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[Music]
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in 2002 a letter arrived at the St Louis
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Post Dispatch newspaper from a man
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claiming to be a serial killer the
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letter included a map with an X marking
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the spot where he left one of his
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victims but the map told forensic
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scientists a lot more than just the
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location of a body it was their key to
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finding the
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[Music]
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killer just across the river from St
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Louis Missouri is a town called East St
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Louis in Illinois where prostitutes sell
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their Wares often to finance their drug
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addictions 34-year-old Alisa greenwade
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was one of those caught in a hopeless
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cycle it's rough when you see somebody
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that you care about and you feel
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helpless in April of 2001 Alisa green
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Wade's body was discovered in Washington
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Park Illinois where she had been
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strangled and there were ligature marks
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on her wrists and
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ankles a tire impression was found near
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her body which was photographed for
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analysis it was identified as a
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Bridgestone Potenza
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Tire just Days Later police find three
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more bodies all known
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prostitutes the victims were just
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displayed they were laid out right in
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the open right off the side of roadways
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but on one of the victims police found
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some evidence there was no drag marks on
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the body but there was a large Tire
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impression on Betty James
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Le this tire impression was from a
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Goodrich Advantage Tire different than
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the tire impression found at the earlier
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crime
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scene over the next 5 months three more
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bodies were found dumped along the
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streets of East St
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Louis rape kits from two of the victims
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yielded biological samples which were
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sent for
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testing the St Louis Police dep
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Department was convinced that the same
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individual committed all the murders
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since the crimes were committed in the
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same manner the victims were positioned
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there was obvious u a disregard for any
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type of um secrecy any type of cover up
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anything like that it was an obvious
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these were secondary locations 6 months
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after the first murder the crime
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stopped time went on and no more bodies
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appeared we figured either three
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things uh the subject was in custody he
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died or moved out of the
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area St Louis police called the FBI for
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further assistance special agent Melanie
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gimnez was assigned to the case was
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trying to compile the information so
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that I could get a package together to
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send to our Behavioral Sciences unit at
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quanico I wanted the profilers there to
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take a look at it and try to give us a
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profile of who they thought this person
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was Bob Morton was the behavioral
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profiler working on this case he knew
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immediately that these mergers would be
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difficult to solve there's no connection
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other than a business if you will
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transaction between the customer and The
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Prostitute and that anonymity gives him
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that blanket to just go in and come out
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most crime is between the races so if
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I'm if you have a black victim most of
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the time you have a black
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offender for 3 months the killer wasn't
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heard from but
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inexplicably the murgers started
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again over the next 5 months three more
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bodies were found dumped along the
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streets of East St Louis Verona Thompson
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Ivon Cruz and Brenda
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Beasley the death toll was now at 10
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n Bill Smith covered this story for the
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St Louis Post Dispatch
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Newspaper one of his stories profiled
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Teresa Wilson one of the victims of the
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serial killer what I think I ended up
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doing was humanizing um this woman who
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um in a way had had kind of dehumanized
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her own life by getting involved in
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prostitution and Drug
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activities and it wasn't long before
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Smith got a piece of fan mail it was a
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letter from the
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[Music]
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killer 5 days after Bill Smith's article
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on slain prostitute Teresa Wilson
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appeared in the newspaper he received an
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anonymous letter it had a very unusual
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return address I noticed also that the
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postage stamp in the upper right hand
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corner was upside down I started to read
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it and I thought it was a joke I thought
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it was somebody basically just yanking
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my chain dear Bill nice sa story about
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Teresa Wilson write one about green Wade
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write a good one and I'll tell you where
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many others are to prove I'm real here's
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directions to number 17 search in a 50-
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yard radius from the X put this story in
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the Sunday paper like the
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last I think he got aggravated and I
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think he wanted to somehow show us that
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these in fact were not human beings that
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we were dealing with and that he had
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some kind of a right to do what he was
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doing the letter referenced 17 murders
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although police only knew of
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10 the return address included the words
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ithal them a bondage
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website along with the letter was a map
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of a remote area along Highway 67 which
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was marked with an X I almost didn't
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believe it it almost didn't seem real I
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mean I've been a newspaper reporter
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for 20 probably almost 25 years and uh
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I'd never had anything quite like that
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happen before and I kind of forgot how
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to be a newspaper reporter and uh for a
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few minutes didn't really know how to
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ask questions
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turned the letter over to the
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authorities there's a lot of taunting in
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a letter like that he's very proud of
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himself he feels that he's smarter than
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everybody else cuz he can send this
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letter and he can get credit for what he
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did uh that was the first thing that
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came in my mind is that you know he's
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looking for
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attention when police searched the area
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described in the map they discovered the
