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a small canadian farm town made national
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news when a woman claimed she was raped
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by her own doctor dna tests proved the
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doctor was innocent the victim insisted
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the dna test was wrong
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what does a high school graduate know
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that the world's top scientists do not
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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nestled along canada's beautiful
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southwestern prairie is the tiny town of
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kipling saskatchewan
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the population is so sparse the farm
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animals outnumbered the residents
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in a town this size everyone knows one
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another
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it's a fairly quiet farming community
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with a little crime we may have
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up to five or six sexual assaults a year
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and
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breaking enters but fairly small in the
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scope of criminal code work
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[Music]
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this is the story of one of those
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alleged sexual assault cases
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it took place on halloween night in
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1992.
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depending on whose story you believe
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it was either a night of lies and
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trickery or an unfortunate
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misunderstanding
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a woman we'll call candy was working at
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this gas station her boyfriend stopped
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by
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they got into an argument i am not
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dealing with you anymore i can't even
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stand to look at you
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[Music]
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candy drove to see her girlfriend who
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worked at the kipling memorial union
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hospital
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she wasn't there
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candy appeared upset
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a nurse suggested she see a doctor
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dr john schneeberger was on call that
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night he was also candy's doctor and had
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even delivered her baby
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candy says dr schneeberger recommended a
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sedative
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i wasn't really hysterical anymore but
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what i told him was that i was so mad at
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danny that
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that i felt like killing him
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but i didn't actually mean that i was
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going to go out and kill him i was just
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describing the
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how angry i was
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i had just expected that he would give
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me a couple pills or something
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just to relax my muscles calm me down
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instead
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dr schneeberger gave candy a shot
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she says she went numb almost
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immediately
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i had no control over my muscles it's
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like all my muscles left and i was just
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this piece of jelly falling over
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i tried to scream
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as i was falling over nothing would come
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out except for
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like a croaking noise that a frog would
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make it was just it was so scary
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candy isn't exactly sure what happened
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next but believes
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she was raped when a dentist freezes
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your gums
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you can't and he's pulling pulling your
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tooth out
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you can't feel
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the the pain from the tooth but what you
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can feel is pressure of the tooth moving
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back and forth and
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and that's that's the only way i can
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describe it
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when she regained consciousness alone in
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the exam room candy had the presence of
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mind to place her underwear in an
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air-tight bag
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candy was too dizzy to leave the
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hospital
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the nurses insisted she spend the night
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she said nothing of the alleged rape the
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next day
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she confronted dr schneeberger
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i said
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the hell was that drug you gave me last
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night
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and he asked me why did it give you wild
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dreams
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and then
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and then i knew that oh my god i was
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gonna have a hell of a fight on my hands
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because here now he's already
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already covering up eh
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when candy was released from the
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hospital she spoke briefly with her
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parents and told them of her suspicions
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you could tell by the look on her face
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that
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that something terrible had happened to
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her
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i was really hoping that wasn't true eh
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but
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when we saw her we knew it was
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she then drove to regina a town two
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hours drive away
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and went to a rape clinic for testing
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there they found evidence of semen on
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her panties jeans and on a vaginal swab
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that was part of my reasoning for going
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for the rape kit
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to find out if this really did happen or
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is am i going nuts did my mind play some
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tricks on me or what the hell is going
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on here blood tests also revealed an
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unusual drug in candy's system a drug
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called versed
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they use it as a pre-anaesthetic agent
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to induce
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anesthesia you start to
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go numb and not feel the power of your
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muscles you're able to
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use your muscles and then you become
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very tired and then asleep
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when candy formally accused dr
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schneeberger of rape
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many residents of kipling believed candy
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was lying
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dr schneeberger was a respected member
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of the community he had never been
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accused of anything like this before
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some believed candy as a single mother
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was either romantically interested in
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the married doctor or her motive was to
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get some sort of financial settlement to
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end the controversy
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the town looked up to the doctor he was
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a good doctor
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and
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he would never do anything like that it
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was impossible
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also suspicious was the fact that candy
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had said nothing to hospital nurses on
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the night of the alleged rape
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there were two nurses on shift that
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night
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in fact both of them were in that room
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the room that the
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the rape allegedly occurred in very
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shortly after
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they saw nothing amiss
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to end the controversy dr schneeberger
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willingly agreed to give blood for a dna
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test
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the dna in the blood drawn from dr
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schneeberger did not match the
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biological material from candy's rape
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test kit
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and i was in shock again
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and i said no that's impossible
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that's impossible how can this be
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seven more years would go by
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before that question was finally
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answered
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when dna tests showed that dr
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schneeberger was innocent of the sexual
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assault on his 20 year old patient most
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people in kipling tried to put the whole
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thing behind them
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but candy the alleged victim would not
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let the issue die
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all during the next year she insisted
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that someone somehow had tampered with
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the first dna test at the hospital
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[Music]
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so dr schneeberger agreed to a second
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dna test in august of 1993.
