liar
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we the jury find the defendant marion
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helmet guilty and first degree murder
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miriam hellmick was sentenced to life in
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prison
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plus 108 years
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our father is gone but we're gonna move
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forward and we're gonna have a
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fulfilling life
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and um you you miriam got what you
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deserved
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he was looking for love he thought he
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found it he found someone that was after
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his money
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and it cost him his life all the unique
00:20:51
twists that this
00:20:52
case took will be one that will be
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etched in my memory
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the greeting card stands out the bullet
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from 1989
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the likelihood of us finding that one
00:21:02
bullet that allows us to compare to that
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one gun that we can't find
00:21:06
is the work that was done on that is
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[Music]
00:21:13
amazing
