00:00:04
[suspenseful music]
00:00:09
[glass breaking]
00:00:10
PETER THOMAS: Shortly
after Thanksgiving in 1987,
00:00:14
an intruder broke into
the Tucker residence
00:00:16
in Arlington, Virginia.
00:00:19
It might have been
just another statistic,
00:00:21
but the crime committed that
night launched a new era
00:00:25
in police investigations.
00:00:32
This is how DNA evidence
and psychological profiling
00:00:36
helped catch a serial killer
and set an innocent man free.
00:00:43
[theme music]
00:01:08
REGGIE TUCKER: Everything
about her was very gentle.
00:01:10
She was very soft spoken.
00:01:14
She just had this
amazing softness
00:01:17
about her, this human quality.
00:01:20
PETER THOMAS:
44-year-old Susan Tucker
00:01:22
was a publications editor
who worked for the United
00:01:25
States Forestry Service.
00:01:27
She was spending the
Thanksgiving holiday alone
00:01:30
since her husband Reggie was
out of the country in Wales
00:01:34
on a business trip.
00:01:35
REGGIE TUCKER: Neither of
us could put the phone down.
00:01:38
We kept saying, "I love you."
00:01:41
And we said this
over and over again,
00:01:43
I don't know how many times.
00:01:45
PETER THOMAS: But without
explanation, telephone calls
00:01:48
went unanswered.
00:01:50
And neighbors noticed her
bedroom window wide open
00:01:54
in the cold November weather,
so they called police.
00:02:00
[door creaking]
00:02:01
[knocking]
00:02:02
As they approached the front
door, they noticed it was ajar.
00:02:05
OFFICER: Can you hear?
00:02:06
Police!
00:02:07
PETER THOMAS: Inside,
a woman's purse
00:02:08
was lying on the foyer floor.
00:02:10
REGGIE TUCKER: I arranged
to call on a Monday.
00:02:12
Couldn't get an answer.
00:02:13
Just rang.
00:02:14
Tucker?
00:02:15
REGGIE TUCKER: I rang again.
00:02:19
I rang again.
00:02:23
I don't know how
many times I rang.
00:02:25
PETER THOMAS: Susan Tucker's
badly decomposed body
00:02:27
was lying face down on the bed.
00:02:31
She had been dead for
four or five days.
00:02:34
JOE HORGAS: Her hands
were tied behind her back.
00:02:36
Her feet were tied.
00:02:37
The head hang over the
side of the bed almost.
00:02:40
PETER THOMAS: She had been
strangled and possibly raped.
00:02:43
It appeared that the
killer more than likely
00:02:46
was inside the home
for quite some time.
00:02:49
I mean, it wasn't
just a very quick in
00:02:51
and out type of a situation.
00:02:54
You know, many of the
drawers had been ransacked,
00:02:57
had been gone through.
00:02:58
PETER THOMAS: When Reggie
Tucker first heard the news,
00:03:01
he was devastated.
00:03:03
So he said, "Sir,
I've got bad news."
00:03:07
And I knew it.
00:03:08
I just knew it at that point.
00:03:13
And I just, you know--
00:03:17
my whole world just fell away.
00:03:22
PETER THOMAS:
Detective Joe Horgas
00:03:24
of the Arlington
Police Homicide unit
00:03:26
was quickly assigned
to the case.
00:03:28
His task wouldn't be easy.
00:03:29
For one thing, the
killer had been careful.
00:03:32
He had worn gloves and
left no fingerprints.
00:03:35
JOE HORGAS: Yeah, this
has been wiped clean.
00:03:37
PETER THOMAS: It
had been raining
00:03:38
on the night of
the murder, and he
00:03:40
meticulously cleaned the area
around his point of entry.
00:03:44
He's smart enough to
know that footprints,
00:03:50
which is what we were--
00:03:51
we would have gotten from
that, would maybe come back
00:03:54
to haunt him, which
kind of tells you
00:03:55
maybe some past
experience on burglaries.
