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[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: A small town is rattled when a dead body is found in a garbage can.
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I could seeing hip bones and the belt still around the headphones. NARRATOR: Can Dr. Michael Warren figure out who this person is
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and what happened to them? It was unlike anything I had seen before. NARRATOR: Then, a woman stumbles upon a gruesome scene,
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a homeless man dead in the woods. There's a big hole in his head. Can Dr. Glassman help find justice for a man living
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on the fringes of society? It's really sad in a case like this, when the individual
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probably bled to death. [MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: A small community in Georgia. Neighbors here often keep to themselves.
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But are always ready with a helping hand whenever someone needs it. Susanne Woodard lent her neighbors
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a mop bucket several months ago and hasn't seen it since. Now, she needs her bucket back.
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The door is usually open, but this time, it's locked. SUSANNE WOODARD (VOICEOVER): I was just standing
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there, just looking around. Something just kept telling me, you know, come to the shed.
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You know, go look in the shed. NARRATOR: The closer she gets to the shed, the more she smells something rotting.
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I thought it was just a rat or cat or a squirrel, you know, had died in the shed.
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Then, I noticed there was a big garbage can. And then, I looked back and I was like, what are they doing
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with a garbage can in here? When I pulled it closer, I leaned it and I opened it.
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I could see hip bones and the belt still around the hip bones. NARRATOR: Susanne believes the remains
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are human and immediately phones the sheriff's department. Detective Robert Dean rushes to the scene
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to investigate the case. He confirms Susanne's dark suspicions. The body was in a state of advanced decomposition.
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You could tell that it was human remains. But other than that, it was impossible to tell
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who the person was. NARRATOR: Right away, Assistant State Attorney Tim Browning suspects he
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has a murder case on his hands. Certainly a human body in a garbage can in a fairly close community is going to raise
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red flags all over the place. And the suspicion is definitely foul play and probably
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of the highest order. NARRATOR: But all investigators have to work with are bones.
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So to help solve this case, they call in forensic anthropologist Dr. Michael Warren
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from the University of Florida. Dr. Warren will try to use the skeleton to identify the body
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and determine a cause of death. Skeletons tell the story of a person's life. What I do is the same thing that, say,
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an archaeologist is doing. I'm trying to reconstruct a past event and trying to better understand what's going on with the humans
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that are involved. And every skeleton that I've seen has had something about it that's fascinating.
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And that's the great thing about my job. NARRATOR: Before he gets a look at the body,
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Dr. Warren knows this will be no ordinary case. Take a left here. When we got to the medical examiner's office,
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we saw something that we don't normally see, which was a large trashcan. It was just brilliant the way that the crime
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scene investigators decided to just keep the body in the trash can. NARRATOR: Leaving the remains in the trash
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can allows Dr. Warren to see the body exactly as it was discovered. It was as if the body had been folded in half
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with the head down and then the feet were at the bottom of the receptacle. It was liquefied.
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It was very decomposed. NARRATOR: Ironically, by hiding the body in the trash can, the killer actually slowed
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down the decomposition process. The trash can presents a controlled environment.
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It's protected from insects that may come through. It decreases the amount of variation in the temperature
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that would have occurred had the body been outside of a receptacle. The trash can basically helped preserve the body.
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NARRATOR: Although the body is well preserved, investigators still have no idea who it is
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and how this person ended up in the trash can. As Dr. Warren begins his examination of the bones,
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investigators canvassed the neighborhood, hoping to learn all they can about the occupants
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of the house. Within two or three hours, we knew that two brothers lived there. NARRATOR: Police learned that the older
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brother's name is Ed Gill. He's been in prison for four months for passing bad checks.
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Neighbors tell police the younger brother is Larry Gill, a quiet man who was a carpenter by trade.
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SUSANNE WOODARD (VOICEOVER): He worked hard. He did they labor. He would come home in the afternoon
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and he'd drink his beer. As long as I knew him, he had never hurt anybody. NARRATOR: Investigators learned that the Gill brothers mostly
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kept to themselves, in the house they lived in together since childhood. Their father had passed away a few years back
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and they may have had distant relatives, but they were pretty much alone in the world together.
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NARRATOR: But police can't find Larry Gill to question him. And the neighbors haven't seen him in six months.
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For more background on Larry, investigators turned to his incarcerated brother. Ed is stunned by the news of a body in his shed.
