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[Music] After a day of fishing in a small, quiet village in Switzerland, a teenage boy
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did not return home as planned. The investigation revealed some important microscopic evidence in the water near
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where he was last seen. It was the only forensic evidence detectives had. [Music]
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Late in the afternoon of August 4th, 1993, in the small Swiss village of Noi Paradis,
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13-year-old Dario Chickalia left his home to go fishing in a nearby by Creek. As night fell on the town, Dario had not
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returned home and his mother called the police to report her son missing. >> When we found the bike and his clothing,
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we concluded that he had last been fishing there. >> Where and with whom he could have left
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the place, we had no idea. Two days passed and the search intensified with more than a 100
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policemen patrolling the area with search dogs. A missing person poster aired on local television and newspapers
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asked, "Where is Dario. As time passed, people feared the worst." >> To us, there were clear indications that
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a crime had taken place because of the objects found. his bike and his trunks. >> Search teams meticulously combed the
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field next to the creek where Dario's swim trunks and fishing pole had been found. Farther downstream, police found
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Dario's t-shirt on the bank. A dam was placed in the creek in order to search the muddy bottom for evidence.
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Many items were discovered, but nothing that could be linked to the missing boy.
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Let's see if we do the doctor. >> Two nights after Dario was reported missing, two women were walking a dog
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along a field path near Switzerland's border with Germany. They saw what appeared to be blood.
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[Music] >> Just a few feet away in a nearby corn field lay the naked body of a young man.
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When I got the message from these two women, we immediately sent a police officer to check the site. When he
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reported that the body was that of a young man, we realized that it might be Dario.
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>> The body was positively identified as Dario Chickia. He had been sexually mutilated.
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>> I certainly will never forget this all of my life, that terrible sight. It was
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quite obvious from the beginning that it was a sex crime. This could be seen from
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the injuries. There were cuts and bruises also in the genital area. >> When the medical examiner arrived at the
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scene, he concluded that the cuts on the body were consistent with a pocketk knife, but were made sometime after the
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boy was dead. I found on the body a lot of long cuts side by side and this helped me to think that the boy did not
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move during the cuts were made and on the other hand there were no defensive wounds.
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>> Although blood had been found near the body, Dr. Wiler believed it wasn't
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enough blood to indicate that the boy's heart was still pumping when the mutilation took place. When there is no
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heart action and no circulation in the body, there is no possibility to to bleed very much.
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>> With no evidence of a struggle, police suspected that Dario had been murdered
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somewhere else and the body transported to the cornfield. Police found Dario's sneakers in the
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cornfield, but they did not find the knife used in the mutilation. We were greatly alarmed. Such crimes are
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frequently repeated if the killer is still at large. We therefore started immediately with a very thorough search
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of the environment. >> Police could find no foreign hair, fibers, or semen. But Dr. Wiler swabbed
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the inside of Dario's mouth for possible forensic evidence. When he analyzed that
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sample, he discovered some microscopic evidence. It was a discovery that would change the course of the investigation
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and launch a new era in crime science. After Dario Chicoia's mutilated body was
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found lying in a corn field, Dr. Dr. Daniel Wiler analyzed the forensic evidence from Dario's mouth. Something
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under the microscope caught his attention. He found what are called datones. Datome are a type of algae, microscopic
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organisms that live mostly in the sea, in ponds, lakes, and streams. They can also be found on moist rocks, even in
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mud and soil. These tiny organisms are the most diverse of all algae. Globally, they account for approximately 25% of
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all photosynthesis. There are about 16,000 different species of datones worldwide, about 3,000
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species in Switzerland alone. Datomes can tell scientists about past environmental conditions in freshwater
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and marine environments as long ago as tens of thousands of years. And in the case of Dario Chicoia, Dr. Wiler hoped
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that the datones found in his body would reveal something about his murder. >> I was absolutely sure that this boy was
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drowned in the lungs. I found a lot of mud and this helped me to see that he has
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been in water with a lot of mud. So it can't be a very deep lake or something
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like that. It must be a a creek or a small river or something like that. Datome were also found on Dario's
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sneakers which were in the cornfield near his body. The next step was to see if the datomes in Dario's lungs and on
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his sneakers could help determine the exact body of water where Dario had been murdered. To find out, Dr. Wiler called
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on the expertise of Dr. Yakim Hurleman, a biologist who specializes in the study
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of datones. You can look to the datms in the lung and you see the species and the
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species give you information about the the type of river or lake the water quality. Dr. Hurleman was asked to
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analyze the datome populations in Dario's lungs and sneakers as well as those found in water samples from the
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region. If he could find significant similarities, investigators would know the exact
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location of his murder. If you have a a high similarity, you know that two samples must come from the same place.
