00:00:00
[MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: Oak Grove State
Forest, Michigan, 1983, a hunter in a remote area
discovers the body of teen girl
00:00:21
Christina Castiglione. MATT YOUNG: He was
traveling along five miles searching for
somebody who he felt
00:00:28
he could control and abduct
with the littlest resistance possible. And he came across
Christina, and she
00:00:34
was a victim of opportunity. NANCY GRACE: A
homicide investigation launches immediately,
and detectives
00:00:41
hunt for a depraved killer. Serial killers were
looked at in this case because the theory at that time
was that maybe it was somebody
00:00:49
that was just passing
through the area, maybe it was a serial killer
that murdered other people.
00:00:55
We really didn't know. NANCY GRACE: Eventually,
the case goes cold. Now almost 40 years
later, can the power
00:01:04
of a new forensic science reveal
Christina Castiglioni's killer? This is the story of
a 40-year-old search
00:01:14
for the vicious killer
of a beautiful teen girl. It's the story of
how police did all
00:01:21
they could when the
crime was committed and how a new
generation of detectives and remarkable science
each play a role.
00:01:31
I'm Nancy Grace. This is "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: 1983,
Redford, Michigan, one
00:02:02
of Detroit's Western suburbs. Christina Castiglione living
at home with her parents,
00:02:09
she's 19 with a boyfriend
and a great job at an office. We're pretty much
an Italian family.
00:02:19
I was more quiet. She was more outgoing. We've always been close. I was more of like a doll
person playing with the dolls,
00:02:27
had my barbies,
loved my barbies. She was more into sports. In the summer, she'd
take basketball clinics.
00:02:35
We have a parks
and rec where they do a lot of stuff for children. She would coach
kids all the time.
00:02:41
NANCY GRACE: March 19, 1983,
Christina Castiglione tells her friend she's planning
to go to a party,
00:02:49
but she never arrives. Her last known movements
were walking along Five Mile Road in Redford
Township near Telegraph
00:02:58
Road and the Lola Park area. This was about 7:30,
8 o'clock at night. She had been walking along the
roadway after exiting a vehicle
00:03:06
that she was in with
her boyfriend and some of her boyfriend's friends. She decided to walk
because she didn't
00:03:11
like her boyfriend's friends. And as she walked
along the roadway, her boyfriend had actually
passed her in the vehicle
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and decided that he was going
to get out of the vehicle and wait for her at
a nearby liquor store
00:03:22
to arrive where he was,
but she never showed up. NANCY GRACE: March 29, 10 days
after Christina Castiglione's
00:03:32
disappearance her body is found. It's in the Oak Grove
State Game area 50 miles Northwest of Christina's home.
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MATT YOUNG: She was found by
an area resident that was out walking in the state game area.
00:03:47
He had been searching
for evidence of wildlife activity,
deer, or whatnot and had come across your body.
00:03:54
He had alluded to the fact that
he was out hunting or engaging in some sort of outdoor
recreation in that area,
00:04:00
but he didn't have any sort of
weapons or guns, fishing poles, anything like that
that would have
00:04:05
led investigators to
believe that he truly was there to hunt or fish. They found a female
body deceased lying
00:04:14
partially covered in the snow. She had been stripped
from the stomach down. Her pants and her
underwear and her shoes
00:04:20
had been thrown to the
side and were off of her. She was still wearing a shirt. And she had been strangled
with her own sock
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tied around her neck. Aside from the sock being
tied around her neck, there were abrasions to her
face and superficial injuries,
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but it was apparent
that the sock was likely the murder weapon
for strangulation purposes.
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Soil was taken from the
scene to not only compare to what was on the bottom of her
feet to try to determine if she
00:04:48
had been walking in that
area or if she might have been walking someplace else. As well as if we did find
a suspect and a suspect
00:04:55
had any type of dirt on
them, we could also hopefully do some comparisons with that.
00:05:01
Everybody received their
assignment as to what they were going to do. Certain detectives were
going to collect evidence
00:05:07
from the scene, others were
responsible for photographs, and then a detective
was also sent up
00:05:11
into an airplane to take overall
aerial photographs of the crime scene. So at the scene, there was
Jack Daniel's bottle collected.
00:05:20
There was undergarments
collected. There was a soil sample taken
from underneath her body,
00:05:25
a brassiere. The guys that processed
the scene just did a phenomenal job. The blood was put into vials.
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The clothing and the other
matter was put into paper bags where it could dry. There was stick that was taken.