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his blood was drawn by a registered
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nurse
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the test was monitored by the police
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and the vials were taken directly to the
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forensic laboratory at police
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headquarters
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they watched the needle actually
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penetrate the doctor's arm
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once again
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dr schneeberger's dna did not match the
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dna on candy's clothing or the rape test
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kit
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of course i didn't believe them
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a lot of other people did believe them
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and i guess it's hard you know how
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you've got
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dna is the new thing and it's supposed
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to be so right and so perfect
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we knew there was something
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something wrong that
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like we totally believed her right
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and
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we knew he was up to something
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dr schneeberger defended himself by
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saying the drug he injected into candy
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that night in the hospital versed can
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cause
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erotic hallucinations
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versa can account for all sorts of
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hallucinations possibly but it can't
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produce semen
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and according to the complainant
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the last time she had had intercourse
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was
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uh weeks before
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this this incident
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with no other evidence in 1994 the
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police closed their investigation into
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this matter
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the doctor has already given two samples
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and those two samples were
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tested and they came up as being
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having a dna profile and the profile
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didn't match the
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semen that was left at the scene so now
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we're stuck
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we really can't do anything
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the town of kipling
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was not kind at all to candy
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she hired a private investigator who
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broke into dr schneeberger's car
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[Music]
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on the headrest
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he found strands of hair
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but there were no roots attached so they
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couldn't be used for dna testing
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also in the car was a tube of lip balm
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presumably used by dr schneeberger
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at her own expense candy asked a private
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lab to test the epithelial cells on the
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end of the lip balm
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those epithelial cells would contain
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enough dna for testing and when they did
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candy finally got her first piece of
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positive news
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the dna from the lip balm matched the
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dna from candy's rape test kit
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i knew it all along it wasn't a shock
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that something was going to match but
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it was a it was a bit of relief because
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at least we had that
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to prove to the police
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but there were two problems first there
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was no proof that the cells were dr
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schneeberger's second
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the evidence couldn't be used in court
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since the investigator broke into the
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car without a warrant
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but if the cells on the lip balm were
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those of dr schneeberger
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why did the dna from his lips differ
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from his blood sample
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to find out
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candy filed a civil suit against dr