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And he has only sketchy information on Larry's whereabouts. He told us that his brother had left with his girlfriend
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and hadn't heard from him in a while. NARRATOR: Those who know Larry find this sudden move
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uncharacteristic. Larry loved his home. He was raised there. And I cannot see him going, well, this is it.
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I'm tired of it. I'm leaving all of this. NARRATOR: But to investigators, Larry's abrupt departure
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is consistent with the way a murderer would flee a murder scene. They wonder if this quiet man could be the killer who dumped
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the body in the trash can. This was not consistent behavior for Larry Gill, to simply fall off the face of the Earth.
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NARRATOR: Coming up, detectives, now more than ever, are counting on Dr. Warren to extract clues from the bones.
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This case is unlike anything I had seen before. And I've seen a lot of skeletons.
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NARRATOR: And later, prosecutors are counting on Dr. Glassman to find evidence that a hatchet found in the woods
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is the murder weapon. The district attorney is very interested in having this hatchet fit.
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But I'm an unbiased scientist. And I have to look at all possibilities. NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
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Forensic anthropologist Dr. Michael Warren needs to put a name to the bones found in a trash can.
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This discovery was made behind the home shared by two brothers, Larry and Ed Gill.
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One reason that we identify the dead is to help those that are left behind deal,
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emotionally, with that death. NARRATOR: Determining the victim's identity will also help police develop potential suspects.
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We hoped that Dr. Warren would be able to identify the victim. Without that information, there's no way we can
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proceed with a criminal charge. NARRATOR: Dr. Warren begins by laying out each bone
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on the examination table. The first order of business is to do an inventory and see what bones are there, to make sure
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that the whole body's there. NARRATOR: He then begins to create a biological profile
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of the victim to narrow down his or her sex, age, stature, and even ancestry. We may be able to provide a little bit of information,
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general information, in terms of the biological characteristics of the decedent.
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NARRATOR: In the human skeleton, the differences between the sexes are most obvious in the pelvis.
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Designed for child bearing, a woman's pelvic bone has a visibly wider opening. Dr. Warren finds a smaller pelvic opening in the decedent,
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establishing that this victim is male. Then, he notices something unusual in the victim's bones.
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When the first bone comes out and then I take a look, I see, well that's a benign tumor.
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That will be helpful in identifying this person. Then, the next long bone comes out.
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And my goodness, there's two lesions on this one bone. All of these long ones have tumors.
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The number of lesions that we saw in this case is unlike anything I had seen before.
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And I've seen a lot of skeletons. NARRATOR: These multiple lesions, or tumors, indicate that the victim
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suffered from a rare disease. It became apparent that this individual, in fact, did have a hereditary bone disease called
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hereditary multiple exostoses. NARRATOR: Hereditary multiple exostoses, or HME, is so rare it occurs in just 1 in 50,000 people.
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It is a disease of the growth plates that causes abnormal growth of bone. So the growth occurs at both ends of those long bones.
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And this disease causes abnormal benign tumors. NARRATOR: HME is usually diagnosed during childhood
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and can profoundly affect the development process of the afflicted person's bones.
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What it causes is for one bone to grow longer than another bone. NARRATOR: And in the case of the skeleton found in the trash
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can, Dr. Warren notes the leg bones are different lengths, most likely affecting
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the victim's ability to walk. He actually had limbs that were of different length
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that might have caused him to-- to limp. NARRATOR: This finding rocks the investigation.
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Police know the man they want to question in connection with the body, Larry Gill,
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also walked with a limp. Now, police believe Larry gill might not be the killer after all.
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Instead, he might be the victim, the person they found stuffed in the trash can.
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To verify this identification, Dr. Warren compares x-rays of the bones found in the trash can
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with those of Larry Gill. Mr. Gill's skeleton was was different than any other skeleton in the world.
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NARRATOR: In Larry Gill's x-rays, Dr. Warren sees tumors caused by the rare HME disease.
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The tumors on both sets of x-rays are an exact match. So are the screws and plates doctors used to shore up Larry
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Gill's weakened, brittle bones. And there's seven screws in it. And there it is.
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After looking at these films and comparing them, it's pretty evident that this is Larry Gill.
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NARRATOR: Thanks to Dr. Warren, investigators now know that Larry Gill, the man first considered a suspect,
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is in fact the victim. The news of Larry's death saddens those who knew this quiet and likeable man.