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remains of another victim now there was
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no doubt the letter came from the killer
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but who wrote the letter and where did
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it come from the return address said New
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York but the postmark revealed the
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letter was mailed in St
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Louis both the letter and the map were
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printed from a computer the map had been
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cropped to remove any copyright notices
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from the map company it had to take a
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lot of time he does not want to expose
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himself by going to a public library a
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Kinkos or wherever or else you can get
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access to a computer this is something
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you're going to do at home that you can
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print out not only that he printed it on
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the same kind of paper that the letter
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was on WE identified that the map was
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probably made by an internet or cdrom
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based mapping system they're very
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similar in appearance it wasn't like he
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photographed or photocopied a foldout
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map if you will this man is an
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intelligence agent with the Illinois
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State Police due to the sensitive nature
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of his job we cannot reveal his
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identity it was his job to perform the
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tedious process of finding the owner or
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copyright holder of that
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map he compared the map to every CD ROM
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and internet site that provides maps and
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directions after hours of searching he
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found the map used by the killer it was
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on an internet service called
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expedia.com
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they're more of a travel agency than
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they are a map service if you will and
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they keep where you travel in order to
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offer you goods and services at uh
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rental cars or them amusement park
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discounts and things like that Expedia
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said that Microsoft provided the maps
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for use on their
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site the map was proprietary meaning
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that Expedia was the only site which
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offered that map and no one
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else the FBI wanted to know the identity
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of everyone who had ACC assess this St
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Louis map between the day the newspaper
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article appeared May 19th and the
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postmark of the letter which was May
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21st it gave us a 4 to 5 day window of
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opportunity to see when that map had
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been accessed over the
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Internet when served with the subpoena
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Microsoft analyzed their computer
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download records and discovered that
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only one computer had downloaded that
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map during that 4-day period period and
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the size of the downloaded map was
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identical to the map sent to the
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newspaper but investigators needed to
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know the location of the
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computer Microsoft couldn't identify the
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individual by name only by what is
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called an IP number when you log into a
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web server you're assigned what's called
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an IP number Internet Protocol number
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that number follows you wherever you go
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so investigators performed what they
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call an IP reversal process the same
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technique used to find child
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pornographers the IP address which is
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four sets of numbers separated by
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periods identifies a particular
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computer's location on the
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internet computers linked to a network
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through a fixed connection typically
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have a permanent IP address while
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computers that access the internet with
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a dialup service are assigned an IP
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address for each
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session to find the location of this
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particular IP user the FBI turned to
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Worldcom which provides the dialup
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connection from computer to server
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worldcom's investigation revealed that
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the map was downloaded at 7:36 p.m.
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central Time on May 20th from the
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Expedia site through the MSN online
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service we then took that information
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and subpoenaed MSN who told us of course
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go to Microsoft that's their parent very
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similar to Expedia Microsoft then says
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but here's the person here's their how
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they pay their bill here's their address
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here's where they dial up from the map
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was downloaded by someone using the
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screen name Mori Travis when I first
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received the user name it did appear to
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be an individual's actual name however I
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knew that that didn't NE necessarily
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mean it was his true identity the home
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was in Ferguson a quiet middle class
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suburb just outside of St
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Lewis it was owned by a 55-year-old
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woman who had no prior criminal record
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investigators suspected the homeowner
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wasn't a killer but who had access to
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her computer
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[Music]
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a forensic computer search discovered
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that the map sent to the local newspaper
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revealing the location of a murder
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victim had been downloaded by a computer
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in this
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home investigators decided to have a
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look inside I knocked I said FBI we have
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a search warrant I announced at least
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three times eventually a man and a woman
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answered the door he was mad he was in a
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pair of boxer shorts the first thing out
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of his mouth was
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it's 7:00 in the
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morning you're right it's 7:00 in the
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morning and we're serving a federal
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search
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warant okay why are you here and our
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response was you know why we're here he
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dropped his head he said yeah I know why
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you're
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here inside police found a computer
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women's wigs and shoes a stun gun and a
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collection of homemade
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videotapes the basement was spattered
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with blood the ceiling walls doors and
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carpet even the
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furniture the man identified himself as
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36-year-old Mor Travis a restaurant
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worker who had served time for a string
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of armed
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robberies his mother owned the home but
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didn't live there the woman was Travis's
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longtime girl girlfriend who told police
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she had never been in the basement of
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the house she didn't have any idea what
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was going on in that house and he didn't
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want her to know next to the desk was a
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file cabinet we broke into that cabinet
