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[Music]
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up next
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did this surveillance image show a
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kidnapping or a casual encounter it was
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a very
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curious surveillance tape digital photo
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enhancement shows the trip
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wasn't consensual if you get into a car
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you go to the second spot most likely
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you just sign
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your your death certificate then there's
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a second murder
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hauntingly similar to the first for the
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most part you had a female
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you had an early morning event you had
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control you had
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geographical area close in time close to
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the proxima
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was a serial killer on the loose
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every morning 55 year old librarian
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demaris nguyen
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walked for miles in duncan park a 100
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acre wooded area
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next to her house in spartanburg south
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carolina
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if you're standing in the middle of the
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park um you might
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feel like you were on a well-traveled
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trail
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in a national park but as soon as you
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took 10 or 15 steps
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on either side of the center you would
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see houses so
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it is by no means isolated
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one morning however she didn't return
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home
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a few hours later a municipal worker
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found
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her body in some underbrush in the park
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less
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than a hundred yards from her home she
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was
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nude with the cord from her
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walkman around her neck jewelry still on
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the body
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which is more important to me as a
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prosecutor than any other fact
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because you now know that robbery was
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not the motive that something helps
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all of demaris's clothing was gone
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did the killer take it as some sort of
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trophy
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the crime scene we had was a forensic
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nightmare for us
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because of the downpour where she was
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lying began to fill up with water
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an autopsy revealed damaris had been
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sexually assaulted
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the cause of death was manual
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strangulation but it looked like the
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killer tried using the cord to her
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earphones why wrap the cord around the
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neck
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if you choked her with your hands her
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walkman however was gone
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we felt like the suspect most likely
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took the walkman we had searched
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through the park trying to locate you
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know the walkman her clothing
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any other items that we could find and
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we just did not turn up anything
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it was just this overwhelming how can
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this happen
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in our community and instantly people
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thought a stranger
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is amongst us demaris's husband james
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said he was home and she went for her
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morning walk
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it was a saturday and he didn't have to
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go to work
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when she didn't return he claimed he
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drove around the neighborhood looking
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for her
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he thought he was going to find his wife
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around the corner
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you know holding her ankle or her leg
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but he even said as the time went on
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something in his gut
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let him say this just is not right
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but police found something suspicious in
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the couple's home
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it was damaris's walkman we have the
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purple walkman still in her residence
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we have her outside across the street
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wearing a purple headphones
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that was very interesting from the
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beginning
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when confronted with this evidence james
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wynn offered
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an explanation one investigators found
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hard to believe he claimed damaris had
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two walkmans and he offered to take a
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polygraph test to prove his innocence
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he failed and then james did something
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even
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more suspicious he had his wife's body
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cremated
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against her family's wishes you know if
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the husband didn't do it then why'd he
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have her body cremated it could never be
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looked at exhumed again and looked at
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and and those are the obvious reasons
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police were convinced james nguyen
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was responsible for this murder until
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they compared his dna
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to the evidence collected from his
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wife's rape kit
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we received a sample with the initial
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submission
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it did not match the evidence from the
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rape kit
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and once they took him off the block
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people then started going back to the
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well could it have been somebody else or
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did he get away with murder
