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[Music]
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on a hot summer evening in
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1992 neighbors heard the familiar sound
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of an argument coming from the compano
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residence what I'm I
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promise according to Christopher compano
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his wife left the house shortly after
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their argument to calm
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down Karen campano was never seen again
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[Music]
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[Music]
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Karen keano was just two weeks shy of
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her 43rd birthday when she
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disappeared she had just come back to
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Oklahoma City after visiting her three
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children who were living in New York
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back to the home she shared with her
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third husband Chris she come back from
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New York and she went to talking about
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moving back because of her
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family and uh she's upset Chris and
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Karen campano were married in December
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of
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1987 friends described them as an Odd
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Couple she was 15 years older than Chris
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and it was her third marriage his first
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they were introduced to one another by
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Karen's best friend who also happened to
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be Chris's
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mother Chris was a Drifter worked
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construction jobs and spent some time in
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jail for petty
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theft Karen was the main wage earner
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working as a bill collector for this
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credit adjustment company in
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town on the evening of July 1st
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1992 Chris and Karen had one of their
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frequent arguments this time over his
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use of drugs and I was into drugs and
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and uh she was you know nagging at me
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and trying to get me in drug programs
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and you know just trying to help it was
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loud enough for the neighbors to hear I
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could hear a Karen screaming and no
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please please and don't do that and
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couldn't make out a lot of what was
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being said just a lot of screaming
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according to Chris after the argument
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Karen left the house for a walk headed
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to the Buy For Less convenience store
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for some personal items a few blocks
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away
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Chris left too driving to a local bar
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for a few drinks staying until about
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midnight the next morning Chris called
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Karen's office to see if she had
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reported to work her supervisor said she
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hadn't shown up or even called in Chris
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then phoned the police to report her
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missing when the police arrived to take
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Chris's statement they looked around
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briefly and reported seeing no evidence
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of Foul Play or anything out of place or
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unusual if a person is going to run away
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or or leave her
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husband she's not just going to walk
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away and leave everything behind she's
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going to take the things that mean the
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most to her especially when you're
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dealing with a woman things of you know
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toiletries makeup and that kind of thing
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and of course we found all those things
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intact in the bedroom in the bathroom
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and it was if she just disappeared off
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the face of the Earth without taking
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anything with her while the police were
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there Chris mentioned that the house had
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been burglarized night before while he
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was out drinking and that some items
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were missing police asked Chris to sign
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a waiver to allow a search of the house
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and he agreed to do so and and thought
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that would be good and even commented
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that he hoped that we found something in
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the house that would help us with the
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investigation the first thing I recall
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seeing is is the bed was against the
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South wall and right next to the bed was
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a large white trash bag and underneath
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that trash bag I could see a very large
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brownish colored stain of course the
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next thing we did was uh went and got
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some Hema sticks which we carried in our
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vehicle a Hema stick is a chemical strip
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that can immediately tell whether or not
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blood is present take the dry Hema
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stick and with your finger just lightly
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smear it on the suspect stain to where
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some of it's transferred on the Hem
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stick take a drop of distilled
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water put it on the heem stick flick off
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the excess water and you have a dark
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green which is a positive presumptive
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test for the presence of blood the stain
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on the carpet was indeed blood but was
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it human and if so whose was it the
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first day we were in the house u i put
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on a pair of gloves and that spot on
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that carpet was still moist this piece
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of carpet and the padding was completely
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soaked with blood it was such a massive
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amount of blood that there was still
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actual moisture involved there it was
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not completely dried the carpet was
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removed and delivered to the Oklahoma
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City Police Department's forensic
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chemistry lab I went on to do a um
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octone test is a spey determination test
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to determine as to whether or not that
