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california police had several suspects
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in the robbery and murder of a retired
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couple
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unfortunately the forensic evidence was
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inconclusive
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ten years later
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a determined forensic scientist with
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materials used by dentists found
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evidence that had previously been
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overlooked
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and in so doing
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made scientific history
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[Music]
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bakersfield california
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known for its oil fields wide open
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spaces and an aggressive crime
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investigation unit
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officials post pictures of their most
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wanted criminals on the town's website
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but they needed every trick they could
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think of to solve the case of clifford
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and alma merk a retired couple who lived
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on the city's south side
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they love to sit out on the front porch
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and they had
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big trees out in front and it was shady
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in the summertime
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and they would just sit out there and
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just it was so peaceful
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one saturday morning the murk's son
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robert stopped by his parents home for a
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visit
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he immediately noticed something was
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wrong
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he found a door open at the back of the
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house and
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entered and immediately detected a foul
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odor and i backed out of the house and
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told my wife i said something's wrong
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here go across the street and call the
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sheriff's department
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jim christopherson was one of the first
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to arrive at the scene
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the entire residence was ransacked
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everything turned upside down chairs
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turned upside down
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anything that was in a drawer was tipped
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out and
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spilled out onto the floor
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when they got to the couple's bedroom
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police discovered
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this was more than a robbery
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clifford merc used to be lying across a
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bed
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with his hands and feet bound with some
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sort of a cord and he was obviously
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deceased
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it was later determined he had been shot
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in the head twice
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nearby police found a pillow with two
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bullet holes
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the pillow had been used to muffle the
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sound of the gunshots
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but there were no spent shell casings in
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the home
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so whoever committed the crime
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probably collected those
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casings to uh to hide the evidence or to
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throw the investigation off track
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the search team found alma merck's body
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in the second bedroom
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there was a sliding panel in this
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location
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and as we slid back one could see that
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there was a body
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placed in this closet he told me that my
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mother
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they found her in a wardrobe with a
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telephone
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cord tied around her neck
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and strangled
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i just i i thought this can't be
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happening it's
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[Music]
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it's like a dream i'm gonna wake up and
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and she's gonna be fine
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but it wasn't a dream it was it was real
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alma's jewelry and cliff's handguns were
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apparently stolen during the attack
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investigators found two foreign
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fingerprints inside the home one at the
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back door the other on a sewing tray in
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the living room
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in a search for suspects a neighbor told
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police that he saw two men lurking
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around the murk's home just a few days
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earlier
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he kept an eye on them until he finally
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lost visual contact with them because of
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some trees obstructing his view
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that was the last you saw of them
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the mercs had no known enemies and no
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one else in the neighborhood saw or
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heard anything unusual around the time
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of the murders
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investigators hoped that either the
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fingerprints or some other forensic
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evidence at the scene
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would lead them to the killer
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at cliff merck's autopsy
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the medical examiner recovered two
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25-caliber bullets from his skull
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coincidentally one of cliff's 25-caliber
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pistols was stolen during the robbery
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investigators wondered whether cliff had
