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[Music]
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the murder of an eccentric millionaire
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was not entirely a surprise
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he flaunted his wealth and cared little
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about personal security
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the evidence clearly indicated robbery
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but investigators wondered
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if there was more
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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battle creek michigan is home to one of
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the largest breakfast food makers in the
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world
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some call it cereal city
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eighty-year-old robert rogers lived his
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entire life in battle creek
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through some real estate investments and
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his ownership of a small trucking
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business he was a millionaire many times
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over he was a tough old bird he never
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pulled any punches he was always a son
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of a to me
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rogers was stubborn too
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he always carried large sums of money
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and didn't care who knew it he would
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joke that he would have
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several thousand in this pocket several
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thousand in a pants pocket and a couple
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more thousand in his back pocket and he
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generally did not surprisingly
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rogers became a target for local drug
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gangs and petty thieves
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he was a victim several times of
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robberies
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they would take his money from him beat
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him up his house had been broken into a
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few times also
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so
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yeah it was a problem for him but he
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didn't change his pattern it seemed like
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he'd still carry the large sums of money
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sharon zachary lived next door to rogers
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and acted as his caretaker
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sharon zachary had become almost like a
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daughter to him she would take care of
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him she would look in on him she would
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come and visit him it worked out nicely
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until the day sharon zachary stopped by
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roger's home and found
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that it had been broken into
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what's the problem
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when police arrived
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they found robert rogers on the living
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room floor he had been beaten to death
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the person that committed his crime
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did not want any possibility of mr
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rogers to be alive to identify the
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perpetrator
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it looked like a piece of firewood was
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used to break the rear sliding glass
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door
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drawers and closets had been ransacked
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but if the motive was robbery the
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perpetrator had not been
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entirely successful
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after the homicide they found 133
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thousand dollars in cash hidden in the
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house
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which
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that by itself uh
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was such an attention grabber in this
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community i mean that was the mo that
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was one of the most unusual things about
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the whole incident
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the blood evidence revealed
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rogers was beaten
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at two different times
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the victim sustained some injuries
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and then had enough time to lay there
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his wounds even started to heal and then
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he was hit again that's bloodthirsty
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that's cold
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but to come back and he's not dead and
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just beat him again to make sure he's
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dead
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that's cold
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and the forensic evidence indicated the
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killer approached the body yet a third
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time
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mr rogers when he was found his his arms
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and actually his forearms and hands were
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up in the air this phenomenon is called
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rigor mortis
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a stiffening of the body that occurs
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several hours after death what this
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would tell investigators about the time
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period is that someone moved him
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three or four hours after he was dead
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this meant the killer was inside the
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house for hours
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[Music]
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when millionaire robert rogers was found
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beaten to death in his home
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police began their investigation by
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questioning family members and relatives
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and they learned that rogers had an
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ongoing squabble with his only son
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donald
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they were barely on speaking terms
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donald told his father he was concerned
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about his memory problems and wanted to
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take control of his father's finances
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rogers retaliated by cutting his son out
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of his will
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like i said he was a tough old bird yet
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it was i could never do anything quite
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good enough for him
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[Music]
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donald insisted
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he didn't murder his father although he
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admitted the two had serious problems
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we were putting a roof on the
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building out here
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and
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i guess i just wasn't doing it fast
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enough
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he he picked up a
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thing of shingles and threw him at me
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and i went right over the end of the
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roof flat on my back knocking him off
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the roof when a police officer hears
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that there's that much animosity
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and
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and especially when they find out donald
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had been cut out of the will out of a
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fairly substantial estate that's got to
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raise a lot of red flags for an
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investigator
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at robert rogers autopsy
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the medical examiner determined the
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cause of death was repeated blows to the
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head with a blunt object this clearly
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was a homicide with the number of blows
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it appeared he had been struck 25 to 30
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times i really can't speak to the state
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of mind of the killer although it
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certainly appears that they're enraged
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but no murder weapon was found at the
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scene
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when we leave a crime scene without that
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murder weapon
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we have our work cut out for us in order
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to put that suspect in the scene
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the forensic evidence proved that
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someone turned rogers over several hours
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after death presumably to search his
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pockets for money for investigators this
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offered a possible clue how would
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someone grab hold of him to turn him
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over
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and
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we did notice that the belt had been
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disturbed slightly
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meaning that had been twisted a little
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bit
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and so we kind of thought that perhaps