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The idea at that time was we
don't know what's in play here. So let's collect as much as
we can and go from there.
00:05:49
The victim was identified
at the scene due to the fact that the Redford Township Police
Department when they sent out
00:05:56
their flyer that
Christina was missing, the Sheriff's
Department as well as local police
departments in the area
00:06:02
had received a
copy of that flyer. So it was based upon
the official description
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from the flyer
and then the body. After the scene was processed,
all the evidence was picked up,
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Christina was then placed
into a transport bag and taken to McPherson Hospital. NANCY GRACE:
Detectives must inform
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her family their
beautiful teen girl is the victim of a savage murder. ANNA CASTIGLIONE: On March
29, when they came over,
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I just remember my mom and
dad were in the living room. I was out in the dining room.
00:06:37
And they had just told them
that they had found Christine and that she wasn't alive.
00:06:44
My mom was devastated,
and my dad was. They brought a priest with them. And I was very upset because
he swore at the priest
00:06:53
and told him to get
the F out of his house. There is no god or his daughter
wouldn't be with him today.
00:06:58
He was very-- my dad was
very quiet the whole time, even when she was gone. He didn't work
while she was gone.
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He just wouldn't get
up and take a shower. He just sat on the
couch for days waiting.
00:07:10
It was very sad. No one ever expected
that to happen. I don't think anybody ever does.
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NANCY GRACE:
Detectives work closely with the coroner to determine
the exact cause of death.
00:07:26
Nature provides some help. It's still very
cold in Michigan. The cool temperatures help to
preserve evidence on Christina
00:07:34
Castiglione's body. EDWIN MOORE: Finger and
footprints were taken. Head hairs were pulled
so that the follicles
00:07:42
would come out with the
hairs as well as pubic hairs. And a sexual assault
kit was performed.
00:07:47
There was semen that was found. And that evidence was sent
to the State Police Crime Lab
00:07:52
after the autopsy and as the
investigation progressed. Christina's death was ruled
as homicide by strangulation.
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We sent all of the evidence to
the crime lab to be processed. MATT YOUNG: And they located
the presence of semen
00:08:08
in different places on her body. They were able to
take that semen, sent it to the State Crime
Lab for blood typing,
00:08:14
and determined that the
suspect was a type A blood. It's a brutal attack. Are there enough clues left at
the crime scene for detectives
00:08:25
to find Christina
Castiglione's killer? We find out next on
"Bloodline Detectives."
00:08:32
[MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: 1983,
Redford, Michigan, the body of teen girl
Christina Castiglione
00:08:46
discovered by a hunter
in a remote woodland. Christina, strangled and
brutally sex assaulted.
00:08:53
Now her family and
friends prepare to give the beautiful
teen a final farewell. Oftentimes when there's a
homicide or a major crime,
00:09:05
the suspect shows
up at a funeral or some other family gathering
to see what and who's there.
00:09:15
So law enforcement we
were there for that matter to see if there was anybody
that didn't belong frankly
00:09:22
that would have shown
up at the funeral. We observed several cars that
came and left the parking lot.
00:09:28
We recorded license
plate numbers and then tried to find the
owners of those vehicles.
00:09:33
The purpose of that was
to get with the family a few days after
the funeral service
00:09:38
and run the names
by the family to see if they knew the
people that was driving through the parking lot.
00:09:43
Nobody that stood out to them. There was a couple people
whose names they didn't know,
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but they couldn't
say at that time whether or not they
might have been coworkers
00:09:52
or something of Christina. NANCY GRACE: The very
first suspect for police is the hunter who
discovers Christina's body.
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He was the primary
suspect from day one. He took a lie detector test, and
the first one was inconclusive.
00:10:06
So he was asked to
take a second one. He had hired an
attorney, and then refused to take the second one.
00:10:11
Well, it definitely throws
a red flag up in the air and makes you wonder
a little bit more
00:10:15
like what's the motivation for
not taking the second polygraph or getting an
attorney that quick.
00:10:19
But it's also not
completely uncommon either. So it really brought
more suspicion to him.
00:10:25
NANCY GRACE: Next,
detectives consider Christina's boyfriend Chip. They know the pair have
had a stormy relationship,
00:10:32
and they've argued because
of chip's drug use. EDWIN MOORE: On the day that
Christina came up missing,
00:10:38
the boyfriend was supposed to
meet Christina and did not. The boyfriend the same way as
a spouse or a family member
00:10:46
are always looked
at until we can verify that they've got a proper
alibi and it's been verified.
