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this is the story of two crimes
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committed in different states 500 miles
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apart
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in each case a woman was assaulted late
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at night
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investigators found the same signature
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elements in both crimes
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the calling card of this perpetrator was
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so unusual
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it eventually cost him his life
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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uh
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perth amboy new jersey about an hour's
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drive from the hustle and bustle of new
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york city
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300 years this riverfront town has been
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a haven for immigrants seeking a better
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life in america
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[Music]
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melissa padilla's parents came from
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puerto rico she and her four brothers
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grew up here
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yeah she was
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my right hand
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she was always helping me with them she
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she was like a second mother to them
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they depend on her
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i remember her
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often helping me out with my work
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she was a excellent speller and
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my spelling is just something i've never
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been able to handle it she was always
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there when i needed some help with that
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melissa attended high school in perth
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amboy but quit in her junior year
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and later became pregnant
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she had three more children in rapid
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succession and in 1994 was unmarried and
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supporting herself and the children with
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a monthly welfare check
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she didn't have any technical skills or
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something that would demand a high
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paying job
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so she would have to suit for
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minimum wage
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[Music]
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and
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there was no way that she was going to
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make it with that
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melissa was able to scrape by for a
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while but then she fell behind on her
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rent and lost her apartment
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[Music]
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melissa and her children then moved into
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the gem motel
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one of several cheap motels located
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along route 1 a main north-south artery
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in avenell new jersey
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[Music]
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on the night of august 11 1994
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melissa left the children with her
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boyfriend and walked to a nearby
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convenience store for some groceries
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she went out
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at 11 at night
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because her kids were hungry
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melissa left the store around 11 30 and
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headed back to the motel
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but she never arrived
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her boyfriend told police he found her
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half-naked body later that night
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along the highway
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melissa's mother got the word shortly
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after the body was discovered
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you're not supposed to bury your
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children
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that you're gonna die before them
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no parents want to bury their children
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it's hard
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i was supposed to go before her
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most murderers go to great lengths to
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avoid detection
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melissa's killer didn't seem to care
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committing his crime along a busy
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highway where he could have been easily
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seen
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it was this brazenness
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that would eventually be
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his downfall
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[Music]
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when melissa padilla left her hotel room
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to buy food for her young children her
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route took her along a well-traveled
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highway to a nearby convenience store
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melissa never returned
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her boyfriend told police he found her
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body in a sewer pipe near the highway
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she was naked from the waist down
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the autopsy revealed that she died as a
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result of the manual fixation
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and assault
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there were several grocery items near
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the body as well as melissa's
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blood-spattered shorts found about half
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a block away with the pocket turned out
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but the most telling evidence came from
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melissa's body itself
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her eyes were
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battered indicating that she had
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received
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punches from someone who was strong and
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who subdued her in that way
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the fact that she was naked and
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and that her genital area was mutilated
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obviously indicated that there was a
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sexual assault
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scrapings from under her fingernails
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revealed dna that authorities hoped
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would bring a conviction if they could
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only find a suspect
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melissa's autopsy revealed one other
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detail something tom capsack had never
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seen in his 31 years of prosecuting
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homicides
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she had bite marks on her chin and on
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her left breast
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indicating that there was probably some
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kind of ritualistic element to the
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killing
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the bite mark on the chin
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was particularly unusual
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i've done a lot of research and i've
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talked to a lot of people
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bite marks usually occur to the general
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genital areas to the breast
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to the stomach
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but i have never heard of one that
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occurred to the chin before
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armed with this evidence new jersey
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police began their search for melissa's
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killer
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[Music]
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the security video from the quick check
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store where melissa had bought groceries
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helped establish the time of the murder
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shortly before midnight
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it also showed the cashier giving her
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change
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but no money was found in melissa's
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clothing indicating she had also been
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robbed
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police also began canvassing the area
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looking for eyewitnesses
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there was a witness that was identified
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that was interviewed who indicated they
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were traveling past the roadway and saw
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what appeared to be two individuals in
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some sort of
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struggle
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standing up near the concrete pipes
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but the witness could provide little
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useful information
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the battering about melissa's face and
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the bite marks on her breast and chin
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led police to theorize that her killer
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got a perverse pleasure out of
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assaulting women and might have struck
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before
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just a mile from the murder scene was a
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prison for convicted sex offenders
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a check of prison records showed a
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number of released prisoners living in
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the area
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we then pulled their files to determine
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what their mo was and whether they were
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involved in any kind of ritual when they
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committed their sex crimes
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they complied with requests for dna
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samples
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they complied with exemplar requests for
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hairs
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they also submitted to polygraph
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examinations that were conducted by the
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woodbridge police department
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and they all were eliminated as suspects
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in the crime
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melissa's boyfriend who had stayed with
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her children was also eliminated
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eventually things started to
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appear that we we have an unsolved
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homicide with no suspect to pursue
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eight months later
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500 miles away in maine
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there was another assault strikingly
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similar to melissa padilla's
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excuse me sir are you okay
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this crime was bold and brazen
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but the perpetrator made a mistake in
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choosing his victim
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she
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was a state trooper
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months after the murder of melissa
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padilla police still didn't have a
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suspect
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the brutality of the assault led police
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to believe her killer took pleasure in
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attacking women and might strike again
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eight months later state troopers in
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maine reported a brazen assault on one
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of their own
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the assault took place on april 3rd 1995
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at about 8 30 p.m
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trooper vicki gardner an 11-year veteran
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was off-duty and driving her police
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cruiser south on interstate 95.
