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[Music]
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up next
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the murder of a convenience store
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employee goes
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unsolved for years the case always
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bugged me we wanted to find the clown
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that did that
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police couldn't understand why the
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victim's husband didn't report her
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missing
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every time i hear them i didn't call it
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in because we had an argument
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i always wondered how can anyone believe
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this could new forensic testing solve
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a 20 year old case you got to treat
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every
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single case like it's the crime of the
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century
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[Music]
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[Music]
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when rod and julie este started their
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life together in jacksonville florida
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as husband and wife they had to figure
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out like most couples
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how to support themselves rod drove a
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truck for a plastics company
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but the only job 21 year old julie could
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find
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was working the late shift at a
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convenience store
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near their home she had graduated from
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high school
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but she was a recent transplant to the
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jacksonville area
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and needed that job to put food on her
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table convenience stores and gas
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stations were really the only things at
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night that were open that
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people would rob i imagine sitting in
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that convenience store without any kind
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of modern day surveillance
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or protection or panic button that
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she must have been fearful julie
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normally worked afternoons and evenings
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and closed the store
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at 11 pm but one night
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a customer noticed the store was closed
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at 10 30
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a half hour earlier than the closing
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time posted on the door
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police were asked to check it out we
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shined our lights in the windows
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there was absolutely no signs of foul
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play nothing was disrupted
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nothing was overturned it just looked
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like somebody left the store
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so we went back to work and went about
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our normal shift
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the next morning the daytime clerk
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opened the store
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and discovered it had been robbed the
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floor safe had been open and appeared to
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be empty
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and and that the power appeared to have
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been cut off the night before
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according to the owners around 500
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was missing from the safe
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police tried to find julie but she
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wasn't home
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surprisingly julie's husband said she
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never came home from work and he
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admitted
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he hadn't reported her missing he told
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me at that time that
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they had had a small argument before she
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left for work
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and i'm like well you didn't call the
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police when she didn't come home for
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you know eight hours every time i hear
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that story of somebody
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saying well i didn't call it in because
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we had an argument i always wondered
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how can anyone believe this later that
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morning
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four miles from the convenience store
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police found julie's car
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in the woods stuck in mud the key was
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still in the ignition
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one of our helicopters spotted blue
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camaro not a long distance away but in a
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wooded area that's known for
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vehicles dumped or parked or whatever
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out there
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they saw what they perceived to be drag
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marks leading away from the vehicle
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and then they followed the drag marks
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a few hundred feet from the car under
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some cardboard
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was julie's body julie's body was found
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with her arms tied
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behind her back with her very own
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shoelaces
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her shirt was pulled up with her breasts
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exposed her pants and panties were
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pulled down to her socks
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the details of the crime just really go
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right through you
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they make you realize how
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you know how much she really went
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through
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there was a 21 year old woman who on one
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hand wore a high school class ring
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on the other one her wedding ring
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julie's husband said he had an alibi
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one police had heard dozens of times
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over the years
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rod estes had explained that he was by