00:10:53
The type of blood for the person
that found Christina as well as her boyfriend
were all the same,
00:11:00
and that was type A.
It meant that the case, we needed more information. The boyfriend was
looked at heavily.
00:11:07
He took a polygraph. And all of the people
that he was riding with were interviewed, and
his story was verified.
00:11:15
MICHAEL MURPHY: The
boyfriend was ruled out. The individual that found her
was still kind of on the radar,
00:11:21
but not a huge focus. So the theory at that time was
that maybe it was somebody that
00:11:27
was just passing
through the area, maybe it was a serial killer
that had murdered other people.
00:11:34
NANCY GRACE: Then police
looked at similar cases like that of Kimberly Louiselle.
00:11:39
She's also a Michigan
teen found murdered almost exactly one year earlier. Kimberly Louiselle
was 16 years old.
00:11:49
Her death case was handled
by the Michigan State Police. That happened in March of 1982.
00:11:57
She was missing for
more than 10 days. Christina was last seen on Five
Mile Road West of Telegraph.
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Kimberly Louiselle
was last seen, as I recall, Eight
Mile and Merriman Road, which is within a short
distance of where Christina was.
00:12:15
Both cases were investigated
with the agencies cooperating with each other and
sometimes teaming up
00:12:21
to go do interviews
and follow up, the reason being is
because both of them disappeared from
the same basic area
00:12:29
and ended up into
Livingston County. Charles Abraham was
a probationary worker for the state of Michigan.
00:12:36
During the funeral for
Kimberly Louiselle, Charles Abraham drove
through the parking
00:12:42
lot of the funeral home
on more than one occasion. He was interviewed. His story was not the best.
00:12:50
And he ended up being arrested
at a later point in time for sexual assault.
And he did not
00:12:56
have any ties to either
Louiselle or Castiglione. Police keep
eliminating suspects.
00:13:04
So detectives try a
different approach. They call in experts to analyze
what they do know and try
00:13:11
to create the killer's profile. During our initial
investigation, we contacted the
Michigan State Police who
00:13:18
had a behavioral crime unit. We provided them with all
the details from the case,
00:13:23
including evidence
found and the bodies. They came up with a
psychological profile
00:13:28
for a possible suspect. They said that the person
would be between the ages of 25
00:13:35
and 35, as I recall, a white
male, that they felt that he would have taken the victim
by force with some type
00:13:45
of a weapon, possibly a gun. They also included that
he was a sexual deviant. NANCY GRACE: The criminal
profile that is created
00:13:52
fails to provide
any strong leads. I believe the case went
somewhat cold in the mid
00:13:58
'80s, probably about
'86 or so when the tips started kind of drying up. They weren't coming
in as hot and heavy.
00:14:04
Most of the leads
that could be pursued from the initial onset
of the investigation
00:14:09
had been looked into. Everyone had been interviewed. People had been re-interviewed.
00:14:12
So there was really nothing
new coming in about that time. In 2001, we did take the DNA
from the rape kit in 1983,
00:14:21
and it was determined to
be of suitable quality to enter it into CODIS. And we were very hopeful.
00:14:27
We put it into CODIS, and
then got the report back. And there was no hits. There was no suspect.
00:14:32
There must have been at least
50 different serial killers and sexual assault
suspects that were
00:14:38
evaluated as potential
suspects for this case. Samuel Little was a
prolific serial killer
00:14:44
that operated in multiple
states in the United States, primarily killing
prostitutes and then
00:14:49
discarding their bodies. He was ultimately ruled out
not only by DNA through CODIS,
00:14:54
but just wasn't operating in
this area in Livingston County or in Michigan at the time.
00:14:59
So he wasn't a viable suspect. Around the same time that the
suspect's DNA went into CODIS,
00:15:04
we decided to seek out
the original suspect on the case, the person
who had found her body.
00:15:09
And he was living in
Rhode Island at the time. So we coordinated
with the NCIS service.
00:15:15
And they went over to Rhode
Island with a search warrant and got his DNA so
that we could send
00:15:21
it in for direct comparison. Unfortunately, the
results at that time came back as negative,
ultimately ruled him out.
00:15:28
The Cold Case Team
was established in 2009. And really, it was too late
to take a look at these cases
00:15:34
to go back over with
a fresh set of eyes. Investigators are
able to look at that
00:15:40
and verify that yes, in
fact, every stone has been overturned, every rock
has been looked under,
00:15:46
every interview has been done. And when you have a
fresh set of eyes, you may find a discrepancy.
