5 Cold Cases Finally Solved With The Most INSANE Twists

Movie Pool

Hi guys. In this compilation we'll delve into 5 twisted cases that were solved after many years.

Transcript

00:00:00Hi guys, today we'll delve into the case of a girl who disappeared from her bedroom

00:00:07in the middle of the night. Her sister, who shared the bed with her, told her something

00:00:12very strange, that a person in a wizard hat took her. This case remained unsolved for

00:00:17a whopping 35 years, but in 2024, the truth finally came to light.

00:00:22Jessica Gutierrez was born on December 3, 1981, in South Carolina. She was the youngest

00:00:35in her family, with two sisters and a brother. Shortly after her birth, Jessica's parents

00:00:41divorced, leaving her mom, Debbie, to raise four children on her own. They all lived in

00:00:46a small town called Edmond near the state capital. It was hard for Debbie to provide for all the

00:00:51children without any support. But despite this, the family were pretty close-knit. When Debbie

00:00:57was working, the older kids looked after Jessica, and when she had free time, Debbie tried to

00:01:02come up with something fun to do for all of them. On June 5, 1986, their family was spending

00:01:08a typical summer day. Jessica, who was four at the time, was playing in the yard with her

00:01:13siblings while their mom finished up some jobs around the house. In the evening, they all

00:01:18had dinner together, and Debbie put the children to bed. Jessica usually slept with her mom on the

00:01:23same bed, since she was the youngest. But on that particular day, her brother had an earache,

00:01:28so Debbie decided to let him sleep with her. As a result, Jessica went to sleep with her older

00:01:33sisters. The eldest slept on a separate bed, and the other lay with Jessica. The next morning,

00:01:38Debbie woke up around 9 a.m. Six-year-old Rebecca, who slept in the same bed as Jessica,

00:01:43went into her mother's room and asked her to make cereal for breakfast. Debbie got out of bed,

00:01:49left her room, and immediately noticed that something was wrong. The front door, which she

00:01:53always locked before going to bed, was wide open, and their dog, who usually stayed outside,

00:02:00was running around the house. There was also a curtain rod laying under the back window,

00:02:04and the protective screen had been removed from it. Debbie went into the girl's room,

00:02:08but Jessica was nowhere to be found. She also noticed some papers scattered on the floor.

00:02:14When she asked her older daughters where their sister was, Rebecca replied,

00:02:18She's gone. A man with a beard and a magic hat took her. Thinking her six-year-old daughter was

00:02:23just joking, the mother went to look for Jessica. She thought maybe her daughter had gone out to play

00:02:28in the yard, but she wasn't there. Debbie searched the entire house, hoping Jessica was just playing

00:02:34hide-and-seek. But pretty soon, she realized that Jessica was not in the house. So the mother ran

00:02:40back to the girl's room and began demanding Rebecca to tell where her sister was. The girl kept

00:02:45repeating the same thing about the man in the magic hat, and Debbie started to lose her temper.

00:02:50She began shouting and asking why Rebecca hadn't screamed for help if someone was taking her younger

00:02:55sister from the house. After that, Rebecca finally told more details of what had happened. According to

00:03:00her, she woke up in the middle of the night and saw a man with a beard and in a wizard hat next to

00:03:06their bed. He gently picked up Jessica, who was still sleeping, and left the room with her. Rebecca,

00:03:12who was only six, didn't fully understand what was happening. She was scared and covered her head with

00:03:17the blanket, thinking it was just a weird dream. After lying like that for a while, she fell asleep and

00:03:23didn't even think to tell her mom what had happened in the morning. Realizing that Rebecca was likely

00:03:28telling the truth, Debbie immediately called the police. Officers searched the entire house and

00:03:34came to the conclusion that she could indeed have been abducted. Most likely, the perpetrator entered

00:03:39the house through the living room window by removing the protective screen. Upon closer inspection of

00:03:44the area, they discovered a fingerprint on the exterior of the glass and handed its image to experts.

00:03:50Next to the window, the police found a pack of cigarettes and several cigarette butts.

00:03:54Understanding that they were likely dealing with a kidnapping, investigators installed a

00:03:59recording device on Debbie's phone. This was done in case the kidnapper would call with a ransom

00:04:03demand. The police listened to Rebecca's account and she told them the same story about the man in

00:04:08a wizard hat. This time, she added that he had unplugged the fan and nightlight before approaching

00:04:13their bed. The girl hadn't seen the kidnapper's face, so her description didn't offer any help to

00:04:18the investigators. They focused on Debbie and brought her to the station, where they asked her to recount

00:04:24all the events of the previous day in the utmost detail. During the conversation, she mentioned

00:04:29that she had a strong guess who might have taken her daughter. Just a few days before, she had ended

00:04:34a relationship with a man she had been dating for several months. According to Debbie, he was quite

00:04:39aggressive and controlling, and he also drank pretty often. The man wasn't happy with Debbie's

00:04:44decision to end their relationship, so she thought he might have decided to take revenge by taking her

00:04:50daughter. She called him from the police station, but he denied any involvement in Jessica's

00:04:54disappearance. The police decided to investigate him further, but found no evidence linking him to the

00:04:59crime. They also checked Jessica's father, but he had long been living out of state and just couldn't have

00:05:05abducted his daughter. Meanwhile, experts ran the fingerprints found on the window through the FBI

00:05:10database, but there were no matches. The police decided to focus on search efforts and began combing the

00:05:16area around Jessica's house. It was located on the outskirts, with endless fields stretching for many

00:05:22miles around it. Police searched abandoned buildings, forests, streams, and rivers, as well as any other

00:05:28places where Jessica could potentially be. The next day, the FBI joined the investigation, but they still

00:05:34couldn't find any traces of the missing girl. Police started distributing flyers not only in nearby towns,

00:05:40but throughout the entire state. The sheriff also sent an airplane to survey the area from the air.