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himself
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all evening had watched a football game
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and had fallen asleep
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and no one was with him all night not
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the best alibi in the world if a
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policeman thinks you might be
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responsible for your wife's
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disappearance but
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that's all he had and investigators
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had another problem they suspected
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julie had been murdered elsewhere
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as investigators search for julieste's
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killer
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they began by looking for clues inside
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her car which was found stuck in mud in
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the woods near her body
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and the evidence told a story
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julie herself was a tall girl she was
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approximately five
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eight five nine the seat had been moved
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all the way up as if a shorter person
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had been driving it
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and so it was apparent that someone
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other than julie had been the last
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person to drive that car
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and in fact that that person probably
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was shorter
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and they also found blood drops in the
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trunk
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tests showed it was the same blood type
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as julie's
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an indication she was injured
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elsewhere placed in the trunk then
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driven to the woods initially they
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weren't sure
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whether that was the scene of the murder
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or that was simply a dump site that type
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of development makes
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investigation that much more difficult
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because now you've got two crime scenes
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to worry about
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unfortunately there were no foreign
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fingerprints found on
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or in the car and investigators found
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no usable footprints in the mud and dirt
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julie's purse was discovered at the
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scene with no money inside
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the convenience store's money bag was
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there but it too
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was empty julie's killer
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had removed the laces from her shoes to
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tie her hands
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but her shoes were missing julie's shoes
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were distinctive
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even back in 1985 because they were
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purple
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the next day investigators got a
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potential lead
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police got a call from a man who had
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been kind of scrounging around behind
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another convenience store
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when he came upon a purple pair of shoes
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the purple shoes were almost certainly
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julie's
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the laces were missing a bowling
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bag and some receipts with julie's name
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left no doubt the items were hers
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the site was just a half mile from the
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convenience store where julie
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was last seen alive we found evidence
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that
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things were taken out of the trunk of
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her car she was
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probably forced into the trunk then
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she was driven five or six miles away
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from there
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where her body was found normally
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the evidentiary value of the items would
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be significant
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but not this time the civilian
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that had found those items had at first
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taken them home
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this meant all the evidence at what may
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have been
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the murder site was compromised
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somebody's been there moving things
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around and it just makes the
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investigation a lot more difficult there
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was no physical evidence that
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at that particular time that could
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identify a killer
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in the meantime it didn't take long for
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investigators to eliminate julie's
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husband
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as a suspect when he was perfectly
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willing to take a polygraph examination
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kept in contact
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with the officers trying to work this
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case i think all suspicion was erased
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but julie's autopsy did provide some
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important information about
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the killer the medical examiner found
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evidence of sexual assault
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a rape test kit recovered biological
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evidence presumably
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of the perpetrator unfortunately dna
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testing wasn't yet available
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crimes in 1985 were a lot harder to
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solve just based on technology
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they're just certain things that we
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could yield dna profiles from today
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you wouldn't be able to get back then as
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the weeks went by
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and the number of leads started to
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dwindle
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investigators continued to search for
