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a young woman stopped her car along a
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busy highway in California she was never
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seen
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again for 3 years the search for her
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whereabouts continued but the trail
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eventually turned cold so cold that
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forensic scientists needed new
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techniques to solve it
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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23-year-old Denise Huber lived with her
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parents in Newport Beach col
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California an upscale suburb outside of
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Los
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Angeles she just got graduated from
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college and I think she just wanted to
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have have fun and uh before she'd
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settled down into a
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job Denise worked as a waitress and a
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part-time sales assistant at
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Bloomingdales she was very trusting she
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just say Dad don't
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worry I'm all right nobody's going to
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harm
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me at 5'9 the Striking blue-eyed
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brunette had no trouble attracting dates
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her most recent boyfriend was Steve
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horx he's a friendly outgoing person
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likes to have fun I know she that's what
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she would always say Steve was so much
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fun she he made her
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laugh on Sunday night June 2nd
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1991 Steve and Denise planned to see the
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morsy rock band perform in
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Englewood but at the last minute Steve
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couldn't get off from work disappointed
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but undeterred Denise asked a casual
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friend Robert Calbert to go with her she
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said I'll be home late and I remember
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saying well don't be too late you know
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cuz I always worry when you're not home
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on time oh you know we'll be fine the
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night she left she poked her head in the
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door and said Di and I we were watching
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television just that with that lovely
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smile uh you know bye I love you both
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after the concert Denise and Rob stopped
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at the El Paso Cantina for a
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drink where Denise met an old
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acquaintance whom we'll call Ross Ross
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had had a romantic feelings for her in
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the past he did ask her to go with him
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that
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night he wanted her to go home with him
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which she did not
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do Denise and Rob left the restaurant
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around 1:00 in the morning and Denise
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dropped Rob off at his home there was no
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kiss between the two of them she dropped
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him off and he went in the house and she
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left on her way
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home Rob was the last known person to
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see Denise
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Huber I think in the morning when she
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was there obviously was there was some
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concern but we didn't keep that close of
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tabs on her either I mean she was 23
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years old and and an adult and uh
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totally trustworthy
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her abandoned car was found along the
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Costa Mesa freeway 3 mil from home with
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a flat
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tire it didn't look like anything had
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occurred at the vehicle it was parked
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between two call boxes that were never
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used that night in my mind I just knew
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something horrible had happened because
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Denise wasn't the kind of person that
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would just disappear without telling
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us the Costa Mesa police dispatched in
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instigators to the
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scene inside of the car itself appeared
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to be clean there was no blood there
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there didn't appear to be any Windows
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broken there didn't appear to be any
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damage to the car her purse and shoes
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were gone like she'd gotten out of her
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car and left the flashers were on on the
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car like she the car had broken down and
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she was going to get out and go walk for
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help search dogs picked up a scent on
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the side of the freeway but soon lost it
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police then canvased the neighborhoods
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near the highway
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but no one had seen her it appeared
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Denise Huber had simply
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[Music]
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vanished it's worse than if I think I
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was afraid of for my own
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death cuz I was so afraid of what
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happened to Denise she was so
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precious police used search helicopters
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and all other means to look for
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23-year-old Denise Huber after her
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abandoned car was found along a busy
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highway you could hear them from our
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house and you know what they're looking
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for and you you pray they don't find
