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[Music]
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a suspicious fire swept through an
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apartment killing two young women the
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cause of the fire and the identity of
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the victims were unclear
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but a closer look at the fire scene
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revealed
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something hidden in the ashes
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could gas chromatography a burned pair
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of eyeglasses and a half-smoked
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cigarette solved the case
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[Music]
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[Music]
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on a spring night in march of 1999
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firefighters in iowa city rushed to an
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apartment building engulfed in flames
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near the university of iowa campus
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when they arrived they had fire blowing
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out windows and doors of the apartment
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building
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immediately had
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the opportunity and the necessity to
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initiate an aggressive fire attack
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[Music]
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just inside the entrance firefighters
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found what appeared to be a body
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then in the back bedroom
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another gruesome discovery
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they were unable to see
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and so i had to use the just feeling
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their way around the apartment and
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checking on the bed they found
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the second victim
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a driver's license found next to one of
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the bodies
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belonged to 29 year old laura watson
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dalton
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a paramedic who had come to iowa city to
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visit her cousin
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she had really loved the town and it was
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st patrick's day and that was one of her
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favorite holidays and i think because
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it's a college town sort of a great
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party atmosphere for st patrick's day
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she decided to go there and visit
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friends
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the second victim matched the
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description of a woman who had been
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reported missing
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she was 27 year old maria lainer an
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environmental scientist who was in town
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on a business trip and was staying at a
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nearby hotel
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we was hoping and praying it wasn't her
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but
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back of our minds
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we kind of knew it was
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they had found her
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blazer in a parking ramp and it hadn't
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been
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it had been driven for a while
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the apartment was rented to three
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college students who claimed they were
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out of town on the night of the fire
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the men said they gave no one permission
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to stay there
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and they also denied knowing either
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laura watson or maria laner
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at the morgue the medical examiner found
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evidence that the women were dead before
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the fire started
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there was no soot in the lungs of either
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victim
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therefore we were able to conclude
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scientifically that they expired prior
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to the fire
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it was
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evident they had both been
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killed by blunt force trauma to the head
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inside the apartment
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investigators found a barbell that
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contained blood and human hair leading
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to speculation that this was the murder
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weapon
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they also found a gasoline container
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you might find gasoline cans stored of
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course in garage or
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utility closets but
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to find a gasoline can in a hallway of
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an apartment
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i think that's that would be rather odd
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investigators believed that the fire may
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have been intentionally set
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and that clues to the killer's identity
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could be waiting at the crime scene
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hidden in the smoldering ashes
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and they also wondered
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why these two women were in an apartment
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rented by men
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they'd never even met
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the lack of soot and smoke in the
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victim's lungs revealed that the two
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women were killed before the fire
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started
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and when the medical examiner compared
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the amount of tissue damage between the
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two victims he discovered something
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astonishing
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the two victims were killed
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on different days
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it is clear that aura died in the late
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hours on wednesday or the early morning
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hours on thursday and remained in that
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apartment where she died
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and then maria died late thursday night
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or early friday morning in the
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same apartment
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laura watson's friends told police that
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they last saw her in a local bar on
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wednesday night two nights before the
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fire
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laura was talking to a man sitting
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beside her
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and someone that you've had a
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conversation with that's been kind of
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interesting asks you if you'd like to
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you know go to another party or or go to
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another bar
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lots of people have done that and and
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it's a situation where most of us don't
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think that we're going to place
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ourselves in peril
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witnesses said laura left with the man
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around midnight
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he was described as tall in his twenties
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with unkept brown hair
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and glasses
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investigators discovered the same thing
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happened to maria laner on the following
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night
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the owner of a different bar said he saw
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maria leaving his establishment with a
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man matching the same description
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she didn't have as good as judgment as
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she would have if she wasn't drinking
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maybe he said hey there's a party over
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at this place you want to come with me i
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don't think she ever did it before i
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think this is one time and it wasn't
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and it was the wrong time
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since the victims had been murdered on
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two different nights
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the killer apparently had free access to
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the apartment and could come and go as
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he pleased
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but the college students who rented it
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said they had no idea who the killer was
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after the last embers were out
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the iowa department of criminal
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investigations examined the scene for
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clues
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investigators noticed a hole in the
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outside wall of the apartment and there
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was a gas container found just inside
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the front door
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to see if an accelerant had been used
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investigators placed some of the debris
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in an air-tight container and sent it to
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the lab for analysis
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criminalists placed an activated
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charcoal strip into the can overnight
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then washed it with the carbon disulfide
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the vials were placed in a gas
