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a woman jogging along a deserted
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footpath in central michigan disappeared
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when investigators find her body clues
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at the scene point to a killer
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with professional training
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it took almost 20 years before an old
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hat and a chip of stainless steel no
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longer than a fingernail
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brought the killer to justice
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[Music]
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[Music]
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on a beautiful summer day in 1986
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muriel kirby started her day as she
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always did by meeting her daughter
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jeanette for breakfast well to me it was
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a very special routine just talking over
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what
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had been going on and what was on her
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mind or my mind
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um it was a very special
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almost a friendship
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breakfast
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but this morning was different from the
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others
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jeanette didn't show up and she never
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called or left a message
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she's either ill
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or she's overslept
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because it's not like her not to make an
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appointment or to call and say
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i can't be there today
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jeanette's employer said she hadn't
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shown up for work and she wasn't at her
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home either
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her mother immediately notified police
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the 35 year old divorcee with no
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children wasn't known for leaving town
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without notifying friends and family
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as night fell
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the sky was dark with rain clouds and
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during the night there were severe
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thunderstorms the worst in years
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the night that her family realized she
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was missing and started searching for
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her there was a torrential downpour
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i knew in my heart that jeanette was
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somewhere in that storm and she needed
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help
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jeanette was an avid walker and she
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often explored the secluded trails of
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nearby riverbend park an undeveloped
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public space of more than 500 acres
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riverbend park is very large it's not
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what you would think of as a city park
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manicured and
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small in size
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it's a gorgeous part the huge trees with
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the canopy absorb all sound
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you could touch off a cannon in there
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and you wouldn't hear it
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the day after jeanette disappeared
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police found her car at the park
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a parking ticket indicated the car had
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been there since the day before
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a day-long search of the park turned up
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nothing
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the search continued into the night
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i remember praying
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dear god let her be all right
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i i knew that it was wrong something was
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definitely wrong
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jeanette was too close to this family
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she would never let us worry
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when dawn broke the next day
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police found jeanette's body in an
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isolated ravine
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just a half mile from her car
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there were clear signs of a struggle
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clothing was strewn about the area
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jeanette's broken headphones from her
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tape player were found yards away from
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her body
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from the physical evidence at the scene
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the struggle took place on the walking
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trail itself however the body was
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dragged to a lower area by the drag
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marks left in the plant material and the
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dirt
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but investigators found something
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unusual at the scene
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jeanette's hands were bound behind her
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back with a plastic tie
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consumers used ties like this for
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binding electric cables
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but police recognize these as the same
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type of ties they use called
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flex cuffs
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police cuffs seen here on the left have
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a metal tab inserted into the plastic
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head
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consumer ties seen on the right have
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plastic tabs
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that metal tab acts as like a ratcheting
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device
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and that's what makes flex cuffs
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different from normal household ties
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it's not something that you can readily
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go and buy at home depot or anywhere
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else
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investigators now had a potential pool
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of suspects
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fellow police officers
