00:00:06
in 1996 a serial rapist preyed on women young and old in south bend indiana eventually three victims identified the
00:00:17
same man as the perpetrator but what happens when the forensic evidence points to one man
00:00:24
while the victims are pointing to another [Music] [Applause] [Music] throughout the spring and summer of 1996
00:01:00
police were investigating four sexual assault and burglary cases in the river park section of south bend indiana
00:01:09
all of the crimes occurred on weeknights between 8 and 11 pm and the descriptions
00:01:15
of the assailant were the same he was described as a young black male between 16 and 25 years of age about
00:01:24
five foot eight inches tall with a thin build one of the homes broken into belonged to
00:01:30
this woman who was asked not to be identified it had rained it had stormed and i was
00:01:36
in bed [Music] she says the perpetrator kicked in the door while she was asleep [Music]
00:01:56
she says she didn't get a good look at him since during the assault he covered
00:02:00
her eyes with a shirt first thing he said to me was [ __ ] i want your money in this case he assaulted her locked her
00:02:09
in a closet then stole her automobile but he was clever and left behind very few clues
00:02:18
he wore gloves so he wouldn't leave fingerprints and he wore a hood or mask to conceal his identity
00:02:25
i just tried to remember just do what he tells you to do and you'll be all right
00:02:30
and i was detectives sergeants sergeant cindy eastman and ann shellinger were investigating the crimes
00:02:40
there's nothing more stressful as an investigator than having a serial situation taking place because we know
00:02:47
until we solve this there are going to be more victims although the victims described the
00:02:53
assailant similarly his mo or method of operation in each case was different when we're looking at serial offenders
00:03:02
usually they stick with what works for them they normally carry the same weapon they normally approach the victim in the
00:03:08
same manner in some of the cases the perpetrator used a knife in others he used a handgun
00:03:16
sometimes he targeted young women on the street and other times broke into the homes of elderly women
00:03:26
in terms of forensic evidence investigators had very little in one case a semen sample
00:03:35
in another a pubic hair but few other clues the river park rapists most brazen crime
00:03:44
happened in july of 1996. the victims were a young man and his fiancee they were having an argument they
00:03:53
decided to stop the car get out just cool off talk it out seemingly out of nowhere the assailant
00:04:00
demanded money at gunpoint [Music] he struck the young man and took off with the woman sexually assaulting her
00:04:10
in a wooded area nearby [Music] when the police arrived their canine unit armed with the assailant's scent
00:04:22
identified a trail the dog walked past the tree line where the assault took place and continued
00:04:30
into a field at the spot where the dog lost the scent police noticed bicycle tire impressions
00:04:38
in the grass raising the possibility that he had used a bicycle to make his getaway
00:04:44
[Music] police staked out the neighborhood looking for men on bicycles who fit the
00:04:52
assailant's description it wasn't long before a suspect rode right into their
00:04:59
trap [Music] scores of police officers in south bend indiana searched the river park area in
00:05:09
a hunt for the river park rapist they were looking for a young black male living in the general vicinity of the
00:05:16
crimes who was using a bicycle as his method of transportation [Music] during a stakeout three months into the
00:05:27
crime spree a police officer saw a young black man matching the victim's description riding a bicycle just across
00:05:35
the street from one of the crime scenes the suspect was identified as 31 year old richard alexander
00:05:45
although he had previous brushes with the law alexander denied he was the river park rapist he claimed he was in
00:05:52
the wrong place at the wrong time i ain't did nothing man on my way home i'm the only you know
00:05:59
everybody in the area there's a quiet neighborhood whatever you know what i'm saying only black
00:06:03
going down the street on a brand new mountain bike they seen him riding his bike late and
00:06:08
so that's like a scapegoat they go you know a black man let's let's throw this
00:06:12
on him a search of alexander's apartment found a knife some hoods and bandanas
00:06:21
at police headquarters investigators placed alexander's picture along with five others in a photographic lineup and
00:06:29
asked the couple who had been attacked if their assailant was among them you don't recognize anyone
00:06:36
the woman could not identify a subject how about you that guy this guy here that's the one
00:06:43
that's him but her fiance did i'm absolutely certain he looked at the photo array and without
00:06:48
hesitation pointed to the picture of richard alexander as being the suspect that robbed them and sexually assaulted
00:06:54
the victim [Music] this was the only positive identification the other victims couldn't say for sure
00:07:05
but soon they would get a second chance police arranged for another lineup this time with the suspects in person
00:07:17
once again there were six suspects to choose from number six step forward and read the lines please
00:07:23
the first to step onto the stage was richard alexander reportedly one of the victims
00:07:31
gassed when they saw him walk out and perhaps even cried number three step forward and say your mind
00:07:38
each of the suspects was instructed to repeat phrases that the rapist had used during his attacks
