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[MUSIC PLAYING] NANCY GRACE: Livermore, California. 1997. A young woman violently sex assaulted.
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She was sitting down on the bleachers in the baseball field when she was approached from behind.
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She told him that she was pregnant and said, don't hurt my baby. Don't hurt my baby.
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NANCY GRACE: Investigators soon link a brutal attack in a neighboring city to the very same perpetrator.
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NATE GARTRELL: He took a knife from her and then used it to forcibly cut off her clothes.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: She then asked him, are you going to kill me? And he told her, no, I'm not going to kill you.
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I'm just going to rape you. NANCY GRACE: The predator remains unknown for two decades, until fresh eyes and forensics
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finally catch up with him. It took 22 years to catch him, and I believe he thought
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he had gotten off scot-free. NANCY GRACE: This is the story of survivors of the Alameda
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County rapist, the cruel and opportunistic crimes they endured, and how their attacker is ultimately unmasked
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by investigators years later. I'm Nancy Grace. This is "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING]
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September 15, 1997. About 11:30 PM, officers from Livermore Police dispatched to investigate a sex assault.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: When the responding officers arrived at her home, they were confronted
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with a eight-month pregnant female in her early 20s. They described her as being very distraught,
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with visible injuries. She was crying, frantic, hysterical, and appeared to be in pain and in a lot of fear
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for what just occurred to her. She had gotten into some kind of argument with a boyfriend
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and had just gone for sort of a walkabout. She was attacked somewhere out near the baseball field.
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She was taking a walk, which oftentimes she would do. When she got to the baseball field,
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she decided that she needed a break, so she sat down on the bleachers. NATE GARTRELL: Livermore is basically hot year-round,
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but at night, it's pretty nice out. Probably very seemingly peaceful up until the point
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that he approaches her. She initially saw this person. It sounded like he said her nickname to her, which
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she thought was her nickname. She got up to move because she didn't recognize the person,
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and then that's when he ran up behind her, grabbed her. ANTHONY BATREZ: He put his hand over her mouth,
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and he started to pull her away. COLLEEN MCMAHON: He dragged her over to a more secluded area on the baseball field,
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and she struggled with him. She was trying to get away, and he kept threatening her, telling her to be quiet, shut up
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or I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to cut you. She never did see a knife, but he threatened that he had one.
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So at that point then, he pulled her pants and underwear down and told her to stop struggling with him.
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Otherwise, he would suffocate her. NATE GARTRELL: He forced her to orally copulate him
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and inappropriately touched her too. After he ejaculated in her mouth, she actually spit it out on the floor.
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NANCY GRACE: The suspect then removes almost all of Jane Doe's clothes, telling her don't move until he's gone.
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COLLEEN MCMAHON: He took her shirt and her bra, told her to stay put, not move, scream, or yell
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for help for about 20 minutes. And then he took off running. She didn't see where he went.
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She waited a little bit, and then she was able to collect her shirt and her bra some distance away.
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And then she ran back to her boyfriend's house. NANCY GRACE: The survivor gives a description of her attacker
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and even what he was wearing. COLLEEN MCMAHON: He was wearing some type of face covering, whether it be a nylon
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or something over his face. He also was wearing a hoodie. She also said that he was wearing some type of gloves,
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like an off-white kind of knit fabric-type glove. She said he smelled like motor oil,
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and he was about 6 foot tall, 170, 180 pounds, medium build. NANCY GRACE: The officers know they must collect evidence
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as quickly as possible, so they ask the victim to return to the scene of the crime.
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COLLEEN MCMAHON: So they were able to collect any DNA left or any slight evidence that could
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help catch the perpetrator. They saw a liquid that was consistent with semen, and they collected it.
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COLLEEN MCMAHON: Pictures were also taken of the crime scene, but unfortunately, those were misplaced
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and ultimately destroyed. NANCY GRACE: It's almost an unimaginable ordeal for this victim who has been sex attacked to be taken back
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to the scene of the crime so quickly after the assault. But horrible as it is for her, it yields vital evidence.
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As soon as the investigators can, they rush her to a hospital for a sex assault exam.