00:03:59
PETER THOMAS: Police collected
the sheets, nightgown,
00:04:02
and the large sleeping
bag which covered
00:04:04
Susan Tucker's body to
look for possible blood
00:04:07
and semen stains.
00:04:09
They found hairs on the bedding
around Susan Tucker's body,
00:04:13
in the bathroom sink, and
on a washcloth discovered
00:04:16
outside on the clothesline.
00:04:18
And they gathered
shards of broken glass
00:04:21
from the basement window.
00:04:23
Everything was taken to the
forensics lab for analysis.
00:04:27
But perhaps the
most important clue
00:04:29
was also the most obvious--
00:04:31
the rope and knots used
to strangle Susan Tucker.
00:04:36
The police were
convinced they had
00:04:37
seen this killer's work before.
00:04:41
Three years earlier,
a 34-year-old lawyer
00:04:44
named Carolyn Hamm had been
raped and strangled in her home
00:04:47
only four blocks away
from Susan Tucker.
00:04:51
The killer entered the Hamm
residence the same way--
00:04:54
through a basement window--
00:04:57
and tied his victim
using the same knots.
00:05:00
And it's not a
common occurrence--
00:05:03
not common at all--
00:05:05
to see victims killed by using
ligatures to strangle them,
00:05:12
ropes tying up victims.
00:05:15
It's really quite rare.
00:05:17
PETER THOMAS: But the Hamm case
was closed when this man, David
00:05:20
Vasquez, confessed to her
murder and was sentenced
00:05:24
to 35 years in prison.
00:05:26
Could he have had an accomplice?
00:05:29
Horgas spoke to him
for several hours.
00:05:31
And from the way he
was talking on everything
00:05:34
and answering my
questions, I didn't
00:05:35
think he knew a damn thing
about Carolyn Hamm's murder.
00:05:39
PETER THOMAS: While Detective
Horgas began his search
00:05:41
for Susan Tucker's killer, 100
miles away, in the capital city
00:05:46
of Richmond, police there
were investigating a series
00:05:50
of murders shockingly similar.
00:05:53
REPORTER: The body of
35-year-old Debbie Davis
00:05:55
was found inside her
South Richmond apartment.
00:05:58
She'd been raped and strangled.
00:06:00
PETER THOMAS: In
less than a month,
00:06:01
two young women had been raped
and strangled in their homes
00:06:05
just a few blocks
from each other.
00:06:07
In each case, there was a
forced entry with the murderer
00:06:10
entering by cutting the
screens and entering
00:06:13
through an open window.
00:06:14
Each victim was strangled.
00:06:16
Both victims were white, between
the ages of 30 and 35 years.
00:06:21
PETER THOMAS: Two weeks
later, he struck again.
00:06:23
This time, a
15-year-old girl raped
00:06:26
and strangled in her bedroom
while her family was sleeping.
00:06:30
All three had been bound,
raped, and strangled with rope.
00:06:34
The knots were
identical to the ones
00:06:36
used in the Arlington cases.
00:06:39
Detective Horgas suspected
that the killer of Susan Tucker
00:06:43
was the same man who murdered
Carolyn Hamm and the three
00:06:47
women in Richmond.
00:06:49
If Horgas was correct, a serial
murderer was loose on a 100
00:06:56
mile killing spree.
00:06:59
[music playing]
00:07:00
PETER THOMAS: Detective Horgas
believed the man who raped
00:07:03
and strangled Susan Tucker
had also murdered Carolyn
00:07:07
Hamm three years earlier.
00:07:09
Horgas also believed
the same man
00:07:11
was responsible for the
three rapes and murders
00:07:14
in Richmond 100 miles away.
00:07:17
The Richmond police
weren't so sure.
00:07:20
I mean, they have three
murders that were within
00:07:23
a couple miles square
radius, I'm guessing,
00:07:26
or maybe even less
that, you know--
00:07:30
and now we're trying to say that
100 miles away, we're trying
00:07:34
to link something to theirs.
00:07:36
It's like, yeah,
get out of here.
