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a go-go dancer in rural ohio vanished
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without a trace
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leaving investigators without a single
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clue as to her whereabouts
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the case went unsolved for 26 years
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until a homemade box
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tool mark analysis and an old car
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provided hints to where she had gone
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[Music]
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[Music]
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the rolling farm country of wayne county
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ohio was home to 19 year old janice
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hartman
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janice was a free
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spirit and she was raised with two
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brothers
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tomboy effect i mean she could climb a
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tree with the best of us
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and as with most teenagers she had a
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boyfriend 19 year old john smith he is
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kind of a nerdy
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howdy-doody looking guy
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the person you would forget right away
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after you met him
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the two were inseparable and both had a
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rebellious streak
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he rode a motorcycle at the time
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and she was
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that type of person that wanted to be on
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a fast item whatever it was
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when they finished high school janice
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and john got married but the union
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didn't last long and four years later
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they divorced
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[Music]
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to support herself janice took a job at
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a local nightclub as a go-go dancer
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i think it was more that free spirit
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again coming back out in her that's the
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way she was
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music
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was part of her life her family was
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very uneasy with this and she said hey
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come on down to the bar and see me dance
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she didn't take all her clothes off
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one night after work she was invited to
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a private party janice told friends
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later there was heavy drinking at the
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party and also drugs
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several men asked janice to dance
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and at some point things got out of
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control
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she was drunk these other guys appeared
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to be drunk some of the gentlemen at
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this party attempted to rape her
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attempted to sexually assault her became
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very abusive
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eventually janice talked her way out of
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the situation and left
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she immediately filed a formal complaint
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she went directly to the police
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department at the time and told him the
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whole story took
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statements and whole nine yards
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everything she needed to do and then she
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needed protection
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janice returned to the nightclub and go
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go dancing but what happened at the
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party haunted her
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she went over to my mom's couple of
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nights after that whole situation
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happened and she mentioned to my sister
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that hey i'm gonna wait for a while i'll
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be gone don't worry
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and with that janice disappeared without
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taking her clothes or her car
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if you're going to leave the area you're
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going to need things to go with that
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you're going to need your clothing
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you're going to need means of
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transportation
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police interviewed the men who allegedly
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assaulted janice at the party
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they admitted the situation had gotten
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out of hand but they said
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they had no idea where janice was
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because of her lifestyle
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this bar hopping go go dancer disappears
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one day just a few days after she was
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nearly raped by a bunch of guys
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police i think assume that she just led
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this dangerous lifestyle and it finally
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caught up with her
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and for the next 26 years
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no one saw or heard anything more from
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janice hartman
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[Music]
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janice hartman disappeared just days
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after several men tried to rape her at a
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party
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at first investigators assumed her
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disappearance was somehow related to the
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incident
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here's a young troubled girl who's in
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early 20s who's hanging out with a bunch
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of questionable people probably smoking
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some marijuana having a good time she
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probably ran away for a
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while the case eventually turned cold
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and after years with no further
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information
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the hartmann family gradually accepted
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the idea
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that they would never see janus again
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when there's someone missing you always
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have this hole i'm telling you it's like
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a hole in your heart you'll have it it's
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it's never filled
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20 long years passed
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then everything changed with one
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telephone call it was from a woman who
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called gary asking for his sister janice
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i sat down on the edge of the bed and
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took the phone call and i'm saying yes
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i'm janice's brother
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and i said i understand your sister was
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married to john smith and i said yes she
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was married to john smith but
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she's missing
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and i said well our sisters have one
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thing in common they were both married
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to john smith and i said my sister's
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missing gary hartman's reply was my god
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lady you got a problem
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my sister's been missing since november
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of 74 never to be heard from again
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sherry the woman who called said her
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sister 49 year old betty fran had been
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married to john smith for only a few
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months and smith had lied to betty and
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her family about his past
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he presented himself as a 40 year old
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mennonite bachelor never been married
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a degree in aeronautical engineering
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from ohio state university with a
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specialization in
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jet propulsion
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none of that turned out to be true
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this was the turning point um what are
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the odds what are the odds that one wife
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would disappear under suspicious
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circumstances then a second wife would
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disappear under suspicious circumstances
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that they would both disappear with
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almost the exact same circumstances
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[Music]
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john smith denied any involvement in
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betty fran's disappearance
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john's initial report was that he came
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home from work and his wife had left and
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there was a very brief letter which said
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she had gone out and please don't forget
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to feed the fish
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smith denied having anything to do with
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his first wife's disappearance too
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the fbi's cold case unit got involved