00:05:45The search continued for several days, and during this time, Debbie was restless. With three children to

00:05:51care for, she was unable to go out and search for her daughter. The police rarely spoke with her, only

00:05:56responding when she reached out to them herself. On Saturday, two days after Jessica's disappearance, Debbie

00:06:03decided to call the sheriff and ask whether they would continue the search over the weekend. She was

00:06:07understandably beside herself with grief, and the conversation became quite tense. Debbie accused the sheriff of

00:06:14negligence and lack of interest in finding Jessica. The sheriff responded that he had been searching for

00:06:19her daughter all night, and warned that if she persisted in accusing him, he would call off his team, and they

00:06:24would all simply forget about this case. Since Debbie's phone still recorded everything, she saved this

00:06:30recording. The woman continued to believe that the police were not doing enough to find her daughter,

00:06:35so she was losing more and more hope of finding Jessica alive with each passing day.

00:06:40This went on for several months, until there was a rather unexpected twist in the case.

00:06:45Ten weeks after Jessica's disappearance, the police faced a series of crimes. A local man had broken

00:06:51into someone's house, but the owner used a weapon to scare him off. Then, this man stole a van and drove

00:06:57to North Carolina, where he broke into a home of a sleeping woman and assaulted her. Shortly after this

00:07:03incident, the man was arrested and his fingerprints were entered into the database. Once they were there,

00:07:08investigators got a full match. His fingerprints matched those left on the window in Jessica's

00:07:14house. The man was a 27-year-old Thomas McDowell, and as soon as Debbie learned about this, she

00:07:20immediately told the police. She knew this person. She had met Thomas through relatives, and just a few

00:07:27months before Jessica's disappearance, she had hired him to do some work on their property. Over the course

00:07:32of two days spent at her house, he had built a shed and repaired the awning over the porch.

00:07:36Another curious fact was that Thomas had a beard and always wore a tall cowboy hat. This led to the

00:07:43thought that Rebecca, who only briefly saw the abductor in the darkness, might have mistaken this

00:07:48headgear for a wizard's hat, similar to those she'd seen in cartoons. But there was one huge problem for

00:07:54the investigators. Despite the fingerprint match, they deemed this evidence insufficient to press

00:07:59charges. They still didn't have Jessica's body, so they couldn't be 100% sure she was not alive.

00:08:05The presence of Thomas' fingerprints on the window could also have an explanation unrelated to the

00:08:10abduction. Since he worked on Debbie's property for two days, the fingerprint could have been left

00:08:15during that time. Although, such a possibility was quite unlikely. During the inspection of the house,

00:08:21forensic experts noted that the fingerprint appeared fresh. It hadn't been exposed to external

00:08:26factors, such as weather, which could have visually altered it. Debbie also regularly cleaned this window

00:08:32where the fingerprint was found. When her children played in the yard and wanted to say something to

00:08:37her, they would run up to this open window, lean on it with their hands, and shout. Given that the

00:08:42children's hands were almost always dirty, Debbie had to constantly clean the glass. Thomas had been

00:08:47working on her property around six months before the abduction, and there were no other fingerprints

00:08:52found there at the time of the investigation. This indicated that the man almost certainly could not

00:08:57have left the fingerprint back then, or else it would have been wiped out. Debbie also added another

00:09:03interesting fact. She remembered that when Thomas worked on her property, she accidentally locked

00:09:08herself out of the house, leaving the keys inside. As a result, she had to climb through the same window,

00:09:14and Thomas saw her doing it. But all these facts didn't convince the police. They continued to believe

00:09:20that there wasn't enough evidence against Thomas to press charges. In 1987, he was convicted of

00:09:26assaulting the woman whose home he broke into and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Debbie was

00:09:31shattered by the fact that the police refused to charge him with the abduction, but there was nothing

00:09:35she could do about it. That same year, something else happened. Thomas' cellmate contacted the police

00:09:41and told them that Thomas had confessed to him about committing the crime. According to Thomas,

00:09:46he abducted a girl in South Carolina from her own bedroom to assault her. While he was committing

00:09:51this horrible act, the victim bit him, and in a fit of rage, he killed her. Thomas dismembered the

00:09:58remains, took them to a field, and left them there. Investigators in Jessica's case went to prison to

00:10:04speak with him, and Thomas didn't even bother to deny it. Nevertheless, he said he was willing to confess

00:10:09if they provide him with full immunity. The authorities obviously couldn't agree to such terms,

00:10:14so the police once again came up empty-handed. Learning that Thomas had escaped punishment,

00:10:20his cellmate wrote a letter to Debbie and told her this story. Once again, she was shocked by the fact

00:10:25that Thomas was allowed to evade justice, but there was nothing she could do about it. Frustrated by the

00:10:31police's lack of action, Debbie decided to conduct her own investigation. At one point, she located an

00:10:37abandoned car that had previously belonged to Thomas and inspected it. There, on one of the seats,

00:10:42she noticed threads and fabric fibers that matched the color of Jessica's pajamas, the one she wore

00:10:48the night of her disappearance. But the police didn't rush to pursue this lead. The fact that

00:10:53Debbie, without any special equipment or knowledge of forensic science, found fabric particles in some

00:10:58car seems strange to them. In 1987, something else happened. Police from Kansas contacted local

00:11:05investigators and reported that they found a girl fitting Jessica's description. Her mother immediately

00:11:10flew there, but her hopes were instantly shattered. When she came to see the girl, just hearing her

00:11:15voice from the corridor was enough for her to realize it wasn't her daughter. Over the following

00:11:21years, Debbie gave several interviews, where she accused the police of ignoring the obvious suspect,

00:11:26but it didn't yield any significant results. In 1990, Jessica's case was featured on a popular

00:11:32television program about unsolved crimes. This led to a new wave of tips, but unfortunately,

00:11:38they all turned out to be dead ends. A year later, Jessica became the first missing child of South

00:11:44Carolina, for whom an age-progressed portrait was created. Considering it was the early 90s,

00:11:49such technology was quite new and experimental, but detectives hoped it could help identify Jessica

00:11:55all these years later. Unfortunately, despite all this, the case remained unsolved for many years.

