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it's usually easy to figure out how a criminal enters a crime scene but in this case it was far from clear
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it looked like the killer vanished in thin air and perhaps he had [Music] [Music]
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getting into medical school it's the hope and dream of thousands of students who apply each year then pray
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they'll be accepted michael andrade was one of those hopefuls he really wanted to be a doctor he
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really wanted to help people just recently my mom told um told me she used to tell him don't worry michael all
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your hard work is going to pay off because you worked really hard at school in 2005
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michael was a pre-med student at saint mary's university in san antonio texas
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he decided not to live in the dorms so he rented an apartment a few miles from campus
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he actually chose that apartment because it seemed more family oriented than the
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other apartments he said that was the one he felt safer at one morning in february of that year workmen smelled
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smoke coming from michael's apartment they noticed that the windows were coated with soot and when they went to
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the door it was unlocked and as soon as they opened the front door smoke came below me now they were forced out
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because of the smoke and when they went back in they found mr andrade laying on the bed
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michael andrade had been strangled to death his body was somewhat burned but very little compared to if the fire
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would have taken over he was found with one of his arms his right arm in fact back behind him about belt high
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it appeared that he had been at some point tied up with his hands behind him there were no signs of forced entry
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but electronic equipment was missing there was a entertainment center that had speakers hanging off the front of it
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which appeared to have been connected to something and that item was missing on the computer desk was a perfect you
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know demarcation of where a computer would have sat this meant that the computer had been
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stolen after the fire started and the fire was set in three different locations arson investigators gave information
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from the beginning that the fire probably was not started with an accelerant it wasn't
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gasoline it wasn't uh lighter fluid anything that would create big flame type uh a big flame type fire a winged
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back chair placed in between the kitchen and dining area was the site of one fire
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the foot of the bed was another and the third fire started on the floor of the bedroom closet
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i had watched a lot of forensic shows and i knew that that seemed like a cover-up that when there's three points
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of fire one person's not gonna the person who's obviously passed away was
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not the person who said it that there was obviously gonna be someone trying to cover up whatever evidence was in the
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apartment michael had been wearing boxer shorts and a t-shirt an indication he might have known the
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perpetrator and willingly let him or her inside he knew them and was comfortable
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enough around them to be just in his underwear if it was somebody that he didn't know
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everyone was certain that he would have put on more clothing before he answered the door
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with no forensic evidence investigators hoped that the stolen items might lead to the identity of the
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killer there was always a chance that something would happen something would break later
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someone would brag about the crime someone would uh come across the stolen material and or stolen property and
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bring that back and we could track it back that way or maybe there was evidence in the apartment that they
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couldn't yet see at michael andrade's autopsy the medical examiner confirmed what
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investigators already suspected she did find that he had been murdered before the fire was set because there was no
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smoke in his lungs the deposit of soot across the body indicated that he had actually died in that face down position
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because the soot deposition was much more prominent across the back of the body the cause of death was
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strangulation with a piece of cloth ripped from the bed sheet [Music] and dr dana also found fiberglass
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insulation on the body this was unusual since there was very little structural damage caused by the
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fire the material deposited was there alone there's a possibility that it had been deposited by the perpetrator
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when the when the deceased was strangled it's unusual that you would see just the
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insulation material without this other debris such as wood burned wood nails screws that have
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come out and even fixtures out of the ceiling in their search for suspects investigators couldn't find anyone who
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had a motive to kill michael andrade he never had no enemies i never seen him mad at anybody upset
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about anything it's a person that you don't even think anybody would have anything against them
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so i had no idea investigators discovered one person who was apparently angry with him his
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longtime girlfriend a fellow student 22 year old lily macias i do remember quite a few fights between
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the two of them where he'd be very upset either hurt or mad at her i don't know
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exactly what would happen it was just they would have problems and you could tell
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investigators found a voicemail from lily to michael left at 8 30 that morning she had left a message on michael's cell
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phone indicating that they were having problems and that she was done with their relationship