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and discovered an interesting
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coincidence in the missing persons
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reports
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20 years earlier witnesses told
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investigators that they saw john smith
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in the club watching his first wife
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dance on the night she disappeared
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john was not the type of person who
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would want his wife or even his ex-wife
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to be dancing in a skimpy outfit at a
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bar in front of men
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another witness saw smith and janice
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leave together at closing time
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the divorce was final john was still
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trying to win her back
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she was dating other men
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so this was like a
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pot that was just boiling and boiling
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and boiling and boiling
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janice's family long suspected john
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smith was somehow involved in her
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disappearance
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smith had a temper and had been abusive
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towards janus during their marriage
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i was playing a game of chess with him
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one day i nailed him with a checkmate
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and he just looked at the board
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took his arm slammed it
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across the chessboard all the pieces
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just scattered all over the room and i
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was odd i just sort of sat back i was
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thinking whoa what's coming next
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investigators had plenty of suspicion
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but no hard
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evidence all they knew was that smith
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was the last known person to see both
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janice hartman and betty fran before
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they disappeared
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dead in the water
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i mean we've got no leads it's exhausted
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i mean short of an accidental discovery
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or him confessing
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we've got nothing
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it was an astounding coincidence that
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john smith's first and second wives both
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disappeared without a
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trace
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in looking into smith's background
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investigators discovered that smith had
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a younger brother michael
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and they decided to pay michael a visit
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at first michael was unwilling to answer
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their questions
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after that interview michael went home
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and talked to his wife he searched his
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soul
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michael had had a secret
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and
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it had been eating at him for years and
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he searched his conscience and he
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decided that he was going to turn on his
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brother
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michael told the fbi
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a horrifying tale
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he said shortly after his brother's
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first wife janice disappeared
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he saw john building a wooden box in his
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grandparents garage
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he thought that the shape was odd it had
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an odd dimension to it it was about four
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foot in length but it was rather short
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john said he would use the box to store
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janice's belongings michael found this
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very perplexing and didn't know what to
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think of it and why was he building a
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box to put her clothing in
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if you're going to build a box to store
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things you need to build it deep like a
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chest and john became angry with his
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brother at this time so michael left the
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garage
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went back into the grandparents home
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later that night
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michael went back out to the garage
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and looked through the window
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john is now
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packing clothing items into that box
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which was completed
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michael thought it was odd how he was
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packing he was taking the clothing and
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rolling it up
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and laying it along the outside edges of
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that box his brother was crying during
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the time he was packing these clothing
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items
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the box was nailed shut and stored in
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their grandparents garage
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five years later when michael and his
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grandfather were cleaning the garage
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they pried the box open
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and looked inside
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michael saw something that he would
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never forget for the rest of his life
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looking up at him was the face of janice
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hartman
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and this corpse had the legs cut off
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below the knees
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michael and his grandfather closed the
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box and immediately called john who
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insisted he had nothing to do with
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janice's death he said someone else
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killed her and he was hiding the body
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because he thought he would be
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[Music]
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michael said john put the coffin in his
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black corvette and drove away
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he never saw it again
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and he said nothing about it for years
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he thought my god i might be an
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accomplice to a murderer i don't want to
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get in trouble for this so he just
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didn't say anything
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it's not neat and it doesn't speak well
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for michael but it's the truth
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but where was the wooden box now
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21 years later
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investigators learned that john smith's
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stepfather was pouring the concrete
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foundation in an apartment complex
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around the time john removed the box
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ground penetrating radar found a
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potential grave underneath the garage
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floor
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the highway construction people actually
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using giant saws
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removed a portion of the garage floor
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and then with excavation
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materials were removed and screened
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by the fbi evidence response team
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but they found nothing
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investigators contacted every law
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enforcement agency and coroner in the
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state asking if they knew anything about
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a wooden box with a body inside missing
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the legs
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and they got a break
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the officer who got that letter had been
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on the force for 25 years or more and it
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was just
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the best bit of luck we could have ever
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hoped for
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that he would have been the person who
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got the letter
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because he immediately remembered the
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lady in the box
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from april of 1980
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ten years earlier a highway worker found
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human remains in a wooden box in some
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deep brush along the side of a road
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she's a jane doe they did all the things
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that they were supposed to do
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they didn't have the dna technology that
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we have now there's no database they
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could go to there were no fingerprints
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that they could look up so they didn't
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have the kind of
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forensic capabilities that they have now