00:15:54
Oftentimes when you're too
close to an investigation, you have it in your
head that this was done
00:16:00
or maybe you read a
person a particular way or you know what they said. But on a second or
third interview,
00:16:07
oftentimes, that might
change a little bit. It's SOP-- standard
operating procedure--
00:16:14
that when cold cases are
reviewed, the victim's family is kept informed. The Cold Case Team investigating
Christina castiglioni's murder,
00:16:22
however, struggles
to make contact with Christina's sister, Anna. I don't trust too
many people these days.
00:16:31
And I always had in
the back of my mind all these years, what
if it was a person that
00:16:38
did this and nobody
knew about it and is still alive today
harming other people?
00:16:43
So I think the detective
called me a few times. I never called them back. Then I got a note on
Facebook from the detective
00:16:51
telling me who he is, and I
still didn't call him back. I'm like, somebody got my name.
00:16:56
It could be the person
that killed Christine. And finally, he-- and I think
I still have it on my phone.
00:17:02
I actually do. He sent me another
note on Facebook. So I called him. And I told him I
said, "Sorry, but I
00:17:09
thought you were some psycho
guy or something out there." And that's when he told me
that Livingston County was
00:17:16
starting the cold
case team and that they were doing Christine's. So this was like, OK,
there's something new.
00:17:24
Can we do this? Can this determined
cold case team revive the investigation into
Christina Castiglione's case?
00:17:33
That's next on
"Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: Livingston
County, Michigan 2009,
00:17:48
a cold case team reopens
the 1983 murder of teen girl Christina Castiglione,
the 19-year-old found
00:17:57
strangled and brutally sex
assaulted in a remote forest. In 2009, then
Sheriff Bezotte, who
00:18:06
was one of the original
detectives on this case, decided to form a cold case
unit here in Livingston
00:18:11
County Sheriff's Office. And it was comprised of three
investigators with background
00:18:16
in law enforcement that could
have been federal, local state, and their volunteers.
00:18:22
And their only job was to come
in and evaluate Livingston County's cold cases and
be that fresh set of eyes
00:18:28
to look at the case and
see if there was anything new that could be done. EDWIN MOORE: My role was
kind of a liaison officer
00:18:34
until Sergeant
Young came along as to where I would try to
communicate with the detective
00:18:40
Lieutenant at that time to
any search warrants, supplies, trips that had to be made.
00:18:47
Like, some of the
interviews might be in another county that
would be 100 miles away,
00:18:53
that all had to be coordinated. And then I started trying to
digitize some of the old cases.
00:18:59
This particular case, it was
just very sad that she was so young when she passed away.
00:19:05
I felt that it was good
for closure for Anna because unfortunately, their
parents had passed away,
00:19:12
and there was no
closure for them. I had been in touch
with Anna several times since being on the
cold case team.
00:19:18
And I was really hopeful that
we were going to get someplace. NANCY GRACE: Police
hope developments
00:19:25
in investigative DNA technology
can help them identify Christina Castiglione's killer.
00:19:33
MATT YOUNG: It really took
the advancements of technology and DNA and forensic science so
this case could be periodically
00:19:40
reopened over the years. So after looking at a
few different companies, the main standout was Othram.
00:19:46
They were kind of the all-in-one
genetic genealogy company. They were reputable.
00:19:52
There was a lot of
people who recommended them that I reached out to. And we ultimately
decided that they
00:19:57
were going to be the company
we were going to use. We sat down, and we started
looking at what we had
00:20:02
that could go to the Othram. So we pulled out
all of the evidence that we still had in the
property room for this case,
00:20:07
repackaged it, and
got it ready to go in case we were able to pursue
this type of technology.
00:20:13
We sent them a DNA
extract that was created by the State Crime Lab
of the sexual assault
00:20:19
kit that had male DNA on it. What's unique about
Othram is that we have seen an evolution
in DNA technology
00:20:26
in how it's applied
to law enforcement. But the scientists
here at Othram have taken extreme
measures to ensure
00:20:32
the way that it's
applied is the best way to handle the evidence. And that includes being
able to tap into evidence
00:20:39
that nobody else can. NANCY GRACE: Othram
must now analyze the DNA sample to see
if it's viable enough
00:20:46
to even be tested. ANDY SINGER: But
we're very fortunate. Many of these investigators as
they were collecting evidence
00:20:53
and saving these cases
from 50, 60 years ago, they took those steps. Clothing was recovered, a
discarded Jack Daniel's bottle,
00:21:00
a sock, a soil
sample was recovered. Essentially, they were looking
to preserve as much evidence
00:21:05
and identify as much evidence
that ultimately could help drive their investigation.