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was it possible that lily went to michael's apartment afterwards and there was an altercation
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at that point combined with the fact that it seemed like michael may have known the person
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who did this to him she was initially a suspect but lily had an alibi she was working at her part-time job on
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the morning of the murder and was eliminated as a suspect she was very forthcoming she was willing to give us a
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statement willing to allow us search of her apartment willing to allow us a search of her vehicle
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michael's sister stephanie provided the first solid lead she said michael complained about a man
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he saw around the apartment complex the guy would just talk to him but that the guy made him feel very uncomfortable
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for some reason he didn't say while the guy never said anything suspicious to
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him or anything mean but he just said he always felt a little uncomfortable or a little uneasy around
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the guy just because his character seemed a little off unfortunately michael never identified
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the man provided a physical description or mentioned where in the complex he lived
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right at that point the investigators had merely the crime the crime scene and a
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very large universe of potential suspects with with not a whole lot to go on pinpointing a specific person
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with no other suspects for the murder of michael andrade investigators appealed to the public for
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help four days later an anonymous tipster called the crime stoppers tip was amazing in
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its detail the tipster told police the killer didn't enter andrade's apartment through
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the front door or even a window he entered through an attic crawl space the tipster knew that mr andrade's
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laptop was missing knew about the contents of the laptop which was never public information
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you really have to question how would somebody know this kind of information [Music]
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investigators got an anonymous tip in the michael andrade murder investigation that the killer entered michael's
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apartment through a crawl space in the attic sure enough investigators found a paneled opening to
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the attic in the ceiling of michael's bedroom closet when investigators checked it out
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they discovered that someone could access other apartments through the crawl space
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the insulation was only matted between michael's apartment and department number
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1002 these spaces connected to each other it was something i would have never thought
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of it was something that unless you were a maintenance person i would figure you
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wouldn't know about none of the insulation above any of the other apartments had
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been disturbed the only apartment that had been disturbed was michael andrade's
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apartment the tenant of apartment 1002 was 23 year old maria solis a single mother who
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lived there with her three-year-old son when questioned by police maria claimed she didn't even know michael andrade or
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where he lived but investigators didn't believe her so they took the unusual step of
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confiscating maria's vacuum cleaner and the clothes in her hamper investigators found a pair of men's
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jeans and on those jeans were tiny glass fibers the small air pockets within the glass
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had expanded creating a distinctive football shape this was fiberglass insulation that had
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been in or near a fire the evidence was not destroyed it was simply charred this gave it unique properties something
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that i can compare back to with any standards that were found at the scene the charred insulation on these jeans
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was consistent with the charred insulation found on michael andrade's body the insulation was unique it was burnt
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insulation so it wasn't a situation where the person could say i'd been working at
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a construction site that's how i got this insulation on my clothing wrapped around the spool of the vacuum
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cleaner investigators found highly distinctive thread black polyester fibers were wrapped
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around cotton fibers then colored with an unusual combination of dyes this fibrous bundle is composed of
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polyester and cotton it's a blend it also has the dark colored polyester that gives the dyeing characteristics
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and adds in strength to the thread this thread was consistent with thread found around michael's neck it matched
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his bed sheet which had been torn and used as a ligature microscopically it was the
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pattern that the threads had that were able to give me that distinguishing or that unique appearance
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that associated with the bedding material also in maria's apartment investigators found a video camera and
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keys to a ford truck the video contained images of michael andrade's family proof that the camera was michael's and
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the car keys were michael's michael andrade's truck was a ford f-150 and these keys were ford keys
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went down with the alarm remote on the set of keys and opened up his truck investigators confronted maria soliz
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and wanted to know who owned the men's genes found in her hamper after she was threatened with
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prosecution maria soliz changed her story she now admitted she had a roommate 25 year old
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joe luna she met luna over the internet and seemed to me to be desperate to be in a relationship with the man
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and latched on to joe luna in what i believe was a very manipulative relationship
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maria claimed she knew nothing about joe luna's criminal past that he had served five years in prison
