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[Music]
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a woman in austin texas mysteriously
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disappeared without saying anything to
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her friends or family
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and she wasn't the only one two other
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women had also disappeared under similar
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circumstances
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a tooth a single hair an anthropologist
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and a forensic artist implicated a man
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who had killed before
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in another country
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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in 1998 54 year old olivia estrada was
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going through a very difficult time
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she had recently been divorced and was
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unemployed the only bright spot in her
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life was her family
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she was
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funny
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heart as big as texas or even bigger she
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just had compassion
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for everyone
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one night out of the blue a woman who
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refused to identify herself called
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olivia's family with a warning
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she said to go and check on your mother
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that something was wrong with her
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so family members went to investigate
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her car's there her keys are there her
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house is locked something happened
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that was against her will
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the type of door it was you had to lock
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it with a key when you went out
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so whoever left last locked it with a
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key her keys were inside by the time i
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got here
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my cousin who lives next door he had
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broken into the house to see if my mom
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was here and when i looked down
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the carpet was soaking wet
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like why is the carpet wet
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detective bob merrill found traces of
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blood in the water-soaked carpet an
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obvious sign of a hasty clean-up
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so at that point we're going to start
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investigating it as a homicide until
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you're no different
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outside in the carport next to olivia's
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car
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investigators found evidence of a
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struggle
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there was a ring
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by the tire and he says do you know
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whose ring that is and i said yeah
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that's my mom's ring so what's it doing
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out here
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there were traces of blood on the ring
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as well as on the inside of olivia's car
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but there were no foreign fingerprints
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the few clues we did have there at the
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house became very crucial
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the blood in the house the blood in the
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car the blood on the carport the bloody
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ring
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that was found in the carport
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those sort of became
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the
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factors that determined whether or not
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we would be able to turn this into a
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homicide case
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unfortunately
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investigators were not able to trace the
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anonymous call made to the estrada
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family
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it was strange that the woman was never
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identified who called she must have been
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scared to come forward i don't know
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the next day
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investigators took a second look around
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olivia's home
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tucked away in the bottom of a dresser
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drawer they found a photograph of olivia
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with an unidentified man
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and on the back of the photograph was
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written the name
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martine
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no one knew his last name no one knew
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where he was from no one knew anything
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about the man
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but olivia's daughter recalled speaking
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with martine on the telephone when she
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called to speak with her mother
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she said
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it was a bizarre conversation
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the only thing i remember he told me was
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that he wanted to marry my mother
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i don't even i mean
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she just met him
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and i said
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my mom will never marry you
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i said i don't know who you are who you
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think you are but my mom will never
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marry you
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investigators released the photograph to
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the media hoping
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that someone could identify him
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[Music]
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after olivia strata's disappearance
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police released the photograph of the
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unidentified man in the picture found in
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her home
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several callers identified the man as 47
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year old martine gonzalez an illegal
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immigrant from mexico who was working in
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austin texas as a laborer
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when questioned gonzales said he didn't
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know anything about olivia's
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disappearance
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when he was searched however
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investigators found the house key to
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olivia estrada's home
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at the time that mr gonzalez was picked
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up he had
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the only other key that anybody knew
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existed in his pocket so that was a very
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strong indicator that he was the last
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one to leave that house which
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would indicate that he had something to
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do with her leaving
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gonzalez said he had dated olivia
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casually
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but the last time he was at her home he
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said she was there with another man
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manuel barbosa
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they ended up getting to a fight
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emmanuel pulled a gun on him and he left
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and martine left manual stay
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but a check on barbosa's whereabouts
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showed this was impossible
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we checked out manuel and he happened to
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be in federal custody and for
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a long time
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and was not any anywhere near austin
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texas during that particular incident
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investigators searched their criminal
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database
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they discovered that gonzales had spent
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time in a mexican prison for murder
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the first murder was a fake deal got a
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man to meet him out in a desolate area
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and beat him to death and took his money
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when he got out of prison he killed
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another person in mexico
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and shortly thereafter came up here
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to texas
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and five months earlier gonzalez
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reported another girlfriend missing
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maria flores
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so it was really starting to connect
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that we were looking at more than one
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missing woman involved
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in his life
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investigators called what's known as the
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missing person's clearing house an
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organization that tracks missing persons
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reports with unidentified bodies found
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in texas
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and they found something
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three years before maria flores and
