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an ex-convict was suspected of a brutal
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double homicide because his driver's
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license was found at the scene
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in the past this might have been enough
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for a conviction but a dish of ice cream
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pointed investigators in a different
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direction
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[Music]
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[Music]
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on the day before thanksgiving in 2003
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a saint petersburg florida shop owner
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noticed a jeep near his store
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it had blood and
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it had all kinds of things inside of it
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had a purse inside of it and the seat
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belt was hanging out and just a lot of
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things you could tell it wasn't right
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the right front windshield was shattered
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and we found a purse with contents and
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identification and money and so forth
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relating to the
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female passenger
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the jeep belonged to richard and carla
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van dusen
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carla's cell phone was found on the
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front seat
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just a half mile away
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neighbors called police to report two
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dead bodies on the road outside their
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home
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they were identified as richard and
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carla van dusen
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richard was laying face down
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in the dirt of the driveway and carla
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was laying on her side
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both had been shot
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in the head and uh we later learned
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through an autopsy that carla had also
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been stabbed
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richard and carla had been married for
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three years
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they had three grown children from
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previous marriages
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my son he said they're dead
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and i said
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did they have an accident
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and i said are you sure several times i
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asked him if he was sure
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and then he told me that they had been
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found and that they were had been
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murdered
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and i just i don't even remember after
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that
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investigators had two crime scenes the
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jeep and the area where the bodies were
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found
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based on the evidence and the location
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of the bodies investigators think that
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the killer was someone the van duzens
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knew
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we felt that there probably was a third
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party involved
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in the vehicle with them
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richard van dusen is forced out of the
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car at gunpoint we feel that he's
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certainly killed outside of the car
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carla van dusen is shot while seated in
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the car
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it looked like carla saw what was
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happening turned her head lifted her
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left hand and the bullet went through
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the windshield her hand and into her
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head
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later the killer cut her seat belt
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and removed her body from the jeep
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investigators believe the killer then
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drove the jeep a half mile away
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and abandoned it
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on the ground near the jeep police found
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a florida driver's license
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it belonged to someone named
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henry sullivan
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we learned that mr sullivan had a
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comparatively extensive criminal arrest
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record from narcotics to
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crimes against persons battery and
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aggravated battery
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probation violations he had a reasonably
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extensive record
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when police went to henry sullivan's
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apartment
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they found a vintage red 1971 chevrolet
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cheyenne pickup truck parked outside his
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apartment
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incredibly
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the truck belonged to the murder victims
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richard and carla van dusen it had been
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completely restored it was a classic
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truck it was a definite eye catcher and
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in fact what i would describe as one of
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a kind pickup truck
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when questioned henry sullivan denied
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any involvement in the murders