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[Music]
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she came across a vehicle
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facing the wrong way
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on the interstate and she stopped to
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investigate
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excuse me sir are you okay
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gardner discovered that the driver
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stephen fortin had been drinking
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would you please get out of the car
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since she was off duty she called for
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another police vehicle to take thornton
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into custody
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when fortin heard this he exploded
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jordan sucker-punched her
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ripped her clothes off more less to do
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in the process of molesting her
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he bitter
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when the backup cruiser arrived he
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took off in the cruiser
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[Music]
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vicky gardner was unconscious still in
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the vehicle
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when she regained consciousness she
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opened the passenger door and tried to
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jump out
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he was sort of trying to reach out and
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grab a hold of her and pull her back in
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and she swung herself away from him and
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got away from him
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vicky gardner was lucky to be alive
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i've never seen a woman attack that way
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damage that badly
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we'll live to talk about it
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after vicky jumped out of the vehicle
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fortin lost control of the car and
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crashed
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he was later apprehended
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lieutenant lancaster interviewed him in
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prison
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he took no responsibility he
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was it was while we spoke
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although we spoke of the incident it was
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always somebody else's fault
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um
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he
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i knew that i was dealing with someone
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that was evil
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vicky had scrapes and bruises over her
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entire body
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and her face was severely battered
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fortin had not only punched and
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assaulted her he had also left a bizarre
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calling card
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two bite marks one on the outer area of
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her left breast the other on her chin
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who attacks a trooper
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and sexually molested in her own
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in her own cruiser you just know from
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the facts of this case
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and the assault and the way in which the
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assault took place and every aspect
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about it you knew that you were dealing
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with someone
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who had done something like this before
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in fact a check of police records in
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fortin's home state of new jersey
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revealed that he had a history of
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violence
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fortin's name was well known to
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prosecutor capsack he had sent him to
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prison for seven years on a manslaughter
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charge
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fortin got out after only two and a half
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years
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he had stabbed his brother in the throat
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in 1983 in the township of carteret
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and
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was
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pled guilty to that
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when the new jersey state police heard
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the news of steve fortin's assault in
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maine
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they naturally wanted to find out if
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fortin was in new jersey on the night
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melissa padilla was killed
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an interview with thornton's former
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girlfriend provided the answer
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and she told us that in august of 1994
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stephen fortin did in fact live in
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avondale new jersey in fact he lived in
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an apartment with her
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and on the very night in question
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he assaulted her
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in the parking lot of a restaurant
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and she called the police and he ran
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that restaurant bud's hut was a short
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walk from the gem motel where melissa
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was living the police report listed the
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time of the assault on dawn archer as 10
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30 p.m an hour before melissa was
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murdered
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at last
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authorities had a suspect
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melissa's brother got the word
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a day after his birthday
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i didn't consider it a birthday gift but
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i was glad that
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they did fine
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and i was praying that they would find
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him before he could ever do that to
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someone else they found him
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but now
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they had to prove him guilty
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prosecutors hoped the dna evidence taken
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from under melissa's fingernails would
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incriminate fortin but it didn't when it
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was compared
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to stephen fortin
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from maine's evidence that we obtained
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from them
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the dna lab could not
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include him or exclude him as a source
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with the dna results inconclusive the