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what they're looking for because it's
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got to be obviously got to be a body
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that they're looking
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for and uh it's it's horrible it's the
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most horrible feeling you could ever
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have it's like I couldn't breathe for I
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don't know how
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long police examined the interior of
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Denise's car and found no foreign
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fingerprints an analysis of the flat
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tire revealed it had not been tampered
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with it just blew out from being
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underinflated got too hot and the
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sidewall failed I just went
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flat wild the the physical evidence LED
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nowhere police interviewed the last
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known person to see Denise her date from
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the night before Robert
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Calbert Rob could have been infatuated
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with her and could have been upset
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because there was no romantic contact
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between the two of them police also
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looked into Denise's relationship with
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Steve horox the boyfriend who was
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supposed to accompany Denise to the
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concert but back out at the last minute
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Steve HX was again Cooperative any
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information we needed from him he was
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always willing to give
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it police also Tracked Down Ross the
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acquaintance Denise met at the El
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Cantina
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restaurant Ross was able to put himself
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in a alibi situation um to show that he
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did not go follow her after she dropped
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a Rob off I never gave up hope that
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she'd be found alive
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uh we did everything from thinking that
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she might have had a boyfriend that the
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folks didn't know about and maybe uh
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left the state left the city
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eloped desperate for leads investigators
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and Denise's family turned to the media
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all I knew was get a picture in front of
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people get the story out and the news
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media they were wonderful because every
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time we have anything going on they
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would be there and they'd show it so the
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community really it was like it was
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their
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daughter we made buttons with Denise's
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picture that said pray for Denise we had
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bumper stickers that all of our police
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units carried and were available all
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over the community there was a large
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Banner that was placed along the 73
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freeway here in Costa Mesa the media
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attention produced hundreds of tips most
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were well-intentioned some were not we'
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hear from
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psychics who never did know anything I
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mean that's that's baloney they they
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don't they did not know anything in that
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case we'd hear from crackpots we'd hear
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from people that would try and get money
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from
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us for three long years the Hubers lived
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in agony waiting to hear something
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anything about their daughter one thing
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I always remember Linda gisler our lead
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Detective I always remember she would
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call us cuz you sit there every time the
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phone would ring you jump 10 ft in the
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air because you think it's that that
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phone
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call and uh that's the one thing that I
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always appreciated from Linda she'd say
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we're going home now there won't be
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another phone call we'll talk to you
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tomorrow and they always she would
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always touch base with
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us 350 M away in Prescott Arizona a man
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living in a well-to-do neighborhood
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called local police to report something
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suspicious in his neighbor's
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driveway it was a rider truck with
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California license
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plates it had an extension cord coming
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out of the back of the
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truck the neighbor said it was plugged
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into an electrical socket on the side of
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the house whatever was inside the truck
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was running 24 hours a day a search of
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the truck revealed it had been stolen in
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[Music]
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California inside was an industrialized
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freezer in the cargo area and inside the
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freezer was a large black garbage bag uh
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and and they felt it and believed uh
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what they felt was was an arm of a of a
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person I recall seeing uh two arms
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coming back with the hands handcuffed
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and a ring I remember seeing jewelry and
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uh I was I was really
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shocked and for the medical examiner it