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schneeberger and brought charges against
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him with the local medical society
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at the hearing
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candy sat directly across from dr
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schneeberger's wife
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if looks could kill i would have been
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dead lisa was sitting
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across the table from me
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and she just sat there with her arms
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crossed just glaring at me like you
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little [ __ ] you are ruining our lives
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and i just sat in my chair thinking oh
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my god you're so stupid you know
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you are so stupid and if you don't watch
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it it's gonna happen to your kids too
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all of this pressure prompted dr
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schneeberger to agree to yet another dna
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test
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this time the procedure was videotaped
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by police and performed at their
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forensics lab
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the doctor appears friendly and helpful
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the technician wants to take blood from
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his finger
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but the doctor politely refuses saying
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he has a disease that would cause his
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hands to bruise
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that's how we usually take the sample we
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don't need much blood
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since this is a voluntary test
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the doctor can't be forced to do
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anything against his will
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so the technician inserts a needle into
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his left arm
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instead nothing comes out
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the vein was larger
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or appeared much larger than i would
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have expected
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and i thought that was a little unusual
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she tries another tube but still has
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trouble
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sometimes the vacuum is poor in them and
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would not pull the blood out of the
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individual's arm
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eventually she was able to extract a
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sample
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afterwards
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the nurse was puzzled
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[Applause]
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and the lab determined that the sample
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was too degraded for dna testing
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police broke the news to candy
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and i'm like oh my god
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whatever like
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that's [ __ ] this is our last chance
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to get blood from him
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and you guys screwed up again
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even the police were suspicious when dna
00:14:08
from dr schneeberger's lip balm matched
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the dna from candy's rape test kit
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but since dr schneeberger had passed two
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prior blood dna tests officials were
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hesitant to charge him
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because of his submitting voluntarily
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to a dna sample
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it gave him
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the out that it wasn't me there's a dna
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sample showing it is not
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the
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only person who had an opportunity
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limited as it was
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was her doctor
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but we believed in the dna
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testing i mean we we believed in the
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science of dna they had to follow the
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rules of the canadian justice system i
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call it the canadian criminal system
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because that's basically what it is
00:15:00
it's the criminals that have all the
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rights
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on april 25th
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1997
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five years after the alleged rape police
00:15:10
got a break startling new information
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was discovered inside the doctor's own
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home
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schneeberger's step-daughter his wife's