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and found a napsack in there and the
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napsack was we referred to it as a
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working bag in there was duct tape
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ligatures straps that to tie victims up
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a hose type stocking that he used as
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gloves forensic scientists gathered
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samples of the blood in the basement for
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analysis it was a mixture from six
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different
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individuals no one ever seen any
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activity or anything around that house
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and so it's just pretty scary you think
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your neighborhood is really safe and you
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don't know who you're next door a
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neighbor is investigators found several
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drafts of the letter sent to the
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newspaper on his computer's hard drive
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they also found two cars at the
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house on one of the cars was a Goodrich
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Advantage Tire that matched the tire
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impression left on Betty James leg a
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tire on the other car was a Bridgestone
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Potenza which matched the tire
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impression near Alisa green Wade's
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body Travis was taken to St Louis Police
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Department
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headquarters he did not talk about the
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crimes and actually we didn't ask him
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about any of the crimes our concern was
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attempting to get him to cooperate with
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us to take us to more victims he claimed
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in his letter that there were 17 victims
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Our concern of course was to find the
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rest of the victims you've heard it
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before but he he is just pure evil I
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have never
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interviewed anybody like that his entire
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world circled around him he was in
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control he wanted to be the focus of
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everything and had no remorse no nothing
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he he was the only way he can say it he
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he is a monster he is just pure
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evil during questioning he asked for a
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soda later on when we went to another
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interview room I had the soda can taken
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to the
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lab Mary Beth Carr swabbed the area near
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the opening for epithelial cells in
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Travis's saliva which could be used for
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DNA
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testing when Travis's DNA profile was
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compared to the biological material
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found on two of the murder victims yvon
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Cruz and Brenda Beasley Travis's DNA
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matched eventually Travis asked police
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how they found him we told him well
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there was a computer inquiry made over
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the internet and he cussed a couple
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times and had some nice words to say
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about the internet and then he cussed
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again about his computer and he was very
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very upset I don't think he realized
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what he had done once he did that and it
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dawned on him it hit him like a ton of
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bricks during questioning Travis refused
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to reveal the locations of any of his
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other
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victims before police could question him
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again there was another murder which
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would end
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the investigation
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[Music]
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Forever on June 7th 2002 Mori Troy
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Travis was charged with kidnapping and
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murder the homemade videotapes
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discovered in Travis's home showed
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Travis socializing with various
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women but one videotape contained
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horrendous images the likes of which
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police had never seen before there's
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even an actual murder I mean he you
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witness him actually killing one of
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these people what was going on inside
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his head why he did what he did that's
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how I look at it trying to figure out
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what what makes a person do this and I
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thought about her pleading and begging
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for her life and him stringing her to
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death like they left left her with
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nothing but a t-shirt on and bowing her
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hand and
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stuff so I you know it's it's it's been
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difficult investigators also found plans
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in Travis's home to expand his basement
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dungeon he was planning on building a
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two cell holding tank in his basement he
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had ordered more handcuffs and leg
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shackles through the
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internet he was even getting bids on
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expanding his basement to put the secret
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dungeon in only God knows how far this
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would have
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gone based on the computer's forensic
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evidence investigators believe that
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Travis enjoyed reading the articles
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about his crimes in the newspaper police
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will say that these men live vicariously
00:19:18
through the media sometimes after uh
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their crimes are committed um so they
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can take the newspaper article or they
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can take the TV show or whatever it
00:19:27
might be and um and they can relive
00:19:30
their crime and get a kind of a high
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from from that
00:19:35
also and on the night of May 20th Travis
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typed his letter to journalist Bill
00:19:43
Smith at 7:36 p.m. he visited the
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expedia.com site looking for a map he
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could use to show authorities where they
00:19:53
could find one of his
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victims after downloading the map
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he carefully cropped the copyright
00:20:01
notices from around the map thinking
00:20:04
this would eliminate the possibility of
00:20:06
tracing
00:20:08
it but he was
00:20:10
wrong the map was as good as a
00:20:14
fingerprint in this case a computer
00:20:18
fingerprint there's a lot of crime
00:20:19
that's solved that way and a lot of it
00:20:21
is online crime um online investigators
00:20:24
use this methodology all the time Mor
00:20:27
Travis was taken into prison to await
00:20:30
trial he was placed under a 24-hour
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suicide watch where guards check on him
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every 15 minutes he didn't want to go
00:20:38
back to the penitentiary he made that
00:20:40
very clear to us I'm not going back to
00:20:42
the penitentiary and you're not going to
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give me the
00:20:45
needle for whatever reason guards
00:20:48
skipped two backto back checks it was
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all the time Travis needed to hang
00:20:54
himself in his cell without ever
00:20:57
admitting guilt or were leading police
00:20:59
to the bodies of his other victims but
00:21:03
this is where he was found hanging his
00:21:06
hands were bound behind him he had a uh
00:21:11
washcloth in his mouth and a pillowcase
00:21:14
over his head they had let him literally
00:21:18
slip right through their
00:21:21
fingers to say that I was angry and to
00:21:23
say the people in The Newsroom were
00:21:25
angry about it and that the community
00:21:27
was angry about it is really an
00:21:29
understatement I think people I think
00:21:31
people were Furious and the families of
00:21:34
those women should have been
00:21:35
Furious um that
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absolutely no way should have ever been
00:21:43
allowed to happen when Mr Travis hung
00:21:45
himself he took all the answers with him
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we have a million questions I think it's
00:21:51
amazing that it's such an incredible
00:21:53
tool that through analyzing the computer
00:21:56
we were able to catch someone was
00:21:58
committing crimes like this had anybody
00:22:01
said hey the guy's going to send you a
00:22:03
map and for the investigators to be able
00:22:06
to back track to him never thought that
00:22:08
in my wildest dreams it it's almost like
00:22:11
him saying okay here's a map and this is
00:22:13
how you find me x marks a spot how many
00:22:16
times does that really happen it doesn't
00:22:19
[Music]
00:22:28
w
00:22:34
[Music]