00:07:37
I mean, this is a local guy.
00:07:39
Horgas was a man--
00:07:41
he was the perfect man for this
case because he was obsessed.
00:07:45
He was-- he knew
something was wrong.
00:07:48
PETER THOMAS: Author Paul
Mones wrote a best-selling book
00:07:51
entitled, "Stalking Justice."
00:07:53
It profiles the rapes and
murders of these five women
00:07:57
and the history-making
investigation which followed.
00:08:00
Joe Horgas is
motivated by the hunt.
00:08:06
He's not a guy who's obsessed
by issues of right and wrong,
00:08:10
except for his own internal
moral compass which tells him
00:08:14
if there's an innocent
man in prison,
00:08:16
I don't care if we
got the guilty guy,
00:08:17
we've got to get the
innocent man out.
00:08:19
And he was determined
to get this guy.
00:08:21
PETER THOMAS: But if Horgas was
right that all of these murders
00:08:25
were connected, he needed proof.
00:08:28
For that, he turned
to the forensics lab,
00:08:31
where scientists were examining
the stains found on Susan
00:08:34
Tucker's nightgown and bedding.
00:08:37
I found four semen stains.
00:08:38
And when I analyzed
the sleeping bag,
00:08:40
I found one very
large semen stain.
00:08:42
I typed all of those stains.
00:08:44
PETER THOMAS: The semen
came from an individual
00:08:46
with type O blood and
the PGM1 enzyme profile.
00:08:51
Although this matched
13% of the population,
00:08:54
it also matched the semen
found at the Carolyn
00:08:57
Hamm murder scene.
00:08:59
Next, they turn their
attention to the hair found
00:09:02
at the Tucker crime scene.
00:09:04
DEANNE DABBS: And there
are characteristics,
00:09:07
microscopically, that can
classify hair into one
00:09:11
of three racial categories.
00:09:13
PETER THOMAS: Which
are Caucasian,
00:09:14
negroid, or mongoloid.
00:09:17
The hairs found at
the Tucker crime scene
00:09:19
appeared to be pubic
and did not appear to be
00:09:21
from the victim or her husband.
00:09:23
They were positively identified
as negroid in origin.
00:09:28
This was another possible link
to the Carolyn Hamm murder
00:09:31
case.
00:09:32
Three years earlier at
the time of Hamm's murder,
00:09:34
a black male wearing a mask
had raped a number of women
00:09:38
in the same neighborhood.
00:09:40
The masked rapist
was never apprehended
00:09:43
and Horgas always suspected
that there was a connection
00:09:45
to the Hamm murder.
00:09:47
JOE HORGAS: Actually, the same
day that Carolyn Hamm's body
00:09:50
was found, another girl,
lady, was in her house
00:09:55
and this black male
with a mask and a knife
00:09:59
burglarized her pla--
00:10:00
house, got her,
and actually he did
00:10:05
some sexual activity with her.
00:10:06
PETER THOMAS: The
Richmond police and later
00:10:08
at the Arlington
police both sought
00:10:10
help from the FBI's
Behavioral Science Unit
00:10:14
in Quantico, Virginia.
00:10:16
This unit has interviewed
hundreds of serial killers
00:10:20
to learn what similarities exist
in their psychological makeup.
00:10:24
They were able to predict a
number of important things
00:10:27
about the killer.
00:10:29
R. STEVEN MARDIGIAN:
We're getting a look
00:10:30
at the behavior that's
left by the offender
00:10:34
in the commission of his crime.
00:10:36
We believe that by
looking at that behavior,
00:10:42
we can interpret the
type of offender that
00:10:46
may have committed the crime.
00:10:47
PETER THOMAS: The fact
that the strangler attacked
00:10:49
his victims in their
homes suggested
00:10:52
that he had stalked
them first and knew
00:10:54
precisely when to strike.
00:10:57
The FBI concluded
that the perpetrator
00:11:00
was between the
age of 18 and 30,
00:11:04
the quiet type, a loner
who held a menial job.