00:21:09
They took the time to protect
and preserve the evidence. And we at this point, become
partners with law enforcement.
00:21:15
Our job is to handle the
evidence in the best way that-- they took the time 50 years ago.
00:21:21
We want to make sure we're
not racing through any of these cases today. We're doing what's
best for the case
00:21:25
just as they've been doing
throughout the course of these investigations. The extract that was collected
from the vaginal swab done
00:21:34
during the autopsy of Christina
was sent to Othram for us to try to identify the male
contributor in that sample.
00:21:45
What we did is we
immediately started with forensic-grade genome
sequencing process, which here
00:21:52
means that the first thing
we do is we figure out all the properties of
that extract, what type
00:21:59
of contamination was there, what
was the ratio in this mixture, how many non-human versus
human contributors there were.
00:22:07
All of those things allowed
us to compare that extract to the thousands of extracts,
the thousands of samples we've
00:22:14
already used here at Othram
to successfully provide investigative leads
back for and figure out
00:22:20
the quickest way to get there. We call this process
suitability analysis. It includes the standard QC
that you would see anywhere.
00:22:28
And then it comes with a
suitability assessment that tells us based on our experience
and having processed more
00:22:34
of these crime scenes
than anyone else on Earth with this kind of method,
do we think that we're
00:22:38
ready to work on this case? Because any time we
do take on evidence, the evidence is destroyed
in the process of testing.
00:22:44
DNA testing is a
destructive process. And we don't want to
consume the evidence.
00:22:49
We don't even want
to consume budgets if we can't bring value. And so our suitability analysis
allows us to essentially
00:22:54
guarantee that we'll be
able to build a profile or we generally won't
consume the evidence at all.
00:22:59
And we don't want to
then take anyone's money. We'll wait until
we've got the process
00:23:03
in place to make sure they
can also have a great outcome. And so once we knew that we've
done something very similar
00:23:10
before and that we were certain
that we could provide one of these profiles, we
contacted law enforcement
00:23:17
and told them that it has
passed feasibility analysis. And we now need funding
in order to move
00:23:22
forward to the sequencing. February 2021, Sergeant
Young presented the idea that there's a an
outfit out there
00:23:31
Season of Justice that
is willing to write grants for DNA genealogy. When you have viable DNA and
that's the only thing left,
00:23:40
they will help you get the
money to have that tested. So frankly, it was a no brainer.
00:23:45
I commend Sergeant Young for
coming up with that resource. NANCY GRACE: At this point,
Othram's given the green light
00:23:52
to test the DNA sample
believed to be from Christina Castiglione's killer. We told them, we're
ready to proceed.
00:24:01
And so we built a DNA profile,
did the investigative work the genetic genealogy necessary
to find nearest relatives,
00:24:08
and built a report of
investigative leads that we turned back to
the Michigan State Police.
00:24:13
And so looking at the pieces of
DNA that you share with someone uninterrupted or mostly
uninterrupted segments of DNA
00:24:22
allow you to infer how
closely or not closely related you are to someone. And the unit of measure to
describe that relationship
00:24:28
is called centimorgans. And so if the number is very
small, you know, maybe 10 or 20
00:24:34
centimorgans, then
you really don't share much similarity at all. If you have shared centimorgan
value of like 1,800,
00:24:41
then you may be a half sibling
or an uncle or an aunt. And if it's
somewhere in between,
00:24:46
you might be a first
cousin or a second cousin. So this value essentially
assigns some kind
00:24:51
of numerical assessment to
the amount of DNA markers that are shared
between two folks
00:24:56
and can be loosely used
to infer the relatedness or how far back your
common ancestor might be.
00:25:03
These centimorgan measurements
combined with lots of matches in the genealogical search
form essentially a scaffold
00:25:10
that allow you then to
place your unknown person on a tree at the right spot. The Michigan State Police being
the coordinator in this group
00:25:17
then reached out to the
local agency, further passed on to them the leads, and
this allowed the investigators
00:25:22
to use those leads
in conjunction with the other leads that
they had already generated,
00:25:26
their own further investigations
and interviews, and lo and behold, they
came to an answer.
