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in 1991 this tranquil pond in rural
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connecticut was the scene of a horrific
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crime
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[Applause]
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two young boys were beaten thrown into
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the water and left for dead
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investigators had little evidence until
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they examined the pond itself and found
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thousands of clues invisible to the
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naked eye in a simple drop of water
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[Music]
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[Music]
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uh
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[Music]
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waterford a small connecticut town where
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the water table is so high homes are
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built around numerous small ponds and
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lakes
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in 1991
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two boys we'll call stephen and bobby
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decided to spend their afternoon fishing
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at their favorite spot stenger's pond
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i told you
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sometime later
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they were approached by three older boys
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they didn't know
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without warning one pulled a knife the
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other two threw steven and bobby to the
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ground
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steven tried to fight back but was hit
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on the head with a baseball bat almost
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knocking him unconscious
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both boys had their hands and feet bound
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with duct tape and their mouths covered
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[Music]
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once out in the pond stephen was hit
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once again and held underwater so that
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he would drown
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bobby was next
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fortunately he saw the bat coming and
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ducked then pretended to be unconscious
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[Music]
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after throwing steven and bobby's
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fishing rods in the water
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they took the boy's bicycles and fled
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[Music]
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bobby was able to remove the duct tape
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from his hands mouth and feet he swam to
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stephen to try and save him
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[Music]
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by the time he got there stephen was
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unconscious
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bobby managed to get him to shore then
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carried him a quarter mile to the
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nearest home
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deborah chamberlain heard a frantic
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knocking at her door
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one had a serious head wound and was not
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very coherent and the other was just
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almost hysterical and so i knew that
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something awful had happened to the two
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boys and um and that would be something
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that we would sort out over the next
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couple of minutes but i think the the
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duct tape was really almost my first
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impression because i thought oh my god
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someone
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taped their wrists together
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[Music]
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stephen was rushed to the emergency room
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of lawrence and memorial hospital
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dr john urbanetti was stephen's doctor
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despite the number of people that i've
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seen with this kind of circumstance he
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came as close as i've ever seen anyone
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come to not surviving
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as stephen lay in intensive care
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doctors questioned whether he would live
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or die
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and waterford police had questions of
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their own
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who had tried to murder stephen and
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bobby
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and why
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[Music]
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waterford police detective donald
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mccarthy was assigned to investigate the
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assault and attempted murder of the two
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young boys at stenger's pond
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thirteen-year-old stephen was fighting
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for his life
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the victim not only of an attempted
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drowning but of massive head wounds
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one of the doctors had told one of my
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detectives at the time that it was the
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closest he had ever seen anybody come to
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drowning and not being dead
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he was very lucky the older child was
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unconscious had he not had his little
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friend with him he probably would have
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drowned i think
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steven's friend bobby had escaped
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serious injury
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i think the remarkable thing is he had
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the presence of mind
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to immediately go to his friend and pull
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his friend from the water there's no
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doubt in our minds if he did not
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remove that duct tape
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the older male would have died if he did
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not remove him from that body of water
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when he came to the door the little guy
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amazingly was quite a bit smaller than
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his friend
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was just literally supporting him
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completely
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police went to stinger's pond to collect
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evidence but they ran into a major
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obstacle
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the crime scene
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was a body of water
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the fishing poles the tackle box the
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suspects had tried to sanitize the crime
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scene
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by throwing those items in the water so
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that the police would not recover them
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making it difficult that the fact that
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they were submerged in water we would
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not normally not have
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fingerprints available to us
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the bat used as the weapon was found
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floating in a nearby sewer grate but
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there were no fingerprints
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and any other possible evidence such as
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hairs and fibers had apparently been
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washed into the water
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police talked to residents of the
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neighborhood closest to stinger's pond
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to see if they had seen anything unusual
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susan picardi came forward to say that
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earlier on the day of the attack
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a young teenager she had never seen
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before came to her door asking for help
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yeah i was walking down the street
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when i began to feel a little
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light-headed and hungry
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may i come in and get something to eat
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he said he wasn't feeling well he was a
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diabetic
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and was in need of something whether it
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was sugar or
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orange juice or a piece of chocolate or
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something
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i
