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[Music]
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a well-known doctor
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was brutally attacked in his home
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investigators discovered the telephone
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traffic neared the victim's home
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increased substantially within seconds
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of the crime
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those calls tracked with the
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sophisticated forensic computer program
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uncovered an international conspiracy
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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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dr louis davidson was one of the most
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respected pediatricians in st petersburg
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florida
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at 38 years old he was head of pediatric
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emergency medicine at the bayfront
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medical center
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it was all about the patient the baby
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the toddler the child he treated him
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each
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with
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utmost respect
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never a snide comment
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and he gave a hundred percent of himself
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to each child
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and his he was so smart he was almost
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scary
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on january 25 1994 dr davidson finished
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his work at the hospital and headed home
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to get some sleep
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dr davidson's girlfriend stopped by his
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apartment later that day
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and this is what she saw
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she had her own key to the apartment and
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she used her key to enter the apartment
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and as she walked in she saw this crime
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scene where stuff was just spewed all
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over the place she walked back and found
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him in the tub
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dr davidson was dead in the bathtub
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he had been beaten and apparently
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drowned
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i knew right away that this wasn't an
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ordinary suicide or anything like that
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this was definitely a brutal crime scene
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detective mike sellona was assigned to
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the case his identity is concealed
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because he's now working undercover
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the master bedroom closet had obviously
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been gone through clothing pulled off
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hangers thrown on the floor however
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one of the items that was still in the
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closet was a garment bag and the bottom
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of the garment bag was 20 000 in cash
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meaning
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the motive wasn't robbery
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the crime scene had been staged to make
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it appear to be robbery
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[Music]
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davidson's girlfriend told police that
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the doctor had been receiving strange
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telephone calls at home over the past
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several weeks
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sometimes they'll come at three in the
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morning sometimes four in the morning
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she says that someone calls and then
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hangs up looking just to see if there is
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somebody home in that apartment
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investigators found their first piece of
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forensic evidence on a tile floor in the
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doctor's apartment
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tile fours are very conducive to
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leaving evidence especially
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shoe prints
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tile is flat and non-porous a perfect
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template for prints
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so technicians dusted the area
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and just as they expected
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a shoe impression appeared
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next they used a gel pad and pushed the
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adhesive onto the print which fixes the
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dust in position for later analysis
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it was amazing to me that
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that shoe print was preserved normally
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that shoe print could have been
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destroyed in many different ways by
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detectives and officers and paramedics
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going in and out of that resonance but
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some somehow that shoe print survived
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the impression was sent to the fbi in
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washington dc to their footwear
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impression department
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there the print was compared to the
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thousands of shoe impressions on file
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fbi experts noticed it was a size 9
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sneaker and was new
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their comparisons revealed it was a
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voigt brand shoe a relatively obscure
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brand
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but homicide investigators needed more
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than one shoe impression
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to find the killer
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investigators were still processing the
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crime scene when news of dr davidson's
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death was released to the media
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it was on the news
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and
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just the way he died
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was
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so horrific
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that it was like
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too hard to grasp
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it was like
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being in some bad movie but it was real
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everything that people look for in a