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He'd grown up in that house, lived in the neighborhood his entire life, everybody knew him.
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He loved his neighborhood. And he loved his friends. Larry was a gentle guy. He was so close to us that our daughter called him uncle.
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He was just like a brother to me. NARRATOR: Now, investigators must find justice for Larry Gill.
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But first, they need to prove he was murdered, before they can charge anyone with a crime.
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DR. WARREN (VOICEOVER): The body was in a trash can. And that's usually not a natural death.
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So we're looking for anything that would tell us what the cause and manner of death
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might have been. NARRATOR: Without a cause of death, the killer could get away with murder.
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Police need Dr. Warren to search for clues contained in the skeleton that could prove Larry Gill was murdered.
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Coming up, detectives are counting on Dr. Warren to find evidence of murder. We knew it was a homicide.
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The question at that point was, could we prove it was a homicide? NARRATOR: And later, prosecutors are determined to bring
00:13:41
peace to a distraught family. They wanted to know what happened to him. NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
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Investigators are counting on forensic anthropologist Dr. Michael Warren to determine how Larry Gill died.
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It's crucial that we have a cause of death, so that we can proceed with identification of a suspect
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and the prosecution of that person. NARRATOR: As a first step, Dr. Warren examines x-rays of the Larry Gill's skull
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and immediately finds evidence of foul play. He had some fractures of his face that showed that he had been struck several times.
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NARRATOR: Dr. Warren also finds additional fractures in Larry Gill's tibia, more commonly known
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as the shin bone. You can actually see the fracture, which is right here. Very subtle fracture.
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NARRATOR: And he is sure these fractures are completely unrelated to the HME lesions that
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weakened Larry's leg bones. DR. WARREN (VOICEOVER): This fracture was through good quality bone.
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The fracture had nothing to do with the tumors that he had in his lower legs. That's a blow.
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You know, that's-- that's a traumatic blow. This was a traumatic injury. NARRATOR: But he determined that all of these fractures
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were not life threatening and occurred prior to Larry's death. He had some fractures that he had occurred
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during his life that were in various stages of healing or were healed. None of these traumatic injuries are recent.
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NARRATOR: Dr. Warren concludes that fractures of this nature, acquired over many years, did not kill Larry.
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But they paint a disturbing portrait of unrelenting abuse. What he finds next supports his theory.
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He also had a wound in his hand that we refer to as a boxer's fracture. And that is a fracture of the fourth or fifth digit, usually,
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in a bone called the metacarpal. NARRATOR: Boxer's fractures are often found in people who use their fist to defend themselves
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from heavy blows in a fight. But investigators wonder who would savagely beat someone
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as well like this Larry. He was a real laid back, easygoing kind of guy that didn't have any problems with anyone.
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NARRATOR: Detectives establish that Larry had no criminal record and kept to himself.
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He lived a quiet life and devoted himself to taking care of his elderly parents prior to their death.
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SUSANNE WOODARD (VOICEOVER): That was Larry. He'd make sure supper was done or clothes were washed.
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NARRATOR: But neighbors had a different impression of his brother Ed. Ed Gill was a very large man, very powerful and intimidating.
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He was best described as a bully by the neighbors. He was one of these guys that could come up to you
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and take your glasses off your face and you would be happy to give it to him. NARRATOR: When police dig further into Ed's background,
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what they uncover seems to support Dr. Warren's findings. Our investigation revealed that Ed Gill had been arrested
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a couple of years earlier-- Look at me when I talk to you. For the aggravated battery of his brother.
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NARRATOR: Ed attacked Larry with an ax handle, breaking both of Larry's legs, several ribs, and both wrists.
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He also fractured Larry's face and skull. The comment from the doctor was that this beating
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did everything but kill Larry. NARRATOR: At the time, Ed is convicted of assault. He serves
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a few months in prison and is paroled on the condition that he stay away from Larry.
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But Ed is determined to remain in the family home. He moves right back in with Larry.
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Larry stays, despite the constant abuse. TIM BROWNING (VOICEOVER): Larry was a victim of domestic violence.
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In the cycle of domestic violence, it's not uncommon for people to stay under very
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oppressive physical conditions. You have two people who are living under the same roof,
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one of them is on felony probation for a physical attack on the other. And that creates an environment that is just ripe for problems.
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NARRATOR: Nearly two years later, tensions escalate when a probation officer pays Ed gill a visit.
