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[Music]
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911 police emergency
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a hit-and-run driver left the scene of
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the crime
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but he took something with him something
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very important
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and he left behind a piece of forensic
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evidence that microscopically told a
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story more graphic than any eyewitness
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could ever have told
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[Music]
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on a cold february night in 1995
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todd christensen a kalamazoo michigan
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policeman was on duty in his patrol car
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things had been quiet
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and christensen thought it was going to
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remain so
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i was actually eating dinner in my car
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relaxing with a peanut butter and jelly
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sandwich
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when a frantic citizen came up and
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pulled up next to me
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he told christensen that a man was badly
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hurt a couple of blocks away
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[Music]
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when christensen got there the man was
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alive but just barely
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he was what i call circling the drain
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his breathing was
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was not good he was doing all he could
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to just
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suck in air at that time
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major head trauma
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[Music]
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the victim
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33 year old kirk hudson was rushed to
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the local hospital
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[Music]
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when i went into the room and i saw him
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laying there
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and his
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injuries he just didn't hardly look like
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the same person
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so it was real hard and my mom was of
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course real upset that was her only son
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so it was very upsetting
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hudson never regained consciousness
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he was pronounced dead before police
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could find out what had happened
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when my brother passed away it affected
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our whole family
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my mom suffered two nervous breakdowns
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it affected all of us
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kirk's death was the final act in a
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series of tragedies
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he was an unemployed navy veteran whose
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28 year old wife died of cancer just a
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few years earlier
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[Music]
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at the time of his death he had been
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caring for his mother she was sick and
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elderly
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at the accident scene
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police found a damaged bicycle near
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kirk's body what we saw is definitely
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evidence of a crime
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the vehicle parts the mangled up bicycle
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the person lying in a pool of blood
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would lead any reasonable officer to
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believe that this guy got hit by a
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vehicle and then that vehicle then left
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kirk's family told police he often rode
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his bicycle at night
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i think maybe that was how maybe he did
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relieve his stress it didn't phase him
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really what time it was he was a night
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person
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so that was his thing you know he'd ride
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his bike at night or wherever he wanted
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to do
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near kirk's bicycle
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police found a trail of plastic and
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glass fragments a small convex mirror
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some paint chips
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and an antenna
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the first thing that ran through my mind
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was
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the driver of this vehicle was obviously
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drunk
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someone left the bar
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ran this guy over
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either knew it or didn't know it
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regardless
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and laughed
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because they were drunk didn't want to
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get caught by the police
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this trail of vehicle parts led north
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along the street indicating the
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direction of the driver
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from kirk's head injuries police
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determined that he was riding the bike
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with the traffic on the right side of
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the road when he was hit from behind
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this meant that the hit-and-run vehicle
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would have had right front end damage
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there was no evidence the driver used
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his brakes before or after he struck
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kirk
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[Applause]
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and kirk's family couldn't understand
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why someone would leave him to die in
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the street
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this was just
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an accident he didn't mean to do it or
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she didn't mean to do it we just wanted
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them you know to say to us
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that they were sorry for what they had
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did
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[Music]
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and that they didn't mean to do it
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so
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that's all we wanted
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[Music]
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there were no eyewitnesses to kirk