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COLLEEN MCMAHON: She was taken to Highland Hospital and received what is called a Sexual Assault Response
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Team, so a SART examination. So that is an examination one undergoes after they've
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been sexually assaulted. So she was taken to Alameda County Hospital. She had bruises on her knees and her elbows.
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She had scratches in her chest and back area that were consistent with a struggle.
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NANCY GRACE: The survivor hugely relieved when she learns her pregnancy is not at risk.
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Thankfully, she was able to protect her child. NANCY GRACE: Police immediately launched an investigation
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to ID the perp. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: The responding crime scene technician developed a map for an overview of Livermore High School
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so they could understand which direction the suspect came from and where the victim was sitting and when first contacted
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by the suspect, as well as where he left her clothing when he left, where the sexual assault occurred,
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and the direction he took when he fled the scene. We felt like it might have been someone who knew the area
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and who was local and who would probably live pretty close to those locations. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Detectives began
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checking the area, along with the officers on scene. They stopped a subject who was seen in the area who
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had a similar description, and they were able to rule him out as being a suspect.
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They then entered this assault into a shop database which loads sexual assaults to show consistencies in MO
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or pattern of these. Officers begin doing sexual registrant checks for people in the area with similar MOs or patterns.
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And they also began reaching out to try to find any witnesses in the area. It also went out in the newspaper.
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ANTHONY BATREZ: Livermore is a family-oriented, small community. At that time of the attack, the crime rate was not high at all.
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It was very rare to have a crime like that occur in the city. NANCY GRACE: All the evidence is sent for forensic testing
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and a DNA profile developed and uploaded to CODIS, the national DNA database. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Because it was a violent felony
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sexual assault, it was uploaded into the CODIS system. If a sexual assault or any other DNA
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was submitted with the same DNA, a hit would be formed. NANCY GRACE: Investigators quickly notified
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that DNA from the Livermore rape is a match to another crime. ANTHONY BATREZ: That's when we got
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a case to case hit between the Livermore case and the Union City case. NANCY GRACE: For the moment, investigators
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feel lucky because of a quick DNA match on the national database. But as we see next, the "Bloodline Detectives"
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have many, many more obstacles to overcome. September 1997. Livermore Police investigating the shocking and brutal rape
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of a 22-year-old young woman who is eight months pregnant when she is attacked. Almost immediately, CODIS, the national DNA database,
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links the DNA from that crime scene to another attack. Just four months before the Livermore attack,
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a 41-year-old woman assaulted in nearby Union City, California. COLLEEN MCMAHON: The victim clocked out at work
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at around 5:30 and walked down the street, walked through the empty lot toward the railroad tracks
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to get over to Dakota Road. Once she neared those railroad tracks, she started to hear some footsteps coming from behind.
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And she looked behind her, and she saw this man whom she did not recognize. A subject came out of nowhere and began
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doing the similar method of, like, he's circling his prey, at which time he came up behind her.
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NANCY GRACE: Not unlike the first attack in Livermore, the perp holds his victim's neck and mouth tightly as he drags
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and pulls her to the ground. COLLEEN MCMAHON: She felt, like, a knit scratchy-type material
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on her mouth. He was wearing a knit glove. And then dragged her to a field. It was in a secluded area.
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NANCY GRACE: The victim takes out a knife she has concealed to fight back, but very quickly, she's overpowered.
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Her boyfriend was really scared for her safety and provide her with a knife to protect
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herself on these long walks. The victim was scared. She thought that he was going to kill her.
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She then asked him, are you going to kill me? And he told her, no. I'm not going to kill you.
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I'm just going to rape you. She was wearing overalls at the time. He was trying to pull her pants down.
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He didn't realize she was wearing overalls because she had a jacket over her. He then began threatening to kill her and slit her throat.
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She was extremely scared for her life. COLLEEN MCMAHON: He used the knife to cut her overall straps, her bra, and her underwear.
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NATE GARTRELL: He sexually assaulted her basically in the same way as he would sexually assault the victim
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in Livermore four months later. COLLEEN MCMAHON: So then he stood in front of her
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and forced her to orally copulate him, and then he ejaculated in her mouth, which
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she then spit into her jacket. NANCY GRACE: And just like in the first attack, he then takes the survivor's clothes, warning her,
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don't move for 20 minutes. COLLEEN MCMAHON: She had no idea which direction he ran.