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The officer threatens to send Ed back to prison, unless he stops living with his brother.
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You're not supposed to be here. NARRATOR: Ed's solution to the problem, investigators believe,
00:18:08
is to move Larry out of the house permanently, by killing him. We know, as far as the motive, why Ed would kill Larry.
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I think his dislike for his brother and the fact that the home was the place he wanted to be in,
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he couldn't be there if his brother was there, was motive enough for him to kill his brother.
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NARRATOR: Several days after the probation officer's visit, Larry disappears. Ed's apparent ruthlessness shocks even
00:18:37
seasoned homicide prosecutors. The thing that stood out in my mind is how a person, not so much could kill their brother, which
00:18:44
is tragic enough, but then lived for weeks and months in the same house, knowing that their brother is
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out there in the utility shed, in the garbage can. NARRATOR: Ed is easy for police to find.
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He spent over a month in the county jail for passing bad checks. You put him in the trash can.
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NARRATOR: But during the interrogation, Ed is hard to crack. He denies murdering his brother and holds to his story.
00:19:10
Detectives believe Ed is concealing the dark secret of how he murdered Larry. But Larry's skeleton may yet be able to reveal Ed's secret,
00:19:20
if Dr. Warren can read what the bones have to say. First, Dr. Warren must clean the remaining flesh and tissue
00:19:27
to get a closer look at the bones. This cleaning process is called maceration. It's simply putting bones into pot
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and using warm water to soften up the soft tissue enough where it can be removed using plastic utensils and nylon brushes,
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so as not to damage the bones. NARRATOR: Without proper precautions, the odor of the macerating bone would
00:19:51
be almost impossible to bear. DR. WARREN (VOICEOVER): We have maceration stations.
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And these stations are designed then to draw air from inside of the laboratory, toward the specimens, and up, so we don't smell that in the lab.
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And hopefully, in a day or two, we'll be able to take a good look at this. NARRATOR: Two days later, Dr. Warren
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inspects the newly macerated bones, but is disappointed to discover they still don't
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point to a cause of death. Everything that we're finding on Mr. Gill's body is antemortem, it's things that happened
00:20:26
during his life that are healed or in the process of healing. So none of these things had any significance in terms
00:20:33
of causing Mr. Gill's death. It's a major setback in the case. Without a cause of death, police can't charged Ed with murder,
00:20:44
despite his previous pattern of abuse toward Larry. Proximity alone, even with suspicions,
00:20:49
isn't enough to charge someone with a crime. There are a lot of other ways that a person could die.
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A mere disposal of a body is a misdemeanor. NARRATOR: Unless Dr. Warren can find the cause of death,
00:21:02
Ed could get away with a slap on the wrist. Police are now, more than ever, counting on Dr. Warren
00:21:09
to prove Larry was murdered. We know we're dealing with a homicide. But we can't find out why.
00:21:19
NARRATOR: Coming up, Dr. Warren finds a small clue. But is it enough to connect Ed Gill with the murder
00:21:26
of his only brother? If this was a puzzle, there was 100 pieces that had to be put together.
00:21:32
NARRATOR: And later, investigators are counting on Dr. Glassman, more than ever, to build a case
00:21:38
against a suspected killer. We were pretty short on direct evidence. NARRATOR: When "Skeleton Stories" returns.
00:21:59
Forensic anthropologist Dr. Michael Warren is on a quest to prove how Larry Gill died.
00:22:06
No, we do not have all of them. I was looking very carefully for cut marks, stab marks, gunshot wounds,
00:22:13
any type of blunt trauma. NARRATOR: Investigators suspect Larry was murdered by his brother Ed Gill.
00:22:20
But suspicion alone is not enough. Without a cause of death, investigators hands are tied
00:22:26
and justice may never be served. Larry's larger bones reveal no clues about how he died.
00:22:37
Now, Dr. Warren turns his attention to one of the smallest bones in the human body, the hyoid bone.
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DR. WARREN (VOICEOVER): This is the hyoid bone here. NARRATOR: This small U-shaped bone
00:22:48
is the only bone in the human body not connected to any other bone. Instead, it's attached to ligaments
00:22:55
that protect the vocal cords. And you can see, it floats around very freely. And it's actually suspended from ligaments
00:23:02
up at the base of the skull. NARRATOR: Though the hyoid bone is tiny and fragile,
00:23:08
it's nearly impossible to break. Because it floats around, it's very difficult to fracture
00:23:12
that through most blunt trauma. That's why you would never hear of someone falling and hitting
00:23:18
the edge of, perhaps, a coffee table or maybe getting punched in the throat and fracturing this bone, because it moves around.