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blood came from a human or an animal
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Source it was human blood that was
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enough to convince me that we weren't
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dealing with a routine missing person's
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case the police needed more to go on and
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felt the answers lay inside the compano
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house
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when police discovered human blood
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inside the compano bedroom they
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suspected the blood stain might belong
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to Karen compano they also suspected
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that Chris knew more about her
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disappearance than he was admitting she
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left at
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7:30 what did you do
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then under police questioning Chris
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maintained that he knew nothing about
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his wife's whereabouts but his Alibi was
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weak the bartender didn't recall seeing
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Chris compano on the night of July 1
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and police discovered that Chris had
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pawned some of Karen's jewelry the
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morning after her disappearance without
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a body the only thing left for the
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police to do was run more tests inside
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the house there weren't any visible
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signs of violence besides the blood
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stain they found in the bedroom we saw a
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typical little frame house for central
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Oklahoma City that uh as you went inside
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looked quite clean quite neat things had
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been cleaned out of it walls looked
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clean ceiling clean the floor looked
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clean so there wasn't much to see at all
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so they decided to look for blood which
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may have been cleaned up or wasn't
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visible to the naked eye to do so
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investigators used a special chemical
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solution called luminol an extremely
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sensitive test which can detect blood
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which has been removed by water or even
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detergents and bleach luminol is a
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fluorescence type chemical spray it on a
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substance that contain that may contain
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blood it reacts with the heem group in
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the blood itself the iron portions uh
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will uh lumines or flues to do the
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luminol test investigators needed
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complete darkness so they waited until
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Nightfall they began their chemical
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dragn net in the bedroom where they
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discovered the stain on the carpet a few
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days earlier first they took photographs
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of the room the way it looked to the
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naked eye then they sprayed the luminol
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the results were astonishing there were
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some instances in that house where it
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glowed so brightly that you could
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actually see the person standing next to
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you there was so much blood in there the
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luminol told a horrific tale blood had
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been everywhere on the walls the ceiling
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on the doors it looked like a blood bath
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had occurred there something from a
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horror movie even more telling was the
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blood spatter which is the placement of
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the stains where they were located the
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size of the drops and the trails of
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blood all told a story someone had been
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beaten in the bedroom with a blunt
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object they were in uh two Trails what
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we refer to as castoff Trails so if if
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you had an object for example in your
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hand uh and that object was blood
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covered and if you were swinging that
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object
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overhead the centrifugal force of
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pulling the blood down to the end of the
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object will cast the blood in the
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direction the object is being swung and
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in this case it's going to the
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[Music]
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ceiling there are two distinct trails
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and uh you can tell that uh there's at
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least two Swings with a blood covered
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object luminol was then applied to the
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rest of the house and even to the
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outside steps and walkways at one point
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there's a swipe of blood that was on the
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kitchen door leading into the util room
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that would have been about head level if
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you were carrying a body and had to turn
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the body sideways to get it through a
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normal door and then at that point it
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appeared the body was laid down on the
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ground and then drug from the utility
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room down the back steps and you could
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see pulled luminescence on each step and
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then drag marks that were luminescent
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all the way down the walkway until you
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got to the point that you were at the
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driveway and at that point they
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disappeared
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very very dramatic presentation the
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house was telling its Story one of an
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apparently gruesome attack but there
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were still unanswered
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questions where was the body and the
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weapon and was the blood Karen
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campanos police still couldn't prove a
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murder had been
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committed although the police knew
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someone was violently attacked inside
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the compano residence they couldn't be
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sure a homicide had been committed was
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there enough blood in the compano house
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to prove that someone was dead and was
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that someone Caren campano the
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investigators uh at a later time decided