00:11:09
He probably had a troubled
relationship with his mother
00:11:12
and began his crime
spree with arson.
00:11:15
Historically, many
serial rapists
00:11:17
and murderers begin with arson.
00:11:20
Serial killers are usually
white but could be any race.
00:11:24
He lived or worked
close to where
00:11:26
he committed his first crimes.
00:11:28
That's because criminals begin
their crime sprees in an area
00:11:32
where they feel
most comfortable.
00:11:36
He took sadistic pleasure
in strangling his victims.
00:11:39
He would periodically release
the bindings so he could hear
00:11:43
his victim plead for her life.
00:11:45
It appeared that
the perpetrator
00:11:47
had intended the victim
to suffer considerably.
00:11:51
In one case, a shoe impression
was found on the victim's back.
00:11:56
PAUL MONES: These women
were obviously, first, just
00:12:00
terrified to the very bone
and then were systematically
00:12:05
sexually assaulted.
00:12:07
And you know, at the
end-- and it's not clear
00:12:11
whether they were dead
when he did this or alive,
00:12:12
but he also masturbated
on his victims.
00:12:15
PETER THOMAS: And it
was these semen samples
00:12:18
which would prove
to be extremely
00:12:19
important pieces of evidence.
00:12:22
I can remember our prosecutor,
Helen Fahy, a couple of days
00:12:25
after the murder
asking me if this
00:12:27
was going to be a DNA case.
00:12:30
And I'm kind of, I don't know.
00:12:32
We don't even know
what we got yet.
00:12:34
PETER THOMAS: In 1987, when
Susan Tucker was murdered,
00:12:38
DNA evidence was
still in its infancy.
00:12:42
The first time DNA evidence
was used in a criminal case
00:12:46
was only a year earlier in
England when DNA from a semen
00:12:50
sample was used to
convict a bakery
00:12:53
worker with the rape and murder
of two 15-year-old girls.
00:12:56
[camera flashing]
00:12:58
Horgas decided to try
this new DNA testing,
00:13:02
sending the semen stains
from Susan Tucker's nightgown
00:13:05
to the Life Code's
Laboratory in New York.
00:13:08
Forensic scientists
were concerned
00:13:11
that the samples may have
degraded or been contaminated.
00:13:15
MICHAEL BAIRD: You
basically isolate the DNA.
00:13:17
You cut it up.
00:13:18
You generate
profiles or patterns.
00:13:20
And you then generate
these patterns
00:13:22
on a piece of X-ray film.
00:13:23
So it's like a
picture of the DNA.
00:13:25
And when you then
compare these pictures
00:13:27
and the components are
the same in the two DNAs,
00:13:30
that would indicate that
they're from the same source.
00:13:32
PETER THOMAS: The final
results from the DNA tests
00:13:35
would take up to 10 weeks,
but Detective Horgas
00:13:38
still didn't have a suspect.
00:13:42
[music playing]
00:13:44
PETER THOMAS: Detective
Horgas suspected
00:13:46
that the same individual who
raped and murdered Susan Tucker
00:13:49
and Carolyn Hamm three years
earlier was the masked rapist
00:13:54
who was committing crimes in the
same area but was never caught.
00:13:58
So Horgas drove out to an area
of Arlington known as Green
00:14:03
Valley, the area where
the masked rapist
00:14:06
committed his first assaults.
00:14:08
The FBI told Horgas
that rapists usually
00:14:11
commit their first
crime close to home.
00:14:15
If the first rape was the
first rape for this guy,
00:14:19
then he would have
lived around there.
00:14:21
And that was very crucial to
me, because I didn't know that.
00:14:24
PETER THOMAS: And as he
drove through Green Valley,
00:14:26
Horgas tried to recall the names
or faces of likely suspects,
00:14:31
young men he'd run
across over the years who
00:14:33
came from that area.
00:14:34
And it just so happens
that Detective Horgas
00:14:37
started to focus on this one
juvenile he had dealt with
00:14:40
or remembered.
00:14:41
I mean, he just
couldn't place the name.