00:25:32
MATT YOUNG: It
seems like it took forever to get the result back. I remember checking
my email nonstop
00:25:38
and checking my
voicemails nonstop waiting for Othram to call me to
tell me they had a name.
00:25:43
And it wasn't until July 22,
2022, that I got a call from. And they said, "Hey. We've got an investigative
lead for you."
00:25:52
They said that the DNA we had
sent them had matched a person in a familial database that
shared about 1,700 centimorgans
00:26:02
of DNA, which they believed
meant that this was a living uncle of the suspect. We started breaking
it down because there
00:26:10
was more than one name on it. And we started looking at
each person that was on there,
00:26:14
could they have fit
within this case, could they have been
a potential suspect. And we got to one name
Charles David Shaw.
00:26:20
And as soon as we checked
his criminal history and found a prior abduction
attempt in Livingston County,
00:26:27
he was our main focus. NANCY GRACE: So, who is
the new prime suspect named Charles Shaw?
00:26:34
And where was he at the time of
Christina Castiglione's murder? The detectives learned a
lot about Charles David Shaw
00:26:43
as the investigation unfolded. They did learn that he
was a sexual deviant. He was married.
00:26:48
He did have a son. The wife has some interesting
accounts about her time with him being married.
00:26:57
NANCY GRACE: Charles Shaw,
better known as Chuck, was once married to a
woman named Lori Lawrence.
00:27:03
And now his ex-wife
cooperates with detectives and tells them about Charles
Shaw's disturbing and violent
00:27:11
character. I met him in a factory job. And I was drawn to him. He was drawn to me.
00:27:19
I've always been drawn
to the people that are going to be a little different. And he loved John Lennon.
00:27:25
That's about the only
person I know Chuck ever loved besides me and my son. And it was a tumultuous
relationship.
00:27:34
When he drank, he was violent. He was aggressive. And that would be when he'd
get really smashing drunk,
00:27:41
which did happen a few times. And the red flags
were there, but I refused to see
that kind of thing
00:27:49
and carried on with
the relationship. And I had a hard time
breaking up with him.
00:27:54
I think I broke up
with him 40 times. NANCY GRACE: Lori
Lawrence recalls the day
00:27:58
her ex-husband has
a serious encounter with local law enforcement. There was an incident in 1981
in the McDonald's parking lot
00:28:07
in Fowlerville, which is in
Livingston County where he had attempted to abduct a
young woman at the time
00:28:14
by bringing her with mace. LORI LAWRENCE: I don't
know what day it was, but Chuck had
walked in the door,
00:28:20
and he immediately
went to the bathroom. And I just didn't
ask any questions. I thought he had
to go pretty bad.
00:28:26
But he was in there
for quite a while. But like five minutes
after he was in there,
00:28:31
I hear a knock on the
door, and it is the police. I let them in. They just asked for him.
00:28:35
And I said, "Sure,
he's in the bathroom." So they waited
another five minutes and told him to come out.
00:28:42
And he finally came out. And they just walked
him out the door. And he took one quick look
at me, my husband did,
00:28:48
and I noticed he
didn't have a mustache. He always had a mustache. But I think he'd done
something earlier that day.
00:28:55
I think there was big reason
why he shaved his mustache. Anyway, they walked him out.
00:28:59
And I asked, "What are
you taking him away for? And they said, "For a
possible abduction."
00:29:05
He was ultimately
convicted of a lesser charge of aggravated
assault and spent two
00:29:10
weeks in the
Livingston County Jail and a few years on probation. I would have expected to
see him spend a little bit
00:29:16
more time than two weeks. NANCY GRACE: Can Charles Shaw
be put behind bars for life
00:29:22
in the kidnap and murder of
teen girl Christina Castiglione. That answer next on
"Bloodline Detectives."
00:29:31
[MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: May
2022, almost 40 years since the murder of teenager
Cristina Castiglione
00:29:47
in Redford Michigan. After all this time,
finally, a breakthrough. Othram Labs, which specializes
in investigative genetic
00:29:57
genealogy IDs a prime
suspect from a DNA sample left at the murder scene. His name?
00:30:05
Charles David Shaw. His ex-wife Laurie Lawrence
tells police incriminating evidence about her ex, Shaw.
00:30:16
The nightmare
began after they left and I looked in the bottom
drawer and decided to snoop.
00:30:21
I found ropes and chains
and horrible, the worst kind of pornography
journals that talked
00:30:28
about what he was going
to do to these girls that he worked with. And they were very sexual
and torturous and grotesque.