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been murdered with his own gun
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we had been evaluating every 25 caliber
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automatic seized in the area
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as it came in to see if the ballistics
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would match the 25 caliber bullets that
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were removed from the skull of clifford
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merc
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two months later
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investigators found cliff merk's gun
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it was in the possession of a man whom
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we'll call dan jones at the time he was
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arrested on a drug charge
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it was easily identifiable since cliff's
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initials had been carved into the handle
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that was cliff he had his name on
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practically everything that he owned
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he'd take a
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some kind of an etcher and
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etch these initials on it you know it's
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just for identification
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jones denied any involvement in the
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murder and said he bought the gun from
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an acquaintance robert cowan
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a man well known to law enforcement
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he had no occupation and he supported
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himself by
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stealing
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robbing houses stealing from people
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outside of restaurants and that type
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thing he had a long record
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of
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robberies and
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use of of narcotics
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robert cowan also had a partner in crime
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his brother gerald
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the brothers were involved in criminal
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activity a lot of small time stuff
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public drunk a lot of narcotics usage
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some assaults
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forensic scientists tested cliff's gun
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to see if it was the one used in his
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murder
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[Music]
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the gun was test-fired into a tub of
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water
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as bullets go through the barrel the
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lens and grooves which make the bullets
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spin leave marks on the outside of the
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bullet
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they will design the barrel to have a
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certain direction of twist a certain
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number of land in grooves a certain
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measurement for those landing grooves so
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those are intentionally put in by the
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manufacturer
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surprisingly when the bullets from
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cliff's gun were compared to the bullets
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from cliff's autopsy
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they did not match
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at that point we basically eliminated
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that weapon and says we don't believe
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that's it
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investigators checked all of the local
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pawn shops and discovered that the cowan
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brothers had pawned some of alma merck's
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jewelry
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with a search warrant police found
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several other items belonging to the
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mercs in the cowan's possession
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he had a wallet he had two
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social security checks
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which he was trying to sell he had all
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types of jewelry
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but investigators did not find a 25
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caliber pistol like the one used in the
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murder
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investigators then compared the cowan's
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fingerprints and those of the drug
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dealer with the fingerprints found
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inside the merc's home
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they were astonished to learn
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that none of them matched
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[Music]
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the cowan brothers looked similar to the
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men seen walking near the murk's home
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before the murder
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but the neighbor couldn't make a
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positive identification
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all investigators had against the cowan
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brothers and dan jones was possession of
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stolen property
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it just got to a certain point where
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there was no fresh information coming in
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and there was still a lack of physical
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evidence tying the cows to the crime
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scene we would talk and he would say the
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same thing we still think it's the same
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people
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but we don't have the proof
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i never lost hope i just knew in my
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heart
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that the police would do their job and
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and find the people that did this to
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mother and cliff i just never gave up
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hope i just knew that that that they
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would do it
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investigators confiscated every 25
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caliber pistol they could find hoping
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that one of them would match the murder
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weapon
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i'm going to just see every 25 caliber
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semi-automatic pistol seized by law
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enforcement in current county coming
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across my desk i maintained those