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biological child claimed that the doctor
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assaulted her too
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for several years
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the youngster says her stepfather had
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been coming into her room at night
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and giving her injections
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[Music]
00:15:40
his wife discovered a box full of
00:15:43
condoms needles and drugs including
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verse ed in the doctor's home office
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i blame myself i still blame myself i
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screamed i bawled i
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i was pretty disgusted because all of
00:15:59
these years i mean i'm fighting to get
00:16:00
the truth out but also to make sure that
00:16:03
it didn't happen anybody else
00:16:07
dr john schneeberger was arrested and
00:16:09
ordered to undergo yet another dna test
00:16:14
again
00:16:15
the procedure was videotaped
00:16:18
i also advise you that we have a warrant
00:16:20
to obtain
00:16:22
bodily substances
00:16:24
the doctor was withdrawn and silent
00:16:28
police took several samples hair saliva
00:16:31
then
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blood
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taken from his finger
00:16:36
not his arm
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and this time a surprise
00:16:42
dna from all three samples matched dna
00:16:45
found on candy's vaginal
00:16:48
swab oh that was wonderful that was what
00:16:52
i had wanted all along i mean i had even
00:16:55
offered to go chop an arm off i would
00:16:57
have stalked him one in the nose to get
00:16:58
that blood no problem
00:17:00
it was uh quite a happy day because we
00:17:02
knew we had him that candy was right and
00:17:06
everybody else
00:17:07
that didn't believe was wrong
00:17:09
but a big question remained unanswered
00:17:13
how did dr schneeberger fool the
00:17:16
previous blood dna tests
00:17:19
it was a puzzle
00:17:21
how those samples had come to be
00:17:23
different
00:17:24
than the last finger
00:17:26
even if we knew there was something
00:17:27
different there was no way that we could
00:17:28
prove anything
00:17:30
especially since the nurses and police
00:17:33
all witnessed the needle being inserted
00:17:36
into dr schneeberger's arm while the
00:17:38
blood was drawn
00:17:41
on the stand
00:17:42
dr schneeberger would reveal
00:17:45
his secret
00:17:50
in november of 1999
00:17:53
dr john schneeberger went on trial in
00:17:55
saskatchewan for the rape of his patient
00:17:58
candy and his own stepdaughter
00:18:03
on the witness stand
00:18:06
he said he surgically inserted a plastic
00:18:08
tube under the skin into his left arm
00:18:11
filled with blood from one of his
00:18:13
patients
00:18:15
this is why he insisted that the blood
00:18:18
be drawn from his left arm rather than
00:18:21
anywhere else
00:18:22
[Music]
00:18:24
if you look closely at the videotape of
00:18:26
that blood test
00:18:28
you'll see that the doctor is careful to
00:18:31
pull his sleeve only so high so as not
00:18:34
to reveal the incision where he inserted
00:18:37
the tube
00:18:39
and for a brief moment you can see the
00:18:42
tube protruding from his arm
00:18:46
but by the time the third test was done
00:18:49
five years after the rape accusation the
00:18:52
blood in the tube was old and dark
00:18:56
which explains why the technician was
00:18:58
suspicious
00:19:00
dr schneeberger however denied raping
00:19:03
candy he claims candy broke into his
00:19:06
home stole a used condom and used that
00:19:09
biological sample to frame him
00:19:14
he said he used his patients blood for
00:19:16
the dna test because he had no other way
00:19:19
to defend himself
00:19:21
when that
00:19:22
came up at trial that he thought candy
00:19:25
broke into his house and
00:19:27
stole samples or whatever it was
00:19:29
laughable it was absolutely laughable
00:19:31
that he was had to grasp it straws like
00:19:33
that it was just laughable i was a
00:19:35
bulldog on the stand
00:19:37
i kicked his lawyer's ass and he's
00:19:39
supposed to be the best lawyer in
00:19:41
southern saskatchewan best defense
00:19:43
lawyer wow i showed him who his boss
00:19:47
you run across strong-willed individuals
00:19:49
sometimes the strong-willed individuals
00:19:51
are right and sometimes they're wrong
00:19:53
and this particular strong-willed person
00:19:57
was right and she was right all along
00:19:59
and she was determined
00:20:01
to see that
00:20:03
what happened to her didn't happen to
00:20:04
anyone else this would be right up
00:20:07
around the top as far as being the most
00:20:09
bizarre
00:20:10
the most involved and involving all the
00:20:13
forensic evidence here
00:20:16
of any case that i had
00:20:19
dr schneeberger was found guilty of
00:20:22
sexually assaulting candy as well as
00:20:25
drugging her and obstructing justice
00:20:29
he was also convicted of sexually
00:20:32
assaulting his stepdaughter and was
00:20:35
sentenced to six years in prison
00:20:40
i'm so proud of candy
00:20:42
if it was me i don't know if i could
00:20:43
handle the whole
00:20:45
everything that she went through it was
00:20:46
just
00:20:47
when the test came back negative and she
00:20:49
had to fight and it was just a constant
00:20:51
battle
00:20:52
while taping this interview
00:20:55
candy received a telephone call in which
00:20:57
she learned
00:20:58
dr schneeberger had been denied parole
00:21:02
i won again
00:21:05
that's so exciting
00:21:06
ah he lost he lost both both of his
00:21:10
chances to get out for day parole and
00:21:12
vulper all oh my god is that great
00:21:17
anyway
00:21:18
i was so worried that he was gonna get
00:21:20
out and everybody was gonna fall for his
00:21:22
lies and [ __ ] again but they didn't
00:21:25
they didn't they're smarter than the
00:21:26
rest
00:21:28
oh my god do you guys know how exciting
00:21:30
this is for me
00:21:31
it's like celebration
00:21:33
you have to remember that
00:21:35
the dna also led us off the path
00:21:39
so
00:21:40
my when i lecture on this particular
00:21:42
case to younger police officers i say to
00:21:45
them remember the dna does give you
00:21:48
something but it has to be
00:21:50
supported with cooperative evidence
00:21:53
it was very frustrating not being able
00:21:55
to have all the answers but
00:21:57
it finally did come together after 7
00:21:59
years and 24 days
00:22:03
[Music]
00:22:12
[Music]
00:22:36
you