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chromatograph mass spectrometer for
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analysis
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it will separate it out based on the
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physical properties and chemical
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properties of the components of what
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ignitable liquid may be in that sample
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and everything flows through the
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instrument at a different rate and it'll
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actually separate out those and you'll
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see the individual components of each
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component of the ignitable liquid
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the results were clear
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gasoline had been used to start the fire
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apparently the gasoline vapors ignited
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causing the explosion that blew through
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the outside wall
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investigators also discovered a
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matchbook in the debris
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the gasoline had to be ignited by
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something
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and so when the fire marshal
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collected a matchbook
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in or around that fire scene
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that was really a fresh
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matchbook with only one match missing
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the fire had destroyed any prints that
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might have been on the matchbook
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steve duffy looked through all of the
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photos taken at the fire scene searching
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for items that may have been overlooked
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in one of the photographs
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he noticed something that looked like a
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pair of eyeglasses
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when he returned to the apartment
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they were still there
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they were very obviously prescription
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eyeglasses
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and i hoped that i could
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[Music]
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go back through those prescriptions to
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find the owners
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none of the tenants or victims owned the
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glasses
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[Music]
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duffy also found a cigarette butt still
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very much intact
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this cigarette
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had been
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smoked
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had not been put out had not been
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stomped out on the floor
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in other words it was still burning when
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it hit the carpet
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investigators suspected that the
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perpetrator lit a cigarette then started
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to pour the gasoline throughout the
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apartment
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at some point his cigarette probably
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ignited the gases
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he received a burn on his nose
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he either swatted at his face
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and knocked his glasses off or he the
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glasses fell off his face
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and the cigarette flew out of his mouth
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now investigators were looking for a
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tall unkept man who smoked cigarettes
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and possibly had a burned face
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he may also have been missing his
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eyeglasses
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one week after a fire gutted their
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apartment the three college students who
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rented it were allowed to return
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there were items stolen from the
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apartment that included a vcr or two
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and some other electronic equipment
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investigators checked local pawn shops
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to see if someone had sold the stolen
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goods
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and they got their first break
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a pawn shop owner recalled buying these
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items from a young man just a few days
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earlier
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in iowa
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anyone selling to a pawn shop must show
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some form of identification with an
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address
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the man who sold the items
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was john memmer
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a 23 year old drifter
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known around town as a partier
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john memmer
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was very adept at
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inviting himself to those after hours
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parties
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because of that
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he was
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a person who could con his way into
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staying over
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at any number of apartments
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and sleeping on their couch or what have
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you
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one of the apartment tenants said he
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knew memr and had let him sleep
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overnight a few weeks earlier
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he didn't have a lot of friends he
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didn't have a job he wasn't enrolled as
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a student
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he was sleeping where he could
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he was very transient and yes that made
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it more difficult to find him mr memmer
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basically made his living by being a
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thief
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police finally caught up with memr who
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was on probation at the time for a
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forgery conviction
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when he was questioned
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investigators noticed he had a burn
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injury on his nose
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memr admitted he had been in the
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apartment while the tenants were away
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and also confessed to stealing their
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stereo and television set but
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he denied killing the women or setting
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the fire
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he said there was another drifter
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sleeping in the apartment that week too
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[Music]
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police wanted to see if they could tie
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memor to the evidence
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immediately after the fire explosion he
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did not have eyeglasses
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and during the following week
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he acquired another pair of glasses
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using a machine called a lensometer
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an optometrist determined the degree of
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curvature or diopters of the lenses
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the strength of the lenses matched the
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prescription memory had been given by
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his eye doctor in john mimer's situation
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he needed his eyeglasses to see
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he would not leave his eyeglasses laying
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around
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so to find his eyeglasses
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at the scene of a double homicide
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and arson
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was significant
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police needed
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more proof
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they looked once again at the cigarette
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butt
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the one investigator suspected had
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inadvertently ignited the fire
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was it possible
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this cigarette butt contained the
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killer's dna
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scientists removed the wrapper from the
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lip end of the cigarette then
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separated any cells present in the paper
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the biological sample was then
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reproduced to create a larger sample for
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analysis
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then compared to a dna sample taken from
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memor while in custody
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it was a match
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statistically the the chances of the dna
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and the cigarette butt coming from
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anyone but mr memor are too small to
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consider
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but memr admitted being in the apartment
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which could account for him leaving his
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glasses and the cigarette butt
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police needed
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more proof
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investigators then examined laura
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dalton's leather jacket found in the
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apartment