00:12:02In 2007, 21 years after Jessica's disappearance, her mother once again publicly accused the local

00:12:08police department of inaction. This time, she gave reporters the recording of her conversation with

00:12:13sheriff, where he told her he could call his men off and forget about this case. They reached out to

00:12:18the sheriff, but he stated that he hadn't stopped investigating the case all these years. The sheriff

00:12:24also said that after this conversation with Debbie, he not only didn't send his men home, but assigned even

00:12:29more officers to the investigation. Debbie also complained that for years, she had been trying to

00:12:35get other agencies involved in this case. But each time, the local prosecutor's office blocked these

00:12:40attempts. In the same year, 2007, they reviewed the case and confirmed that they didn't have any

00:12:46sufficient evidence, making it impossible to press charges against anyone at that time.

00:12:52In 2014, the sheriff faced charges related to fraud and bribery, leading to his dismissal and a 12-month

00:12:58jail sentence. Two years later, the prosecutor was arrested for a hit-and-run while drunk, resulting

00:13:04in a $1,000 fine and his resignation. In 2021, after 35 years since Jessica's disappearance,

00:13:11the new sheriff named Jay Kuhn reopened the investigation with the FBI's help.

00:13:1650 agents were assigned to this case, revisiting all available evidence and seeking new leads.

00:13:22Eventually, they not only concluded that there is enough evidence against Thomas McDowell,

00:13:27but also discovered new, indirect pieces of evidence linking him to the crime.

00:13:32His relatives and friends revealed that the man drastically changed his appearance after

00:13:36Jessica's disappearance, shaving his beard and long hair and ditching his favorite cowboy hat.

00:13:41They also said that he smoked the same brand of cigarettes found near Jessica's home.

00:13:46Unfortunately, experts couldn't find any traces of DNA on these pieces of evidence,

00:13:51probably due to the fact that they've been tested multiple times in the past,

00:13:54which might have wiped out any biological traces. While all these factors added to

00:13:59suspicion against Thomas, the key evidence remained his fingerprint and the testimony of

00:14:03his former cellmate. Eventually, detectives believed that they had enough evidence to bring the case to

00:14:08trial, and in January 2022, Thomas was finally arrested. At 62 years old, Thomas refused to admit guilt,

00:14:16and preparation for the trial stretched for several years. It began only in January 2024,

00:14:22and Thomas' lawyers attempted to challenge the existing evidence. They argued that the fingerprint

00:14:27on the glass was left when Thomas had worked on the property. The defense also tried to use

00:14:32Rebecca's testimony. As we recall, Jessica's sister said that she saw a man in a wizard hat.

00:14:38Thomas' lawyers tried to convince everyone that the girl couldn't have mistaken a cowboy hat for a

00:14:43wizard's as they are completely different. However, experts brought in by the prosecution

00:14:47pointed out that the fingerprint was clearly fresh. If it had been left a few months before the abduction,

00:14:53it would have either been erased or altered by the weather. During the trial, a former inmate also

00:14:59testified, repeating Thomas' confession made in prison in 1987. The prosecution pointed out that

00:15:05an outsider from another state would unlikely know the details of the case. Moreover, in those years,

00:15:11Thomas himself said he was willing to confess but asked for full immunity, which was obviously not an

00:15:16option. The trial ended on February 8th, and the jury unanimously found Thomas guilty. At 63 years

00:15:24old, he was sentenced to life in prison. For Debbie, who had been convinced of his guilt from the early

00:15:29years of the investigation, the outcome of this case stirred conflicting emotions. She was glad that

00:15:35the perpetrator was finally held accountable but said that Thomas could have been arrested 36 years ago.

00:15:41Instead, the police allowed him to live a long life before facing justice. Debbie also still couldn't

00:15:48come to terms with the fact that her daughter's remains were never found all these years. She, along with

00:15:54the new sheriff, refuses to give up and will continue the search, but the chances of finding her daughter

00:15:59after almost four decades are quite low. Debbie Lynn Randall was born on August 21st, 1962,

00:16:08in Marietta, Georgia. She grew up in a loving family with two older brothers. Sometime after Debbie's

00:16:15birth, her parents divorced, but her dad remained involved in their lives. A few years later, their

00:16:21mom married a man named Roy, and he became Debbie's stepfather. They all lived in a small apartment

00:16:27building in a quiet neighborhood near a military base. Debbie was a typical, cheerful kid who loved

00:16:34hanging out with friends and playing basketball. She also loved dolls. Debbie had a large collection

00:16:41and spent a lot of time playing with them. On January 13th, 1972, when Debbie was nine years old,

00:16:48she had dinner with her family. After that, her mom decided to send her to the laundromat,

00:16:54as she had done many times before. Debbie was supposed to keep an eye on the laundry while it washed,

00:16:59while someone else from the family would help her carry the clothes to the laundromat and back home.