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was the unthinkable possible that one of
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their own had killed
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jeanette kirby
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[Music]
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the rain that fell the night of jeanette
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kirby's murder made things difficult for
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investigators
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[Music]
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rain is probably one of the worst
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enemies
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when you have a body found
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exposed to the elements because it will
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destroy a lot of the evidence
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[Music]
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police could find no footprints to or
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from the scene
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there were no tire or bicycle
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impressions in the area
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at the autopsy the medical examiner
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found no signs of sexual assault
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the cause of death was three knife
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wounds in her chest
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in a search for suspects
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investigators routinely question
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relatives and friends
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jeanette's ex-husband was in florida at
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the time of the murder so he wasn't a
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suspect
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investigators discovered that jeanette
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dated casually
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but none of the men she dated had a
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motive to kill her
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it appeared her murder was a random
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killing
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the hardest type to solve
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we don't have an eyewitness we don't
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have a murder weapon we have no dna
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evidence
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but the way jeanette's clothing had been
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cut
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gave investigators a clue
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there's this drive here this seeking of
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sexual stimulation
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and rather than just
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obtaining that through contact with the
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victim in this case it had to be
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obtained through a particular set of
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behaviors involving the victim's
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clothing
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her jersey had been cut up the middle
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and her sweatpants had been sliced apart
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in squares
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a methodical
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time-consuming process
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you start to get a picture of a person a
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very evil person
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who
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is very
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angry
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specifically with women
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and is most likely a predator of women
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you know i can't i can hardly handle it
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now thinking of
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what that
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person what that dear lovable
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jenna went through
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and then he just tossed her aside
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away from the path where he killed her
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the only thing the killer left at the
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crime scene
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were the flex cuffs they were the same
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brand used by the local police
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but the tennessee-based company that
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made the cuffs had some very bad news
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virtually every police force in the
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country used these same flex cuffs there
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were hundreds of thousands of them in
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existence all of them identical
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at the crime scene
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no one saw a policeman in or near
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riverbend park around the time of the
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murder
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even policemen who are in the general
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vicinity of the park were questioned
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i know several police officers were
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investigated
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as a result of this homicide they run
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down all the leads that they get
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but essentially they run up against a
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brick wall because nothing
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gets them any farther in the
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investigation they still have a pair of
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flex cuffs
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a full year passed then two
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by the fourth anniversary of jeanette's
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murder local police had no new evidence
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or leads to pursue
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they kept saying without evidence
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we're not sure we're going to be able to
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solve this case
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it was four years after the murder that
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an incident in leland a tourist town 200
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miles away
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offered new hope a woman there told
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police that a truck with police style
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lights signaled her to pull over on a
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deserted country road
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the man from the truck approached her
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wearing a police hat but no uniform
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he ordered her out of her car and into
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his truck she resisted there was a
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struggle he pulled his gun and fired a
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shot in the air
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just then another car drove by the man
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panicked and fled