00:07:44
[ __ ] i want your money where your car keys at uh don't talk uh i want your money
00:07:53
number six that's him after hearing his voice two female victims identified alexander as the
00:08:01
rapist bringing the number of identifications to three next forensic scientists analyzed the
00:08:09
pubic care found at one of the crime scenes since it didn't have a root it could not be used for dna testing
00:08:17
the only option was to compare it to richard alexander's hair visually to see
00:08:23
if they look similar the comparison was inconclusive scientists also had a semen sample from
00:08:31
one of the victims who had been unable to identify alexander from the police lineup
00:08:38
when that sample was tested for dna it did not match richard alexander so he was not charged for that crime
00:08:47
[Music] but he was charged with rape confinement burglary and theft in the three other
00:08:55
cases at the trial the prosecution failed to make their case to the jury barbara griffin was one of the 12 jurors
00:09:05
i've been working public servant for since 67 so i kind of know get a feel for people
00:09:13
and i just on the first day i got a feeling that this man didn't do this there were nine white and three black
00:09:23
nine whites said guilty two blacks said guilty but of lesser sentence and i said
00:09:33
not guilty so i was the only hold out and the jury was hung [Music] y'all got the wrong person
00:09:44
four months later alexander was tried a second time with the jury composed entirely of white men
00:09:51
and women based on the three victims identifications richard alexander was found guilty of
00:10:00
two of the three assaults he was sentenced to 70 years in prison we're just so devastated
00:10:08
and just depressed because we knew in our heart he was innocent i was crying you know what i'm saying because the way
00:10:15
they did me you know what i'm saying just tucked me off the street took my life
00:10:20
from me barbara griffin could not believe the news i was so angry i was just angry
00:10:30
i felt like this is another black man going to prison i felt that way even officer eastman had her doubts
00:10:40
i was sorry and somewhat surprised to hear that the jury did convict i was very conflicted
00:10:48
i i had my doubts but i could not prove it with alexander behind bars police assumed the river park rapes were over
00:10:58
but they were wrong had the authorities jailed the wrong man [Music] richard alexander says the first year in
00:11:12
prison was the hardest but the second third and fourth years behind bars weren't a lot easier
00:11:20
there is a pecking order in prison murderers and thieves are held in higher regard than child molesters and rapists
00:11:29
alexander says he saw more violence inside the prison than he ever saw outside i'm afraid now i'm gonna get killed
00:11:38
y'all seen guys get raped in the in the shower seen guys get right home in the shower taking the shower and
00:11:45
they got this homosexual in there look like a girl you know what i'm saying and
00:11:49
uh you got about two guys in there so i hear every guy out there the boys and then knocked out and they
00:11:54
finally landed in the shower they thought it was dead blood everywhere alexander did what many inmates do he
00:12:03
wrote letters to everyone he could think of proclaiming his innocence and asking
00:12:07
for another trial with no success meanwhile the burglaries and sexual assaults continued
00:12:16
this time not in the river park section but just a short distance away and one of those victims identified
00:12:25
richard alexander's picture from a photo lineup as the assailant you're absolutely certain
00:12:32
even though alexander was in prison detective ryan harmon was assigned to investigate these new cases and noticed
00:12:42
similarities with the earlier cases i didn't investigate the river park rapes 1996. so
00:12:49
i became a lot more familiar with what happened back then [Music] the search for the perpetrator took an
00:12:56
unexpected turn in april of 2000 when a man called police to say there was a tan cadillac in his driveway and
00:13:05
there was a burglar inside when the intruder saw the homeowner he fled on foot in the foyer was a clear foot impression
00:13:17
which was collected for analysis in the assailant's car police found everything they needed
00:13:26
i found utility bills some receipts different pieces of paper that showed michael
00:13:32
murphy's name on there as well as a specific address and apartment number a background check revealed michael
00:13:40
murphy had been implicated for sexually assaulting his girlfriend's nine-year-old niece
00:13:46
yeah he touched her what actually stopped him from actually going through with it was um his pager
00:13:53
went off she said detective harmon interviewed both murphy's girlfriend and the little
00:14:00
girl's mother well these two girls just went off two hours about all these different types of
00:14:05
burglaries he had committed michael thought he was big and bad and thought he was cool what he was doing
00:14:11
and thinking he getting away with what he was doing with the search warrant investigators
00:14:17
discovered a pair of shoes in murphy's closet which matched the shoe impression
00:14:22
at the burglary scene murphy's girlfriend gave police some pictures of murphy with some of the
00:14:31
items he had stolen in the burglaries when confronted with the evidence murphy said little he'd say hey when i'm
00:14:40
all hyped up on cocaine i need to go out and just you know find a girl but things like that told me that
00:14:48
he may be a sex offender harmon then called the first investigator of the river park rapes to