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bullets in my secured work area i never
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returned them to the sheriff's property
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room knowing that i would one day get
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that firearm
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but eventually
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there were other crimes to solve other
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evidence to process
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and the murder of cliff and dalma merk
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move quietly into the unsolved file
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ten years later
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jim christopherson was promoted to
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homicide detective
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but he never forgot the murder of cliff
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and alma mirk
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the case had always bothered me mainly
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because of the circumstances the way
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they were murdered
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and
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just knowing that that there was that
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element out there still walking the
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streets that
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hopefully hadn't done more
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killings
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but after a decade
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the trail of the killer had turned cold
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christopherson knew he needed forensic
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evidence to have any chance of solving
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the case
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ten years after clifford and alma
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merck's murder
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investigators in bakersfield california
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were no closer to making an arrest
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we don't know who it was or if they're
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somewhere in the neighborhood still it's
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really scary
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very scary
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to think that they're still out there
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they're not caught and i tell you the
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truth i really didn't think they were
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ever going to get caught
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shortly after jim christopherson was
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promoted to homicide detective
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he reopened the case looking for any
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possible evidence that might have been
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overlooked when i opened up the case it
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was very enlightening first off i had no
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idea that the initial investigators had
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done so much work on it
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they had talked to literally hundreds of
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people and interviewed hundreds of
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people
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and had obtained a lot of good
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information
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cliff merck's 25 caliber handgun stolen
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during the robbery was recovered a few
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months later but ballistic tests
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revealed it was not the murder weapon
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in searching through the files
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christopherson discovered that there
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were several other men present on the
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night the cowan brothers sold cliff
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merc's gun to the drug dealer
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when christopherson re-interviewed them
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now ten years later
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one of the men present recalled an
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interesting detail
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he recalled hearing the cowan brothers
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tell the drug dealer that the gun they
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were selling had been used in a crime
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once this drug person took possession of
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the gun that he put a screwdriver down
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the end of the barrel and
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reamed it out in effect changing the
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rifling of the gun
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with this information greg laskowski
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took a second look down the barrel of
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cliff merc's gun
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and saw evidence of what the informant
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was talking about
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the
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land impressions at the very muzzle or
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the crown of the barrel had appeared to
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been altered
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it wasn't obvious at first and because
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it's an old gun but there was just
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something about the crown
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and the land impressions at that muzzle
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that were just different from the
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remainder of the impressions farther
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down the barrel
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since only the end of the barrel had
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been altered
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leskowski needed to find some way to
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examine just the portion of the barrel
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that was unaltered
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no one in the forensic establishment
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could help him
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i contacted a number of
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known experts about
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what i was planning to do and how to do
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it and they all wished me good luck
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and so you know i helped i had to you
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know i was working on my own at that
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time
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but leskowski remembered using a dental
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casting material called microsill in a
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case where he needed to see tool marks
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in a piece of metal
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so he decided to try some of that by
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putting it down the barrel of the gun
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it consists of two parts a
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silicone rubber base
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and
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then a catalyst or hardener and one
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basically it comes in two tubes so one