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hudson's hit and run death
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but the force of impact left little
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doubt that the driver who hit him knew
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what happened
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how could they just hit him and then
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just leave him there
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to me that was just
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i couldn't even believe it i was like
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you know
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why couldn't they have just stopped
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the only clues to the driver's identity
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were some pieces of truck or car parts
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left at the scene
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we knew that the evidence on top of the
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ice was fresh because if it wasn't fresh
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it had been frozen in the ice
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so all the pieces of light lens the
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antenna
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reflector lens any parts of the bicycle
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the fresh paint all sitting on top we
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knew was fresh
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crime scene technicians identified the
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location of each piece with a numbered
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marker and then drew a detailed diagram
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of the scene
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every piece there were 28 in all was
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then photographed
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but it was doubtful whether these tiny
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clues would be enough to identify the
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vehicle
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after i collected things from the scene
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i thought that we'd done the best job we
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could
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but i gave it about a 30 chance of ever
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finding the vehicle that was involved i
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didn't think that
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we stood a real good chance
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[Music]
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among the pieces of the vehicle
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were also paint chips one of the chips
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was a little bigger than a quarter and
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contained a wealth of information
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there were two distinct colors on the
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chip with a line running through them
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it was a tri-colored piece of paint chip
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it's a maroon color a black pinstripe
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and moth
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that was very unique that's a two-tone
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vehicle with a pinstripe
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a background check revealed there were
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very few vehicles sold with that color
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combination which raised the possibility
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that it was a custom paint job
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that helped narrow the scope of what we
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were looking for even more
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next investigators turned to the shards
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of orange plastic recovered from the
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scene
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under the microscope
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they found a combination of small cubes
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and rectangles designed to reflect and
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shine light
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this meant it was most likely from a
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turn signal or parking light
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investigators then took each shard and
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attempted to piece together what they
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had
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you literally may have one piece that's
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broke here and another piece that fits
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into it
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or you get jagged pieces and they all
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come together
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microscopically
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and that's what you look for
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on one shard
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investigators found a pentagon with a
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star inside
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it looked like a chrysler dodge logo
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on this shard
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there appeared to be
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a serial number
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the one part had some markings on it
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some numbers on it and i was in hopes
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that it would be
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part numbers that we could identify what
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type of vehicle this lens is coming from
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had came from
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so investigators gathered all the pieces
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from the crime scene and went to a local
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chrysler dodge dealership
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and there
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parts manager david johnson found
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himself doing something well outside his
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job description
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i'd read about it in the paper about the
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person getting hit in downtown kalamazoo
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and they thought it might be a van of
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some kind that had done it and when the
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officer came in and questioned us it's
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like wow i wonder if it was a dodge
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johnson confirmed these pieces were from
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the plastic casing of a turn signal
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he then took the serial number and went
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through old parts manuals and discovered
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another piece of the puzzle there was no
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doubt in my mind what this came off of
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it had to be off of a dodge van once we
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saw the paint chip and the antenna on it
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i knew it had to be a conversion van
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because those were not standard items
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a conversion van is customized to the
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owner's specifications
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johnson said the parts from the turn
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signal indicated the vehicle was a dodge
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ram
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a van made between 1986 and 1993.
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[Music]
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a closer look at the small mirror found
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at the scene
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narrowed this down even further