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julie's killer
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knowing full well they had no forensic
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evidence to identify him
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but it didn't stop them from trying
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at this particular time when this
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incident occurred
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some weird things were happening in that
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area seven months before
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julie's murder the body of a missing
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15-year-old girl
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was discovered just three miles away
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her body was so badly decomposed
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the cause of death couldn't be
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determined
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and two months before julie's murder a
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ten-year-old girl was found
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dead hanging in a tree in the woods
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just two miles from julie's convenience
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store
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since these crimes happened within a
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radius of only
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three miles investigators had a hunch
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they might be connected we really wanted
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to find the
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clown that did that
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investigators wondered whether
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julieste's murder might be connected to
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several
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other crimes committed in the area
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unfortunately investigators had no
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evidence to link them
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right now by today's standard physical
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evidence is one of your
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your top factors in reviewing a case
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it's very significant very important
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they make the case
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with no leads no evidence and no
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suspects the trail of juliet's killer
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turned cold
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julie's family started to believe her
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murder would never be solved
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after a couple of years i just gave up i
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said well
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we're up here and they're down there and
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you know
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nobody cares
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the case always bugged me you know
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she went missing on my watch
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[Music]
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and it bugged me i mean every time i
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drove by that store i thought of her
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and it bugged me after a few years
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patrolman frank mccasey was promoted to
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chief of detectives
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with the power to recommend cases to the
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cold case unit
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mccasey had always had a strong desire
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to solve this case this is a case that
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had stuck with him and stuck in his
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mind through his whole career so when
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the cold case unit got involved
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they broadened their search they looked
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at every sexually motivated crime in the
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region
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and got a break just two months after
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julius d's murder 30 miles away in
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another jurisdiction
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there had been another convenience store
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crime
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almost identical to julie's except
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in this case the victim survived
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a 19 year old convenience store worker
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carla
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nobles had just closed the store and
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given a ride to a young man she met
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in the parking lot
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she voluntarily let him in the car
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having no idea what he was capable of
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she did a quick drive to the post office
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where he said he wanted to go
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before they got there the man pulled a
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knife
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[Music]
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forced her to drive to an isolated field
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and sexually assaulted her
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he then forced her to drive away she
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was sure he was going to kill her
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because she could identify him
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but then she saw the only chance to
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escape
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a police officer directing traffic
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what are you doing
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[Music]
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she just literally tries to run up there
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and get the officer's attention
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practically hitting the officer
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when he got to the car the abductor had
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a
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knife to carla's throat and so he pulled
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his revolver
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and the abductor dropped the knife the
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man was identified
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as james ellman he was convicted for the
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crime
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and was currently serving a 22-year
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sentence
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in a nearby prison and cold case
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investigators learned another
00:12:48
startling coincidence ellman had a close
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connection to the ten-year-old girl
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found hanging in the tree
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near julie's store two months before
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julie's murder
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the ten-year-old was a half-sister of
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elman
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investigators now wanted to test the
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biological evidence collected
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from julie's rape test kit to see
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whether james ellmann