00:17:05The laundromat was just a few hundred yards away from their home, right across the street,

00:17:10so her mom wasn't too worried about anything happening to her. Back then, it was quite common

00:17:15for parents to have their kids help with chores like laundry, and Debbie even made some friends with

00:17:20the other girls at the laundromat. On that day, her mom wanted to send Debbie's older brother along,

00:17:26but he wasn't feeling well and wanted to watch his favorite TV show. So, the mother asked her husband

00:17:32to take the laundry instead, and Debbie went along with him, grabbing a box of detergent on the way.

00:17:39Her stepdad dropped off the laundry, loaded it into two washing machines, and left, while Debbie stayed

00:17:45to wait for the wash to finish. After that, she was supposed to walk home and ask someone to pick up

00:17:51the clean clothes, as she couldn't carry them all by herself. Some time later, Debbie's mom noticed

00:17:57that she still hadn't returned, even though the laundry should have been done by then. It was getting

00:18:02dark outside, so she and her husband decided to walk to the laundromat, but Debbie wasn't there. The

00:18:08employee told them that she had left a while ago and hadn't come back since. Her mom became worried,

00:18:15and started to walk around the nearby streets with Roy, searching for Debbie. Soon, they noticed

00:18:21something strange. A few dozen yards from the laundromat, in the parking lot next to one of the

00:18:26cars, there was spilled detergent. Since Debbie was carrying the box of detergent, her mom immediately

00:18:32thought it might have belonged to her. They continued to search the parking lot and the surrounding area,

00:18:38but there were no other signs of Debbie. Some neighbors, who knew the family well,

00:18:43also joined in to help with the search, but all their efforts yielded no results,

00:18:47and Debbie's mom decided to contact the police. The officers examined the area of the parking lot

00:18:54where the detergent was spilled and noticed their first potential lead. The detergent was scattered

00:18:59just inches away from a parked car, and on its door, they spotted several clear fingerprints. Those

00:19:06prints appeared fresh and were located significantly lower than the handle, which already seemed odd.

00:19:12The officers thought that at this exact spot, an unknown perpetrator might have grabbed the girl

00:19:18and touched the car in the process. They collected these prints and handed them over to forensic experts,

00:19:24while also beginning to search for the owner of the vehicle to confirm if the prints didn't belong to

00:19:29them. With no other leads, the police started combing the streets, trying to find new clues or witnesses.

00:19:36The laundromat employee mentioned that she hadn't noticed anything suspicious. Debbie had been sitting

00:19:41and waiting for the laundry to finish, then took her box of detergent and left the building. Most likely,

00:19:47she headed home to ask someone to pick up the clothes. The police soon found the first witness whose

00:19:52account immediately changed the course of the investigation. Twelve-year-old Sandra, along with her

00:19:58friend, was walking to the same laundromat, helping her carry dirty clothes. Suddenly, they saw a man

00:20:05grabbing a girl in the middle of the street and pulling her into his car, parked nearby the laundromat.

00:20:11The girl was screaming and trying to break free, but he slammed the door shut, got behind the wheel,

00:20:17and drove off. The man nearly hit Sandra and her friend. One of the girls started shouting after him,

00:20:23but he sped away. At the time, Sandra didn't realize she had witnessed an abduction. She thought the man

00:20:29was the girl's father or some other relative picking her up, while she wanted to stay out longer.

00:20:35Because of this, Sandra didn't tell any adults about what happened or report it to the police.

00:20:40Now, when she learned about Debbie's abduction, she provided investigators with crucial information.

00:20:47Based on her description, the perpetrator drove a dark pickup truck,

00:20:51likely a 1957 model, according to her description. She described the man as young,

00:20:57white, with thick, dark hair. He wore a white t-shirt, jeans, and black work boots.

00:21:03Another girl who lived in the same building as Debbie also shared her observations.

00:21:08That evening, she was standing outside her apartment when a dark pickup truck drove past

00:21:13the building. At first, she thought it was her uncle behind the wheel, but when the driver stopped

00:21:18right in front of her and looked at the girl, she realized it wasn't him. According to her description,

00:21:24it was a white man with medium-length dark hair. She also provided investigators with a few more details

00:21:30about his appearance that she could remember. The girl mentioned that this man parked near their

00:21:35building, next to the same car where the spilled detergent would later be found.

00:21:40The police soon found another witness. A man who lived near Debbie's house was driving to the

00:21:45hospital to visit his wife. At one point, a dark pickup truck, likely a Dodge, nearly crashed into him

00:21:52before driving off recklessly. The driver appeared to be around 30 years old with dark hair. However,

00:21:59the most crucial detail was that the witness also saw a girl in his car, seemingly attempting to escape

00:22:06while the driver held her with one hand. After listening to all these accounts, the police had

00:22:12no doubt that Debbie had been abducted. They distributed information about the suspect's vehicle

00:22:17to all patrol units, and police artists created a sketch based on the testimonies of the three witnesses.

00:22:24While some officers were searching for similar vehicles and checking their owners,

00:22:28others organized extensive searches for Debbie. With each day, more volunteers and police officers from

00:22:35other towns joined in. In total, around 4,000 people were involved in the search,

00:22:41setting a record not only for the city but for the entire state. Detectives also investigated various

00:22:48people who knew Debbie, including all-male neighbors, her stepfather, and her biological

00:22:54father, but all of them were ruled out as suspects. Her father, who lived in the same city, learned

00:23:00about his daughter's disappearance at work and immediately joined the search efforts. Detectives

00:23:06checked previously convicted criminals living within a few-mile radius of Debbie's home, but they

00:23:11didn't find any suitable suspects among them. The extensive search efforts continued for over two weeks,

00:23:18without yielding any results. This went on until January 29th, when several students joined the

00:23:24search teams and were sent to explore the wooded area several miles from Debbie's house. After spending

00:23:30nearly five hours there, one of them suddenly noticed tracks on the ground leading from the trail into the

00:23:37depths of the forest, as if something had been dragged there. Following the tracks deeper into the

00:23:43woods for about 150 feet, they stumbled upon a human body and immediately called the officers.