00:23:28
NARRATOR: But as Dr. Warren examines Larry Gill's hyoid bone, he makes a stunning discovery.
00:23:34
The tiny bone is broken. This is the body of the hyoid here. And this was part of the wing of the hyoid.
00:23:41
And it's fractured. You can see that it's pulled away. NARRATOR: One of the smallest bones in the human body
00:23:50
leads to the biggest revelation of the case. The broken hyoid points directly to the cause of death.
00:23:57
Over 99% of all fractures that are due to blunt trauma in the hyoid bone are caused by manual strangulation.
00:24:05
That hyoid bone, in order to fracture it, has to be held in place on both sides and squeezed.
00:24:10
So it's compression that causes that. So there's the cause of death, manual strangulation.
00:24:18
NARRATOR: Now that Dr. Warren has established the cause of death, police formulate a theory as to how
00:24:23
and why Ed murdered Larry. It's Friday night, October 3rd, 2003. Ed Gill comes home to find Larry cooking in the kitchen.
00:24:38
So what you cooking us, little brother? NARRATOR: The two brothers get into a heated
00:24:41
argument about Ed's continued presence in the home. You know I live here too. And you know you're not supposed to be.
00:24:47
We talked about this. He viewed his brother as an interference to him staying in the family home.
00:24:52
I took care of this with the parole officer. Everything's fine. And like so many arguments they had previously--
00:24:57
Is that what you're calling me? DET. ROBERT DEAN (VOICEOVER): It escalated into a physical confrontation.
00:25:02
Ed being the stronger and more violent personality, simply overpowered his younger brother.
00:25:10
NARRATOR: Ed grabs Larry by the neck and begins to choke him. Ed's grip cuts off Larry's air supply
00:25:17
and restricts the flow of blood. And his clutch is so hard that he snaps Larry's hyoid bone.
00:25:25
The jugular vein and the carotid arteries of Larry's neck are obstructed and unable to carry
00:25:30
blood in and out of the brain. Larry's brain quickly becomes starved for oxygen. After 10 seconds, he loses consciousness.
00:25:39
Soon all brain signals cease to function and Larry dies. I think it's as simple as someone
00:25:48
was going to leave that house. And in the defendant's mind, it wasn't going to be him.
00:25:52
His brother left. His brother left at his hands. NARRATOR: Then, Ed carries the body out to the shed,
00:25:58
folds it over, and stuffs it in the garbage can. Ed carried on his normal activities of life, basically
00:26:05
not having a regard at all to the body being right there in the shed. NARRATOR: Two months later, Ed is arrested
00:26:12
for passing bad checks. The body remains in the garbage can until it is later discovered by the neighbor, Susanne.
00:26:20
If we had not discovered the body, there would have been no homicide investigation.
00:26:23
NARRATOR: Dr. Warren's proof that Larry Gill was strangled gives police the evidence they need
00:26:28
to charge Ed Gill with murder. DR. WARREN (VOICEOVER): It's a horrible crime. Brother killing another brother, that's as bad as you get.
00:26:37
NARRATOR: Ed Gill pleads not guilty and the case goes to trial. In court, prosecutors use Dr. Warren's findings
00:26:44
to establish that the skeleton found in the trash can was in fact Larry Gill. Then, prosecutors used Dr. Warren's discovery
00:26:53
of the broken hyoid bone as proof Larry was strangled to death. The DA ties Ed Gill to the crime with
00:27:01
the circumstantial evidence. After just three hours of deliberation, the jury returns with its verdict, guilty.
00:27:10
He was found guilty of second degree murder. NARRATOR: On June 16th, 2005, Ed Gill
00:27:16
was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his brother Larry. His subsequent appeal has been dismissed.
00:27:23
As tragic as the story is, there would have been no justice for Larry without Dr. Warren's work.
00:27:29
Dr. Warren's contribution to the case was crucial. Without his contribution, there would have been no case.
00:27:36
I honestly believe justice was served. Most of all, we found Larry. Because to this day, if we had not have found out,
00:27:48
we would've all been, you know, wondering what happened to him. NARRATOR: For Dr. Warren, the satisfaction is not only
00:27:57
in a job well done, but also knowing that he's made a difference. I have found a way to personally handle
00:28:04
the tragedy that I work with. For me, it's the ability to help, even if it's in some tangential, small way.