00:14:43
PETER THOMAS: And all I
could remember was Timmy.
00:14:44
I could see his face.
00:14:47
I remembered the
approximate time
00:14:50
period and everything that he--
00:14:52
that I remembered him
from, but I couldn't
00:14:53
remember his last name.
00:14:54
MICHAEL HILL: So we were
running all these names
00:14:56
through the computer,
seeing when they'd
00:14:57
been locked up and released.
00:14:59
And suddenly, he just
came in and he said,
00:15:01
"Spencer, Timothy Spencer.
00:15:03
That's the name."
00:15:04
JOE HORGAS: And I saw where
he was arrested on January 29,
00:15:08
1984, which was four
days after Carolyn Hamm,
00:15:13
her body was found.
00:15:14
PETER THOMAS: Spencer's
history unfolded.
00:15:17
In trouble as a
teenager, he had a string
00:15:20
of burglary convictions.
00:15:22
And even more surprising,
just as the FBI predicted,
00:15:27
Spencer had first
drawn police attention
00:15:29
for arson, for setting
fire to his mother's car.
00:15:34
JOE HORGAS: He was presently
in a halfway house in Richmond.
00:15:37
Well, that-- wow.
00:15:39
That's exciting now.
00:15:41
PETER THOMAS: Spencer
was on probation,
00:15:43
living in this
halfway house just
00:15:45
a short distance from where the
Richmond murders took place.
00:15:49
And according to
house records, Spencer
00:15:52
had been signed out during
the Thanksgiving holiday,
00:15:55
visiting his mother
in Arlington,
00:15:59
the week Susan
Tucker was murdered.
00:16:02
The fact that he got
out of prison two weeks
00:16:05
before the first murders down in
Richmond, the fact that he was
00:16:09
available for every
murder, the fact
00:16:11
that he came to Arlington
when he did for our murder.
00:16:15
PETER THOMAS: And
the FBI was correct
00:16:16
about another important detail.
00:16:19
Spencer lived in the area where
the first rape was committed.
00:16:24
And that happened over there.
00:16:26
And at the time, Timothy
Spencer was living
00:16:28
down here, over this hill.
00:16:29
PETER THOMAS: In his
mother's house, barely
00:16:31
a mile from the homes of
Carolyn Hamm and Susan Tucker.
00:16:37
On January 20, 1988, police
arrested Timothy Spencer.
00:16:44
Within hours, they had
collected a blood sample, some
00:16:47
of his hair, and confiscated his
clothing for forensic analysis.
00:16:52
MICHAEL HILL: The
clothing was scraped
00:16:55
down for removing any debris.
00:16:58
And once that debris
was collected,
00:17:01
it was taken to a microscope.
00:17:03
Several dozen
particles of glass were
00:17:05
removed from the debris that
was removed from his clothing.
00:17:09
PETER THOMAS: The
glass fragments
00:17:11
were of particular
interest to the police.
00:17:16
[music playing]
00:17:18
PETER THOMAS: After police
recovered glass particles
00:17:20
from Spencer's clothing, they
were examined forensically
00:17:23
to see if they matched glass
from any of the victims' homes.
00:17:27
One technique is called
glass refraction analysis.
00:17:31
By shining light from different
points on the spectrum
00:17:33
through the particles, the
characteristics of the glass
00:17:37
can be plotted on a
graph, in effect measuring
00:17:40
how the particles bend light.
00:17:42
DONAL MCCLAMROCH:
If you stick the pin
00:17:43
into the water, which is
more dense than the air,
00:17:46
it bends the light.
00:17:48
What we're doing with
the glass particle,
00:17:50
basically, is measuring how much
the light is bent in a refra--
00:17:55
and we call it refractive index.
00:17:57
PETER THOMAS: They compared
the glass fragments found
00:18:00
on Spencer's
clothing to the glass
00:18:02
particles taken from the broken
window at Susan Tucker's home.