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when the investigators assigned to
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jeanette kirby's murder heard this news
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they took particular notice
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a man impersonating a police officer in
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an attempt to abduct a woman
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in a deserted area sounded all too
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familiar
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police questioned everyone they could
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find looking for the owner of an
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unmarked pickup truck with a police
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style light bar on the roof
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the gas station attendant remembered
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that vehicle and called the police to
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say he'd come and got gas there
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not only that but the gas station
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attendant remembered that the man had
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used a credit card to pay for the gas
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his name
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was david drahin
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he was a 33 year old factory worker a
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volunteer fireman and an ex-marine with
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no previous record
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he had been vacationing at his parents
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cabin in glen haven but he lived in
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ingham county in the same town as
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jeanette kirby
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[Music]
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when questioned by police
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draeheim denied he was involved in the
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attempted kidnapping although the victim
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identified him in a police lineup
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on the front seat of his truck
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police found a hat from the ingham
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county sheriff's department
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the same county where jeanette kirby was
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murdered
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so they call the ingham county sheriff's
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office and they say
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do you know this person is he one of
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your deputies is he someone that you're
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aware of is he connected to you in any
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way
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he was someone that we knew on a regular
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basis trusted him
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knew him
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believed him to be a local good guy
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drayheim worked at a wastewater
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treatment plan just a mile from where
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jeanette kirby was killed
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inside draeheim's truck were two other
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suspicious items a knife
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and a package of plastic ties similar to
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police style flex cuffs
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the suspect has in his possession
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a type of ties that could be
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characterized as flex cuffs although
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they're slightly different than the
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police flex cuffs but he has these
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plastic
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fasteners in his possession
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draeheim denied any involvement in
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jeanette's murder they didn't have the
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magic bullet
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they didn't have the tie between him and
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the flex cuffs
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they knew that he was found in
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possession of something that looked like
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or were called flex cuffs up north but
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they didn't know where he got him
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there was no evidence tying him to
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jeanette's murder
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but david drayheim was convicted for the
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attempted kidnapping charge and
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sentenced to 40 years in prison
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once again
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jeannette's case went cold
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jeanette's family had remained patient
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but in 1998 12 years after jeanette's
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murder her mother could take no more
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she was disillusioned and angry that her
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husband died before they could get
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justice
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janet was his baby
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you know
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that was his girl and how could anyone
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touch her
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or hurt her he was very angry
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and he kept that anger
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until he died
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and his wishes so many times were if i
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could only get hold of him
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i know what i would do
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in desperation mrs kirby contacted the
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state's highest-ranking law enforcement
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official
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and i finally went to jennifer granholm
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the attorney general
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and asked her for help told my story
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she
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said i'm going to send two criminal
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investigators
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on the case
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and those investigators found something
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that had been overlooked
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when david drayheim was arrested on the
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kidnapping charge
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the local police in draeheim's hometown
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failed to interview all of his friends
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for some reason a major character was
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overlooked and that was david drahan's
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best friend
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at the time of the murder he had never