00:23:50They quickly realized that they had found Debbie Randall. She was wearing the same clothes described

00:23:56by her mother on the day of her abduction, a lavender dress and a dark blue zip-up jacket with a hood.

00:24:02However, her shoes were missing. She had socks on, but her lavender shoes were nowhere to be found.

00:24:09She had received these shoes as a Christmas gift just a few weeks before her disappearance,

00:24:14and she loved them very much. Her body was handed over to medical experts, who determined that she

00:24:20had died from strangulation. The victim had also been sexually assaulted. Experts found a single dark hair

00:24:27on her body, most likely belonging to the killer. Since DNA analysis was not used at that time, experts

00:24:35couldn't do much with this evidence. They examined it under a microscope and, based on their knowledge

00:24:41at the time, concluded that it belonged to a man aged between 18 and 30 years old. Debbie's clothing was

00:24:47also covered in dirt, and lacking other leads, detectives decided to examine it more thoroughly.

00:24:53They contacted a geologist and asked him to work with their forensic team. Together, they determined that

00:24:59some of the dirt consisted of a particular type of clay mined less than 10 miles from their city.

00:25:05The geologist confirmed that it was indeed the unique Northern Georgia clay that couldn't be found

00:25:11anywhere else nearby. There were also other dirt stains, different from the first. They were traced

00:25:17back to another type of clay mined by a local company just two miles from where the body was discovered.

00:25:24Based on this information, detectives theorized that the perpetrator didn't kill the

00:25:28victim immediately. Instead, he drove her to remote areas where those types of clay were located.

00:25:35Most likely, he initially took her out of town, where he sexually assaulted her. Then, he drove to

00:25:40the location where the second type of clay was mined, killed her, and took her to the forest, dragging

00:25:46her body behind the trees and leaving it there. Supporting this theory were not only the clay traces,

00:25:52but also the forensic analysis indicating that Debbie was already dead when brought to the forest.

00:25:58If the perpetrator had killed her there, there would have been signs of a struggle around that area.

00:26:04The traces on the ground from the trail into the trees also suggested that the victim was already

00:26:09dead. The clay mining sites were quite remote and difficult to access, leading detectives to speculate

00:26:16that the killer might have worked there. They reached out to the mining companies, and a supervisor for

00:26:21one of them confirmed this theory. It was hard to believe that someone unfamiliar with that area

00:26:27could have taken the abducted girl there. Even the workers themselves sometimes struggled to navigate

00:26:32through these vast areas. Police checked employees from both companies, trying to find a man matching

00:26:38the description or the similar vehicle, but it didn't lead to anything. They also had fingerprints left on

00:26:45the car just inches away from the abduction site and compared them with all suspects, but this yielded

00:26:51no results either. The news of Debbie's brutal murder shook the entire city, and thousands of people came

00:26:58to bid farewell at her funeral. The local police department continued their efforts to find the killer

00:27:04and bring them to justice, but they couldn't find any new leads, hitting dead ends over and over again.

00:27:11Eventually, the case remained unsolved for many years. Detectives continued to work on it, checking

00:27:18dozens of suspects, but they couldn't establish their involvement. For the lead detective on the case,

00:27:24Morris Nix, Debbie's murder remained a priority throughout his entire career. The crime happened when he was just 19,

00:27:31and he had been involved in the search and investigation from day one. For many years,

00:27:37Nix pursued various leads, scrutinized different suspects, and eventually compiled a list of four men

00:27:44whom he considered the most likely suspects. When the FBI established a DNA database, experts were able

00:27:50to extract the genetic profile of the perpetrator from the hair found on Debbie's body. It was entered

00:27:56into the database, but no matches were found. This indicated that the killer either had

00:28:01never been convicted of other serious crimes, or it occurred before the time when DNA samples

00:28:07started being collected from such individuals. In 2015, 43 years after the murder, the case was reopened,

00:28:15and detectives decided to re-examine the victim's clothing using modern technology. It had been stored

00:28:21in the evidence warehouse all this time, and experts found biological material from an unknown man on it.

00:28:26However, over the years, it had degraded significantly, resulting in a partial profile.

00:28:33In 2018, Debbie's mother, who had hoped for decades to see the police arrest her daughter's killer and

00:28:40hold him accountable, gave an interview. She said that after Debbie's murder, she couldn't bear to live in

00:28:46the apartment where everything reminded her of her loss. She moved to another city, and year after year,

00:28:52the lack of progress in the investigation slowly destroyed her. She also said her only desire now

00:28:59is to see the closure of this case before her time comes. Unfortunately, that was not meant to happen.

00:29:06Just a few weeks after the interview, she passed away to cancer at the age of 78,

00:29:12and she was laid to rest next to her daughter. Sandra, who witnessed the abduction at the age of 12,

00:29:19also spoke out in an interview. She said that she had never stopped blaming herself over the years.

00:29:24According to Sandra, she believed she could have stopped the perpetrator and prevented the abduction,

00:29:30even if it meant taking Debbie's place and dying instead of her.

00:29:35In 2019, the local police department received additional funding, enabling them to request

00:29:40a more detailed analysis of Debbie's clothing. This time, experts were able to extract a full DNA

00:29:47sample from it, but the perpetrator's DNA still wasn't in the FBI database.

00:29:52Debbie's father was also interviewed, and he shared that not a day had gone by over the decades

00:29:58when he didn't think about Debbie. He still kept a box of her old photos, hoping for only one thing,

00:30:04to reunite with his daughter in heaven. In 2022, shortly after the interview, he passed away.