00:18:06
JOE HORGAS: We were able
to say that that glass that
00:18:09
was removed from
Spencer's clothing
00:18:11
either came from that particular
pain or that particular source
00:18:15
of glass or another
source of glass that
00:18:17
had the same optical
characteristics.
00:18:20
PETER THOMAS: When scientists
completed the DNA analysis
00:18:23
of the semen stain found at
the Susan Tucker crime scene,
00:18:28
they made a chilling discovery.
00:18:30
MICHAEL BAIRD: And I remember
pointing out an X-ray film
00:18:33
from the developer and
holding it up from these two
00:18:35
separate cases and
being bombarded
00:18:38
immediately that the patters
I'm seeing are the same.
00:18:41
I'm seeing the same profile
on this case from one county
00:18:44
versus this case from
the second county, which
00:18:46
says to me that same
person's involved
00:18:49
in both of those incidents.
00:18:50
Really gave you
chills up and down
00:18:51
your spine to see
something like that.
00:18:53
PETER THOMAS: Horgas
was right all along.
00:18:55
The semen sample
from the individual
00:18:57
who raped and presumably
murdered Susan Tucker
00:19:01
matched the semen stains
from the murders in Richmond.
00:19:05
There were seven hairs that
were consistent with his.
00:19:07
There was a glass fragment
that was consistent with his.
00:19:10
His family couldn't provide
him with a complete alibi
00:19:12
for the entire weekend.
00:19:15
PETER THOMAS: And finally,
Timothy Spencer's blood DNA
00:19:18
was compared to the semen
samples from the crime victims.
00:19:22
Once we got a sample
from Mr. Spencer to test,
00:19:25
we generated a profile that was
the same as the profile we got
00:19:28
from the evidentiary samples.
00:19:30
We had a frequency of
occurrence of greater than one
00:19:32
in a million.
00:19:33
So that means that only
one person in a million
00:19:35
in the population
would have that
00:19:36
particular genetic profile.
00:19:38
And starting with the
first result, the blood type,
00:19:43
it was a match, it was a match,
it was a match, it was a match.
00:19:47
PETER THOMAS: On July
11, 1988, Timothy Spencer
00:19:52
went on trial for his life.
00:19:54
It was the first time
in the United States
00:19:57
where DNA evidence would be
used in a serial murder case.
00:20:01
It took the jury
less than seven hours
00:20:04
to find Timothy Spencer guilty
of rape and capital murder.
00:20:09
He was sentenced to death.
00:20:11
I feel some kind of
relief, but I'll never
00:20:16
have my wife back, you know?
00:20:19
That's really the
bottom line, is
00:20:22
I'll never really feel happy.
00:20:24
I can't feel happy
about somebody
00:20:27
being guilty of raping
and murdering my wife.
00:20:30
I can't feel happy about that.
00:20:32
So whatever anger I feel,
I will feel till I die.
00:20:40
Death was pronounced
by the attending
00:20:42
physician at 11:13 PM.
00:20:45
There were no complications.
00:20:47
Mr. Spencer did not
make a last statement.
00:20:50
Thank you.
00:20:51
Up until his
death, I don't think
00:20:55
that Timothy Spencer
made the connection
00:20:58
between semen and blood.
00:21:02
I don't think he knew that the
same DNA that's in your semen
00:21:07
is in your blood.
00:21:08
Without DNA, it would have
been impossible to convict
00:21:11
Timothy Spencer.
00:21:13
If he had committed
those murders
00:21:16
a year or two years earlier, he
could not have been convicted.
00:21:21
In fact, if this had
been 1984 or 1985,
00:21:26
we probably would not
even have arrested him.
00:21:29
Some people ask the question,
will DNA fingerprinting
00:21:32
replace detective work?
00:21:33
I don't think so.
00:21:35
Susan Tucker left Detective
Horgas the crime scene,
00:21:39
and Timothy Spencer left part
of himself at the crime scene.
00:21:45
But his name would
never have come up if it
00:21:47
wasn't for Detective Horgas.
00:21:49
[music playing]
00:22:01
[music playing]