00:14:55
ask whether she had ever heard of michael murphy he had been arrested by me the month
00:15:01
prior so we began working together at that point on murphy and various other crimes that he
00:15:09
had been involved in when cindy eastman saw the photographs given to police by murphy's girlfriend
00:15:16
she saw an important clue in one of the pictures was a chrome and glass wall clock stolen during a sexual
00:15:25
assault in 1997 a crime that richard alexander was suspected of committing eastman immediately phoned murphy's
00:15:34
girlfriend she immediately said i know exactly what you're talking about i remember when he
00:15:38
came home with it it's hanging on my wall do you want it cindy revisited that
00:15:42
victim and asked her do you have any photographs that may depict the same clock and she had a photograph of her
00:15:49
her son during the holidays standing in front of this clock both detectives began to suspect
00:15:58
that the real river park rapist wasn't richard alexander but michael murphy they just needed some way to prove it
00:16:10
[Music] during richard alexander's trial five years earlier the pubic hair found on
00:16:18
one of the victims could not be tested for dna since there was no root material on the hair shaft
00:16:27
but science had changed in the five years since alexandra's conviction in 1996 forensic scientists began using
00:16:38
a new test to look for dna in a shaft of hair the new test was called mitochondrial dna
00:16:47
mitochondrial dna has given us tremendous power in forensic casework to solve the casework where no other dna
00:16:54
profile can be obtained it exists outside of the cell's nucleus although it is not as precise as nuclear
00:17:02
dna it still can provide much genetic information technicians clean the hair with chemical
00:17:11
solutions which purify the dna sample [Music] the second step is to amplify it or to
00:17:21
make enough copies to analyze the mitochondrial dna from the hair was compared to both richard alexander as
00:17:31
well as michael murphy the dna from the pubic hair did not match richard alexander
00:17:40
but it did match michael murphy we determined that at every place that we tested these two samples at all on an
00:17:49
average 800 bases that we compared they were identical to each other i got the word and it was just
00:17:56
absolutely exhilarating we knew then that richard alexander was going to be released from prison
00:18:05
next scientists performed dna testing of the second piece of evidence from the river park rapes semen from the rape
00:18:12
test kit in yet another surprise the dna did not match michael murphy as investigators assumed it would
00:18:22
the dna profile was then entered into the dna database of convicted sex offenders in the state of indiana
00:18:30
and there was another surprise it matched a third man a convicted sex offender mark williams
00:18:40
it was just unbelievable to get this call from the state police lab and there we have it we have the two suspects and
00:18:45
now it all makes sense ironically richard alexander michael murphy and mark williams looked similar
00:18:55
all three of these pictures showed a male black who appeared to be within a close age range all three had
00:19:03
similar musculature and statures all three of them had similar complexions and bone structure and
00:19:11
they did resemble each other which again answered the other mystery in this case
00:19:17
when confronted with the mitochondrial dna evidence michael murphy confessed he's just doing nothing but burglarizing
00:19:25
homes every day throughout the whole city looking back i think he's he's been well
00:19:30
over 200 to 250 that i know of that he's confessed to ironically michael murphy and his
00:19:37
girlfriend who knew nothing about the sexual assaults followed the river park rape cases on television
00:19:44
one time we were sitting at home watching tv and they showed the guy alexander i made a comment about you
00:19:51
know that's sad or what he done you know and if he done it i hope you know i told i said i hope
00:19:57
they kill him put him under you know and michael so they ain't gonna find nothing now he
00:20:02
ain't do them rapes in the face of this new dna evidence richard alexander was released from
00:20:12
prison after serving five years and four months for crimes he did not commit oh it was cheers
00:20:21
everybody stood up and cheered and hugged him and we got in the car and went home
00:20:28
it was so gratifying to me when afterward he came up to me and i held my hand out but he hugged me
00:20:35
and he thanked me and that's all that needed to be said it just solidified all the work you know
00:20:41
it was like going into that card game when you know you cut a royal flush and what's going to beat it
00:20:47
it still hurts it still hurts because really nothing's been done since i've been out you know what i'm
00:20:53
saying they uh i wanted the apology and you know saying they apologize but it ain't really nothing i'm saying
00:21:01
taking a man life five and a half years your life taken from your family loved ones kids all that stuff hurts
00:21:10
[Music] michael murphy was convicted of one count of burglary and one count of sexual molestation
00:21:19
he was sentenced to 30 years in prison mark williams was convicted of one count of rape and sentenced to 40 years in
00:21:28
prison [Music] richard alexander was a victim of mistaken identity his innocent bicycle ride passed a crime
00:21:42
scene cost him his freedom now science had vindicated him sometimes one tiny hair can say more about guilt
00:21:56
or innocence than a handful of eyewitnesses [Music] [Music] you