00:30:12In the same year, detectives focused all their efforts on the one lead they had, DNA. They reached

00:30:19out to a company in Florida specializing on an innovative DNA analysis method called genetic

00:30:25genealogy. The police handed over all the biological samples they had collected over the years

00:30:30and waited. Experts created a profile of the unknown man and began searching for his relatives in public

00:30:37genetic databases. They needed to find people who had uploaded their DNA because family members'

00:30:43genetic material has similarities. Modern tools can detect even distant relatives.

00:30:49After examining thousands of potential relatives of the killer, investigators narrowed down their search

00:30:54to a family living in Marietta in 2023. They asked them to provide DNA samples, and they agreed.

00:31:02The analysis showed that the killer was indeed their close relative, so experts looked into their

00:31:07family more carefully. They soon identified the most likely owner of the killer's DNA sample,

00:31:13a man named William Rose. However, there was a problem. Rose had taken his own life in 1974,

00:31:21just two years after Debbie's murder. But detectives were determined to finally close this case,

00:31:28no matter what. They obtained a warrant to exhume his grave, and experts took a direct DNA sample from

00:31:35his remains. After 51 years since Debbie's murder, the police finally got a full match. William Rose was

00:31:43indeed the killer. At the time of the murder, he was only 24 years old and had never been a suspect.

00:31:50It turned out that his relatives lived in the same building as Debbie's family.

00:31:54Rose regularly visited them, so investigators believe that he might have seen the girl on

00:31:59multiple occasions. Perhaps that evening he was headed to visit his relatives, but saw Debbie coming

00:32:05out of the laundromat and heading towards her home. Based on the testimonies of her neighbors and other

00:32:10witnesses, Rose pulled into the parking lot between the victim's house and the laundromat, left the engine

00:32:16running, got out, grabbed Debbie, and then drove north. Perhaps he immediately headed to the clay quarry,

00:32:23which was located in that direction. It's worth mentioning that Rose didn't have any other criminal

00:32:29record. Either he didn't commit anything serious besides Debbie's murder, or he simply didn't get

00:32:35caught. At the time the case was solved, the only living close relative of the victim was her older

00:32:41brother, Melvin. He attended the press conference where they announced the discovery of the culprit

00:32:46and thanked everyone who had worked on his sister's case for over half a century. He also

00:32:52said he wished his mom could have lived to see this moment, but added that she was now in heaven with Debbie.

00:32:58Karen Snyder was born on July 29, 1948, in the small American town of Cedar Lake, Indiana. She grew up

00:33:09in a very large family with two brothers and three sisters. In high school, Karen met a boy named Paul,

00:33:16and they decided to get married when she was just 17. Shortly after, Karen became pregnant, and in 1966,

00:33:25their daughter Paula was born. Even though Karen was only 18 at the time, she and her husband were

00:33:32ready and happy to start their own family. They moved to a town called Calumet, Illinois, where Paul's

00:33:39parents lived. The family settled on the same street as his parents, just a few houses away, allowing them

00:33:46to see Paul every day and spend a lot of time with their granddaughter. Calumet, with a population of

00:33:53about 25,000 residents, was located not far from Chicago and considered a very safe place to live.

00:34:01Karen spent most of her time taking care of their child, while Paul got a job at the local railroad.

00:34:07On November 12, 1966, Paul went to his night shift around 2 pm. A few hours later, he tried to call

00:34:15Karen, but she didn't answer. This was unusual because she was supposed to be at home and couldn't have left

00:34:22their two-month-old daughter alone. Concerned, he called his parents, who lived just a few houses

00:34:28away, and asked them to check on Karen. They walked down the street and knocked on the door,

00:34:33but there was no response. His parents didn't have a spare key, so they continued knocking for a few

00:34:40minutes and then went back home to call their son. Paul became even more worried and decided to leave

00:34:46work early to check if everything was alright. As he approached the house, his concern grew even more.

00:34:53The porch light was off and the blinds were tightly closed. This was unusual because Karen always left

00:35:00the porch light on for him when he worked the night shift. Paul tried to open the door with his key

00:35:06and realized it was unlocked. He entered the living room and was relieved to find his two-month-old

00:35:12daughter sleeping in a playpen near the working TV. However, Karen was nowhere to be seen,

00:35:18so he began calling out her name while checking each room. As Paul decided to go upstairs,

00:35:25he tried to turn on the staircase light, but the switch didn't work. He made his way to the bedroom

00:35:31and turned on a lamp, revealing a horrifying scene. The room was in disarray and there was blood

00:35:38everywhere. On the floor lay Karen, showing no signs of life, and Paul immediately realized she

00:35:46was dead. Recovering from the shock, Paul went downstairs, called the police, and took his

00:35:52daughter outside. While he was waiting for the police and ambulance, his parents came out to the

00:35:57street and saw him crying and pleading for help. Paul's mother grabbed the flashlight and rushed into the

00:36:03house, hoping to help Karen, but as soon as she saw Karen's blood-covered body, she knew it was too

00:36:10late to save her. Soon after, the medics and police arrived. The doctors could only confirm Karen's death,

00:36:18and the investigators began examining the crime scene. On the back door lock, they found shallow

00:36:24scratches, indicating an attempted break-in. However, the door was still locked, suggesting the intruder

00:36:31initially tried to enter this way but failed. Next, they discovered a broken basement window with a

00:36:38trail of blood leading from it to the front door. Investigators speculated that after failing to open

00:36:44the back door, the intruder tried to enter through the basement and cut themselves on the glass, evidenced

00:36:50by the blood on it. The fact that the intruder didn't enter through the basement but went to the front door

00:36:56suggest it was either unlocked or Karen opened it herself. In the living room, they found more blood,