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>> But with as many as 3,000 different species of datomes in Switzerland alone,
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Dr. Hurleman would have to test water samples from the nearby bodies of water to make an accurate comparison
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>> to be very sure that there is no other pond or river or creek which has the
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similar or the same datm community. So if you look to other um water bodies and you won't find the communities then you
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are quite sure that uh this special place was the place of the of the drowning. Water samples were collected
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from the surrounding bodies of water, including the Ryan River, which flows between the creek and the cornfield
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where Dario's body had been found. The water samples were treated with acids to
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kill any organic matter in the datome, leaving their glass-like skeletal remains, a necessary step in
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identification according to species. Under the microscope, Dr. Dr. Hurleman compared the datome populations found in
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Dario's lungs and on his sneakers to the thousands of known species in his reference journals. He found one
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dominant species. The datomes were identified as fragilaria pinata, a freshwater species usually found
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attached to sand grains in slowly moving water. The next step was for Dr. Hurleman to count and identify the
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datome populations from the various water samples using an elaborate chart. It was a tedious process, but eventually
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he found one body of water which had as its dominant species fragileria panata. The same dominant species found in
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Dario's lungs and on his sneakers. It was from a water sample taken from the
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creek just a few feet away from where Dario's bicycle was found. This discovery led Dr. Hurleman to one
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conclusion. >> We can say that the datoms found in the lungs of Daario must be from the same
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place we have taken samples in from the creek. Was it possible that the datome evidence could tell investigators more
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than simply where Dario was murdered? Could the DAO lead investigators to the killer?
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Armed with the datome evidence found inside Dario Chicoia's lungs and on his
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sneakers, police concluded that he had been forcefully drowned in the creek where he had been fishing before being
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mutilated and dumped in the cornfield. The question now, who murdered Dario? And how was the body transported to the
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cornfield a few kilometers away? Police questioned friends and acquaintances of the victim.
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>> We questioned about 200 persons both in Switzerland and Germany. Of course, the
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family were also investigated as it is always done in such cases. Also, in case no responsible person is found to clear
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the family that no suspicions remain with them. With no strong leads or suspects, Swiss police informed Interpol
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of the case. Interpol is an international agency headquartered in France that shares information about
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criminal investigations with 178 nations who are members of the network. >> As the body was found so close to the
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border, it was possible that the murderer might have come from or gone to a foreign country. It was a difficult
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case. Interpol was also informed of the case. Three months after the murder of Dario Chicia, Interpol notified Swiss
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police of a possible lead. A man had been arrested in France for sexually assaulting a hitchhiker and trying to
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kill him. He was identified as 35year-old Roland Keebler, a psychiatric nurse who was divorced and the father of
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a 5-year-old girl. What caught Interpol's attention was the fact that Keebler lived in Switzerland, not far
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from the village where Dario Chicia was murdered. When Dr. Wiler heard of Roland
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Keebler's arrest, he suggested something unusual. He told the Swiss police to
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examine Keebler's car. >> Car is still in in Switzerland. So I asked the police whether it's possible
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to get the pedals of the car and the carpet in the trunk to bring all that stuff to Dr. Hurleman.