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And then as soon as she thought the coast was clear, she then ran back to Glassworks, where she worked.
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She was met with a coworker, who said she was frantic and upset. And she relayed what had just occurred to her, that she was
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a victim of sexual assault. They then called the local police department. COLLEEN MCMAHON: Union City Police Department officers
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came out to that location. They took an initial statement. NANCY GRACE: But the survivor is able to give officers
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a description of the attacker. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: She provided a suspect description of a white male adult
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between 30 and 39 years of age. He was about 6 foot tall, around 180 pounds. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: He was wearing blue jeans,
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a blue hooded zip-up sweatshirt with the hood over his head, and white knit gloves.
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She also thought that he had a slight southern accent. Which was similar also to the description
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given by the victim in the Livermore Police investigation. NANCY GRACE: The victim even shows officers where
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the attack takes place, and she's taken to the hospital for an SART exam. ANTHONY BATREZ: She took them back to the scene
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where the incident occurred so they can look for evidence and collect evidence. COLLEEN MCMAHON: They collected her belongings, including
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her jacket, and then they brought her to Alameda County Hospital, where she underwent a Sexual Assault
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Response Team examination. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: They found that she had bruising and abrasions to her elbows.
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She also had bruising and a redness to around her neck, which was consistent with her recollection of events of being held down
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by her throat by the suspect. They also collected her clothing to try to get any DNA or any touch DNA from the suspect
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because they were in such close quarters during the sexual assault. COLLEEN MCMAHON: She still had her jacket on,
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but it was pushed up over her head. So while he was able to force her to orally copulate him,
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the jacket was still hanging up around her head area. So when she spit it out, the ejaculate went
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right onto the jacket itself. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Those investigators uploaded that DNA
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sample into CODIS, which matched with our CODIS upload as a case to case match. NANCY GRACE: Investigators then began
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looking, searching for other unsolved cases with a similar MO. ANTHONY BATREZ: Between 1995 through 1987,
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we had four other assaults that had similar MO to the Union City case as well as the Livermore case.
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NANCY GRACE: At this point, investigators realize they've got a serial rapist on their hands
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simply because of the sheer number of the attacks and always almost the same exact MO in every attack.
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As we see next on "Bloodline Detectives," investigators compile as many similar case files as they can
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to help them catch a predator. 1997. Detectives in the San Francisco Bay Area hunting a serial rapist.
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The same suspect now linked to two recent rapes nearby. Revealing unsolved cases, they believe the perpetrator
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committed other attacks in 1995 and '96 on or near Granada High School. Investigators find another similar attack from August 6,
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1995, when a 13-year-old little girl attacked on her paper route. She was riding her pike past Granada
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High School when a male came out and attempted to attack her. Using her bike as leverage, she
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was able to break free from him and pedal home, because she lived nearby, to tell her parents what occurred.
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And she was able to escape from him. NANCY GRACE: Then detectives link yet another case.
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On October 27, 1995, a 16-year-old little girl attacked walking across a local football field.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: She saw a subject riding a bicycle, approaching from the rear, jumping off his bicycle
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and tackling her to the ground. He then threw her up against a chain-link fence and was beginning to try to sexually assault her.
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She had a puffy jacket on. She was able to slip out of her jacket and get away. NANCY GRACE: Then investigators link what is perhaps the most
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brutal attack on May 4, 1996. She had got in an argument with her boyfriend, and she went for a walk at Granada High
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School near the football field. And she was walking near the track area when she was attacked from behind by the suspect
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and taken to the ground. He had started to drag her towards the dugouts and told her if she kept screaming, he would cut her.
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The victim pleaded and said, I just had a baby. Please don't hurt me. NANCY GRACE: But the attacker becomes even more violent.
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He starts punching the victim as she struggles to get free. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: While dragging her this long distance,
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he would stop and punch her and hit her and then continue dragging her. NANCY GRACE: Finally, the young woman dragged into the baseball
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dugouts and sex attacked. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: She was begging, pleading to him that she had just had a baby, that she
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still had injuries from having a vaginal birth two weeks prior. Even though she just had a baby and still
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had these internal injuries, he still continued to violently sexually assault her.