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bite marks on the two victims seem to be
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prosecutors best chance of linking
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fortin to melissa padilla's murder
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a plaster impression was therefore made
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on fortin's teeth
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the impression along with photographs of
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the bite marks were sent to dr lowe
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levine a respected forensic odontologist
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who worked for the new york state police
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these are mr forten's teeth they're
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actually models of them and they're made
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the same way as the orthodontist would
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take models or the dentist takes models
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to do prosthetic devices if you take a
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look at the upper teeth he's got a space
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between his two middle front ones
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and the one on the right
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is bigger than the one on the left
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because it's a cap and in fact the
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biting surface is slightly
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wider also
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from front to back if you look at the
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models of lower teeth they're very very
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straight across the bottom of them he's
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got almost no wear on the incisal edges
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so they leave linear markings rather
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than rectangles and they're very very
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straight across he's got the slightly
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pointed canine so he doesn't have a
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whole lot of wear
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levine compared forton's teeth to the
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bite marks on vicki gardner and melissa
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padilla
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he found them to be a match
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leaving nothing to chance prosecutors
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also brought in roy hazelwood a former
00:16:20
fbi profiler and an expert on criminal
00:16:24
behavior
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he was interested in my studying the
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crimes to determine whether or not i
00:16:29
could do a linkage analysis
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in the two crimes a linkage analysis is
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an in-depth study of two or more crimes
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with
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the idea of attempting to determine
00:16:40
whether or not they were committed by
00:16:42
the same person
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hazelwood concluded that the same man
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had indeed committed both crimes
00:16:52
the trial of stephen fortin began on
00:16:54
october 31st 2000
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a trial with no eyewitnesses
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circumstantial evidence and inconclusive
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dna findings
00:17:05
the prosecutor's case rested almost
00:17:08
entirely on the opinions of two forensic
00:17:16
experts the murder of melissa padilla
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and the assault of a maine state trooper
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were so strikingly similar that this
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became a critical part of the
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prosecution's case
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at stephen fortin's trial maine state
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trooper vicki gardner took the stand to
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describe how fortin had beaten and
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sexually assaulted her
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then we had to bring in witnesses that
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brought the two crimes together and they
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were hazelwood and levine
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addressing the jury roy hazelwood
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explained that some crimes like the
00:17:53
murder of melissa padilla and the
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assault of trooper gardner have unique
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patterns of behavior which he called
00:18:00
rituals the ritual
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are those acts which are unnecessary to
00:18:06
the commission of the crime
00:18:07
and are carried out to meet the
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emotional needs of the offender
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in this case
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the need for psychosexual gratification
00:18:16
[Music]
00:18:18
hazelwood identified five examples of
00:18:20
ritualistic behavior that were common to
00:18:23
both cases
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bite mark to the chin
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bite mark to the left breast
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excessive battering to the upper portion
00:18:33
of the face in both instances
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injurious anal penetration and manual
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strangulation from the front
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i've never seen that combination of
00:18:43
behaviors in any other crime
00:18:46
then dr levine explained to the jury
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that no two people have teeth patterns
00:18:51
that are exactly the same
00:18:54
what i basically did was to show
00:18:57
the jurors that people
00:18:59
leave bite marks that look different
00:19:02
we used to the prosecutors myself and
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one of the investigators
00:19:08
so that bite marks look different
00:19:13
dr levine showed the jury overlays of
00:19:16
steve fortin's teeth we were able to
00:19:19
show the jury how the overlays fit over
00:19:22
the life-sized photographs of the bite
00:19:24
mark on the victim
00:19:26
we did it by animating
00:19:29
the overlay so that it moves across the
00:19:31
screen
00:19:32
and stops exactly on the bite mark and
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it was it was very effective and it was
00:19:36
very dramatic and i think it worked very
00:19:38
well
00:19:39
new jersey authorities are coming for
00:19:41
the jury deliberated stephen fortin's
00:19:44
fate for two days before reaching their
00:19:46
verdict
00:19:48
guilty
00:19:52
in the penalty phase
00:19:54
prosecutors asked for the death sentence
00:19:57
and concluded by explaining to the jury
00:20:00
why fortin had bitten his victims on the
00:20:04
chin
00:20:05
what we finally decided regarding the
00:20:07
bite mark to the chin
00:20:09
was that stephen fortin was biting the
00:20:11
victim on the chin while he was looking
00:20:13
in her eyes and mutilating her genitals
00:20:17
and that he was getting a perverse
00:20:20
pleasure out of that
00:20:22
on february 26 2001
00:20:25
fortin was sentenced to die
00:20:28
by lethal injection
00:20:30
it was justice but i didn't feel like a
00:20:33
vengeance that justice
00:20:35
should have been served you know
00:20:37
i was i was grateful
00:20:39
roy hazelwood and lowell levine were
00:20:41
absolutely critical to the case
00:20:44
this case like most murder cases
00:20:48
depended on circumstantial evidence on
00:20:51
forensic evidence on expert testimony
00:20:55
and the tools those experts have to draw
00:20:57
on says hazelwood are growing more and
00:21:00
more sophisticated every year
00:21:03
i'm continuously amazed at the strides
00:21:06
we've made in investigating crimes and
00:21:09
solving crimes and prosecuting crimes
00:21:12
stephen fortin is now in trenton state
00:21:14
prison awaiting execution
00:21:18
melissa padilla's sons are living with
00:21:21
their father
00:21:22
her daughters are being raised by
00:21:25
melissa's mom
00:21:28
she was a good mother
00:21:31
because she's a good friend
00:21:36
she was a wonderful daughter
00:21:39
[Music]
00:21:42
she was a good person
00:21:44
had a big heart
00:21:50
and
00:21:55
i'm sorry her kids won't
00:21:58
be able to know that
00:22:02
[Music]
00:22:12
[Music]
00:22:17
so
00:22:23
[Music]
00:22:33
you