00:37:03indicating that the attack likely started there, catching Karen near her daughter's crib. The blood

00:37:09trail continued from the living room up the stairs, down the hallway, and into the couple's bedroom,

00:37:15where Karen's body was found. The bedroom was a chaotic scene, blood everywhere, and many items scattered and

00:37:22broken, indicating Karen fought back fiercely. There was a phone in the bedroom, but it had been ripped

00:37:29from the wall. Police believe Karen might have run there ahead of the intruder to call for help, but she

00:37:35couldn't. In those days, there wasn't a single emergency number like 911. Local police had their own number,

00:37:42so detectives thought she might have dialed incorrectly in her haste. Investigators also found a blood-covered

00:37:49light bulb on the floor, which had been unscrewed from the socket above the stairs. It seemed the

00:37:54intruder did this, though the reason was unclear. Perhaps he unscrewed it while following Karen

00:38:00upstairs, giving her a brief moment to try calling the police. In the downstairs bathroom, police

00:38:06discovered a pile of bloodied clothes and various items. Among them were a pair of pants, a bed sheet,

00:38:13and a washcloth. Detectives speculated that the killer used these items to wipe the blood off his

00:38:19hands and clothes. It appeared he also attempted to clean himself with the washcloth, or possibly

00:38:25tried to use it to wipe blood off the floor to cover his tracks. However, given the amount of blood

00:38:31throughout the house, these efforts were clearly futile. After using these items, the killer threw them

00:38:38into the bathtub and fled the scene. This indicated to investigators that he remained in the house for

00:38:44some time after the murder, although they couldn't determine the exact period of time. Detectives began

00:38:50their investigation and quickly ruled out the possibility of a botched robbery. The only missing

00:38:56items were Karen's blue wallet, containing about $50, and one of the bedside lamps, which had no significant

00:39:04value. Medical examiners found 124 stab wounds on Karen's body, most concentrated in the chest area.

00:39:12Such brutality suggested the attacker had personal motives. Experts identified the likely weapon as a

00:39:19knife with a narrow blade, similar to a stiletto, but police couldn't find it inside the house or anywhere

00:39:27nearby. Karen was fully clothed and no signs of sexual assault were found, but investigators

00:39:34didn't rule out that the attacker might have had such a motive, but for some reason was unable to carry

00:39:40it out. The time of death was estimated between 4 and 6 pm. Since Paul discovered her body around 11 pm,

00:39:48the killer must have left the house several hours earlier. Detectives began their investigation by

00:39:54speaking with the victim's relatives and friends. According to Paul's mother, Karen had mentioned being

00:40:00afraid to live in that house and said she wanted to move to Indiana, where her parents lived. However,

00:40:06she didn't specify the reasons for her fear, and investigators couldn't find any more information.

00:40:13Karen's neighbors also provided an interesting observation. Their dog, which usually barked at the

00:40:19slightest noise, remained quiet that evening. With no other leads, the police turned their focus to Karen's

00:40:26husband, Paul. In such crimes, the spouse is often the primary suspect, so they began investigating him.

00:40:34After analyzing the evidence from the house, detectives concluded that the attempted break-in

00:40:39at the back door and the broken basement window might have been staged. The killer was likely someone

00:40:45familiar with Karen, but tried to make it appear as if a random intruder had committed the crime.

00:40:51This suggested that either Karen willingly opened the door to the killer, or they had a key.

00:40:57Investigators began interrogating Paul while also trying to establish whether he had the

00:41:02opportunity to commit the crime. They considered the possibility that he might have killed Karen

00:41:08before leaving for his evening shift, as he had left home after lunch that day. They also checked

00:41:14whether he remained at work for the entire shift, or if he had left at any point. Paul denied any

00:41:20involvement in the murder, but the police continued to view him as the prime suspect. With almost no

00:41:26evidence, they attempted to obtain a confession from him, repeatedly calling him in for questioning.

00:41:32But despite this pressure, Paul consistently maintained his innocence.

00:41:37Karen's funeral took place six days after the murder. Besides family and friends, detectives also

00:41:43attended the ceremony and soon noticed something weird. One of the pallbearers had a deep wound on his

00:41:50forehead and a bandaged hand. The police identified this man as James Barbier, a friend of both Paul

00:41:58and Karen. He worked with Paul at the railroad and had done some repairs in the house shortly before the

00:42:04murder. Karen knew James pretty well and might have opened the door for him. Investigators began looking

00:42:11into James and discovered that, on the evening of the murder, he had gone to a local hospital with serious

00:42:17injuries to his hand and face, requiring stitches. This aligned with the evidence suggesting the killer

00:42:24injured himself on the broken basement window glass. James became the second suspect, and detectives

00:42:30brought him in for questioning. He denied any involvement in the murder, explaining his injuries by

00:42:36saying that he had been returning home drunk from a bar that evening, tripped over a stump in the dark,

00:42:41and hurt himself on some splinters. James' wife confirmed that he came home that night drunk,

00:42:47with a bandaged hand and a cut on his forehead. She mentioned that he was acting weird and was visibly

00:42:53shaken. But she added that James was an alcoholic and frequently got heavily drunk, so this behavior

00:42:59wasn't unusual. When police interviewed individuals who frequented bars in Karen's neighborhood, they found

00:43:06witnesses who had seen James there that day. However, they couldn't pinpoint the exact times he was

00:43:12present. When experts finished analyzing the evidence from Karen's house, they found something

00:43:18intriguing. As suspected, there were two different types of blood. One matched Karen's blood type, while the other

00:43:26belonged belonged to a different blood type, the same as James's. Although this blood type match was

00:43:32not proof of James' guilt, detectives decided to arrest him, hoping he would confess. They also cleared

00:43:39Karen's husband of suspicion, as none of the blood samples matched his type. James continued to deny his

00:43:46involvement, insisting that his injuries were from his fall. The police hoped forensic experts might find some

00:43:53additional evidence, but they faced disappointment. The fingerprints collected from the crime scene were

00:43:59smudged, and without DNA analysis, they couldn't make any progress with the blood evidence. Eventually,

00:44:06they had to release James and continued searching for new leads. Since then, investigators have looked into

00:44:13several other suspects and interviewed dozens of people, but the case remained unsolved for many years.