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NANCY GRACE: In a sick replay of his previous attacks, the perp tells the victim he's leaving.
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He takes her clothes and tells her, don't move for 10 minutes. When police get to the scene, she's
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able to describe her attacker. Unfortunately, there is not enough forensic evidence
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to link that suspect to these crime scenes. This was the '90s, so there was no surveillance cameras.
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There's no type of alarm system or anything that might capture an image that might
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possibly lead to a suspect. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: There was no DNA collected on any of those cases.
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So even though we had the similar MO, similar suspect description, and believed they all had the same suspect
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as the Livermore Police main investigation and Union City, without DNA, we were unable to take those investigations
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any farther. As far as we know, those were all the attacks at the high school from '95 to 1997.
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After that, the attacks actually stopped. We were trying to figure out if it was somebody who came into town for a few years
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and then moved away. NANCY GRACE: 2019, the cases are reopened by Livermore Police.
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ANTHONY BATREZ: We would check the database once a year to see if the DNA profile matched anybody
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in CODIS, which it did not. But we knew that these cases were linked because the DNA
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donor was the same. NANCY GRACE: Detectives reach out to the district attorney's office.
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They want to pursue the forensic science known as genetic genealogy. In June 2019, forensic samples are
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sent to a specialist laboratory, so an SNP, or SNP profile, can be developed. MARK MELTON: SNPs referred to Single
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Nucleotide Polymorphisms. And so these are the kinds of DNA uploaded into genealogical websites that you or anybody else
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might do to find out who their relatives may be. And so this kind of DNA testing looks at a much broader
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spectrum of the human genome than the DNA testing that they do to go into the CODIS databases.
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And then the SNPs are then uploaded into the genealogical databases, and that's really where
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your investigation starts. NANCY GRACE: On July 25, that profile is uploaded to a genealogy website.
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Just four days later, the genetic genealogy consultant contacts the investigators with solid leads.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: She advised that she had found a distant family member and was able to provide us
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with that name. By providing us that name, we were able to start working forward, with her assistance,
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to get a list of suspects. MARK MELTON: I think that there were 16 first cousins.
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It turned out that at least eight of them were women, so you could eliminate them immediately
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because a woman obviously can't be the source of any of the sperm found at the scene.
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Now, that left eight other cousins that were male, any of whom potentially could have been the perpetrator.
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And then that's where you get involved in some basic police investigation. ANTHONY BATREZ: Detective England and I had a look
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into these people, of their criminal history, where they live, their description
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to see if they match a description of our suspect. Went back to news articles to see where they were
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or driver's licenses where they were living at the time of the incidents occurred.
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NANCY GRACE: After over two decades of waiting, investigators finally ID a likely suspect.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: The suspect we were able to identify was Gregory Paul Vien. So who is Gregory Vien, and how
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does he evade police 25 years? As we'll see next on "Bloodline Detectives," investigators
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in Livermore start looking into Gregory Vien's background and criminal history. 2019.
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Investigators in Livermore, California, have a DNA match and now a prime suspect
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in a series of sex attacks going back 25 years. His name, Gregory Vien. Gregory Vien was a 61-year-old man living in Livermore.
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He was married. He had two biological daughters and one stepdaughter. He was from San Lorenzo, Hayward area of California.
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ANTHONY BATREZ: He was 37 years old at the time these incidents occurred. We were able to pull his driver's license from that time
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frame, and the picture and the description actually matched the description of the suspect.
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NANCY GRACE: Officers can now place Vien close to the crime scenes at the time of the attacks.
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Gregory Vien lived at 138 Cameo Drive in the city of Livermore, which is approximately one mile
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to Granada High School and 3.1 miles to Livermore High School, and that's where these assaults took place.
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So he lived close by At the time that the Union City crimes occurred, he and his wife were estranged, and he was living
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with a co-worker friend of his. Company he worked for doing maintenance, he was going back and forth to different complexes,
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and he would go to Fremont, Union City. Every day, he would travel past the Union City crime scene
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to get to and from work. The Livermore victim remembered a distinct odor of motor oil coming from the suspect.