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immediately felt bad for him and invited
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him in
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and
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have a seat
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and i'll get you some dirt juice thanks
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mrs picardi gave the young man a glass
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of orange juice
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a few minutes later he said he was
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feeling better thanked her and left
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because i can call a doctor no no i'm
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fine
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thanks
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later as mrs picardi was about to take a
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shower
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she saw something unusual in her
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bathroom mirror
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and i caught the image of what was going
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on in my backyard from upstairs and i
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saw two other youngsters in the corner
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of my yard teenagers 16-ish around there
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a redheaded boy and another
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afro-american young man
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and they were later joined by the young
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man who just left mrs picardi's home she
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gave me orange juice she treated me so
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nice
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the boys had a bright green baseball bat
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and what looked like rolls of duct tape
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i automatically panicked and knew
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whatever they had planned it was not
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going to happen at my house
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so i yelled out the window to them
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i think you better leave it's obvious
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that you're planning something or you're
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up to trouble or and i'm calling the
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police so if you know what's good for
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you then you better get going
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susan picardi was able to provide a
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detailed description of the boy who'd
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come to her door mr riccardi told us two
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things that that stood out one
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he was wearing eyeglasses and described
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those eyeglasses to us the other was he
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had an unusual
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shaped
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scar a u-shaped ray scar on his forearm
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since the perpetrators were apparently
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on foot
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police checked the neighborhoods nearest
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to stengers pond
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we put officers in that neighborhood and
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started doing neighborhood canvasses and
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that based on the description of the
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three suspects
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as a result we were able to identify
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the suspect immediately
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this suspect
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seventeen-year-old brian davis had the
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up raised scar described by susan
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picardi
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neighborhood informants identified the
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two friends davis spent the most time
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with
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one was 17 year old christopher greene
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the other was an african-american
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juvenile whom we'll call jason
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all three suspects fit the descriptions
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provided by susan picardi
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but denied they were involved in the
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assault
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in christopher green's house
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police found a knife like the one bobby
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had told them about
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in green's basement they found
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a pair of wet muddy sneakers
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we inquired of the suspect why are these
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things wet he was trying to tell us that
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it was as a result of walking through
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mud puddles and things like that as soon
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as he said that we started working on a
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theory that how do we attack this he's
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coming up with a defense this is how my
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clothes got wet i was playing in mud
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puddles and things like this
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was the mud on green sneakers from
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stenger's pond
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and if so how could scientists prove it
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but the answer is police turned to a new
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type of forensic science
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one that had never before been used in a
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criminal case anywhere in the world
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[Music]
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thirteen-year-old stephen the oldest of
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the two boys who were assaulted and left
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for dead in stenger's pond was in
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intensive care for a week
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his condition gradually improved he was
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extremely fortunate
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doctors found no evidence of permanent
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injury
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fortunately he'd had an episode that was
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short enough so that he suffered no
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permanent injury to his brain
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but during the time of recovery he
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needed a fair amount of intensive care
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support
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police had three suspects in custody
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brian davis christopher greene and the
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juvenile we'll call jason
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all denied any involvement in the
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attacks
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brian davis and jason had no prior
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brushes with the law
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but christopher greene had a long
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history of petty offenses and small time
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violence
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police took the sneakers from green's
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basement but no one was sure if the mud
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on the soles could be used as evidence
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we had the shoes
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how do we find out now find someone
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who's going to tell us what to do with
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this
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you understand exactly what it is we're
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trying to do
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waterford police spent weeks calling
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around the country looking for someone
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who might be able to help
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the fbi told them of a scientist at
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nearby connecticut college
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here we are going all over the united
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states connecticut colleges three
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minutes or five minutes from our police
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station
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the scientist was dr peter siver a
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forensic limnologist
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an expert on microscopic life in
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freshwater environments
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dr siver was asked to find out
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if the mud on green sneakers came from
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stenger's pond
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he took the mud from the sneakers and
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added a mixture of sulfuric acid and
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potassium dichromate which removed the
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dirt
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leaving behind only the life forms that
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may have existed in the water
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it's a world invisible to the naked eye
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inside that
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small drop of water exists literally
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hundreds of different organisms they
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come in all different arrays all
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different shapes all different colors