00:30:37
And there was a
gun in the drawer. And there's things that I
think I just blacked out.
00:30:43
But I know the gist of it
was when he was arrested and then after he
was released, and I
00:30:50
was asking all
these questions, I'm sure he told me something to
the effect of it's not real
00:30:56
or it's just fantasy. I wasn't going to do
any of that stuff. And it was horrible.
00:31:01
I had nightmares for years about
all this stuff and wondering, always wondering, could
he have killed somebody?
00:31:07
With all the paperwork and the
journal that he wrote in sure pointed to the idea that he
could have done all this.
00:31:15
So for 40 years, yeah,
I always wondered. MATT YOUNG: It seemed like the
shoe fit like this was the guy.
00:31:22
She described how he was
struggled with mental health health problems and had been
in mental health facilities
00:31:26
at a young age. She described everything
that we would have expected to see in the offender based on
the behavioral science analysis
00:31:35
that was previously conducted. And he was the only name
out of that group of names
00:31:41
that had a criminal history and
had these sort of circumstances going on in his life.
00:31:47
His criminal career started
probably in about 1973 when he was arrested in
the Metro Detroit area
00:31:52
a few different times,
once for stealing women's shoes from a local Kmart. He wanted to undergo a
sex change in the '80s.
00:31:59
He was arrested for breaking
into a house on one occasion. And then ultimately in
1981, he was arrested here
00:32:06
in Livingston County
for trying to abduct another younger female. I honestly don't know whether
Charles David Shaw premeditated
00:32:13
specifically for Christina. But based upon what we know now
and what his involvement was
00:32:20
in 1981, I think,
it was premeditated in that he had that forethought
of wanting to do something bad.
00:32:27
I got a phone call, and
they said they wanted to come over which was nothing new.
00:32:32
He gave me a few
other detectives that I didn't know and
said that their commander
00:32:36
was coming with them, too. The one detective
takes out a picture, and he puts it in front of me.
00:32:41
And he says, "Do you
know this person?" And I said, "No." You took the picture, put
it back in his folder,
00:32:47
he goes, "That's who
murdered your sister." So my first thing was I didn't
want to cry in front of him,
00:32:53
and I tried not to. The first thing I asked
him was, "Where is he now?" NANCY GRACE: Anna
Castiglione plays
00:33:01
her long wait to confront
her sister's killer might finally be over. Sadly, she does not
get that opportunity.
00:33:09
The passage of time in
a case like this one can take its toll on
relatives and investigators,
00:33:15
and that's what happens
here when police learn Charles Shaw died barely
six months after Christina
00:33:22
Castiglione's murder. During our investigation,
we found out that he was dead. He died in Wayne County.
00:33:30
So we obtained a copy of
the death certificate. And as I recall, the
wording was something
00:33:36
to the effect of "Autoerotica
sexual fixation." I think justice was done
when he died in the fashion
00:33:43
that he did because he was
turned to a higher authority. And hopefully, he's
burning in hell.
00:33:50
I found out he had passed away
when his brother had called me and said that Chuck had
died, fell down the stairs,
00:33:59
and broke his neck. I thought it was
true at the time. What happened was when I got the
death certificate that I needed
00:34:07
for Social Security
purposes, I had seen that he had
died differently than what I was told.
00:34:13
And then I knew
right away what that was all about it wouldn't
be that everybody
00:34:17
else would in the '80s. But I knew because
chuck had told me he loved playing
out in the woods,
00:34:23
and he would do
this sort of thing. And I was like shocked
and feeling a little sad
00:34:29
and not knowing what to think. But in the back of
my mind, I think, I was actually
happy he was dead.
00:34:36
And that really triggered a
lot of horrible emotions in me because we're not supposed to
be happy that people are dead,
00:34:42
but I didn't want
his son to know him. I knew that he was
a very sick man. MATT YOUNG: We initially
looked at exhuming
00:34:50
his body as a potential
way to confirm the DNA. Then when we learned that
he had a living brother,
00:34:56
so we needed to
confirm that the living brother wasn't the suspect. So we got his DNA voluntarily.
00:35:02
We told him that
it was involving a cold case back from the '80s. And then the
conversation started
00:35:06
about his deceased brother. And then we learned a little bit
more about some of the issues
00:35:11
that his deceased brother
Charles David Shaw had had in his life
early in the '80s.
00:35:15
So we contacted
Lori on this one. And we didn't want to intrude
too much into her family's life
00:35:23
through this process,
if we didn't have to. So we wanted buy
in from the family.