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And at the time that the crimes occurred, he was working for a property management company,
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and he was in charge of their maintenance crew. NANCY GRACE: Gregory Vien also has previous encounters
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with law enforcement. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: After we got the name Gregory Vien, we started doing a complete record check on him.
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We found out he did have a prior criminal history, which consisted of drug possession.
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ANTHONY BATREZ: He was arrested for assault and battery, possession of stolen property, theft.
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His DNA was never uploaded to CODIS because he had never been arrested for a violent felony, which is the parameters
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to upload DNA up to CODIS. We decided to start conducting surveillance on him to see
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his everyday movements, to see what he looked like now, and to get as much intelligence and information
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we could about him. NANCY GRACE: August 18. Detectives follow Vien to an ice cream store
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in the hopes of securing DNA evidence. NATE GARTRELL: Being a potential relative of a rapist obviously
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isn't a crime. So they don't have enough to forcibly get his DNA at that point. So what they have to do is follow him around
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surreptitiously and hope that he spits on the curb or does something to give up a piece of DNA
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that they can then rush in and collect. And that's what happened in this case. Mr. Vien's undoing was going to get ice cream.
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MARK MELTON: They followed him to a Baskin-Robbins ice cream place in Union City, recovered a spoon that he used.
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He went like this with the spoon, and he put it in his cup and threw it in the trash.
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And the police were watching this whole thing, and they rushed in and took the spoon, took it into evidence.
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NANCY GRACE: The following day, detectives also get evidence from outside Vien's home.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: We wanted to make sure that we had another surreptitious sample.
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So we continued surveillance into that night. We followed Greg and his wife back to the residence.
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And it was trash night, and we saw Gregory Vien bring his trash cans out to the street.
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We went and collected his trash cans and brought them to a enclosed evidence area
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where we went through his trash. And we found Pacifico beer bottles, and we sent those off to the lab to get
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those comparison tested to the DNA from the crime scenes. MARK MELTON: It turned out that the DNA
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from the spoon and the beer bottle matched each other. They both matched Mr. Vien.
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NANCY GRACE: The forensic evidence against Gregory Vien, very strong. So is evidence of his movements when the attacks take place.
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As we see next, the only thing left for the "Bloodline Detectives" to do is confront the suspect.
00:28:35
Livermore detectives obtain a warrant to arrest Gregory Vien for a series of violent rapes going
00:28:43
all the way back to the '90s. Law enforcement set out to arrest him. I was in phone contact with the Livermore Police Department
00:28:54
in case they wanted to talk to me about any issues or questions that came up. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: We didn't know enough about him
00:28:59
to safely enter his house to arrest him. So we planned a ruse, which consisted of a Livermore Police
00:29:06
detective dressing up as a City of Livermore employee who was doing maintenance on the sidewalk.
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He approached Gregory Vien's house and knocked on the door and asked Gregory Vien if he would be willing to move
00:29:18
his vehicle to the sidewalk because if not, they were going to be doing work on the sidewalk,
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and he was going to get his vehicle blocked in the driveway. Gregory Vien told him, hold on a second,
00:29:28
let me get some shoes on, and then exited the residence to move his truck. Once he was in the driveway, the units
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converged on Gregory Vien's location in the driveway. Hello. Are you Gregory Vien?
00:29:43
Yes I am. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: I'm Detective England, and this is my partner, Detective Escavo,
00:29:46
with the Livermore Police Department. Yes. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: So basically, I wanted to take you back to the police department
00:29:52
where we can talk a little bit more privately so I can tell you everything that's going on today.
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Just hold on one second. Hold on a second. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Do you need shoes and stuff?
00:29:59
Yeah. I needed to move my truck for these guys so they can do their work outside here.
00:30:03
We'll take care of that. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: We'll take care of all that for ya. We don't want him to retreat back into his house
00:30:08
because that could be dangerous. So we took him to the Livermore Police Department.
00:30:13
GREGORY VIEN: What is all this about? BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Like I told you, I don't want a big ol' scene for all your neighbors.
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Come on. - Are you locking up my house? BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Yeah. - We're not leaving.
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BRITTNEY ENGLAND: Like I told you, I'll explain everything once we're in the car
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and we're out of neighbor sight. GREGORY VIEN: [INAUDIBLE] Can you take a seat right here?