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maybe the suspect grabbed hold of the
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belt
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the belt was removed for forensic
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testing
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the initial examination found no
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fingerprints
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so they tried super glue fuming
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it's just simply
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heating up the super glue inside of an
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enclosed chamber allowing that super
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glue to vaporize and it has the physical
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properties to want to adhere to the
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fingerprint residuals left behind when
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an item is touched
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and it revealed a partial thumb print
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about five inches from the buckle
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the quality of that latent fingerprint
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was very poor
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again on a scale of one to ten
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this laden fingerprint was about a two
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to a three
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this is the only belt that i've ever
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obtained a fingerprint off of
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investigators found their next clue
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in the shards of broken glass there was
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a beautiful footwear impression it was
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maybe half of a half of a shoe or the
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whole ball area of the shoe was present
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this may have happened
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when the killer stepped into the house
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after breaking the glass
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so it gave me a lot to work with with
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regards to looking for accidental
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characteristics or markings
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using various databases analysts quickly
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discovered the print was from the left
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shoe of white pure10 brand tennis shoes
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also at the crime scene
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investigators found
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a set of keys in the grass
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next to one of the ponds on the 10-acre
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property
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the keys opened the doors to roger's
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home
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divers searched the ponds and a week
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later found
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a three-foot length of pipe
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with a water sprinkler attachment at the
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end
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while there were no fingerprints or hair
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on the pipe there was a tiny speck of
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blood
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which was sent for dna testing
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how it got left there
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has always been amazing to us because it
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obviously had to have dried first
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when it was found put in the pond
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otherwise it would have washed off as
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soon as we're thrown in the pond
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to determine if this was the murder
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weapon
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investigators devised a test to see the
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marks this pipe would make on a human
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skull
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at the time there weren't a lot of
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different
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surfaces or
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forensically available
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sources for for
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reproducing human skin
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and um
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so
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in this particular case i used just a
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honeydew melon it had a smooth surface
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and it was rounded it was approximately
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the same size as a human head
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she struck the melons from different
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angles and with varying amounts of force
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when i hit the test surface to try to
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create as many different patterns as i
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could
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using that particular pipe
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and then i compared them to the wound
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pattern seen on the victim
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scientists concluded
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rogers was killed
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with this instrument
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why was this significant
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the person
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that had the keys may have dropped them
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when they threw the murder weapon into
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the pond
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investigators wondered whether
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the house keys belonged to the victim's
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son
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or
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someone else
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[Applause]
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police now suspected that the robert
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rogers crime scene was staged and that
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the killer actually entered the home
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with a set of house keys
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now we call into question the whole idea
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of the breaking entering we call in the
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question whether this was a crime of
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some outsider coming in and trying to
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rob mr rogers or was it someone that had
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access to his house access to mr rogers
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investigators asked the victim's
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estranged son donald
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where he was at the time of his father's
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murder
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he said he had an alibi and offered to
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take a polygraph test
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the guy who gives it to me he says well
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you passed the polygraph test i says
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he's passed it he says yeah he says
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you're a lousy liar
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which is
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that's cool
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you know so investigators turned their
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attention to sharon zachary who not only
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lived next door to rogers but worked as
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his caretaker
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sharon said she was with a friend
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shopping all day across town but
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investigators discovered something
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suspicious
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she made several large expenditures in
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the months leading up to roger's murder
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she started spending money
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from about january to around april it's
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estimated about 65 thousand dollars was
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spent on her own personal items
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she bought a new car
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a boat
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and took her family on a caribbean
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vacation
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the expenses exceeded her family's
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discretionary income
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sharon was a part-time car salesperson
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her husband was a sales representative
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and investigators also learned
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that rogers named sharon the sole
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beneficiary of his multi-million dollar
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estate
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armed with the search warrant
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investigators confiscated sharon's shoes
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for analysis i believe we got over 20 or
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30 pairs of shoes
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into the laboratory
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one pair caught michaud's attention a
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pair of size six and a half tennis shoes
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michoad dusted the shoes with powder
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and applied a sticky sheet of acetate to
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lift the print
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all shoe impressions are distinctive
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when a shoe is made and it comes out of
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the factory it's exactly like every
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other shoe made in that particular mold
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and
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as soon as you start walking on that
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shoe you get microscopic scratches and
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cuts and nicks in the bottom of the shoe
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that makes that shoe different from all
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others in the world
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the shoe impression found on the glass