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the perpetrator's dna profile was also
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entered
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into codis the national dna database
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there were no hits i think it means that
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the perpetrator
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had not committed a crime that qualified
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him to be a part of our database
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it looked as if police had a random
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murder on their hands
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the hardest type to solve
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duncan park is a landmark in spartanburg
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south carolina since 1926
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families have used the park for
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recreation and picnics so
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it's an unlikely place for a brutal
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murder
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investigators learned that on the day
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damaris wind was murdered
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four municipal workers were cutting
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trees in the park
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all of them were asked to provide a dna
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sample as was any male who lived near
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the park or
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worked with damaris we swabbed around 25
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individuals we tried to pinpoint people
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that we really thought may be involved
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and everyone we went to you know
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volunteered their swabs
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again there were no matches
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five months later it was a similar
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murder in the reidville
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community of spartanburg county 15 miles
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away
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it was the same essentially there were
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some differences
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but for the most part you had a female
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um you had
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an early morning event 32 year old
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rhonda ward drove into the parking lot
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of the convenience store where she
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worked
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it was early in the morning and it was
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rhonda's job to open the
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store ronda was the type of lady that if
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she was supposed to be there at seven
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she came in at 6
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30. security cameras in the parking lot
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showed a man
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walking up to her and having a
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conversation
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you can see a subject walking up the
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sidewalk
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then he cut across coming to the parking
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lot approached her
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and she was standing at the door it
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looked like the two knew one another
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they got into ronda's car and drove away
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this was totally unlike running it was a
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break in her pattern
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and that's what also made me very
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suspicious
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36 hours later ronda's nude body was
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found
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in an apple orchard about 15 miles from
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the convenience store
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she'd been stabbed to death and sexually
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assaulted
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but again because the time of the year
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it was cold decomp hadn't started
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and we really we had a lot to work with
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blood underneath the body indicated
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rhonda had been murdered
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where she was found and just like
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damaris winds murder
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the killer had taken ronda's clothes
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when news of ronda's murder became
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public
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a potential witness contacted police
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she said that on the morning rhonda
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disappeared she was driving by the
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orchard where the body was found
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she saw a white car parked on the
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shoulder of the road
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with two individuals walking toward the
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orchard
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she said one looked like the victim the
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other was a light-skinned black man
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at the time the witness didn't think
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anything of it
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i'm certain he'd been there before knew
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about the area
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may have already planned it out in his
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mind
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police assumed the killer had also
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stolen ronda's car
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fortunately after speaking with the
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nissan car company
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investigators discovered the company had
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something they could do
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the ability to start the car could be
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disabled if payment were not made
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and because of her death she missed a
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payment and the car was
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disabled how they were able to do that
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with a
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satellite i don't know but i do know
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that they disabled the car
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apparently the gambit worked police
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found ronda's abandoned car three miles
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from the crime scene
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someone presumably the killer had set it
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on fire
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most likely to destroy potential
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forensic evidence
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you just don't burn cars because they
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won't start unless you got something on
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high
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but the radio was missing so police put
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word out to their informants to be on
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the lookout
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for an individual trying to sell a
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nissan car
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stereo store employees who watched the
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security camera videotape said the man
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looked like chester donovan a man rhonda