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sort of a juicy almost a soap opera
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style story was was there in this
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particular murder case
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the doctor's co-workers could think of
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no one who would want to harm him
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but investigators discovered that dr
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davidson was going through a divorce
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his wife denise a former finalist in the
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miss jamaica beauty pageant was asking
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for custody of their eight-year-old
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daughter something the doctor was
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resisting
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when police told denise that her husband
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had been murdered she appeared to have
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information that hadn't yet been
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released to the media
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here is denise davidson asking the
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detectives that are telling her her
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husband was found murdered at his
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apartment well was it a robbery
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now suspicious
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police placed denise davidson under
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24-hour surveillance
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we're thinking that it was a pager she
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has called
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three days later
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denise made an unusual trip
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she walks in and goes to a western union
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now obviously when she leaves
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we walk in right behind her
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and determine that
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she's using western union and she sends
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a money transfer
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a 1200 money transfer
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denise had used an alias for the
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transfer
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pauline white
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the money was sent to a robert gordon in
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miami
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it's being sent by a pauline white
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which is not denise davidson's name it's
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obvious that's a different name
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fictitious address
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fictitious phone number
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but
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we watched her send it
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robert gordon was an acquaintance of
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miami nightclub owner leo cisneros who
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also happened to be denise davidson's
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current boyfriend and the father of her
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unborn child
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cisneros allegedly had ties to jamaican
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drug trafficking
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flight records indicated that leo
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cisneros flew to jamaica on the day of
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dr davidson's murder
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and telephone records indicated that
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denise davidson made numerous calls to
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robert gordon on the morning her husband
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was murdered
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between 9 30 in the morning and 11 30 in
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the morning a two-hour period
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there are 52
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telephone calls made from denise
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davidson's house
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to robert gordon's pager
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investigators now believed that denise
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davidson knew more about her husband's
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murder than she admitted
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and they asked the court for permission
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to wiretap her telephone
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that order was granted but it didn't
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reveal what investigators hoped for
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[Music]
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hello
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hey baby i call the western union please
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unless the money is available to be
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picked up
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you got to remember denise davidson from
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the beginning knew
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that her phones may be tapped
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so she was careful with what she said
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and what she didn't say on the phone
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then
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police noticed an irregularity
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while leo cisneros was in jamaica
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someone was using his cell phone in
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florida
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and those calls could be easily traced
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[Music]
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when someone makes a cell phone call the
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signal goes through a series of what are
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known as cell site towers before it gets
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to an individual's phone
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police can trace a cell phone call
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by the identity of the towers the call
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uses
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all of this cell tower and wiretap
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information is then put into the asus
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computer program
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asus stands for augmented criminal
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investigation support system
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aces has not ever been utilized by
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our police department for homicide
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investigations
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it's been utilized for numerous years by
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the intelligence division by the
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narcotics division
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because they deal a lot with telephone
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records wire taps
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large amounts of
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volumes of people connected to one
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another
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this computer analysis revealed an
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important piece of information
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cisneros's cell phone was used on the