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was her killer but there was a risk
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the test would consume all of the
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evidence
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unfortunately sometimes you have to make
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a choice you might have to run the
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entire bit of sample
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but at the time you're thinking this is
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the best technology available
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investigators decided the gamble was
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worth it they consumed
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all of the semen that was contained in
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those slides trying to get results
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results that unfortunately never showed
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who the killer was
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this was a devastating setback it's just
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shocking it feels like you're hit with a
00:13:50
ton of bricks then you've got to start
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over it's like going
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starting from scratch again but
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investigators
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refused to give up ellman has a rough
00:13:59
history
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and people around james ellen tend to
00:14:03
die
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unfortunately if elman was
00:14:08
julie's killer there was no longer
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any dna to prove it
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they used up all the evidence and and
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found nothing
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uh that that brought them any closer to
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a suspect
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after years of searching for julie
00:14:26
este's killer
00:14:28
investigators were convinced they found
00:14:30
him
00:14:31
he was serving time in prison for a
00:14:34
similar crime committed
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30 miles away
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[Music]
00:14:42
his name was james ellman
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ellman was the worst of the worst we
00:14:48
talk about he's the poster child of
00:14:49
eddie social
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it's a clue when the public defenders
00:14:53
are afraid of him
00:14:55
when the doctors are afraid of him when
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the people at the
00:14:59
medical treatment facility are afraid of
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him
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but investigators wanted to be sure
00:15:05
ellman
00:15:06
was responsible for julie este's murder
00:15:09
why because if he wasn't
00:15:12
julie's killer was still on the loose
00:15:16
no it's not always a hollywood ending
00:15:18
sometimes you don't get any results
00:15:19
cases still go unsolved so 16 years
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after julie's murder
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the jacksonville police department sent
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julie's clothes to the u.s army crime
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lab in forest park georgia
00:15:32
one of the most sophisticated labs
00:15:34
available
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the items evidence included socks and
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her shirt
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and jeans as well as other items from
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her sexual assault kit
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which included like fingernail scrapings
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and other swabs
00:15:46
scientists there were discouraged all
00:15:49
but
00:15:50
one of the items had been analyzed and
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tested
00:15:54
the socks had never been tested probably
00:15:56
because nobody expected to find anything
00:15:58
useful
00:15:59
on them the idea that forensic evidence
00:16:02
could
00:16:02
have transferred onto julie's socks
00:16:05
was remote nevertheless
00:16:09
analyst brian higgins examined the socks
00:16:12
with light sources that cause
00:16:14
genetic material to fluoresce i was kind
00:16:17
of like wow
00:16:18
you know could these be actually semen
00:16:19
stains i was kind of surprised actually
00:16:21
because
00:16:21
it's not one of the more common places
00:16:23
we would find semen
00:16:25
the areas were removed then analyzed
00:16:28
with the new dna test that needed
00:16:30
only a very small amount of genetic
00:16:33
material
00:16:34
when dna first started out you needed a
00:16:36
lot of dna and
00:16:37
they needed to be high quality dna
00:16:39
nowadays it can be very degraded
00:16:40
and we could have very limited
00:16:42
quantities and still yield good results
00:16:45
miraculously the test generated a
00:16:49
mixture of
00:16:50
two dna profiles one
00:16:53
female and one male
00:16:56
one was julie's dna the other
00:16:59
was the dna of the killer they were
00:17:03
able to identify that dna profile as the
00:17:05
exact match
00:17:06
to james ellman we were all ecstatic i
00:17:09
mean it was
00:17:10
unbelievable feeling and you know that's
00:17:13
that's the reward of cold case when you
00:17:14
have that piece that you never had
00:17:15
before
00:17:16
and you're able just to put that one
00:17:17
thing together and you know you've got
00:17:19
the entire case
00:17:22
investigators confronted elman in prison
00:17:24
with the evidence
00:17:26
and i'm telling you that your dna is in
00:17:29
the murder scene of this
00:17:31
this this this murdered girl
00:17:34
i'm telling you i wasn't there i don't
00:17:36
know anything about this girl
00:17:37
if you're not there how do you how does
00:17:39
jen how does james helman seem to get in
00:17:41
to get in the damn crime scene
00:17:47
[Music]
00:17:57
is a monster that now sits behind bars
00:18:00
i always knew that there was going to be
00:18:02
a day
00:18:04
that they were going to say we got it
00:18:07
this case is solved based on the dna
00:18:12
evidence prosecutors believe james
00:18:15
ellman was probably walking by the
00:18:17
convenience store where julie estes
00:18:19
worked
00:18:20
around 10 30 and noticed there were no
00:18:23
customers inside
00:18:30
he shut off the store's electricity
00:18:34
held juliet knife point forced her to
00:18:37
open the safe
00:18:43
then he made her drive a half mile away
00:18:46
to an area
00:18:47
behind an unoccupied store he used her
00:18:51
shoelaces to tie her wrists
00:18:54
then raped and killed her
00:19:02
he removed items from julie's trunk to
00:19:05
make room for her body
00:19:13
elman drove to the woods where he hid
00:19:15
her body under some
00:19:16
cardboard the biological evidence from
00:19:20
the attack
00:19:21
was embedded in her cotton socks
00:19:26
elman probably wanted to keep julie's
00:19:28
car
00:19:29
but it got stuck in the mud and he had
00:19:31
to escape on foot
00:19:36
authorities had plenty of suspicion but
00:19:38
no evidence to charge element with his
00:19:41
half-sister's murder
00:19:43
but after 17 years there was plenty of
00:19:46
dna evidence to charge him with julie
00:19:49
estes rape
00:19:51
and murder it just was unbelievable
00:19:54
that it would be the socks that would
00:19:56
hold the true identity
00:19:57
of her killer and how would you want me
00:20:00
to say
00:20:01
what you really want me to say i guess i
00:20:03
just asked for an explanation
00:20:05
i mean you know how forensics works i
00:20:07
can't give it to you
00:20:10
well the only reasonable explanation is
00:20:12
that you're involved in the murder
00:20:13
no that's not true
00:20:17
that's not true
00:20:20
that's definitely not true faced with a
00:20:24
possible
00:20:24
death penalty ellman decided to plead no
00:20:28
contest to julie este's rape
00:20:30
and murder in return he was sentenced to
00:20:34
life in prison
00:20:35
with no possibility of parole the lesson
00:20:38
for criminals would be no matter how
00:20:40
long ago you did
00:20:41
the crime the forensic has a capability
00:20:43
of solving it
00:20:44
if it wasn't for forensics in this case
00:20:47
i
00:20:48
you know the dna and everything i i
00:20:50
don't think that they would ever solve
00:20:52
it
00:20:53
we always talked about if we ever got
00:20:55
out we were just going to have to we'd
00:20:56
be counting bodies
00:20:58
he was we believed he was that bad you
00:21:00
got to treat
00:21:01
every single case like it's the crime of
00:21:03
the century
00:21:05
and what i mean by that is you got to
00:21:06
make sure that you you don't take
00:21:08
any evidence for granted