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at the crime scene had various nicks and
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scrape marks
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interestingly sharon zachary's left
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tennis shoe was the same size make and
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model as the impression found at the
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crime scene
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and it also had the same nicks and
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scrape marks the surface was so
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clean it made just a beautiful very
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detailed impression there was enough
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accidental markings on the glass
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that she was able to compare to the
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shoes and find a positive match to one
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shoe and only one shoe that made that
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print
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fingerprint analysts had a more
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difficult time comparing sharon's prints
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to the one found on the victim's belt
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they had to study the ridge details and
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figure out the direction of the print
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and what part of which finger to compare
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after three days
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they discovered the print on the
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victim's belt
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was the side of sharon's left thumb
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took a lot of hours looking at that
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latent fingerprint this latent print
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enough detail in it to make an
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identification
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was not a very high quality latent
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fingerprint
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when confronted with the forensic
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evidence
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sharon denied she was the killer she
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insisted she had no motive
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but the victim's financial record
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suggested otherwise
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in this case we found a large sum of
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cash
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disappearing out of his account
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routinely
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over the time from january to april
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that money went right into sharon
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zachary's account
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sharon convinced him to give her a power
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of attorney and sharon convinced him to
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give her a checkbook
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and then when she got onto some of his
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checking accounts
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and she just started using them as her
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own
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and
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you know she got greedy and decided she
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wanted it all
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records indicated that sharon zachary
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stole up to a hundred twenty thousand
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dollars
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and there was clear evidence that rogers
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discovered the embezzlement sharon
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zachary was helping herself to mr rogers
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funds
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and mr rogers apparently was not happy
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about that and had
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his power of attorney withdrawn to put a
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stop to sharon zachary helping herself
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to his money
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sharon also found out that rogers
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planned to remove her from his will
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i believe sharon zachary was in a hurry
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at that time to kill mr rogers before he
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could make that change in his will
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i believe greed is definitely what drove
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sharon zachary
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the dna test results of the blood found
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on the metal pipe revealed the blood was
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robert rogers
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more proof that it was the murder weapon
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when dna was found on the pipe it was
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fairly spectacular and it's because we
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really didn't think that the dna would
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still be on the pipe two weeks later 31
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year old sharon zachary was charged with
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the murder
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of robert rogers
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mr rogers at one point in time he even
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told an attorney
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that she was the daughter he never had
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it is ironic that robert rogers
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attempting to seek sanctuary for himself
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to seek protection from persons who
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wanted to rob and hurt him trusted
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sharon zachary and it's ironic that this
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person in turn turned on him
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and became the very thing that he was
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trying to
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guard against
00:16:42
i would never believe that something
00:16:43
like this could ever happen this is only
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the kind of stuff that you read about
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but
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looking back i can see
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that this can happen to anybody
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sharon zachary and her family lived next
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door to robert rogers
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and the two became friends
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roger's eyesight was failing
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and sharon not only befriended him she
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also helped by writing checks so he
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could pay his bills
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but prosecutors found evidence
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that sharon was doing more than that
00:17:18
and was actually helping herself to some
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of roger's money tens of thousands of it
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well she got a sizable chunk in just the
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little time that she was her and him
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were
00:17:30
associated the trip to the caribbean for
00:17:33
her and all her family the speedboats
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the vehicle
00:17:38
on the day of the murder
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prosecutors believe sharon went to
00:17:42
roger's house intending to kill him
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before he could change his will and
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remove her as beneficiary
00:17:52
prosecutors think sharon grabbed a piece
00:17:54
of pipe from roger's yard used her keys
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to gain entrance and struck him over the
00:18:00
head repeatedly
00:18:05
as he lay unconscious
00:18:07
she spent hours searching the house for
00:18:10
the money he had stashed away
00:18:13
if she did find money
00:18:15
she didn't find it all
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at some point
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she must have realized he wasn't dead
00:18:22
and she struck him again
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once again
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she searched the house for money
00:18:32
before leaving the house
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sharon turned roger's body over to
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search his pockets leaving her partial
00:18:39
thumb print
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on his leather belt
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[Music]
00:18:44
to make it look like a robbery
00:18:46
she threw a piece of firewood through
00:18:48
the sliding glass door
00:18:53
but she stepped on a shard of glass
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leaving a clear image of her shoe
00:18:59
impression
00:19:02
on her way back home
00:19:03
sharon tried to dispose of the pipe but
00:19:06
dropped her keys nearby
00:19:08
a mistake
00:19:09
which led to the discovery of the murder
00:19:12
weapon
00:19:13
sharon zachary after committing this
00:19:15
crime
00:19:16
established
00:19:18
an alibi to be
00:19:20
seen in different locations
00:19:22
at a point far away from her home
00:19:25
to try to establish that she couldn't
00:19:27
have committed a crime by and having not
00:19:28
been there
00:19:29
we always wondered if it was sharon
00:19:31
zachary by herself or sharon zachary
00:19:32
with others
00:19:35
we don't know
00:19:36
there may have been there may not have
00:19:38
been we have no clue we have no evidence
00:19:41
at the trial
00:19:42
sharon zachary insisted she was innocent
00:19:46
but the forensic evidence told a
00:19:48
different story
00:19:50
she was convicted
00:19:52
of first-degree murder
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and sentenced to life in prison
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i'm glad they got her
00:19:59
but i don't want to sound like i'm
00:20:02
out for vengeance
00:20:04
although if they wanted to kill her i'd
00:20:06
volunteer
00:20:08
it was the shoe impression on a shard of
00:20:11
glass
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and the partial thumb print on the
00:20:15
leather belt
00:20:17
that solved the case in my 12 years of
00:20:20
doing late print work
00:20:22
this case ranks right up near the top
00:20:24
if not the most difficult latent
00:20:27
fingerprint that i've had to identify
00:20:29
so it was very
00:20:31
very satisfying case for me to be
00:20:34
involved with criminals
00:20:36
always seem to make mistakes i believe
00:20:38
the mistakes in this case by sharon
00:20:40
zachary were because she was fighting
00:20:42
the clock this trial would have never
00:20:44
happened without the forensics
00:20:47
we had a clear motive money
00:20:50
but to show that she was there
00:20:53
to show that the print the shoe print
00:20:55
the finger the thumbprint
00:20:57
where from her
00:21:00
would have not had we wouldn't had a
00:21:01
case
00:21:02
[Music]
00:21:25
[Applause]
00:21:30
[Music]
00:21:40
you