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would be the most difficult case she had
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ever
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[Music]
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encountered for the past year a stolen
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Rider Truck containing a freezer with a
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human body inside had been parked at the
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home of 39-year-old John famalaro a
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handyman and painter Mr famalaro was
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very calm he was very
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polite um and he just really didn't have
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much to say about it uh but he seemed
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kind of indifferent to the whole thing
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the contents of the freezer were sent to
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the Maricopa County coroner's
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office Dr Anne buckolz handled the case
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obviously it's a homicide or at least a
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hidden body for some reason and because
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if it's clandestine nature you're like
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okay so we got an evur thing here let's
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think homicide let's think the worst and
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I said yes it's a female she also had
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some female jewelry evidence and long
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fingernails the handcuffs were evident
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and we didn't see much in the way of
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clothing she appeared to be naked
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thawing the body would cause rapid
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decomposition so Dr buckolz needed to
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CCT evidence quickly or lose it forever
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I took a clean scalpel handle and
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actually scraped some of the watery
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fluid into jars and held it that way I
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thought well at least we can collect the
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specimens it was a sheer luck that we
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even got any sperm at all in a woman
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who's Frozen 3
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years Dr buckolz removed the handcuffs
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and defrosted the hands
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slowly when they're frozen the skin is
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fairly symmetrical and intact until she
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starts losing the fluids and then the
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skin will start shriveling even in the
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fingertips in fact that's where it
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starts one of the
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first we got all the prints that first
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day and they're actually rolled onto a
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fingerprint C just as if they were a
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person who's being arrested it's the
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same process on a dead
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person when they entered the prince into
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their computer database of missing
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persons they immediately found a
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match it was Denise Huber who had been
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missing for 3
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years they were able to do the
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fingerprints and that's something I
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never even thought of imag I never
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imagined that we would have that kind of
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evidence after 3
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years you have this hole in you know
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that in your inside you through your
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heart or
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whatever and that hole will never go
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away it heals up around it the healing
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happens but there's no
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closure meanwhile John famalaro refused
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to explain why Denise's body was in his
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freezer 350 Mi away from where she
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disappeared so police searched falo's
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home and the the home of his mother who
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lived next door she was quite taken back
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that we uh had also secured what we
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found to be her home she knew nothing
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about John having girlfriends or who it
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might be and basically sat up a lawn
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chair across the street and just sat
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there and watched us for for
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days police found a box marked Christmas
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on a shelf in famalaro
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garage inside was Denise's bloody
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clothing her driver's license and her
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high heeled
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shoes the shoes were scuffed and damaged
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as if she had been dragged across
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Highway
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Paving and police found credit card
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receipts that showed famalaro had bought
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the freezer just days after Denise's
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disappearance they also discovered blood
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stained clothing belonging to John
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famalaro they didn't know whose blood it
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was they didn't know if it was Denise's
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some other persons a mixture Mr
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famalaro so they needed a sample of
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Denise's blood well we didn't have blood
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so we ended up sending them some bone
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marrow the DNA extracted from Denise
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Huber's bone marrow matched the DNA in
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the blood on falo's
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clothes in famalaro
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basement police found a police officer's
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uniform and a
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dungeon I think that all showed me he
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was just that type of person not the
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mild mannered person he was when I spoke
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to him he had that very dark violent
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other side and uh it was becoming more