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>> It was clear that the people who has done this drowning that um he must have
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the items on his shoes on his clothes or uh in his car. Forensic scientists collected microscopic debris from inside
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Keebler's car, including material from both the gas and brake pedals, the carpet in the passenger compartment, and
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the carpet from the trunk. When Dr. Hurleman analyzed those samples under a microscope, he made a surprising
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discovery. He found datones. They were found on both the gas and brake pedals, in the carpet under the
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pedals, and in the carpet in the trunk. When he analyzed the datome found in the
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car, he discovered they were fragilaria panata, the same dominant species found in Dario's lungs, on his sneakers, and
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in the creek. With 3,000 different species of datomes in Switzerland, the similarities in the datome evidence was
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significant. We know now that the material found in in the car must come or is similar to to the one of the lung
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of Daario and to the material found in the creek. >> Armed with this microscopic evidence,
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Swiss police confronted Roland Keebler. He denied he had anything to do with Dario's murder and said he only knew
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about the crime from what he read in the newspapers. But during questioning, Keebler revealed details of Dario's
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wounds, details which had never been reported in the newspapers. Roland Keebler knew too much. When
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confronted with the discrepancy, Roland Keebler confessed to the murder of Dario
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Chicoia. A picture now emerged of what took place at the creek the day Dario disappeared
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and how his killer left behind a microscopic trail of evidence. During police interrogation,
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Roland Keebler confessed to both the murder and mutilation of Dario Czechalia and his long-standing sexual fantasies
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about young boys. >> He is in simple terms a pedophile and he has suppressed his homosexual tendencies
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for years and when he lived his fantasies he had to kill the victim in order to keep a secret.
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On August 4th, 1993, Dario rode his bicycle to the creek near his home for an afternoon of fishing.
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He left his bike near the main road and headed down to the water. [Music] Roland Keebler was on vacation and had
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been drinking heavily when he drove in the area where Dario was fishing. Keebler spotted Dario's bike and told
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police just knowing a young boy was in the area excited him greatly. Keebler parked his car and walked to
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where Dario was fishing. >> Ash. >> No, Nick. >> After a brief conversation, Keebler
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approached Dario again. He attacked the young boy, pushing him into the water, forced him to undress,
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and sexually molested him. Then Keebler forced Dario's head under the water into the mud of the stream
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bed. With his knee between Dario's shoulder blades, he kept the voice submerged until the struggling stopped.
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[Music] Keebler decided not to leave the body at the scene of the crime. Instead, he
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placed the boy's body into the trunk of his car and left for a social engagement
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with his ex-wife. [Music] Little did Keebler realize he had left behind a trail of evidence, microscopic
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single cell evidence which would link him to the scene of the crime. From the moment Keebler pushed his
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victim into the creek, microscopic dios in the water attached themselves to the soles of his shoes, and dat
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flooded Dario's mouth and lungs when he was forcefully drowned. Keebler transferred those datomes from
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his shoes to the pedals of his car when he drove away and dat from Dario's mouth would later
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seep onto the carpet in the trunk in which he was transported to the cornfield. Dr. Wiler's discovery of the datones and
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Dr. Hurlman's species identification in the laboratory were essential elements
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in tracking down a vicious killer. Roland Keebler had silenced his victim, but the datome evidence spoke volumes.
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>> I am proud that I found this datoms. It was a very very good feeling for me to
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have found a scientific way to prove something what was very important to find a murder. We know that we didn't
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make big mistakes or errors in in the determination or in the preparation of the all the samples. So it was at this
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moment it was a good feeling. Of course >> this case therefore became sort of a
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model case also worldwide and particularly in Switzerland. It had never been done in this way before. We
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were pioneers and we certainly hope that it will be possible to solve other cases
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in the same way for the future. Roland Keebler confessed not only to the murder of Dario Chicia, but also admitted
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killing another boy in the same area of Switzerland 10 years earlier. Keebler was convicted of both crimes and was
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sentenced to life in prison. Candles burned near the creek where Dario died. a shrine built by villagers
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to keep Dario's memory alive. And in a nearby churchyard where Dario is buried, his sculpture reminds
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visitors of the gentle, innocent child who died too soon. >> Whenever children are the victims of
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violent crimes, it's much, much worse. And this must be the same all over the
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world. [Music] Wonder why? [Music] [Applause] [Music]