00:35:28
We knew Lori was very much
on board with participating, but we wanted buy
in from their son.
00:35:33
So we allowed her to
approach him and basically give a case synopsis
as to why we were there
00:35:40
and what we wanted. And he ultimately was very
agreeable to participate. And we had drove upstate
Michigan, met with him,
00:35:47
and then obtained
his DNA sample. Charles Shaw may be
dead, but detectives now have two DNA samples,
one from Shaw's brother,
00:35:59
the other from his son. Will that DNA prove once
and for all Charles Shaw brutally murdered teen girl
Christina Castiglione in 1983.
00:36:12
That's next on
"Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: Livingston
County Michigan
00:36:26
2023, "Bloodline
Detectives." are convinced Charles Davis Shaw murdered
19-year-old Christina
00:36:34
Castiglione in 1983. Shaw is now dead. So police must rely on
DNA from his brother
00:36:43
and from his son and
groundbreaking science to positively tie
him to the murder.
00:36:52
So the kin snip
testing, in this case, came from the DNA of his son. They sent his DNA to Othram.
00:37:00
And we were able to confirm
the father-son relationship. He didn't get
justice for what he
00:37:07
did to Christina in this
case, but I do believe that the world knows his name. They know what he's done.
00:37:18
They know their story. They know how their
life was ended. And so for their family,
there's not justice,
00:37:25
but there's answers. Detectives
suspect Charles Shaw may be responsible
for other sex attacks.
00:37:33
They enter his DNA
sample into CODIS, the national DNA database. And very quickly,
CODIS produces a match.
00:37:42
MICHAEL MURPHY: Kimberly
Louiselle was another body that was dumped here in Livingston
County that happened
00:37:47
to be a state police case. But now that there was
legitimate DNA from Charles David Shaw, that
information was shared
00:37:55
with the Michigan State Police. And they were able to solve
that homicide as well.
00:38:01
Very similar set
of circumstances in that there was no connection
between on the suspect
00:38:07
and the victim. So another case
frankly that probably would have been
unsolved had we not
00:38:13
gotten the forensic genealogy
back on the Christina case. I was just happy that
people had closure.
00:38:22
I talked with the
detectives, and I know that people wanted closure. I know there was people
out there waiting
00:38:29
and just sorry that they
just never could see Chuck go to trial. I'd love to wrap
my arms around them
00:38:36
and tell them how sorry I am
and to live in this community and not know. I'm just sorry they've had
to go through all the pain.
00:38:45
And I just hope that
they solve as many cases as they can to help
as many families
00:38:51
along that need closure. It's incredible. This case didn't only affect
the Livingston County community.
00:38:58
It impacted their family. They were in the area. And their willingness
to understand
00:39:03
the importance of resolving
this case, it's unspeakable. It's amazing that they
were able to do that.
00:39:08
Every case is
important to Othram. Every one of these cases,
there's a family out there,
00:39:13
there's a victim out there
that's looking for an answer. They won't truly
ever receive closure.
00:39:20
In this case, they may not even
necessarily receive justice. But there's a few
things that we can do.
00:39:25
We can we can help them answer
the question that they've been asking for years. In closing a case
like this, we can
00:39:31
also put a community at ease. We know that this
person is no longer a threat to the community.
00:39:37
He's off the streets whether
he's deceased in this case or in prison. But it's important
to the family,
00:39:43
the victim, the
memory of the victim, as well as the community itself. I didn't think at
this point that we
00:39:53
would never know who it was. I think today that
when my mom and dad passed they're with her now.
00:40:01
So they are happy. My dad was sick with
Alzheimer's and dementia. So I think at that point, he
didn't even know who I was.
00:40:10
I was just a nice girl
that used to go see him. And probably two weeks
before he passed away,
00:40:17
he actually asked me, "How
come your sister doesn't come see me?" I just told him--
00:40:24
he just kind of looked at me. I said, "You know,
she's doing all the basketball games with
the kids during the summer."
00:40:29
And he would be, OK, but
still Very sad because I wish this would have never happened.
00:40:38
The incredible efforts of
police going all the way back to 1983 along with
cold case investigators
00:40:44
and groundbreaking
science solves Christina Castiglione's murder. Those efforts finally delivered
the truth to a loving sister
00:40:54
after 40 long years. I'm Nancy Grace. Thanks for being with us here
on "Bloodline Detectives."
00:41:03
[MUSIC PLAYING]