00:28:13
NARRATOR: Coming up, Dr. Glassman is determined to bring justice to a man whose life was cut short.
00:28:19
DR. GLASSMAN (VOICEOVER): It's almost as if he was forgotten. He was not forgotten at all.
00:28:23
NARRATOR: That's next on "Skeleton Stories." Hey. NARRATOR: Early in the morning on a warm spring
00:28:51
day in Greeneville, Alabama, a woman takes her dog for a walk in the woods. Suddenly, she smells something, an overpowering, putrid odor
00:29:02
coming from a dense stretch of brush. She knew something-- something bad had happened.
00:29:08
Somebody may have been deceased in there. So she came out and called. NARRATOR: Police have responded to 911 calls from this area
00:29:16
many times in the past. The people that live in these woods are the transients, the homeless people.
00:29:23
NARRATOR: Officers follow the sickening stench to its source. Hey, Bill. NARRATOR: A man covered in a blanket.
00:29:32
It almost looked like he was just laying there asleep. NARRATOR: But he's not asleep.
00:29:37
He's dead. BRANDY MUELLER (VOICEOVER): The skull was exposed. There was brain matter that was also exposed.
00:29:44
There was a big hole in his head. NARRATOR: Detectives must first identify the remains, which is often difficult with the homeless.
00:29:58
But fortunately, they find a driver's license in the victim's clothing. From his fingerprint, investigators
00:30:06
confirmed the body belonged to a man named Larry Boyd. Police immediately notify his family.
00:30:18
The victim's family said he was a friendly, sensitive, good person, who had trouble
00:30:26
with alcohol in his life, up until just a few weeks prior to, we believe, the date of the victim's death,
00:30:33
he'd been living in an apartment and helping a stepdaughter raise her two young children.
00:30:40
NARRATOR: Though Larry had tried to overcome his alcoholism, he was still drinking heavily.
00:30:46
And in the weeks before his death, he moved out of his stepdaughter's home and checked into a homeless shelter.
00:30:53
The family truly loved him and had-- they all kept in close contact with him. NARRATOR: The last they heard, he had left the shelter
00:31:03
and gone to live in a homeless camp. But they continued to speak on the phone every few weeks.
00:31:10
Then, suddenly, the calls stopped. Now, his family knows why. The medical examiner quickly determines the cause of death
00:31:21
was injury to the victim's head. But he's unable to prove if it was an accident or a homicide.
00:31:29
The clues to how Larry Boyd died are contained in his skull, clues that only a bone specialist can decipher.
00:31:36
The bone specialist investigators turned to is forensic anthropologist Dr. David Glassman from the University of Southern Indiana.
00:31:44
Our job is defined, not just the big things, but the minute things that tell us the whole story.
00:31:51
Every bone I feel, every bone I pick up, I touch, I turn in all dimensions. Each one is unique.
00:31:58
And if I can help the victim, then that's great. NARRATOR: Now, Dr. Glassman must try
00:32:09
to find justice for a person who was invisible to most of society. DR. GLASSMAN (VOICEOVER): It's really sad in a case like this.
00:32:16
And the reason, of course, is that you're dealing with a homeless individual who's a victim.
00:32:23
Investigators send Dr. Glassman a small box. In it is Larry's partial skull. He first explores the possibility
00:32:36
that the injuries were caused by a fall or some other accident. The area that we find the fractures in the skull
00:32:43
are the toughest, the strongest areas, the thickest bone are located in the top and back of the skull.
00:32:49
NARRATOR: To Dr. Glassman, it seems unlikely that an accident could have caused such severe fractures
00:32:55
in bone this thick. This would not be common if you just accidentally tripped and fell.
00:33:02
I would not expect the degree of destruction to the back of the skull from that.
00:33:07
NARRATOR: He concludes some type of object would be needed to cause this type of fracture.
00:33:13
And it would have to be used with extreme force. This would have taken a severe blow in order to penetrate
00:33:19
all the way into the brain. NARRATOR: Dr. Glassman also discovers that Larry Boyd suffered more than just one blow to the head.
00:33:27
It's my opinion that this individual died from two severe blows, one to the top side
00:33:33
of the head and the other to the back of the head. NARRATOR: Dr. Glassman reports his findings to investigators.