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morning of dr davidson's murder from
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outside the doctor's apartment
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a few hours later
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calls were made from this motel near dr
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davidson's apartment and the calls
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continued while the individual headed
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south along highway 60 route 95 all the
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way to miami
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the last call that day used a cell tower
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a few blocks away from robert gordon's
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home gordon was the man denise davidson
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had wired twelve hundred dollars to a
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few days after the murder
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when police visited the motel near dr
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davidson's apartment
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they discovered robert gordon had stayed
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there around the time of dr davidson's
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murder
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the maid recalls that there was
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something left behind in that room one
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of their policies at the time
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was that there were items left behind by
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a customer they would put them in a bag
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with a car that had the date
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and the room number they were following
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they put them in a storage closet
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the bag contained a sweatshirt
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and something investigators had been
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looking for since the day of the murder
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and guess what else we've got we've got
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some shoes
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sneakers to be exact
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the same size as the impression found in
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the doctor's apartment
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[Music]
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investigators hoped this chance
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discovery
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would solve the murder
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denise davidson had wired money to
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robert gordon in miami just days after
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her husband's murder
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informants in miami told police that
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gordon had an associate meryl mcdonald
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who was with gordon in saint petersburg
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around the time of dr davidson's murder
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during questioning
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both denied any involvement in the crime
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they also denied owning the sweatshirt
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and sneakers left in their motel room
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technicians compared the shoe impression
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found on dr davidson's tile floor with
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the sneakers from the motel
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both were size nine
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both were the obscure voigt brand and
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both were identical in wear patterns
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the shoes matched gordon's shoe size
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next technicians analyzed the sweatshirt
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and discovered a number of head hairs
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facial hairs and some foreign fibers
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the facial and head hairs were found
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inside the sweatshirt not uncommon when
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someone is taking the garment off over
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his head
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the hairs were unusual since they
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contained a chemical dye
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a chemical analysis of that dye matched
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the dye found on the head and facial
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hair of the second suspect meryl
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mcdonald
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mr mcdonald made the mistake of coloring
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his hair the fbi lab was able to
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determine that the type of color used on
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this strand of hair
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was consistent with the type of coloring
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mr mcdonald uses on his hair
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scientists also found
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blue cashmere fibers on the sweatshirt
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those fibers
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matched the victim's cashmere bathrobe
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finally
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and most damning a dna analysis of blood
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found on the sweatshirt and sneakers
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was that of dr davidson
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one more nail has been put into the
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coffin of these two defendants these two
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men that were hired
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to kill that decided that
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money
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was more important than life
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but investigators had no solid proof
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that denise davidson was involved in the
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murder plot
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she stood to inherit more than a half
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million dollars from her estranged
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husband's life insurance policy as well
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as gain
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full custody of their daughter
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during hours of police interrogation
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denise insisted she didn't know robert
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gordon and meryl mcdonald and had
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nothing to do with her husband's murder
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denise was under police surveillance
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when she went to the western union
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office to transfer money to robert
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gordon
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but she signed the receipt using an
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alias
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pauline white
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a forensic handwriting examiner compared
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the pauline white signature to known
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handwriting samples of denise davidson
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he concluded
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the same individual signed them both