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and it's an entirely different world
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underneath that one drop of water
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and what dr siver found were diatoms
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microscopic single cell organisms a form
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of algae
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each diatom is housed in an incredibly
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complex structure made up of silica or
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glass
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i would say that diatoms are
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pieces of art
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they're pieces of art because
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each diatom can make exactly the same
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pattern each time it makes a new cell
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and these patterns are very ornate
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they're highly artistic in their look
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while diatoms may be art
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they can also be
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pieces of evidence
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any body of water has hundreds if not
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thousands of species of diatoms
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the types of diatoms and how many exist
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of the various species is unique to that
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body of water
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in any given water body you can
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essentially
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examine the microscopic organisms and in
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effect create a fingerprint for that
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water body
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on the sneakers
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dr cyber found large numbers of one type
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of diatom known
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as unosha
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shown here unosha are characterized by
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the crescent shapes of their glass
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shells
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there were three species of unosha on
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the suspect's sneakers and they were
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there in unusually high concentrations
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and dr siver found
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one more clue
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he found what's known as a scaled
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chrysophyte
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scaled crisophytes are related to
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diatoms but unlike diatoms
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they can swim
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there was only one species of
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chrysophyte in the mud
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malamona's codeita
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shown here magnified two thousand times
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when dr cyber analyzed the water samples
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from stenger's pond
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he found the same high concentrations of
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unosha and the same species of scaled
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chrysophyte
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the fingerprint of the water at
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stenger's pond
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was the same as the sample on the
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sneakers
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of christopher greene
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this was the break police had been
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counting on
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one thing that we found is there's
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always a scientist out there
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as off the wall as as it may sound or
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what you're trying to accomplish we have
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found is always somebody out there that
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will listen to you
00:16:26
christopher green
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brian davis and jason were arrested and
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charged with assault and attempted
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murder
00:16:34
but the question now turned
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to motive
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why did they attack the two young boys
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and was there another intended victim
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that day
00:16:50
forensic scientists found a way to prove
00:16:53
that one of the suspect sneakers had
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been in the water at stengers pond where
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the two young boys had been assaulted
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and left for dead
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i think the physical evidence in this
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case was just overwhelming
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and and uh the diatoms and the pond
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evidence or the aquatic evidence
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whatever way you want to use it was just
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devastating
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and i think that defense attorneys
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realize that
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the forensic analysis showed that when
00:17:20
christopher greene went into the water
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to strike his victims he got mud on his
00:17:25
shoes mud that contained the microscopic
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fingerprint of the water in stenger's
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pond
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the diatoms in that mud clearly tied him
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to the crime scene
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for me i thought it was unique and
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unusual because it's something that you
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normally don't read about
00:17:44
in textbooks
00:17:46
even though stephen and bobby's bicycles
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were stolen after the assault
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police and prosecutors do not believe
00:17:54
robbery was the motive
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these three kids i am totally convinced
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we're on a mission that day
00:18:01
as a result of interviewing the the
00:18:03
three after their arrest
00:18:06
they went out to that day to look to
00:18:08
kill somebody there's no doubt in my
00:18:10
mind
00:18:12
can i help you yeah police believe that
00:18:15
susan picardi was originally the
00:18:17
intended victim
00:18:19
brian davis did not have diabetes as he
00:18:23
claimed but only used it as an excuse to
00:18:26
gain entry to her home
00:18:29
and i'll get you some great juice thanks
00:18:32
when he rejoined his accomplices in
00:18:35
susan's backyard
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they may have been planning how to get
00:18:39
into the house
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the real alarm bells went off when i
00:18:42
went upstairs and i saw two boys
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in the corner of my yard then i sort of
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all put it together and then i started
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feeling like i was just set up
00:18:52
fortunately susan picardi saw them in
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her bathroom mirror and called the
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police
00:19:01
she looks back to that day
00:19:03
and often wonders how close she was to
00:19:06
danger
00:19:08
a great way to describe it as a sixth
00:19:10
sense the mirror was in the right place
00:19:12
the kids were in the right place it was
00:19:14
meant to be for me to see them and to
00:19:17
just by their body language understand
00:19:18
that
00:19:20
something is not right here
00:19:24
police determined that christopher
00:19:26
greene the only one of the defendants
00:19:28
with a history of violence had
00:19:30
instigated the attacks
00:19:32
christopher greene was probably the ring
00:19:35
leader
00:19:36
for the other two
00:19:37
he was the one that brought the bat
00:19:40
he was the one that brought the duct
00:19:42
tape he was the one that did the
00:19:45
striking
00:19:46
on our victims he's the one that
00:19:48
basically directed the other two
00:19:51
brian davis and christopher greene were
00:19:53
both tried as adults and were sentenced
00:19:56
to a minimum of 18 years in prison
00:20:01
their 16 year old accomplice jason was
00:20:04
only two weeks shy of his 17th birthday
00:20:06
when he committed the crime as a result
00:20:08
he was tried and convicted as a juvenile
00:20:12
and was sentenced to spend time in the
00:20:13
facility for young offenders he has
00:20:16
since been released
00:20:17
[Music]
00:20:20
the microscopic diatom evidence on
00:20:22
christopher green sneakers
00:20:25
so simple in purpose
00:20:27
so magnificent in design
00:20:30
and so potent as evidence
00:20:34
for waterford police and for law
00:20:36
enforcement around the world
00:20:38
the case set a precedent
00:20:41
it's a landmark case it was the first
00:20:43
time
00:20:44
that this evidence or evidence of an
00:20:47
aquatic environment meaning the diatoms
00:20:49
were used to place a suspect at a crime
00:20:52
scene
00:20:54
we found that it had never been used
00:20:55
before
00:20:56
but was nice about it is they were
00:20:58
willing to
00:21:00
to take it on and try it
00:21:02
and that was the key for us
00:21:05
shortly after this case law enforcement
00:21:08
in switzerland solved the murder of a
00:21:10
young boy using diatom evidence the boy
00:21:14
had drowned and the species of diatoms
00:21:17
in the victim's lungs matched the
00:21:19
species of diatoms found on the gas
00:21:22
pedal of the suspect's automobile
00:21:26
both cases were solved
00:21:28
because a group of connecticut
00:21:30
detectives had a hunch
00:21:32
that some mud on the bottom of a shoe
00:21:36
might tie a suspect to a crime
00:21:39
i would never say give up being the
00:21:41
old-fashioned hard beat in the road cop
00:21:44
but you've got to be aware of the
00:21:46
sciences that are there to help you
00:21:49
if you don't you're beating yourself
00:21:51
a lot of the thoughts that lieutenant
00:21:53
mccarthy came up with
00:21:55
we always thought were unusual but nine
00:21:57
out of ten times he was right i have to
00:21:59
say 99.8 percent of the time he was
00:22:01
right
00:22:03
[Music]
00:22:13
[Music]
00:22:26
[Applause]
00:22:34
you