00:30:30
And we'll be with you in just a second, OK? Right here. I'll be with you in just a second.
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- You need some water? - Please. Thank you. COLLEEN MCMAHON: Overall, his general demeanor
00:30:39
was that of somebody who was pretty arrogant, pretty smug. I think he thought he was the smartest man in the room.
00:30:46
And I think he thought that he was completely in control of that interview. However, that was not the case.
00:30:53
We have a warrant for your arrest. The allegations are sexual in nature. Really?
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Yeah. Do you know who would make these allegations that are sexual in nature? Do you know who would corroborate these?
00:31:07
I'm sure it's all bull [BLEEP].. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: At certain points in the interview when I was really pushing him,
00:31:13
I saw anger, very-- like, anger in his eyes and in his tone. He would become angry, very just hostile, angry.
00:31:21
And then it would turn off again. Is there anyone out there that you think came forward and made
00:31:29
allegations against you? I've never pressured anybody for anything. Never. Ever.
00:31:34
Not even the slightest sexual-- - No. - Whether it be-- No, I never-- I never pressured anybody for anything.
00:31:40
--oral sex-- No. --sexual intercourse-- You know. --a handjob? Nothing. COLLEEN MCMAHON: At some points, when he was asked some pretty
00:31:49
direct questions, he got pretty nervous and jittery, started moving around a lot, tapping his foot.
00:31:53
Started to sweat a little bit. And that was at the point when he was shown some pictures
00:31:59
of the uncharged victims. So there were three victims that we weren't really able to connect to him with forensic evidence.
00:32:09
What about her? No. You don't recognize her? No. Never had any sexual relations with her?
00:32:15
Absolutely not. What about her? No Never seen anybody? Never seen her before. None of these girls?
00:32:30
Never had sex with them? Never seen them? - No. You guys are barking up the wrong tree.
00:32:33
OK. You really are. OK. But no consensual sex? No dating? I don't think so. No. Any forced sex with her?
00:32:43
Absolutely not. Never had forced sex with anybody. OK. MARK MELTON: In the interview, he looked almost defiant
00:32:52
and a little bit arrogant because certainly at the time he was first interviewed, he didn't
00:32:58
know about the DNA evidence. I don't know on what basis he thought he was being arrested.
00:33:04
He maintained that reputation of arrogance and, you know, I got away with this for so long.
00:33:10
I'm going to continue-- this is-- I'm going to get away with this. Never remorse or oh, I've been caught,
00:33:17
or oh, it's time to tell the truth. I never saw any of those characteristics in Mr. Vien.
00:33:24
I guess I can have candy still. Yeah. Just wait until we take-- - Just hold on. Till we take the--
00:33:30
Let them do the swab, and then you can eat all the candy you want. At the conclusion of the interview,
00:33:34
I obtained a search warrant to obtain another DNA buccal swab from Gregory Vien's cheek, just so I have a legal sample
00:33:41
to compare it to all the other samples that we had from the crime scene to the surreptitious sample.
00:33:47
Once we collected those from Gregory Vien, we sent those to the lab for comparison,
00:33:52
and they were confirmed a match with all the other samples, that he was in fact the suspect
00:33:56
and that his DNA matched. We charged him with counts in each case of forced oral copulation.
00:34:04
And I do know that we charged him with counts of digital penetration. And the key thing was that we charged him
00:34:11
with those enhancements that allowed us to defeat any statute of limitations arguments that could have
00:34:19
knocked the case out of court. NANCY GRACE: Finally, investigators contact Vien's victims, telling them they've
00:34:30
got the attacker in custody. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: We decided that it was time to tell the victims.
00:34:37
She went speechless on the phone. I think she was shocked. She didn't know what to say.
00:34:42
And she said she was extremely relieved that after all these years that she knows who did this.