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that we'd go back and try to do a
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measurement test to see how much blood
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had to been let out on that carpet to
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make that size of a stain police made
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sure their test was as accurate as
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possible they used a piece of the
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original carpet as well as a weight to
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simulate a human head next they poured
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human blood around the weight until they
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created a stain measuring 887 Square in
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the same size stain they originally
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discovered statistically one could say
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that between 1300 and 1400 cc's of blood
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would create that would create that
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stain that's more more than 40% of the
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blood volume of a woman Karen Ceno's
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size no one could survive with that
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amount of blood loss so at that point it
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became pretty apparent to me that if
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this lady was missing and if this lady
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was dead that this lady probably was
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killed right there the authorities now
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knew a homicide had been committed in
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the house and that someone had died in
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the bedroom in a pool of blood but was
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the victim Karen compano police didn't
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have a sample of Karen Cano's blood to
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compare to the blood stain if Karen's
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mother and father were still living it
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would have been a simple matter to
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examine their DNA since Karen would have
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received half of her DNA from her mother
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and half from her father but Karen's
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father was
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deceased the Oklahoma City Police
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Department asked the FBI to get involved
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to see if there was any way they could
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figure out whether the blood found in
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the house belonged to Karen campano the
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police obtained blood samples from
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Karen's mother her two sisters her three
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children and one of her ex-husbands and
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so in this particular case the object of
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the examination was to see if this DNA
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from the blood stain of Unknown Origin
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was matching at least half of the DNA
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was matching to the relatives from Karen
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campano Hal Deadman of the FBI's DNA
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analysis unit conducted what is called
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rflp analysis analyzing pieces of DNA
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from four different chromosomes this is
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the DNA profile of Karen cmo's mother
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and next to it on either side are two of
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her daughters Karen cmo's sisters both
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daughters share half of their DNA with
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their mother this Lane shows a DNA
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sample from one of Karen compano
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ex-husbands the next Lane shows a sample
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from his son whose mother was was Karen
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compano the Father and Son both share
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the upper band the son would have
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received the lower band from his mother
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which matches the band from his
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grandmother Karen's mother the next Auto
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rad compares the family member's DNA to
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the unknown blood stain found in the
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compano home the top marker matches the
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genetic profile from the first of Karen
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compano children and the markers from
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the blood stain also matched the bands
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from Karen compan two other children
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from another marriage results were were
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fairly
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straightforward um they were totally
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consistent with the blood coming from
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Karen compano 8 months after The
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Disappearance of Karen compano police
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concluded that Christopher compano
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murdered his wife and was arrested all
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of the evidence pointed towards Chris
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compano the forensic evidence the
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argument neighbors heard on the night of
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Karen's disappearance Chris's lack of an
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alibi for the entire evening and the
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fact that he pawned some of her things
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the prosecution believed that Karen
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campano never left her house for a walk
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as her husband had
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suggested neighbors heard Karen and
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Chris arguing that night and the
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forensic evidence suggests that the
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argument moved to their
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bedroom where it escalated and turned
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violent
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[Music]
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as Chris stood near the window he struck
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Karen in the head with a blunt object at
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least three times possibly more
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producing the castoff blood Trails on
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the ceiling and
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walls Karen fell to the floor her head
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striking the bed post where her blood
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was also found as Karen lay bleeding
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from her massive head injuries Chris
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left and went to a local bar he needed
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to wait until the neighbors were asleep
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before removing Karen's
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body when he returned home he wrapped
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Karen's body in a sheet with a telephone
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wire and carried her through the house
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luminol test showed that Karen's head
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brushed against the door leaving a blood
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smear later cleaned with detergent
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Chris then dropped the body onto the
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floor and dragged it through the side
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door and out towards the
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car he probably disposed of her body
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late that night in a deserted