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somebody came up and said you know while
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we have this jacket why don't you go
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ahead and look at the jacket maybe
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there's a print on a button a snap or
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something
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criminalist bessman checked the jacket
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under a high intensity light
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no prints were found
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then he placed the jacket in a special
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cabinet with a small container of
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cyanoacrylate a compound found in super
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glue
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the compound was heated and the fumes
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circulated around the jacket for about
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10 minutes
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the cyanoacrylate has made kind of a
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little fibrous network over those fumes
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and we can look at it it makes the
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ridges stand out white instead of the
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black like you'd see on a fingerprint
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card
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to his surprise
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bessman found a partial image of a foot
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impression
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the print was dyed to fluoresce under
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forensic lighting
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bessman compared that print to the souls
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on the shoes confiscated from john
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memmer when he was taken into custody
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both prints were the same size and make
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there had to have been a contaminant on
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the shoe or something on the coat that
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the shoe removed when it made contact
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with it so it was
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rather unusual to develop a footwear
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impression this way
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and there was something else on the shoe
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a tiny piece of evidence that would tell
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investigators exactly what happened to
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laura dalton
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and maria laner
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[Music]
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investigators found
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one last piece of evidence linking john
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memmer to the murders of laura watson
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dalton
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and maria laner
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it was a tiny piece of material on
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memr's shoes
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on the side of the sole about the size
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of a pinhead kind of a reddish brown
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stain that i believe might have been
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blood the stain
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was lifted using sterile water
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then tested using dna analysis
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the dna from the blood on the shoe
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matched the dna sample from maria laner
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it just made it
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just more sad because
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you kind of knew what he had to do
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to get blood out of his shoes
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that was critical
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it showed that john memmer
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had been in contact with maria laner
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even though he denied it
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and that at some point he was
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with maria laner when she was bleeding
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john memmer was charged with first
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degree murder
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we had other
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forensic evidence the jacket the
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footwear
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analysis the eyeglasses but it was the
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dna analysis that found maria's blood on
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memory shoe that was the final
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straw that let us go forward
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prosecutors believe john memmer broke
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into the apartment when he knew the
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tenants were out of town
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how he lured laura dalton to the
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apartment on wednesday evening isn't
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clear
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but prosecutors believe member may have
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made a sexual advance which was rejected
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[Music]
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in a rage
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memor killed laura with a blow to the
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head
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on thursday night
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memor probably lured maria laner to the
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apartment the same way
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and when she too rejected him he killed
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her as well
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on friday after stealing the television
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and stereo
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memr decided to destroy all possible
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evidence that he had been there
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he lit a single match for a cigarette
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then set about the process of pouring
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gasoline throughout the apartment but
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he made a mistake
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the gasoline caused fumes to build in
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the small apartment
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and his cigarette caused the explosion
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it knocked his glasses off burned his
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nose and the cigarette butt and matches
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went flying
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that was probably
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john memmer's downfall was just smoking
00:19:06
the cigarette because he left behind
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valuable
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evidence and
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nearly killed himself
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a waste
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he's a waste of human being
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soulless um
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i don't think probably ever contributed
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anything
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and as a probably has spent all of his
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life using people in and taking
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at the trial
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it wasn't just the forensic evidence
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that made an impression on the jury
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member was sporting a new tattoo as he
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sat at the defense table
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in the gang world
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a tattoo of a teardrop signifies you've
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murdered someone
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in this case that was significant
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because john member did not want one
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teardrop
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at the corner of his eye but he wanted
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to
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[Music]
00:20:00
talk about
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not very smart
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going
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to the trial with those on his eyes and
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the jury can see it easily
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when i questioned him about that at
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trial he claimed they were for two
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friends of his
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that had died in an automobile accident
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but i think that was pretty powerful
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damning evidence
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in truth in the aggregate it was a small
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piece of circumstantial evidence but
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it was an interesting addition to the
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totality of the case
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john memmer was convicted of two counts
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of first-degree murder
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and was sentenced to life in prison
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maria laner's family says
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it's ironic
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that science helped find her killer
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she was a biology major she loved
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science
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so knowing that
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the blood on the shoe and all the other
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forensic evidence was what put him away
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i'm sure she would would have thought
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that was pretty cool
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there is no such thing as a perfect
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crime there's always evidence left it's
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there for the people who look this was
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where the evidence led and it pointed to
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mr mimmer
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he received two life sentences
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john memmer will obviously serve one of
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his life sentences
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here
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on this earth
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if i was john memor i would be worrying
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about where i'm going to spend that
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second life sentence
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it may be a lot hotter there than
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the fire that he started
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[Music]
00:21:46
[Music]
00:22:07
you