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with his driver's license found at the
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crime scene it looked like an open and
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shut case
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but it was just the beginning
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[Music]
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friends and family couldn't believe that
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richard and carla van dusen were
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murdered
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richard was a copy machine sales manager
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whose hobby was collecting antique cars
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carla was a courtroom reporter
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on weekends she worked as a clown
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entertaining sick children at local
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hospitals
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[Music]
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they were pretty well known in the
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community they lived in a small beach
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town outside of st petersburg called
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tierra verde a very beautiful sugar sand
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beaches
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the prime suspect was 32 year old henry
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sullivan
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he couldn't explain why his driver's
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license was found near the van dusen's
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abandoned jeep and insisted he was
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innocent sullivan said you know
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i lose my ids all the time
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in fact i just lost one you know a
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couple weeks before you came to
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interview me
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the driver's license was dusted for
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fingerprints
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none were found
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police also looked for fingerprints
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inside the van duzen's jeep
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especially on the seat belt
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after having applied ninhydrin to the
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seatbelt and allowing it to dry
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completely
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i re-examined that seat belt for the
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presence of fingerprints and found none
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but the killer left behind one piece of
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evidence
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a nine millimeter bullet found on the
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floor of the victim's jeep
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when investigators searched henry
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sullivan's apartment
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they found a nine-millimeter pistol
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investigators found that sullivan was in
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possession of two nine millimeter
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pistols and that matched with the murder
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weapon that investigators had been
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looking for
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one was inoperable
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the other nine millimeter handgun was
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test-fired into a tank of water
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that bullet was microscopically compared
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to the nine millimeter slug found in the
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van dusen's jeep
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analyst erika henderson carefully
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examined the distinctive marks called
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lands and grooves
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made when each bullet goes through the
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barrel of the gun
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when you look down the barrel of a
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firearm you will see the ridges and
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valleys
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these ridges and valleys once a bullet
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is fired will be imparted on the bullet
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so the bullet will also have these
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ridges and valleys
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the test bullet
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and the one from the crime scene were
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turned repeatedly as henderson checked
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and rechecked the markings
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i just worked the evidence
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so i try to have tunnel vision because i
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don't want anybody ever to come around
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and say you know you have a biased
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opinion
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but the result showed that henry
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sullivan's gun was not the murder weapon
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[Music]
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crime scene analysts then turned their
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attention to the vandusen's classic red
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pickup truck found behind henry
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sullivan's apartment
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as they examined the vehicle
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there was another bizarre incident in
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this already unusual investigation
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we are approached by
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a white male subject
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who identifies himself as william de
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parvin who announces himself to us as
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the owner of the truck
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and said that he had purchased it the
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day previous
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deparvine lived in the same apartment
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building as henry sullivan and he said
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he bought the truck from the vandusens
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just the day before
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he said the vandusens placed an ad for