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location after returning home Chris
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removed all visible traces of blood both
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inside and
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out the DNA analysis showed the blood
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found on the carpet belonged to Karen
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campano and the medical examiner would
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testify that Karen compano suffered
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horrendous head injuries during the
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attack which no one could survive
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prosecutors were confident of a
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conviction even though they didn't have
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a body or a murder weapon well I thought
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it was very likely we might never find
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the body of the victim but just as the
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preliminary hearing was set to get
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underway everything
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changed the police found Karen
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campano this part right here wasn't
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quite so grown up with all this Ivy and
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she was laying right down there by that
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large cottonwood tree uh north to south
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and there were some blankets around her
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there was no Greenery at that time if
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there had been Greenery at that time
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you'd never know she was there the body
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lay in a remote area off a major
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interstate highway until some youngsters
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on dirt bikes stumbled across it all we
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knew was that we had a female's body out
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there we had no idea who it was of
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course we were hoping it was Karen but
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we didn't
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know there was another important find
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police discovered a piece of a check
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underneath the body
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although they couldn't determine to whom
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the check was issued it was from the
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Shell Oil Company and mailed to someone
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in New York the check was for
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$83.33 Karen campano was from New York
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and her family had a part interest in a
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gas station there this was the first
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definitive piece that we
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had that we knew at that point there was
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a great possibility that it was caring
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and of course we wouldn't know for sure
00:18:29
until they made identification through
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dental records and DNA Dr Tom glass
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heads the forensic odontology department
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at the University of Oklahoma with the
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help of Karen Ceno's dental records and
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an almost complete set of teeth found in
00:18:44
the skull of the body Dr glass's task
00:18:47
was fairly easy what I do in making the
00:18:50
comparison then is simply go frame by
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frame by
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frame of the patients an morm Dental
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x-ray the x-rays made by the dentist
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with the frames of the same areas made
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on the skeleton eyes remains she had a
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very thorough dentist who documented
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what he had done and that documentation
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allowed the identification in Kieran
00:19:16
Capo's case to be very profound and a
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DNA analysis of the bone marrow
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confirmed it the last doubts had been
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removed personally I'm glad she was
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eventually found because of the family
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back in New York I talked to him at
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length over the
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phone later on during the investigation
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I met them U they're really great people
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and I I really had strong feelings for
00:19:42
them hoping one day she would be found
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so they could put their own fears to
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rest and give her a decent burial and
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Christopher compano
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confessed the remarkable thing about it
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the autopsy confirmed the prosecution's
00:19:57
theory of how Karen died and that theory
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remember was based only on the luminol
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the blood spatter analysis and the blood
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volume tests the maxilla were fractured
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the mandibles were fractured the nose
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was fractured the sinuses were fractured
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the skull was extensively fractured yet
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the cervical spine was intact and there
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were only three fractures in the ribs so
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this is not the Hallmark of somebody
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that's been run over by a car or
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somebody who's at a train wreck or or
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something like that this is the Hallmark
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of someone who has sustained a severe
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beating about the head and face so it
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was obvious that this was an assault
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police and forensic science had solved a
00:20:37
difficult puzzle it all told a story it
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was just more of the pieces of the
00:20:41
puzzle coming together even all the way
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to the end when the body was actually
00:20:46
found it's like you know we've got most
00:20:49
of the puzzle there you know what it is
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even with some missing pieces you know
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what it is but then what that body found
00:20:55
was like that was the very last piece
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that that just fit in there in January
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of
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1994 a year and a half after Karen was
00:21:06
killed Christopher compano went on trial
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for his life his defense attorney
00:21:11
couldn't refute the forensic findings
00:21:14
they were just too strong once I had
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decided to make that leap and embrace
00:21:19
the evidence uh then my task became
00:21:21
easier it was a matter then of of
00:21:23
looking at the psychological aspects of
00:21:25
the case rather than the hard forensics
00:21:28
the case I suggested to the judge and
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jury if it was going to be deliberately
00:21:33
planned out and methodical that kind of
00:21:35
blood wouldn't be there there would been
00:21:38
none in the house probably the homicide
00:21:40
would have occurred elsewhere if it had
00:21:42
been a coldblooded killing the jury
00:21:44
bought at least part of the argument it
00:21:47
found compano guilty of manslaughter not
00:21:51
the first-degree murder charge the state
00:21:53
was seeking I feel sorry for it feel
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sorry for what I did to her can't bring
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her back you know I just got to pay for
00:22:01
what I've done Christopher compano was
00:22:04
sentenced to 1,000 years in prison
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[Music]
00:22:28
oh
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[Music]