00:34:51
NANCY GRACE: Then a bizarre twist. While waiting for trial, Gregory Vien is released
00:34:58
from prison due to COVID. Imagine the pain and the suffering this causes his victims, who have waited so long,
00:35:08
as well as fear for the entire community. COLLEEN MCMAHON: From the time that he
00:35:14
was arrested up until April 24 of 2020, he was in custody. And his bail was originally no bail,
00:35:26
and then it was reduced to $2.5 million, of which he wasn't able to meet. NATE GARTRELL: Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit,
00:35:35
he was released on zero dollar bail by a superior court judge. Basically, the judge found that the danger that he presented
00:35:43
to the public wasn't great enough to overcome the potential danger for him if he
00:35:48
caught COVID-19 in jail because he was getting up there in age. He was released on house arrest
00:35:55
with an ankle monitor because of COVID, pending the judicial process finishing. MARK MELTON: I was dumbstruck because the crimes were
00:36:05
so serious, his exposure was so great, by which I mean he faced so many years in prison, that there would be a lot of reasons
00:36:16
for him to want to flee the jurisdiction. The victims were devastated. I fielded several calls.
00:36:24
We spoke on the phone quite a few times. They were both emotional, crying, yelling,
00:36:34
and rightfully so. They had just spent the better part of their adult lives looking over their shoulders.
00:36:41
They finally were relieved and felt safe because their attacker was behind bars,
00:36:48
and now he was out, and he knew who they were. NANCY GRACE: Investigators are now
00:36:56
determined to get Gregory Vien back behind bars as quickly as possible. Colleen McMahon organizes a special preliminary hearing,
00:37:06
and the survivors finally get to go face-to-face with their attacker. COLLEEN MCMAHON: They were both extremely nervous
00:37:13
about having to confront him in court, the Livermore victim moreso than the Union City victim.
00:37:19
And I think a lot of that had to do with their age. The Livermore victim, at one point,
00:37:25
really didn't even want to come to court. She found the courage to do it. She realized if she didn't come forward that maybe he would get
00:37:32
away with this and maybe in the future do this to somebody else. The Union City victim had the resolve
00:37:39
that she was going to follow through with this all the way till the bitter end. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: We started the court process
00:37:47
of the preliminary hearings. The Livermore Police victim gave testimony as well as the Union City.
00:37:53
And the next day, a victim was supposed to continue her testimony, as well as I was
00:38:00
supposed to start my testimony. NANCY GRACE: With the following morning comes gruesome news.
00:38:08
As I was getting ready for court that morning, I got out of the shower, and I saw
00:38:12
I had probably 25 missed calls and even more text messages. And I was being notified that Gregory Vien had taken his life
00:38:23
before court that morning. It became pretty clear pretty quick that what actually happened was he left his home with a nail
00:38:31
gun and drove a short distance away from his home in Livermore, and he shot himself
00:38:36
with the nail gun in the head and in the chest near his heart. He had shot himself in the head with a nail gun
00:38:43
and then actually driven home and that emergency personnel were called from there.
00:38:49
The going theory is that he thought that, you know, his goose was cooked and that he was definitely,
00:38:54
you know, in trouble after they testified. NANCY GRACE: Gregory Vien's death leaves
00:39:00
everyone with mixed emotions. I don't personally know why Gregory Vien took his life.
00:39:09
I think that he didn't want to spend his life in prison, the rest of his life in prison.
00:39:15
And I also think that he didn't want everybody to know the monster he was inside.
00:39:24
Because for so many years, he's been a good father and a good dad, and I don't think he wanted anybody
00:39:30
to know the other side of him. NANCY GRACE: The survivors can now finally start to heal, knowing the person who attacked
00:39:43
them two decades before can never hurt them or anyone else ever again. COLLEEN MCMAHON: Both victims were such survivors and so
00:39:55
courageous, and how they both testified was truly something amazing. BRITTNEY ENGLAND: To use this new technology of genealogy
00:40:07
was amazing. I learned so much as an investigator. I got to work with a bunch of good people,
00:40:12
and we got to work together to give two victims closure. NANCY GRACE: The case of the Livermore rapist
00:40:21
is a lesson in good versus evil. Inside a seemingly good family man lived a monster, a monster who carried
00:40:33
out horrible acts, a man who was the personification of evil. Yet from that evil, courageous survivors
00:40:44
emerge whose faith in goodness sees them through the ordeal. And of course, there's the determination of the "Bloodline
00:40:55
Detectives," who bring about justice and closure to these courageous women. I'm Nancy Grace.
00:41:04
Thanks for joining us on "Bloodline Detectives." [MUSIC PLAYING]