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been interviewed
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that man was mark grieco
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and he told police an interesting story
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a few years before jeanette kirby's
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murder dray heim and grieco shared a
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house and both worked together as
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security guards
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at the time grieco owned a used police
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car which grieco pictured here with the
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car in 1984 was refurbishing
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it's actually physically inside the
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trunk trying to run the wires up through
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the dash and
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that's when i found the plastic bag
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stuck in between the inner and outer
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fender well of the car
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it turned out to be the bag of flex
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house
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these were police issue flex cuffs that
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had been overlooked when the car was
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sold
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grieco said he kept one for himself and
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gave the rest to draeheim
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i gave him flex cuffs
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you know i know i gave him some flex
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cuffs way back in
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you know 80 something when i bought this
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car
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and grieco had yet another story
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he said he put his flex cuff in the brim
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of his security guard hat
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it's a common practice in law
00:15:02
enforcement
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police naturally asked rico whether he
00:15:08
still had his security guard hat i'm
00:15:12
kind of a pack rat sure i kept
00:15:13
everything
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deep in his basement
00:15:16
among dozens of boxes of clothing and
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souvenirs
00:15:20
grieco found that very same hat he wore
00:15:23
as a security guard 15 years earlier
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the odds of that happening
00:15:29
are astronomical
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and the importance to the case
00:15:33
cannot be overstated
00:15:36
inside the brim just as he said
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was a set of police flex cuffs
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it was the same make and model used in
00:15:45
jeanette kirby's murder
00:15:47
but investigators wanted to find some
00:15:50
way to tell
00:15:51
whether these two sets of cuffs were
00:15:54
scientifically related
00:16:01
after years of searching for jeanette
00:16:03
kirby's killer
00:16:04
investigators finally had a break
00:16:08
they discovered a police flex cuff
00:16:10
similar to the one used in the murder
00:16:14
to learn more about how these flex cuffs
00:16:16
are made michigan investigators went to
00:16:19
monterey mexico the only factory in the
00:16:22
world that makes this brand of flex
00:16:24
cuffs
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this is the video shot by those
00:16:27
investigators
00:16:29
since the cuffs were all made with the
00:16:30
same plastic its chemical makeup
00:16:33
provided no basis for comparison
00:16:36
but the stainless steel tabs in the flex
00:16:38
cuffs were another matter
00:16:41
a carbide saw cuts the tabs from large
00:16:45
spools of steel
00:16:47
the cut marks at the end of each tab are
00:16:50
distinctive
00:16:51
it is a very fast process and just is
00:16:54
continually cutting for hours at a time
00:16:56
well during that process the blade
00:16:58
starts to wear a little bit
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and while it's wearing
00:17:02
the the marks that it's leaving on the
00:17:03
metal tabs are are changing
00:17:06
the flex cuffs used in jeanette kirby's
00:17:09
murder and the flex cuffs provided by
00:17:12
mark grico were analyzed by scott
00:17:14
marrier of the michigan state police
00:17:17
using a soldering iron he carefully
00:17:20
removed the tab from each cuff for
00:17:22
comparison
00:17:24
after all these years
00:17:26
the case came down to some tiny slivers
00:17:29
of stainless steel there was a time when
00:17:34
i was looking at this metal tab thinking
00:17:35
what this the entire case rests on the
00:17:38
identification of these metal tabs
00:17:41
using a comparison microscope
00:17:44
mario placed each tab on a putty
00:17:46
platform
00:17:48
then compared the two side by side
00:17:52
he was looking for signature marks made
00:17:54
by the saw that cuffed the tabs
00:17:58
marrier soon discovered that the marks
00:18:01
were strikingly similar they ran down
00:18:03
the length of each tab almost like both
00:18:06
sides of a zipper
00:18:08
[Music]
00:18:10
quality of the identification was so
00:18:12
good that it would not surprise me at
00:18:15
all if these two metal tabs had been
00:18:17
produced uh consecutively it was an
00:18:21
absolutely perfect match
00:18:23
so perfect that it took everyone's
00:18:25
breath away
00:18:28
now prosecutors and investigators had a
00:18:30
piece of evidence that was a piece of
00:18:32
scientific evidence that put david
00:18:35
drayheim at the scene of the crime
00:18:38
on june 12 2002
00:18:41
david drayheim went on trial for
00:18:43
jeanette kirby's murder
00:18:48
prosecutors believe
00:18:49
drayheim left his job at the water
00:18:52
treatment facility around 4 30 on the
00:18:54
day of the murder and drove to river
00:18:57
bend park less than a mile away
00:19:01
prosecutors say dray heim was a predator
00:19:05
and when he saw jeanette kirby
00:19:07
he was
00:19:08
prepared he probably allowed her to jog
00:19:12
or
00:19:13
fast walk past the point where he was
00:19:15
hiding and attacked her from behind
00:19:20
immediately grabbed her hands behind her
00:19:22
back
00:19:23
and flexcuffed her
00:19:25
now she was immobilized
00:19:27
and isolated
00:19:30
jeanette kirby was murdered and her
00:19:32
clothes cut in meticulous detail
00:19:36
jeanette kirby was simply in the wrong
00:19:38
place at the wrong time
00:19:40
there's no other link
00:19:42
between the two of them
00:19:44
that could have been me that could have
00:19:45
been any woman i know
00:19:47
and those moments that she spent before
00:19:50
she died had to have been terrifying
00:19:53
at the trial
00:19:54
a surprise witness came forward saying
00:19:57
that drayheim had flex cuffed her years
00:20:00
earlier
00:20:01
he brought my other arm behind me and i
00:20:04
was tied
00:20:05
you know i was strapped you know
00:20:07
it was just strapped i couldn't go
00:20:08
anywhere
00:20:10
and it was dre heim's wife who provided
00:20:13
the most unusual bit of testimony
00:20:16
she told jurors he routinely jogged with
00:20:19
a small packet of flex cuffs in a bag he
00:20:22
wore around his waist
00:20:25
why on earth would he need that
00:20:26
equipment with him when he went out on a
00:20:28
daily jog
00:20:30
the only reason was either it was there
00:20:32
because it was part of the daily fantasy
00:20:35
that he carried with him in his head
00:20:37
or it was there because he was hoping
00:20:40
if some opportunity came up it would be
00:20:42
there when he needed it
00:20:44
david drayheim was found guilty of
00:20:46
jeanette kirby's murder and was
00:20:48
sentenced to 60 years in prison in
00:20:51
addition to the 40 years he was already
00:20:54
serving
00:20:55
forensic science solved the case which
00:20:58
might have gone unsolved had it not been
00:21:02
for the persistence of jeanette kirby's
00:21:05
mother
00:21:06
and the man
00:21:07
who never threw anything away
00:21:11
the science doesn't age the tool marks
00:21:13
that are left on those metal tabs will
00:21:15
be there forever they'll never change
00:21:18
thankfully
00:21:19
forensic science did
00:21:22
solve it for us
00:21:23
and we could we can rest
00:21:26
we can rest in peace knowing that her
00:21:28
case has been solved because of
00:21:31
forensic science
00:21:33
[Music]
00:21:43
[Music]
00:21:58
[Music]
00:22:07
you