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the truck in the local newspaper
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deparvine went to look at the truck
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bought it and said the vanduzans later
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delivered it to his apartment
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he said he paid them sixty five hundred
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dollars for it and when they left he
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never saw them again
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his approach to us was very up front and
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forward he was
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quite conversational and
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he wasn't didn't appear to be defensive
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or belligerent or anything of the sort
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most of deparvine's story could be
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corroborated but there were several
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discrepancies
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what's he doing with a bill of sale for
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6 500
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when
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when
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van dusen's telling a co-worker the day
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before
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he's he's found a buyer for thirteen
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five
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now that just tells us something not
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right here deparvine said the vandusens
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left his apartment around 5 30.
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but carla van dusen called her mother at
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6 37 p.m with information that
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contradicted that
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the night that they were killed i got a
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phone call from carla and and she was
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very excited she said yeah i'm in the
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car i'm i'm driving behind
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rick and the guy that bought the truck
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because he knows where to get the
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paperwork done tonight
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although carla never mentioned the
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buyer's name
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the call placed the buyer presumably to
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parvine in the pickup truck with richard
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van dusen an hour after deparvine said
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they left his apartment
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it just kind of went through my mind as
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to
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what is the hurry you know that you have
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to go out at night to to get this
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paperwork done
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deparvine denied he was the man in the
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pickup truck with richard van dusen
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[Music]
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a background check revealed
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this wasn't deparvine's first brush with
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the law
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we found that mr department had an
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extensive felony arrest record and that
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he had just been released from prison
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and was on probation
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deparven had just served nine years on a
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weapons possession charge
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and henry sullivan was still a suspect
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we still have the henry sullivan angle
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and also we don't lose sight of the fact
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that there may be an unknown perpetrator
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involved in this crime there may be
00:10:55
something else completely unrelated to
00:10:57
the sale of the pickup involved
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based on dna testing and blood spatter
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analysis
00:11:08
investigators believe richard van dusen
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was pulled from his jeep and shot
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outside the vehicle
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his wife carla was sitting in the
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passenger seat and was shot through the
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windshield
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but on the steering wheel
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investigators found blood which did not
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come from carla or richard
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the samples that were tested from the
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steering wheel were consistent with
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being human blood those samples were
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tested to develop a dna profile
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perhaps the killer nicked his hand while
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cutting the seat belt to remove carla's
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body and the blood dripped onto the
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steering wheel while he drove the jeep
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to the dump site
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investigators asked their initial
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suspect henry sullivan for a dna sample
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testing showed
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it was not his blood in the car
00:12:02
sullivan wasn't involved in crime so the
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mystery was
00:12:06
how did his card get there and
00:12:08
investigators soon had another theory
00:12:10
for how it got there
00:12:13
henry sullivan had a brother who was
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stopped for a traffic violation on the
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night of the murders
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he told police that night that his name
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was henry we have another person using
00:12:25
henry sullivan's name and date of birth
00:12:28
could he be the killer and the one
00:12:29
that's dropped the driver's license at
00:12:30
the at the scene where the vehicle was
00:12:32
found justin sullivan
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had a warrant in existence for his
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arrest