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so they just buried her in a potter's
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grave and hoped for the best
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but authorities kept the box as well as
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the night gown that covered the victim's
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face
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and on the nightgown
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was a clue
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i could see
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her face in the dress it was like
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looking at jan
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like she was there with us and it was
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chilling to see it
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the image that is shown on that
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nightgown to this day
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is just a very unnerving image
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after all this time
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was it possible that forensic science
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could identify the remains and also
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expose her killer
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[Music]
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authorities in indiana exhumed the
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remains of the unidentified woman they
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had buried a decade earlier
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the bones were taken to forensic
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anthropologists frank and julie saul
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when we did the x-rays
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we determined that we were dealing with
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someone
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in
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early twenties
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the pelvic bones indicated it was a
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female
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by measuring the femur dr sol determined
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she was approximately five feet four
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inches tall
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the same height as janice hartman
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the skull was in almost perfect
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condition showing no signs of trauma
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unfortunately there were no dental
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records of janice hartman for comparison
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the smile was consistent with dennis
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hartman
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but we needed to do a
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more thorough job of establishing her
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positive identity
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the anthropologist noted the woman's
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legs had been amputated below the knee
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after death
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to find out more they sent the leg bones
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to forensic anthropologist steve sims
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i am more specialized in that i work in
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the more modern samples of anthropology
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or forensic anthropology
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and within that i have a specialty of
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bone trauma
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dr sims noticed several false starts on
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the bones which allowed him to see both
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sides of the instrument used
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hand saws have teeth which alternately
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bend to the right and left making a
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w-shaped cut
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the teeth cut a swath through the bone
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that's wider than the rest of the blade
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but the instrument used to cut these
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bones
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made a v-shaped cut
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jagged on one side and smooth on the
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other
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it has teeth on one side and it's a
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fairly good description of a serrated
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knife take a lot of strength to actually
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do that or what i would say is a lot of
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motivation
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a bone fragment was sent to the fbi lab
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in washington dc for mitochondrial dna
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analysis
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[Music]
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when compared with the mitochondrial dna
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from janice hartman's mother
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there was a match
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the body
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was janice hartman i don't know what
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kind of human being can do something
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like that he's a sick man sociopath was
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the term that i heard used more than
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once
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investigators searched motor vehicle
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records and discovered john smith's old
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corvette sports car was now in the
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possession of a car collector in new
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jersey who had kept it in pristine
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condition
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measurements revealed
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janice's coffin could have easily fit
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inside the car
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and there was other evidence
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the fbi agent noted scratches on the
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dash
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as well as the rear window of that
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corvette
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which would be consistent
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with the edges of a box that size being
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placed in the vehicle
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26 years after janice hartman
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disappeared
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john smith was arrested and charged with
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first degree murder
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[Music]
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prosecutors believe smith was angry the
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janice divorced him and that he also
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objected to her work as a dancer
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smith heard about the incident at the
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party janice attended
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and he used this as his cover for murder
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witnesses saw smith leave the nightclub
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with janice on the night she disappeared
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prosecutors think smith strangled janus
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to death later that night
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i think that
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the legs being severed from janus's body
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was symbolic in that she had walked out
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on john smith
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for a controlling man he could not
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handle that
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[Music]
00:19:07
he made sure she would never walk away
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from him again
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smith built the coffin in his
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grandfather's garage
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and buried janice with her nightgown
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over her face
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he stored the coffin in his
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grandfather's garage until family
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members told him to remove it
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then he put it in his sports car and
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dumped it in the weeds along an indiana
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highway
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based on the evidence
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john smith was convicted of janice
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hartman's murder and he was sentenced to
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15 years to life in prison
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these weren't just a pile of bones
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science was able to give these bones a
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name
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and relatives who loved her
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they were able to give these bones an
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identity they were able to bring this
00:20:01
case to life
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and that's why they got a
00:20:04
conviction michael fleeman wrote a book
00:20:07
about this case the stranger in my bed
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and he doubts anyone will find smith's
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second wife betty fran
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john smith is not going to tell them
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where betty fran's body is if he is the
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one in fact who is responsible for this
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that would be a step in the right
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direction and that would probably get
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him a conference with god before he
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would be sent to hell
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to do that means facing execution and
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it's just not going to happen
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i don't think betty franz ever going to
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be found and i don't think her case is
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ever going to be finally solved
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investigators found evidence that betty
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fran was about to leave smith because
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she learned he was having an affair with
00:20:50
another woman
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in my opinion that is a good portion of
00:20:55
john's problem is abandonment if a woman
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is going to leave him it's
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i control when you leave
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[Music]
00:21:19
[Music]
00:21:29
[Music]
00:21:44
you