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had been dating it was someone that
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rhonda had more than just a
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friendship with 32-year-old chester
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donovan was a teacher's aide at the
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school ronda's children attended
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a background check revealed a previous
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arrest for domestic violence
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donovan denied any involvement and
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consented to a polygraph test
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which he failed you've got him
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identified
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you've got him filling a polygraph and
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he had a connection to miss ward with a
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violent past so i mean obviously
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that was where the investigation was
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focusing
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when a witness reported seeing rhonda
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ward
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walking towards the orchard with an
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unidentified man
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she was asked to identify him in a photo
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lineup
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out of six people in that lineup the
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witness we had actually picked chester
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out
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chester donovan was dating ronda ward at
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the time
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but donovan had an alibi he was at work
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at the time rhonda ward was abducted
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he had an alibi better than the one i
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had that morning nobody
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could tell you where i was at seven
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o'clock that morning except my wife
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he had about five people that could tell
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where he was
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in addition to his alibi investigators
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performed a dna test
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and donovan's dna did not match the
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biological evidence from the rape test
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kit
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but the dna test did provide an
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important clue
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the dna of ronda's killer matched
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the dna profile of damaris winds killer
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i don't know that any of us actually
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expected it
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there were a few that actually expected
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it but there were some that were like
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well you know it'd be a luck hit if we
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get it
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investigators knew that the man with
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ronda ward on the surveillance image
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was her killer two surveillance cameras
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captured the incident
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but both produced dark and blurry images
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so spartanburg investigators contacted
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the secret
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service which has a lab with
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state-of-the-art equipment for video
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enhancement
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i know most people associate us with the
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protection of the president
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but the secret service was originally
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created in 1865 as a law enforcement
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agency
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in fact the secret service was working
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on
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technology that would get one of its
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first tryouts
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in this case it was just an amazing
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coincidence that a case of this high
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profile came in to our office for us to
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work on it
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the secret service discovered that the
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surveillance cameras in the parking lot
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were out of focus to correct that
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they returned to the parking lot set up
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a beam
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of light through a panel in the same
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spot as ronda's car
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then photographed it with the
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surveillance camera
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the single point source represents a
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single point of data
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on the image file so in a focused camera
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this point source
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would be a round circle a autofocus
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camera would actually be a distorted
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image of that circle
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and it's that image file then is used
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and imported into the software
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to attempt to refocus the image this
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camera was pretty out of focus it was
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pretty bad
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in terms of quality being able to clean
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up clarify some of the things
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in the video help identify some of the
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actions that took place
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to to put together the story of what
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would happen
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the improved images revealed that
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something different happened between
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ronda and her assailant
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something that investigators hadn't seen
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before
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she gets in the driver's side
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and he has to walk around the front of
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the car when he gets in
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there is a slight
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movement of the hand the man
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reached across from the passenger seat
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and put the keys in the ignition
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the man must have grabbed ronda's car
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keys out of camera range
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as soon as she got out of the car
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one thing that stood out to me as a
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woman is
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never let them take you to the second
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spot if you get into a car
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you go to the second spot most likely
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you've just signed
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your death certificate despite the
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enhanced video
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the images still weren't clear enough to