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olivia estrada disappeared another
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woman's body was discovered in a field
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just one block away from martine
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gonzalez's home
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that was a huge break i don't know that
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that connection would have been made
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without that call
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so
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who was
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this person
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forensic anthropologist dr david
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glassman
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examined the remains
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he noted blunt force trauma to the skull
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and most of the teeth were missing
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the size of the skull indicated the
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victim was female
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and the cranial sutures revealed her
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approximate age
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there were some of the sutures in the
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top of the head in the back of the head
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that were already fused on the external
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surface
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so from that i ascertained that she
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would have had to have been at least 35
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years of age
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dr glassman also found evidence of the
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woman's race
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she had a condition which is called
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wormy and bones which are extra bones
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found in the suture in the back of the
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skull which we see very often in asians
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and native americans
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but without someone's dna or dental
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records for comparison investigators had
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no way to identify her
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to put a face with the bones
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investigators turned to forensic artist
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karen taylor
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since the skull was so fragile
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taylor decided against creating a
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forensic sculpture instead she used a
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technique she had developed called
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two-dimensional facial reconstruction
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taylor assumed the victim was hispanic
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and over 35 years old
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using anthropologic data
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taylor used rubber markers to show the
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appropriate tissue thickness which
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differs from race to race
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[Music]
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that forms a basis of the contours of
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the face so once the tissue depth
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markers are glued onto the skull
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then we literally connect the dots to
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develop the contours of the face
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taylor then photographed the skull
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and placed a piece of translucent vellum
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on top of the picture
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vellum is the finest type of parchment
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available usually made from calves skin
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taylor then started to draw the facial
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features in life-size the average human
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eye is about 25 millimeters in diameter
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that happens to be about the same size
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as the diameter of a us quarter
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so i'll often take a quarter and center
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it in the bony orbit of the skull and
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trace around it
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but the nose caused the most difficulty
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since it's made of cartilage that
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decomposes
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i look at the piriform aperture this
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pear-shaped
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nasal opening
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i had five millimeters on each side of
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the the opening of the nose
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and that gives me a sense of the width
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the angle can often be determined by
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analyzing the bone called the interior
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nasal spine
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we use that
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to measure
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and determine the projection of the nose
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there's a formula of three times the
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length of the nasal spine that is used
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for that projection
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since most of the teeth were missing
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taylor relied on the principle known as
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the facial triangle
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there is an equilateral triangle created
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between the two corners of the eye and
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the middle of the bottom of the lower
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lip and i thought aha that's going to
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help me to project how the mouth might
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have been positioned in that blank space
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on the skull
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taylor chose an appropriate hair color
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and an approximate weight
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then
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put the finishing touches on her work
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the incorporation of the proportional
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arrangement of features in a face
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is very important to the recognition
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factor taking place
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investigators released the forensic
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drawing to the media hoping to learn her
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identity
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and in so doing
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help solve a mystery
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just days after the forensic drawing
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appeared in the austin newspapers a
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family member called from mexico to say
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it looked like his mother 48 year old
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sylvia garcia
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she was none other
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than martine gonzalez's wife
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we got a call from sylvia's family
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saying that their mother had married
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him and had come up here and they'd
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never seen him or heard from her again
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or seen her again
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court records indicated sylvia garcia
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had filed for a divorce from gonzalez
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shortly before her disappearance
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when questioned gonzales denied having a
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wife and denied even knowing sylvia
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garcia
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he just perfects ignorance and it was
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unbelievable
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but inside gonzalez's home
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investigators found a photograph which
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bore a striking resemblance to the
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forensic drawing
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and that's when i really got excited
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because everything did seem to fit it
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was what i would expect to see
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the proportions were correct uh things
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did seem to fit
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once we got pictures
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we were we were convinced
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that that was sylvia is just proving it
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was the next problem
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to find out scientifically whether the
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skull was sylvia garcia's
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investigators discovered that sylvia
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mailed letters to her relatives in
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mexico and those letters might have
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sylvia's dna profile
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we looked at the envelope and saw that
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in fact the flap had either been licked
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or that the stamp had been licked and so
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i attempted to extract dna from the flap
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and from the stamp
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and i was able to generate a dna profile
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from the flap of the envelope
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i think it's very fascinating and also
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that her family would have saved those
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envelopes i mean how how many people
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save letters that somebody sent a couple
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of years ago and who would have thought
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that it would help solve a police
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investigation it's just it's just
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unbelievable
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for comparison criminalist jody kohler
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used tooth pulp found in one of the few
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molars still in the skull