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and more parent as as the case
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progressed on one of his girlfriends
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that we talked to said that yeah he had
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some weird sexual fantasies one of the
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girls had been
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handcuffed
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um and left exposed uh naked in handcuff
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left exposed to an open window the
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evidence implicated famalaro in The
00:15:46
Disappearance and death of Denise Huber
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but it did not explain how she died we
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took off two or three black plastic bags
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that had encased the whole body and
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inside that were some smaller white
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plastic bags which covered the head and
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when we removed that and we started
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defrosting her we actually found a a gag
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type device over her face and over her
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mouth area uh was a piece of duct tape
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that had been taped over her upper mouth
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nose
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area Dr buckholtz discovered that
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Denise's skull had been severely
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damaged Dr Laura ful Genetti a forensic
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anthropologist was asked to reconstruct
00:16:33
the skull for further analysis you look
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for parts that go together naturally and
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you start with the Vault or the top
00:16:40
round part of the head and then you
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proceed towards the face and the reason
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I do it that way is because the face
00:16:46
typically has the smallest most
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complicated pieces and you want to have
00:16:50
your framework built so that when you
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get to the face you have something to
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put the face back
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onto the forensic analysis would reveal
00:16:59
not only how Denise Huber died but
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[Music]
00:17:11
where after a three-year search Denise
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Huber's body was found in a freezer in
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Arizona forensic investigators
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reconstructed her skull in an effort to
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understand how she
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died you can see pattern injuries of two
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different varieties indicating two
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different weapons were used and you can
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also see little pieces of plastic that
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are caught in those fractures that told
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us that the bags were in place when she
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received the blows to the
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head and Dr F janetti discovered Denise
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had been hit 31
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times it's horrifying and if I stopped
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too long to think about what how she
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felt when she was by the freeway I'm
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paralyzed and I can't do my job
00:17:59
so I don't I don't think about that
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until it's all over and done with for me
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it's a matter of here's the puzzle my
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job is to put the puzzle together and
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interpret the puzzle and then I can go
00:18:10
home and and cry in the
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shower the Seaman found on Denise's
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clothing matched John fero's DNA profile
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she was innocent an innocent victim and
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it could have been anybody's sister it
00:18:26
could have been you it could have been
00:18:27
your sister your friend
00:18:29
and and that's scary it really hurts you
00:18:31
emotionally at that point when you
00:18:33
realize that I'll be honest I won't
00:18:35
drive on the
00:18:37
interstate and and allow anyone to help
00:18:40
me because of
00:18:43
this police also discovered that John
00:18:46
famalaro was working in Newport Beach
00:18:49
California at the time Denise
00:18:53
disappeared he had rented the front
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portion of this warehouse for his
00:18:58
painting business bu they talked to
00:19:00
people who rented the unit after he had
00:19:02
uh moved out and abandoned it about what
00:19:05
the unit what condition the unit was in
00:19:07
and uh they pointed us to this area in
00:19:10
the corner where they found a a large
00:19:13
brown stain that washed out with the
00:19:14
hose and we thought well we know dried
00:19:16
blood is very solof and water it could
00:19:18
be washed
00:19:19
away initial tests revealed nothing
00:19:23
investigators decided to wait until dark
00:19:26
and use luminol which flues or glows
00:19:31
when it comes into contact with the iron
00:19:33
component in blood we sprayed it out of
00:19:36
a little hand sprayer eventually we
00:19:39
checked the whole warehouse and the only
00:19:41
thing we ever found was just that blood
00:19:42
in the corner of the
00:19:46
warehouse the DNA from those blood
00:19:48
stains matched Denise Huber's
00:19:52
DNA and the nail gun found in the
00:19:56
warehouse matched the indent ations in
00:19:59
Denise's
00:20:01
skull based on the forensic evidence
00:20:05
prosecutors believe that when Denise's
00:20:07
tire went flat famalaro stopped and
00:20:10
offered to
00:20:13
help what happened there I don't know I
00:20:17
I think I have a flat tire I don't know
00:20:19
see if I can
00:20:23
[Music]
00:20:26
help at some point he over powered her
00:20:29
and took her to his Warehouse a few
00:20:31
miles
00:20:33
away there he killed
00:20:37
her he stored the body in a freezer he
00:20:40
bought a few days after he killed
00:20:43
Denise 2 years later he stole the ryer
00:20:47
truck and took the freezer with Denise's
00:20:50
body in it with him when he moved to
00:20:54
Arizona he kept the truck in his
00:20:56
driveway with the freezer running
00:20:58
running
00:21:00
constantly he's kind of a sick guy
00:21:02
that's his that's his thing John has uh
00:21:07
been violent to other people and it's
00:21:09
it's escalated up to the point of murder
00:21:12
but uh I don't think Denise has been the
00:21:14
only
00:21:15
one on June 20th
00:21:19
1997 6 years after Denise disappeared
00:21:23
John famalaro was tried and convicted of
00:21:26
first deegree murder
00:21:28
he was sentenced to
00:21:30
death forensics were it was challenged
00:21:33
every step of the way here in court even
00:21:37
before court I think a lot of it went to
00:21:39
the state supreme court but every
00:21:42
challenge was beat back because of great
00:21:45
forensics and great police work I wanted
00:21:49
to know the truth and some of it was
00:21:52
horrible but I'd rather have the answers
00:21:55
than just be wondering in my mind
00:21:57
because sometimes you imagine
00:22:00
things as bad or worse than what they
00:22:03
were this really is the way it's
00:22:06
supposed to be done and then it makes
00:22:07
you work harder on the next one and when
00:22:09
you're about to throw your hands up in
00:22:10
despair you think Denise Huber you did
00:22:13
that case you got it reconstructed keep
00:22:15
at it there is an answer here
00:22:20
[Music]
00:22:27
[Music]
00:22:28
w
00:22:30
[Music]
00:22:44
[Music]