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[Music]
00:14:37
forensic technicians tested the receipts
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for latent or hidden fingerprints
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they stain the receipt with nanhydran a
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chemical solution that turns the amino
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acids in finger oils purple
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we have a process for fingerprints and
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it's denise davidson's fingerprints
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on
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that piece of paper
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[Music]
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and police found evidence that denise
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davidson purchased a man's gray
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sweatshirt and a pair of size nine
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voight sneakers just before her
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husband's murder
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identical to the items found in the
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motel with her husband's blood stains
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denise davidson not only denied any
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involvement in her husband's murder she
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now said
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she had evidence to prove it
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how much stranger can this case get
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how many more twists can this case take
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[Music]
00:15:39
the forensic evidence clearly placed
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robert gordon and meryl mcdonald inside
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dr davidson's apartment during his
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murder the two people that were hired to
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do the killing mr gordon and mr mcdonald
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didn't know the doctor at all
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the reason they took his life was
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strictly for monetary reasons
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but just as police were about to arrest
00:16:00
the victim's estranged wife denise the
00:16:02
case took an unexpected turn
00:16:05
denise told police that the real killer
00:16:08
had called her home while she was away
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and left a threatening message on her
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telephone answering machine
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we're not available right now so could
00:16:17
you please just leave your name and your
00:16:19
telephone number
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[Applause]
00:16:27
but police arrested denise anyway
00:16:30
just as she was about to board a flight
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to jamaica
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i approached her she sat there waiting
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for her flight to arrive she was very
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surprised when she saw me
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and her first words were detective
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salerno what are you doing here
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in october of 1995
00:16:48
denise went on trial for soliciting her
00:16:52
husband's murder
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denise took the stand in her own defense
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and told the jury about the threatening
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telephone call she received from the
00:17:00
person she says was the real killer
00:17:04
but prosecutors were ready for her
00:17:08
[Applause]
00:17:11
investigators had traced that call and
00:17:13
discovered it had originated from the
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store where denise worked
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and denise had been under police
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surveillance that day
00:17:22
i could see in her eyes she knew what
00:17:23
was happening and it almost looked at
00:17:26
that time like the air had just been
00:17:29
taken out of her
00:17:30
prosecutors presented the jury with this
00:17:33
surveillance video showing denise
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entering the store shortly before the
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threatening call was placed and leaving
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just after the call was completed
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when the state attorney directed the
00:17:46
question to her
00:17:48
as to whether that was her voice on that
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tape
00:17:53
she could only answer i don't think so
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she just listened to it
00:17:58
and looked at it and really gave no
00:18:01
explanation for
00:18:02
who that phone call came from and why it
00:18:05
was made
00:18:06
she was holding up pretty good with her
00:18:08
lies through the first portion of her
00:18:10
testifying
00:18:12
but from that point on
00:18:14
everything was falling apart
00:18:16
and i think the jury
00:18:18
saw what i saw
00:18:20
and that was fear in the eyes
00:18:23
of a lady who hired two men to kill her
00:18:25
husband
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prosecutors believe that denise asked
00:18:31
her boyfriend leo cisneros to kill her
00:18:33
husband instead
00:18:35
cisneros hired robert gordon and meryl
00:18:38
mcdonald
00:18:39
leo cesniro is the boyfriend who had no
00:18:41
courage he couldn't commit the crime
00:18:43
himself so he hired the two scarecrows
00:18:46
robert gordon and meryl mcdonald who he
00:18:48
said they didn't have a brain amongst
00:18:49
them
00:18:50
the two tracked dr davidson for days by
00:18:54
calling his apartment
00:18:56
and the witness said
00:18:58
they were at the hospital dressed like
00:19:00
doctors trying to get dr davidson's
00:19:03
schedule
00:19:08
on the day of the murder
00:19:10
dr davidson was running two hours late
00:19:12
and didn't arrive home until 10 o'clock
00:19:17
this explains why denise called robert
00:19:19
gordon's pager 52 times between 8 and
00:19:23
ten o'clock that morning apparently
00:19:25
concerned about why the murder was
00:19:28
delayed
00:19:29
[Music]
00:19:32
when gordon and mcdonald knocked on the
00:19:34
doctor's door
00:19:35
he answered in his bathrobe
00:19:41
in the scuffle
00:19:43
dr davidson's robe fibers and blood got
00:19:46
on mcdonald's sweatshirt the one denise
00:19:48
had purchased for him
00:19:51
[Music]
00:19:53
after drowning davidson in the bathtub
00:19:57
gordon left his shoe imprint on the tile
00:19:59
floor
00:20:01
[Music]
00:20:05
and when mcdonald removed the sweatshirt
00:20:08
he left evidence of his die colored head
00:20:10
hairs
00:20:12
for some unknown reason gordon made the
00:20:15
mistake of leaving the sneakers and
00:20:17
sweatshirt behind at his motel
00:20:20
a motel identified through denise's
00:20:23
telephone calls
00:20:26
prosecutors produced receipts showing
00:20:29
denise had sent gordon and mcdonald a
00:20:31
total of
00:20:33
thousand dollars
00:20:35
after a two-week trial
00:20:37
denise davidson was found guilty of
00:20:40
solicitation for murder
00:20:43
she was sentenced to life in prison
00:20:46
if i had one one-line description of
00:20:49
denise davidson
00:20:51
would be she's a cold-hearted [ __ ]
00:20:54
robert gordon and meryl mcdonald were
00:20:56
tried and convicted of first-degree
00:20:59
murder
00:21:00
they were both sentenced to death
00:21:02
one of the more glaring ironies of the
00:21:04
case is that dr davidson through his
00:21:06
alimony payments
00:21:08
enabled his wife to hire the hitmen who
00:21:10
ultimately killed him
00:21:12
denise's boyfriend leo cisneros who
00:21:15
allegedly hired the hit man has not been
00:21:18
captured he is believed to be in jamaica
00:21:20
or venezuela
00:21:23
investigators say the mountain of
00:21:26
forensic evidence against denise
00:21:28
paints an unmistakable portrait of greed
00:21:33
and premeditation
00:21:35
the forensic technicians in this case
00:21:36
did an excellent job they worked on this
00:21:39
case tediously
00:21:41
they were able to develop evidence that
00:21:44
was not
00:21:45
visible to the naked eye
00:21:47
and because of their
00:21:50
dedication
00:21:51
they were able to use this evidence in
00:21:53
court to gain a conviction
00:21:55
one thing i learned from this case is if
00:21:57
you're going to commit a crime
00:21:59
be careful about today's technology
00:22:03
[Music]
00:22:27
[Music]
00:22:36
you