00:33:42
This is clearly a homicide. BRANDY MUELLER (VOICEOVER): It became clear that a brutal murder had taken place.
00:33:52
People on the prosecution wanted do everything we could to solve this murder. NARRATOR: Based on Dr. Glassman's determination
00:34:00
that Larry Boyd was murdered, detectives take another look at police records. One of the things the homicide detectives did
00:34:08
was pull all the reports that had taken place in the same vicinity in the months prior to--
00:34:15
to the date we believe the murder occurred. NARRATOR: They soon discover that, a month earlier,
00:34:20
an officer investigated a 911 calls from a man who lived in the woods. But the caller seemed unreliable.
00:34:27
The person who made the 911 call was a transient that had an alcohol problem. NARRATOR: He told police that a man in the homeless camp,
00:34:36
named Steve Palmer, was bragging that he had killed someone with a hatchet. He mentioned he had a dead body in his tent.
00:34:43
NARRATOR: Police drive to the encampment to see if the caller's story has any validity.
00:34:48
ROBERT MERRILL (VOICEOVER): The officers did interview the suspect that was named by the witness.
00:34:52
They did search the camp and found nothing. They went back to the 911 caller And said basically, hey, I think maybe this person
00:35:02
was just trying to scare you. We looked and there's not a dead body out there. NARRATOR: But now, the discovery of Larry's body
00:35:08
gives the bizarre 911 report new significance. And Steve Palmer is suddenly a suspect.
00:35:15
The next step was to find Steve and interview him. NARRATOR: Police tracked Palmer down at his ex-wife's house.
00:35:24
He admits to hanging out with Larry the night before his death, but says he left Larry
00:35:28
Boyd with two other people. And you haven't seen Mr. Boyd? No, sir. He claimed he had nothing to do with Mr. Boyd's death.
00:35:36
NARRATOR: Detectives have nothing tying Steve Palmer to Larry's murder, except an alcoholic's word
00:35:41
that Steve boasted about committing a murder with a hatchet. But as police questioned people in the homeless community,
00:35:49
they learned that Steve Palmer did carry a hatchet and had threatened people with it.
00:35:54
Now, investigators' only hope is to find that hatchet. It's important to get that weapon to see if you
00:35:59
can tie it back to the suspect. NARRATOR: They combed the homeless camp where Larry Boyd's body was found.
00:36:06
ROBERT MERRILL (VOICEOVER): We conducted a search off the trail. During that search we found a hatchet that was
00:36:13
about yards from the campsite. NARRATOR: Several people who live in the homeless camp
00:36:18
identified the hatchet as one Steve Palmer carried and used to threaten them. Now, police have a potential murder weapon in their hands
00:36:27
and a suspect tied to the weapon. Investigators immediately send the hatchet to Dr. Glassman.
00:36:35
They hope he will be able to prove it was used to kill Larry Boyd. If not, a cold blooded killer could go free.
00:36:46
Coming up, Dr. Glassman's bends findings threaten to send the investigation back
00:36:51
to square one. It may not be that the hatchet was involved in the death of this individual.
00:36:57
NARRATOR: Next on "Skeleton Stories." Based on circumstantial evidence, investigators suspect Steve Palmer used
00:37:19
a hatchet to kill Larry Boyd. But to charge Steve Palmer with murder, they need to prove the hatchet is the murder weapon.
00:37:27
We were pretty short on direct evidence. We wanted to make sure the item that we
00:37:33
believed to be the murder weapon was in fact the murder weapon. The district attorney is very interested in having
00:37:39
this hatchet fit this particular fracture. But I'm an unbiased scientist. And I have to look at all possibilities.
00:37:47
It may not be that the hatchet was involved in the death of this individual. NARRATOR: Dr. Glassman reexamined
00:37:58
the skull and his immediate impression is that the trauma was not caused by the blade of a hatchet.
00:38:04
DR. GLASSMAN (VOICEOVER): The type of damage that you normally associate with sharp trauma
00:38:07
from a hatchet or something of that variety would be that when it hits the skull,
00:38:12
it separates the bone tissue, causing a V, or a cut mark, into the bone itself. NARRATOR: From the fractures, Dr. Glassman
00:38:21
concludes this is blunt force trauma and not sharp force trauma caused by a blade or cutting object.
00:38:28
When you look at the internal margins, you'll see that they're bent inward, or beveled.