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identify the suspect
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in this case it was just too far away
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from
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the crime you know from what happened to
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be able to make out
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faces technology provided
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some answers but investigators weren't
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any closer to finding the killer
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[Music]
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the murders of damaris wynn and ronda
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ward
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were five months and 15 miles apart
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investigators had the killer's dna but
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no clues to his identity
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his dna was not in any of the state or
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national dna databases in our state
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if you were convicted of a violent
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offense
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then you were part of our database you
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were required to provide a dna sample to
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sled
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be included in our database the
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requirement became effective
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in 2002 so
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either the killer had never been
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convicted of a crime or if he had
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it was before 2002
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as police searched their files for any
00:14:54
crime
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similar to these murders they got a tip
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they learned that a local man tried to
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buy
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cocaine by trading a radio from a nissan
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automobile
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this was significant since the radio was
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missing
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from ronda's car when it was found
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he went by the name snow so perhaps he
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didn't think anybody would know who he
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was
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but police informants identified the man
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as frederick
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evans evans lived within
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walking distance of ronda's workplace
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where this surveillance video was shot
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and he was no stranger to law
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enforcement
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this was a bad man to the core and i've
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seen
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some of the lowest of the low and the
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thing about frederick evans you look at
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him
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doesn't scare you thirty-five-year-old
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evans
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a short-order cook divorced with a
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13-year-old daughter served time in
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prison for rape and robbery
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prior to 2000. this
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was only the latest in a series of
00:15:56
crimes
00:15:57
that began in his teens frederick evans
00:16:00
had
00:16:01
one assault and battery with intent to
00:16:02
kill where he sliced a man's
00:16:04
throat with a box cutter one
00:16:08
larceny and simple assault where he
00:16:10
stole a woman's purse and punched her in
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the face
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evans denied any involvement in either
00:16:16
murder
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police decided to call his bluff they
00:16:20
told him
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they'd shown the surveillance tape to
00:16:23
his mother
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he said you showed it to my mom i said
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absolutely and he said
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what did she say and i said
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mr evans you know what she said she
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identified you in the video
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evans fell for this ruse and changed his
00:16:38
story
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his story was that they knew each other
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it was consensual sex
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um got rough they got in a fight um and
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she tried to stab him
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and he turned around and stabbed her
00:16:50
that's not even a good lifetime
00:16:52
television movie i mean that's just
00:16:54
ridiculous
00:16:56
investigators obtained evan's dna
00:16:59
and the test results left no doubt his
00:17:02
dna matched
00:17:04
the biological evidence from ronda
00:17:06
ward's rape test kit
00:17:08
his dna also matched the evidence
00:17:12
in damaris winds case
00:17:16
frederick evans friends told police that
00:17:19
evans was sleeping on a bench in duncan
00:17:21
park
00:17:22
on the morning of damaris's murder
00:17:25
[Music]
00:17:28
prosecutors believe evans abducted her
00:17:32
dragged her to the woods sexually
00:17:34
assaulted her
00:17:36
then strangled her to death first with
00:17:39
her headphones
00:17:40
and then manually
00:17:45
for reasons that aren't entirely clear
00:17:47
it appears
00:17:48
evans took damaris clothing and her
00:17:51
walkman
00:17:52
possibly as a trophy but didn't take her
00:17:58
jewelry
00:18:00
[Music]
00:18:04
in ronda's case prosecutors believe
00:18:07
evans was walking through the store
00:18:09
parking lot when he saw ronda ward drive
00:18:12
up to the convenience store
00:18:13
to open it for the day
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according to the surveillance video he
00:18:22
grabbed her keys
00:18:23
probably threatened her with violence
00:18:25
and told her to get in the car
00:18:28
[Music]
00:18:40
evans forced her to drive to a deserted
00:18:43
location nearby
00:18:48
and that's when the witness saw the two
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walking
00:18:51
towards the orchard and just as in
00:18:54
damaris's case
00:18:56
evans sexually assaulted ronda killed
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her
00:18:59
and took all of her clothes
00:19:07
later evans was unable to start the car
00:19:10
because the manufacturer had disabled
00:19:12
the starter
00:19:13
so evan set the car on fire but not
00:19:15
before taking one last item
00:19:17
the car radio which led to his capture
00:19:22
well ma'am it's not as it's it's not as
00:19:24
it seems
00:19:25
it's it's not as it looks you know what
00:19:27
is it tell me what it is
00:19:28
there's two sides there restore them
00:19:30
tell me your side of the story
00:19:32
i can't i don't have enough time to sit
00:19:33
here and explain to you how why did you
00:19:36
murder ronda ward into marriage
00:19:39
i'm not going out today one year after
00:19:43
the crimes
00:19:44
frederick evans went on trial for
00:19:47
multiple charges including murder
00:19:49
and kidnapping you're entitled to know
00:19:53
the impact that ronda ward's death has
00:19:56
had on her family and friends and you
00:19:57
are entitled to know the character of
00:19:59
frederick antonio
00:20:00
evans and you got it
00:20:05
20 years taking what he wants
00:20:09
when he wants it evans
00:20:12
did not testify in his own defense
00:20:16
i used to have this whole quote you know
00:20:17
what you call defendants who don't
00:20:19
testify at trial
00:20:21
and the answer is inmates the experience
00:20:24
is one that i would not wish upon anyone
00:20:28
it is very time consuming it is very
00:20:32
emotional
00:20:34
it is very heartbreaking
00:20:37
evans was convicted on all counts
00:20:40
and was sentenced to death you had
00:20:43
looked at frederick evans
00:20:44
he had a pattern it was just a pattern
00:20:46
that took a while for them to connect
00:20:48
the only way in this day and age
00:20:51
to get a death sentence is to have very
00:20:54
strong forensics and frankly the only
00:20:56
way to get a conviction at the guilt
00:20:58
phase
00:20:59
is to have strong forensics much more
00:21:02
than eyewitness testimony or any of the
00:21:06
other old standbys it's all about
00:21:09
science
00:21:09
and if you don't have science you're not
00:21:10
going to win
00:21:19
you