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for carjacking and aggravated assault on a police officer and joe luna was wanted for a series of
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home invasions that bore a marked similarity to the michael andrade case he would break in cut bed sheets up tie
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up the people who were at the house with those strips of bed sheets he terrorized
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five separate people three of whom were families with children he tied them up he used weapons
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he threatened them he stole from them brook anvik was a victim of one of those home invasions
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it's just indescribable i mean you feel like your home is where you're safe
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after the robbery brook found forensic evidence the perpetrator had left behind and we
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noticed that two cigarette butts were in the garage we don't smoke and none of our friends
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who had been at the house recently smoke dna from the saliva on the cigarette butts
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matched joe luna it's surprising to me that someone would leave behind their dna
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almost uh carelessly leave behind cigarette butts that they had you know of cigarettes
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that they had smoked just five days after michael andrade's murder joe luna was arrested and charged with
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the crime did you kill your neighbor my killer buddy period i don't ever see
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myself in a position where i would have to do something like that despite his denials
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joe luna was facing a possible death sentence the forensic evidence painted a vivid
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picture of joe luna's movements on the morning of michael andrade's murder
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prosecutors believe joe luna spent most of his time inside his girlfriend's apartment since he knew
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there were warrants out for his arrest on the robbery cases with nothing to do he discovered
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there was an attic and crawl space above the apartment so he looked around and discovered there was another
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apartment just 60 feet away michael andrade's apartment prosecutors believe he opened the panel in michael's bedroom
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closet and when he didn't hear any sound dropped in but michael was sleeping and the noise
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woke him up there was a struggle [Music] luna tore the bed sheets bound michael's
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hands behind his back and strangled him to death fearing that michael could identify him
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to mask the evidence he set fire to the clothes in michael's closet and returned to his girlfriend's
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apartment through the crawl space when he didn't hear the fire alarm sound he suspected the fire went out so he
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returned to michael's apartment to start the fire again he stole michael's computer electronic
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equipment and his car keys before leaving he set the two additional fires when luna returned to his girlfriend's
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apartment he shed fibers from michael's apartment which he tried to remove with
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his girlfriend's vacuum cleaner and he put his jeans into the clothes hamper which had the burned insulation
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on them having that forensics evidence in your back pocket as an investigator is just
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something that you can't overcome when it's on your clothing there's a real
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hard hurdle hurdled overcome to say that i didn't i didn't do it now during her police interrogation maria
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soldies eventually admitted that luna had confessed it's like i went into an apartment
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and he's just like well somebody was there when i got there and i'm like okay
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and he's like well they saw me it's like so it's like i had to do what i had to do
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i'm like what are you talking about what did you think in your mind that he did
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that he had heard somebody that he had done what he did to this boy i don't like to
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say that four letter words that he had taken this person's life joe luna headed for trial insisting he
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was innocent but the forensic evidence caused him to reconsider the fiber evidence that was found
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and the fiber evidence that i had looked at was apparently so compelling that the
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defendant didn't want to continue on with this case which is quite unusual for a
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capital myrtle trial so luna changed his plea to guilty and admitted what he had done
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in open court he testified that he enjoyed it that he lived for the adrenaline rush
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that it gave him to victimize people and to get away with it i cannot fathom the terror
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that that young man went through and really there could be nothing worse than seeing a joe luna walk out of your
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closet in march of 2006 luna asked the jury to give him the death penalty they willingly obliged
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there are certain people in our society that have absolutely forfeited their right to live among us
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by their own actions and by their own decisions joe luna is one of those people ironically
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joe luna tried to cover up his crime by burning the evidence but he didn't destroy it instead
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he made those tiny glass insulation fibers more distinctive it was actually the last way i thought
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that they would catch him that was furthest from my mind that it would be in a vacuum
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you have to have the forensics you have to have the evidence that can't skip
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town you have to have the evidence that can't lie to you as my old professor once said there is
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no such thing as a perfect crime that you can plan you can calculate you can try to manipulate the
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circumstances or the surroundings but you always leave a piece of trace evidence behind
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[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you