00:38:36
The best way to explain beveling is if you can picture a BB going through a window.
00:38:41
And as that BB passes through the first layer of that pane of glass, it then spreads out, causing an angle.
00:38:49
So the inside surface has more destruction than the outside surface where the BB went in.
00:38:56
Well, the same thing is true with blunt trauma. NARRATOR: But Dr. Glassman knows police
00:39:01
have strong circumstantial evidence tying the hatchet to the crime. So he continues his examination of the weapon.
00:39:08
I went back to the hatchet to see if there was any conceivable way in which that particular implement could have made those same tool marks
00:39:17
that I was seeing on the skull. NARRATOR: And suddenly, he sees the tool and a completely new light.
00:39:23
And as I was positioning it into the fractures and I was looking at the back edge of the hatchet, then,
00:39:31
of course, it dawned on me. There it is. Here was a perfect right angle, flat blunt area.
00:39:42
Both of these blows are consistent with what could've been made with the back end of this hatchet.
00:39:49
And sure enough, just a perfect, perfect fit. Culturally, we think about certain things
00:39:55
used in a very stereotypic way. A hatchet, we're always thinking of the sharp edge
00:40:00
has been the edge that's being used for the work. Very rarely do we think of the back edge
00:40:05
as being part of a murder weapon or even part of a tool. NARRATOR: Dr. Glassman reports his findings to detectives.
00:40:13
When Dr. Glassman concluded the hatchet caused the injury, it tied that hatchet to the victim.
00:40:20
And we could tie that hatchet to the suspect. NARRATOR: With the forensic evidence Dr. Glassman
00:40:25
has provided, prosecutors pieced together a scenario of what they believe took place the night
00:40:30
of Larry Boyd's death. Hey, get your hands off of it. Put the bottle down. There was some sort of altercation.
00:40:44
NARRATOR: Steve Palmer grabs the hatchet that is on the ground next to him. He approaches Larry Boyd from behind with the hatchet raised.
00:40:52
Palmer then hits Larry Boyd, not once, but twice, with the blunt end of the tool.
00:41:01
The blow would have taken place with a great deal of velocity. NARRATOR: The first blow was to the top of Larry's skull.
00:41:07
He falls to the ground. Palmer then strikes him again on the back of the skull, causing two beveled fractures so severe,
00:41:16
that they go through the skull and into the brain. This would've caused the brain tissue to swell, to hemorrhage,
00:41:24
and the individual probably bled to death. NARRATOR: Investigators finally have the proof they need to charge Steve Palmer
00:41:36
with the murder of Larry Boyd. They arrest him at his ex-wife's house. Put your hands behind your back.
00:41:43
You're under arrest. But despite the evidence against him, Palmer claims he's innocent.
00:41:48
That was his story and he never really changed it from that. NARRATOR: On July 24th, 1999, the case goes to trial.
00:41:56
BRANDY MUELLER (VOICEOVER): The defendant in this case was charged with first degree murder,
00:42:00
intentional murder, murder one. NARRATOR: Prosecutors call upon Dr. Glassman to testify as an expert witness.
00:42:08
What Dr. Glassman did provide the jury was a basic understanding of how this murder had taken place.
00:42:16
DR. GLASSMAN (VOICEOVER): The testimony that I provided allowed the jury to make the connection
00:42:21
that these fractures took place because of a deliberate and very forceful couple of blows
00:42:27
to the back of the skull. NARRATOR: Steve Palmer was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced
00:42:33
to 30 years in prison. The verdict provides a small measure of closure to Larry Boyd's family.
00:42:42
ROBERT MERRILL (VOICEOVER): They wanted to know what happened to him. For us it's a case that you get it, you investigate it,
00:42:49
and you move along. For them, it's a life-altering experience that they needed to have an ending to.
00:42:57
NARRATOR: Prosecutors and detectives know that without Dr. Glassman's work, Steve Palmer would've gotten away with murder.
00:43:04
Dr. Glassman was able to put a piece of the puzzle together that, ultimately, ended in a conviction
00:43:10
and solving the case. NARRATOR: But Dr. Glassman takes special satisfaction knowing
00:43:16
that he helped bring justice to a person that the rest of the world may have overlooked.
00:43:21
DR. GLASSMAN (VOICEOVER): It's almost as if he was forgotten. But we know that's not the case, because to his family,
00:43:27
he was not forgotten at all.