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wholly unrelated to
00:12:40
any of the matters pertaining to this
00:12:42
case in an attempt to evade that
00:12:45
he gave his brother's
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name
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our curiosity was peaked to the point
00:12:51
that we thought perhaps justin sullivan
00:12:54
was using
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henry's identification in it and it
00:12:57
could have conceivably been that justin
00:13:00
dropped the id card
00:13:02
at the scene of the crime but like his
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brother justin denied any involvement in
00:13:07
the murders he said he had an alibi that
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he was with friends at a nightclub which
00:13:12
they corroborated
00:13:16
then investigators asked their third
00:13:19
suspect william deparvine for a dna
00:13:22
sample
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he said no
00:13:26
we don't have any probable cause at this
00:13:28
point in time in the investigation to
00:13:30
indicate that mr parvin is involved in
00:13:32
the murder therefore we don't have
00:13:34
enough information to draw a search
00:13:35
warrant without a warrant police
00:13:38
couldn't get a genetic sample directly
00:13:40
from deparvine but
00:13:42
there were other ways
00:13:44
we were looking for him to either eat
00:13:46
something drink something and discard it
00:13:48
chew gum and discard it or even spit so
00:13:51
that we could swab that up
00:13:53
a team of detectives was assigned to
00:13:55
follow deparvine everywhere he went
00:13:58
hoping to somehow
00:14:00
get his dna sampled
00:14:03
when someone's out on foot like in a
00:14:04
mall we work in pairs of two so
00:14:07
therefore if you've got ten people
00:14:08
you've really only got a team of five
00:14:10
following a person
00:14:11
and you need at least eight to ten
00:14:13
people to follow somebody so that they
00:14:15
don't know they're being followed
00:14:17
deparvine had earned a law degree while
00:14:19
he was in prison and he was very careful
00:14:22
either because he was disciplined or he
00:14:24
knew he was being followed
00:14:27
mr parvin is an intelligent individual
00:14:30
he's not your average type of criminal
00:14:33
he led a very monotonous very bland type
00:14:36
of lifestyle
00:14:37
he would get up in the morning he would
00:14:38
go to work
00:14:40
he would come back home and stay inside
00:14:42
his little apartment and go to sleep
00:14:44
deparvine was a construction worker and
00:14:47
he had no social life to speak of
00:14:50
for months the surveillance continued
00:14:52
with no luck
00:14:56
but the deparvine made a mistake during
00:14:59
the christmas shopping season
00:15:01
he stopped at an ice cream store and
00:15:03
bought a dessert known as
00:15:05
a blizzard
00:15:06
my partner at the time and i watched him
00:15:09
eat the blizzard and felt that the way
00:15:11
he was slowly eating the blizzard and
00:15:13
taking the spoon and raking it across
00:15:15
his teeth
00:15:16
that that spoon would possibly give us
00:15:18
some dna from mr deparvine
00:15:20
de parvine discarded the cup in the
00:15:22
spoon
00:15:23
and investigators immediately retrieved
00:15:26
the spoon from the trash
00:15:29
technology has become incredibly
00:15:31
sensitive and incredibly powerful and
00:15:34
there is the ability to obtain dna from
00:15:37
the smallest piece of evidence in a very
00:15:40
reproducible very reliable manner
00:15:43
on the spoon
00:15:45
scientists found saliva
00:15:47
they extracted dna and compared it to
00:15:50
the blood found on the steering wheel of
00:15:52
the van dusen's jeep
00:15:55
the results left no doubt
00:15:58
the dna profile that was developed from
00:16:00
the steering wheel
00:16:02
was matched to the dna profile that was
00:16:05
obtained for william deparvine is known
00:16:07
standard
00:16:08
[Music]
00:16:09
william de parvine was arrested and
00:16:11
charged with first degree murder
00:16:15
yet he continued to maintain his
00:16:17
innocence he claimed his neighbor henry
00:16:20
sullivan was the culprit and that the
00:16:22
driver's license proved it
00:16:24
a jury would have to decide
00:16:29
[Music]
00:16:31
william de parvine admitted that he was
00:16:34
with carla and richard van duzen on the
00:16:36
night they were murdered deparvine says
00:16:39
he bought the couple's truck and after
00:16:41
he paid for it he never saw them again
00:16:44
but prosecutors didn't believe that
00:16:48
they say the van dusen's delivered the
00:16:50
car
00:16:51
but deparvine didn't have the money
00:16:54
so he asked the vanduzans to follow him
00:16:57
to his friend's home to get the money
00:17:00
[Music]
00:17:04
phone records indicate
00:17:06
carla called her mother at 6 37 to say
00:17:08
she was driving behind the man who
00:17:11
bought their truck
00:17:14
although no one knows why
00:17:16
they apparently left the pickup truck at
00:17:18
one location and all three got into the
00:17:21
jeep on their way to get the money
00:17:25
[Music]
00:17:31
as deparvine led the vanduzans to the
00:17:33
deserted road
00:17:35
they may have realized that there was no
00:17:38
friend that there was no money
00:17:41
and that this was a setup
00:17:44
[Music]
00:17:47
deparvine used a nine-millimeter weapon
00:17:49
to order richard out of the jeep and
00:17:52
shot him
00:17:53
[Music]
00:17:58
he shot carla through the windshield the
00:18:00
bullet passed through her left hand as
00:18:02
she tried to protect herself
00:18:04
then deparvine cut carla's seatbelt to
00:18:07
remove her body from the jeep and in
00:18:09
doing so
00:18:11
accidentally cut his hand
00:18:14
his blood dripped under the steering
00:18:17
wheel as he drove the jeep back to the
00:18:19
pickup truck
00:18:20
[Music]
00:18:23
before he abandoned the jeep he planted
00:18:26
henry sullivan's driver's license which
00:18:28
he may have stolen since sullivan lived
00:18:31
in the same apartment building as he did
00:18:35
to cover his tracks deparvine forged the
00:18:38
bill of sale for the truck in the amount
00:18:40
of five hundred dollars half of what the
00:18:43
van dozens were asking for it
00:18:46
where he disposed of the murder weapon
00:18:49
remains a mystery
00:18:51
he was on a work release when he killed
00:18:53
carl and rick
00:18:54
i had been told that
00:18:57
federal investigators had had
00:19:00
deemed him to be a psychopath
00:19:04
a sociopath
00:19:07
and i was told
00:19:08
by one of the
00:19:11
prosecutors that they did not think
00:19:15
this whole crime happened because he
00:19:18
wanted that truck
00:19:20
it happened because he was
00:19:22
looking for somebody to kill
00:19:26
at the trial deparvine insisted he was
00:19:29
innocent and took the stand in his own
00:19:32
defense as soon as mr deparvine took the
00:19:34
stand then prosecution
00:19:36
turned very aggressive and went after mr
00:19:39
deparvine and basically
00:19:42
started to pull apart all the alibis
00:19:46
deparvine told a series of stories
00:19:49
trying to explain
00:19:51
what happened
00:19:52
but none of them matched the physical
00:19:55
evidence
00:19:56
the point where i made up my mind that
00:19:58
he must be guilty was after i heard his
00:20:00
complete testimony and
00:20:03
decided that all of the alibis that he
00:20:05
was coming up with were just beyond
00:20:07
belief
00:20:08
the jury took three hours to find
00:20:10
deparvine guilty
00:20:12
and he was sentenced to death
00:20:14
[Music]
00:20:17
in the end
00:20:18
some saliva on a plastic spoon
00:20:21
and a small nick on his hand told
00:20:24
investigators how he committed the crime
00:20:28
and how he killed two innocent people
00:20:31
who were just trying to sell their truck
00:20:34
and be on their way
00:20:36
i was never really
00:20:39
into
00:20:40
forensic science or even
00:20:42
you know gave it any thought
00:20:45
but since that time has happened i have
00:20:47
become
00:20:48
hooked on court tv
00:20:51
and i've learned a lot about the way the
00:20:54
law works and about the way forensics uh
00:20:57
play into a
00:21:00
a case where there's no eyewitness
00:21:02
especially
00:21:03
[Music]
00:21:13
[Music]
00:21:32
[Music]
00:21:41
you