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this was a customized part and was only
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available from 1986 to 1987
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police now knew the make and model of
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the vehicle that killed kirk hudson
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within a two-year range
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we were in a real big hurry to try to
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find the vehicle time is
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is pretty critical you know you don't
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want that vehicle
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sitting out there for a long period of
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time
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incredibly
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in kalamazoo alone
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there were hundreds of vehicles fitting
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that description
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nationwide
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tens of thousands
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and the driver
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and his van
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could be anywhere
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[Music]
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after examining pieces of the vehicle
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that killed kirk hudson
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police knew they were looking for a 1986
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or 87 move and maroon dodge ram a
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conversion van with a black pinstripe
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police had a list of the hundreds of
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people whose vans fit the description
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it's
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like looking for a needle in a haystack
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it's not an easy thing to do
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kirk hudson's family was informed but
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warned not to get their hopes up
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my brother did have a family and they
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didn't care you know he was a person and
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it was important for us to
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follow through on this and make sure
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that justice was served
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a description of the van was released to
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the media
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some calls came in but they were all
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dead ends
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then about a month after kirk hudson's
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death
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a customer in a local bar started to ask
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some questions
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i was had my normalcy and the bartender
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said something about an accident where a
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guy on a bicycle had been killed i said
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really
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when the woman who asked that she remain
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anonymous wanted to know more about the
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accident
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when she heard the accident took place
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just a few blocks from the bar
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and read the description of the hit and
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run vehicle
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she suspected
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she knew the identity of the driver
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he had the only dodge van in that
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neighborhood that color
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i don't even remember what year his
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dodge van was how
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old it was and who it was
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whatever i just know that that vanna had
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to be his van
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she called police to voice her suspicion
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that the driver of the van
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was jim northy
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and she said she was with northey on the
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night of the accident the two had been
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drinking together
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i couldn't even possibly come close to
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saying how many he had
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i wasn't keeping track
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she said northie left the bar alone in
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his van shortly before the accident
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occurred
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northey was 46 years old and had seven
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previous convictions for drunk driving
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vehicle records confirmed he owned a
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1987 dodge ram conversion van
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the same color as the one in the
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accident
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but when police discovered
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where north he worked
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they started to doubt whether they'd
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ever solved the case
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worked at this local
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recycling place where they
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shred vehicles
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we were afraid that the vehicle got
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shredded
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and it's in a
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thousand pieces out there in the
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junkyard someplace
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[Music]
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police rushed to northey's home and
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found the windows of his garage tape
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closed with towels and plastic bags
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nobody could see inside
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which is unusual for a garage which just
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got up my interest even more
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when questioned jim northey denied he
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was involved in a hit-and-run accident
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but he acknowledged that his wife had
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driven the van and gotten into a minor
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traffic accident a few weeks earlier i
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could see that the van had been involved
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in an accident the front light
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right light assembly had been
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replaced it was just hanging there from
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the wire
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but police weren't sure how they could
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tell whether the damage was caused by
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the hit-and-run accident or the other
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traffic accident northey referred to
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then almost by chance
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police discovered an important clue
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when i got to a workbench it was covered
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with several things tools work stuff