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then squeezes a certain amount of
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the rubber material out and then a
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corresponding amount of hardener out you
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mix the two together
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and in this particular case we injected
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the cast into the
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barrel
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and let it harden
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it took 15 minutes for the micro sill to
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solidify inside the gun
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when it hardened
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laskowski slowly removed the cast from
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the barrel
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it literally does not adhere to the
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substance that it's casting it just
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records its surface detail it's like
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an egg on a teflon
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frying pan one can see that one achieves
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a very
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true representation of the interior of
00:14:34
the barrel plus the fine detail
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he cut away the portion of the barrel
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imprint destroyed by the screwdriver
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and then
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compared the remainder of the cast to
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the bullets that killed cliff merk
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in an incredible turn of events
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they were
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an exact match
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this proved that clifford murk's own gun
00:15:02
was used in his murder and that the
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cowan brothers had been in possession of
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the gun
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before it had been altered
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even with this discovery
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it still wasn't enough to prove murder
00:15:15
that was good circumstantial evidence
00:15:17
however it still did not place them
00:15:19
inside the crime scene
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but there was one more piece of evidence
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about to be uncovered
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that would point the finger at who
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killed clifford and alma merk
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for the first time in the history of
00:15:38
forensic science a cast made of the
00:15:41
inside of a gun was used to identify a
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murder weapon
00:15:48
the pistol used to kill cliff merc had
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been sold to a drug dealer by robert and
00:15:53
gerald cowan but for some reason the
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cowan's fingerprints did not match those
00:15:58
found at the crime scene
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the person who attempted the
00:16:04
comparison
00:16:08
was unable to make a match
00:16:11
and he
00:16:13
he failed to have another examiner
00:16:17
verify his conclusions
00:16:20
this was a breach of protocol
00:16:22
the standard operating procedure in all
00:16:24
crime labs requires a fingerprint
00:16:27
examiner to have someone verify his or
00:16:30
her conclusions
00:16:32
so the fingerprints were resubmitted for
00:16:35
analysis and this time the results were
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verified by a supervisor
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the fingerprints found in the merck's
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home
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matched robert cowan
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[Music]
00:16:47
it goes without saying that i was highly
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irritated and embarrassed for the
00:16:51
department
00:16:52
initially on the latent evidence being
00:16:55
misread i i tend to believe that was
00:16:57
probably a training issue this was
00:16:59
simply a
00:17:01
situation where
00:17:03
the original examiner was in over his
00:17:06
head
00:17:07
and
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and couldn't handle it
00:17:10
armed with the fingerprint evidence and
00:17:12
the ballistic test results robert cowan
00:17:14
was arrested and charged with two counts
00:17:17
of first degree murder
00:17:20
took him back to the office and i showed
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him where his fingerprints were
00:17:23
definitely found inside of that house
00:17:26
and asked him to explain that
00:17:28
and
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he just shook his head and he just kept
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his mouth shut and he stayed silent and
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said he couldn't explain it
00:17:35
gerald cowan was also arrested for the
00:17:38
murders but he was later released
00:17:40
because there was no forensic evidence
00:17:42
linking him to the crime scene
00:17:45
gerald cowan was later convicted of
00:17:47
manslaughter for killing his
00:17:49
father-in-law
00:17:51
he served only two years in prison for
00:17:53
that crime before he was released on
00:17:55
parole
00:17:59
prosecutors believe
00:18:00
robert cowan was one of the men seen
00:18:03
near the murk's home by the neighbor
00:18:05
based on the forensic evidence
00:18:08
prosecutors say robert cowan and an
00:18:11
accomplice broke into the murk's home
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through the back door
00:18:15
cliff merc probably went for his gun to
00:18:17
defend himself and robert cowan grabbed
00:18:20
the pistol and turned it on cliff
00:18:28
[Music]
00:18:31
the men bound his wife alma locked her
00:18:34
in the closet and left her to die
00:18:37
[Music]
00:18:38
robert cowan left his fingerprints on a
00:18:41
tray found in the living room and by the
00:18:43
back door as he left
00:18:46
the cowans pawned some of alma merck's
00:18:49
jewelry then sold the gun to a drug
00:18:52
dealer who altered the rifling marks of
00:18:54
the gun barrel but it wasn't enough to
00:18:57
fool a forensic scientist with his
00:19:00
newfound ability to see
00:19:02
inside the barrel
00:19:05
something inside me says hold onto these
00:19:07
bullets you're going to find the firearm
00:19:10
and lo and behold it happened
00:19:14
way down the line almost 10 years later
00:19:16
but
00:19:17
time was on our side i guess in that
00:19:19
matter
00:19:20
robert cowan was convicted of two counts
00:19:23
of first-degree murder and was sentenced
00:19:26
to death
00:19:28
when you look at what he did to this
00:19:29
elderly couple who he had no reason to
00:19:32
kill he could have taken everything they
00:19:34
had and tied them up and left them he
00:19:36
didn't have to shoot them he didn't have
00:19:38
to shove mrs merck in a closet and close
00:19:40
the door on her and let her suffer and
00:19:42
die
00:19:43
i couldn't find anything good about this
00:19:45
man i couldn't find anything nice about
00:19:47
him i couldn't find any reason in the
00:19:49
world why i felt he should even be
00:19:51
walking on the earth and breathing air
00:19:53
i'm glad they convicted him
00:19:58
i'm glad he's where he is
00:20:01
and i think that he
00:20:03
deserves everything that he's getting
00:20:06
for what he did to my mother
00:20:08
if they would let me
00:20:10
i would
00:20:12
throw the switch or whatever it takes to
00:20:14
do
00:20:17
the merck case took 10 years to solve
00:20:20
and required both perseverance and
00:20:22
ingenuity
00:20:24
the result was not only a conviction
00:20:27
but a new forensic test now used around
00:20:31
the world when investigators suspect
00:20:34
there has been tampering inside a gun
00:20:37
barrel
00:20:38
this is where forensic science works is
00:20:40
it always borrows or steals from its
00:20:43
neighboring sciences or
00:20:46
methodologies and it
00:20:48
takes those and uses it in a practical
00:20:51
manner
00:20:52
i could not have
00:20:54
won the case i could not have gotten the
00:20:56
death penalty without forensic science
00:20:58
i've had a long career and it was one of
00:21:01
the highlights of my career
00:21:03
[Music]
00:21:11
[Music]
00:21:26
[Applause]
00:21:32
[Music]
00:21:41
you