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tooth pulp can be a rich source of dna
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a pcr dna test revealed the skull
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matched the dna extracted from sylvia's
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letters
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damn that was good you know you just
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never expected that to happen you hear
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it can happen it just had never happened
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for me until then
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i was very excited that we had actually
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identified this person because the
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skeletal remains were fairly old and so
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it was it was really a shot in the dark
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to be able to do this it was great
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when investigators re-examined the bed
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sheet that covered sylvia's body
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they noticed a single strand of hair in
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the knot
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since there was no root material
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investigators decided to perform a
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mitochondrial dna test
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now the unique difference with
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mitochondrial dna is it's only inherited
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from your mother
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and so men don't pass theirs on to their
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children this means that siblings in the
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same family or all maternal relatives in
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a family for example will share the same
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type
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the hair was first cleaned in an
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ultrasonic water bath to make sure no
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cells from another source adhered to it
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once the hair is thoroughly cleaned then
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we grind it up in a small glass grinder
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that is almost like a mortar and pestle
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apparatus
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this powders the hair into a liquid
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buffer
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and to this are added some chemicals
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that effectively purify the dna
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away from everything else in the hair
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and this same procedure was repeated on
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a hair sample from
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martine gonzalez
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the result
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the hair found with sylvia garcia's body
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belonged to martine gonzalez
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if you find a type that's never been
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seen before as was the case in this case
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you would be able to eliminate at least
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99.96 percent
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of north americans as having that type
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his hair being
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with the remains was crucial to show
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that he was involved in her ending up in
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that vacant field with with trauma to
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the head
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martine gonzalez was arrested and
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charged with sylvia garcia's murder
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but the question remained
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where were the other two missing women
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olivia estrada and maria flores
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when martine gonzalez was in prison
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awaiting trial for the murder of his
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wife sylvia garcia
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investigators received a telephone call
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the farmer actually is a retired
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detective was clearing some area for a
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fence
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and he stumbled onto some bones
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in bastrop county
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dental records confirmed the remains
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were those of olivia estrada
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the 54 year old divorcee who was dating
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martine gonzalez around the time of her
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disappearance
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the skull showed signs of blunt force
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trauma
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as well as a gunshot wound
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i mean i still didn't really believe it
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and i said detective morrow is it her is
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it really her and he says yes
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and he and he had a tear in his eye
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less than a mile away
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in another deserted field
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investigators found the remains of the
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third missing woman maria flores
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she had also been dating martine
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gonzalez
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and it was he who reported her missing
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her skull showed evidence of blunt force
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trauma to the head
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martine gonzalez was charged with all
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three murders
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we had mitochondrial dna which had never
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been used in texas at that point we had
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other kinds of dna forensic
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anthropologists
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forensic dentists a multitude of
00:17:35
civilian and law enforcement witnesses
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many of which were spanish speakers and
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the logistics of putting that case
00:17:41
together were
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astounding
00:17:45
prosecutors learned that gonzales
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frequented bars where he met vulnerable
00:17:50
women some were illegal immigrants with
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no family or connection to austin
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others like olivia estrada were
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emotionally vulnerable
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she still loved my father i think she
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was just down on herself
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i really believe when she met him she
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was at her lowest
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that is the only way i could see that
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she would ever let
00:18:13
a person like nothing
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in her life
00:18:17
this man had a history of abusing women
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and charming them and choosing isolated
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women or most of them isolated and and
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then lying to them saying he owned land
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and becoming jealous and possessive
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[Music]
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prosecutors presented evidence that the
00:18:32
motive in these murders was anger after
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having been rejected
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gonzalez refused to accept that these
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women no longer wanted him in their
00:18:41
lives
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[Music]
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gonzalez's telephone conversation with
00:18:46
olivia's daughter revealed he wanted to
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marry olivia
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but olivia told her daughter later she
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wanted no part of him
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i said mom what is he talking about he
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says he's going to marry she goes he's
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crazy
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i said i'm telling you what he just told
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me
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she says no he's crazy don't pay
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attention to him he doesn't know what
00:19:06
he's talking about i'm like mom what are
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you doing
00:19:11
it wasn't long after this incident
00:19:14
that olivia disappeared
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in september 2000
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martine gonzalez was convicted of three
00:19:24
counts of first degree murder and
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sentenced to the life in prison
00:19:29
you left her you threw her away like she
00:19:31
was garbage
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she wasn't martin
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she was not
00:19:37
she was my mother
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his eyes
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are just void of any kind of human
00:19:43
anything there's nothing there nothing
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that's human anyway to me
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it's just a monster
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he's just a truly evil person with no
00:19:53
conscience
00:19:55
i wish he was sitting on death row
00:19:56
instead but he needs to be behind bars
00:19:59
for the rest of his life
00:20:02
to this day
00:20:03
texas authorities remain convinced there
00:20:06
are other victims linked to martine
00:20:08
gonzalez victims
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they have yet to find
00:20:13
without the forensic drawing
00:20:16
investigators wouldn't have identified
00:20:18
the skull found in the field
00:20:22
i don't think he had
00:20:23
any any perception of forensic art in
00:20:27
his entire imagination but i bet he
00:20:29
wishes he did
00:20:31
it's just amazing that we can combine
00:20:33
those types of science where she can do
00:20:35
the facial reconstruction and then we
00:20:36
can confirm her facial reconstruction
00:20:39
using this type of dna technology
00:20:42
an anthropologist friend of mine dr
00:20:43
william maples was fond of saying
00:20:46
patient and silent while we live our
00:20:48
skeletons shout to heaven and posterity
00:20:51
after we die and i think that's a
00:20:54
wonderful um a wonderful quote it it
00:20:57
says the same thing
00:20:59
the dead can speak
00:21:01
through facial reconstruction through
00:21:02
forensic art
00:21:04
[Music]
00:21:27
[Applause]
00:21:33
[Music]
00:21:46
you