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that type of thing and i proceeded to
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take
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everything off from this workbench just
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piece by piece and as i got to the
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bottom
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i found one piece of orange lens
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light lens just like the ones we'd found
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out at the scene
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but it wasn't enough just to find a
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similar piece of plastic the most
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important thing was
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did it match
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[Music]
00:14:54
although jim northey denied hitting kirk
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hudson with his van
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police confiscated the vehicle and ran
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it through a series of tests
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the first thing we did is we we
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processed the van with luminol we looked
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for trace blood
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we next process the the van to see if
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there was any hairs or fibers that came
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from the victim
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but more than a month had passed since
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kirk hudson's death and there was no
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biological link between northeast van
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and the crime scene so police turned to
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more durable evidence the plastic and
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paint from the suspect vehicle
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a comparison analysis was done on a
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paint sample from northeast van
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and paint chips from the crime scene
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the colors and chemical composition of
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both samples
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were identical
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the state police crime lab did match up
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paint from the
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the vehicle
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and paint from the scene
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next
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investigators turned to the tiny chip of
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plastic they'd found on northie's
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workbench
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as if they were putting together a
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jigsaw puzzle
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they tried to fit this chip into the
00:16:11
turn signal partially reassembled from
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the crime scene
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incredibly
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the piece
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fit
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when an amber lens breaks
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the pieces don't ever break the same way
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again so basically
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we had a fingerprint found at the scene
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there was no doubt
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this tiny shard of plastic told an
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important story
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it was proof that jim northie had
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removed the broken turn signal lens
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placed it temporarily on his workbench
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and when he went to throw the broken
00:16:48
item away inadvertently left behind this
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one tiny piece that matched the broken
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pieces at the crime scene
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investigators now turned to kirk
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hudson's bike
00:17:03
they placed it next to the suspect van
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in an attempt to gauge the point of
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contact
00:17:10
there was a dent in the bicycle that
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would have been similar from where the
00:17:12
van hit it same height the same location
00:17:15
passenger side just all kinds of jigsaw
00:17:18
puzzle pieces fitting together like a
00:17:20
glove
00:17:21
i saw the damage to the bicycle matching
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up to the van
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the parking light blends at the same
00:17:27
height as the seat
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the color scheme of the van as to what
00:17:31
we picked up out there
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the antenna
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i got that warm fuzzy feeling that
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we've done our job we got the vehicle
00:17:41
involved
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based on the forensic evidence jim
00:17:46
northie was charged with leaving the
00:17:49
scene of a fatal accident
00:17:51
it was good to have the person's name
00:17:54
that was important not that we knew him
00:17:56
but just who it was
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that maybe you know we could get some
00:18:00
closure
00:18:02
northie was offered a chance to plead to
00:18:04
a lesser charge in exchange for a
00:18:07
reduced sentence
00:18:09
but he refused
00:18:11
the defense team was convinced the tiny
00:18:14
bits of plastic and paint assembled by
00:18:16
forensic technicians weren't enough to
00:18:19
convince a jury
00:18:21
but they faced a major hurdle
00:18:23
since no one had seen northie driving
00:18:27
all they had was the physical evidence
00:18:29
to put his van
00:18:31
at the crime scene
00:18:33
there were no eyewitnesses and when
00:18:35
there are no eyewitnesses
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it's
00:18:38
that remains a difficult part to sort
00:18:41
out in your mind until you hear all the
00:18:43
evidence the pieces of amber parking
00:18:46
light lens that you
00:18:48
took from the scene during the trial
00:18:51
prosecutors spent hours telling the jury
00:18:53
how each and every piece of plastic and
00:18:56
paint fit together
00:18:58
when completed
00:19:00
it told the story of how kirk hudson had
00:19:03
been hit
00:19:04
and left to die
00:19:06
scientific evidence is always compelling
00:19:08
juries love scientific evidence they
00:19:10
watch csi they watch your show
00:19:13
this is the rare type of case where we
00:19:15
actually have a lot of scientific
00:19:17
evidence
00:19:18
it had to be more than coincidence that
00:19:20
a piece of plastic or a paint chip or a
00:19:22
piece of glass doesn't just happen
00:19:25
to be there
00:19:26
and when they
00:19:28
showed them
00:19:30
blew them up magnified them it was easy
00:19:32
to see how they exactly matched
00:19:35
and that was very convincing as a juror
00:19:38
all of these little markers here that i
00:19:40
refer to are pieces of evidence
00:19:43
after a three-day trial
00:19:45
and only four hours of deliberation the
00:19:47
jury found jim northey
00:19:50
guilty
00:19:51
the jury put him behind that wheel
00:19:53
beyond a reasonable doubt that pretty
00:19:54
much is the end of the story
00:19:56
he was sentenced to four years in prison
00:20:00
kirk hudson's family still grieves
00:20:04
but they're grateful the killer
00:20:05
unknowingly left behind the information
00:20:09
that led to his capture
00:20:12
i know that all those little pieces came
00:20:14
to be one piece that really you know
00:20:16
helped solve the case
00:20:18
maybe if this had happened 20 years ago
00:20:21
it might not have gotten solved
00:20:23
but it took all those little pieces to
00:20:24
come together to get it solved so
00:20:27
we're very grateful for that
00:20:29
evidence
00:20:31
is great for any criminal proceeding
00:20:34
it's
00:20:35
you know i can sit here and say you ran
00:20:37
a stop sign and you say no i didn't but
00:20:39
if i say i got your fingerprint or i got
00:20:41
your parking light
00:20:43
you can't argue it it's evidence another
00:20:46
moral of this story is
00:20:48
dogged police work and investigation
00:20:51
patience
00:20:53
determination
00:20:54
can bring people to justice that
00:20:55
otherwise might have avoided it
00:21:01
[Music]
00:21:11
[Music]
00:21:22
[Applause]
00:21:26
[Music]
00:21:41
you