00:44:20Karen's murder forever changed their small town, once considered safe. Residents remembered the brutal

00:44:27crime for a long time and wondered who could have committed it. At the time, police did not reveal the

00:44:34identities of the suspects, including James, so only Karen's relatives and close friends knew of his

00:44:41potential involvement. In later interviews with reporters, they said they truly believed James was

00:44:47guilty, but without solid evidence proving his involvement was simply impossible. Karen's father

00:44:54passed away in 1973, seven years after the tragedy, and her mother died in 1977. Neither of them ever found

00:45:03out who killed their daughter. Paul eventually remarried, and his second wife helped raise Paula,

00:45:10essentially becoming the mother the girl never had the chance to remember.

00:45:15Her relatives decided not to tell her how her biological mother died, trying to shield the

00:45:20girl from the horrific details. Paula later recalled that when she started school, other kids teased her

00:45:27simply because her mother was dead. A few years later, understanding that she might hear the truth from

00:45:33others or come across news reports, her relatives finally told her what had happened to Karen. In 1989,

00:45:40at the age of 45, Paul passed away from health problems, never learning the truth either.

00:45:47For decades, there was no progress on the case. Paula occasionally gave interviews to journalists

00:45:53expressing her hope to bring the culprit to justice and mentioning that she regularly contacted the local

00:45:59police department to ask about any new developments. But they always replied that there were no new leads,

00:46:05and the case remained unsolved for many years. This continued until the end of 2022, when one day,

00:46:13the police received a call. A 29-year-old man contacted the police department responsible for

00:46:20Karen's case, inquiring about any new developments. The man explained that he had known about this crime

00:46:27his whole life, as his grandmother talked about it since he was a kid. It turned out they were distant

00:46:33relatives of Karen's family, and the man was curious whether the police had made any progress in

00:46:38solving the mystery. He said that he had been reading newspaper clippings about the case at work

00:46:44and wondered if there were any modern technologies that could help solve it, and this prompted him to

00:46:50reach out to the police. To his surprise, the police department decided to reopen the investigation

00:46:56following his call. Naturally, none of the original detectives were still around, so a new team began

00:47:03reviewing all the available materials from scratch. They discovered that almost all the evidence,

00:47:09except the blood samples collected from the floor, had not only been preserved, but was also well

00:47:15maintained over the past 56 years. This included Karen's clothing and various items from her home.

00:47:22The detectives sent all the remaining evidence to the lab, where experts began examining each item

00:47:27with modern tools. Meanwhile, the police re-interviewed everyone connected to the case who was still alive.

00:47:3516 months after the investigation was reopened, detectives received a long-awaited call from the lab.

00:47:41Experts had found several drops of blood on Karen's dress, and extracted a DNA profile of an unknown

00:47:48male. The police immediately obtained a warrant from a judge to collect a genetic sample from the main

00:47:54suspect, James, who was still alive. They quickly got his sample, sent it to the lab, and soon received

00:48:02confirmation. James' DNA matched the blood found on Karen's dress. This confirmed that James, who was just

00:48:1121 years old at the time of Karen's death, had been in her home the day she was murdered, and had

00:48:16initially lied about how he got his injuries. On April 29, 2024, the police returned to James' home,

00:48:25and the 79-year-old man was finally arrested for murder. Upon being informed of the DNA match,

00:48:32James did not deny anything and confessed to the crime. While the police have not yet disclosed all details of

00:48:40his interrogation due to the ongoing legal proceedings, James admitted that he had known

00:48:45his entire life that he would eventually be caught. James has been charged with first-degree murder,

00:48:51and was released on bail due to his age and severe health conditions. Given James' state,

00:48:57the risk of him fleeing was considered nearly non-existent. However, Karen's relatives were upset

00:49:03because they had already suffered enough seeing the killer live freely for over 50 years. As for the

00:49:10motive, it remains unknown. The first hearing took place at the end of May, and more details are

00:49:16expected to be revealed only after the trial. According to the main theory reported by journalists,

00:49:23James had feelings for Karen and was jealous of her husband since she married him. Additionally,

00:49:29James was indeed heavily intoxicated that evening, which may have driven him to commit the crime.

00:49:35Karen's relatives expressed their gratitude to the detectives for finally bringing James to justice.

00:49:42However, given his health issues, even if James lives to sea prison, he is unlikely to spend much

00:49:48time there. Karen's daughter, who was 57 at the time of James' arrest, said she received the best call

00:49:56of her life when she learned that her mother's killer had finally been caught. She admitted she had lost

00:50:02hope and was surprised that the evidence had been so well-preserved. She also revealed that she blames

00:50:08James for her father's early death. Beyond dealing with the brutal murder of his wife, her father had

00:50:14spent the rest of his life almost certain that his close friend was responsible, and it was very hard for

00:50:21him to see James continue to live freely. Melissa Tremblay was born on March 1st, 1977 in Lawrence,

00:50:31Massachusetts. When she was just a month old, her biological parents gave her up for adoption, and she was

00:50:38adopted by Jeannette and Robert Tremblay. Melissa grew up in the nearby town of Salem, New Hampshire. She was a

00:50:45very energetic child who loved fashion, singing, and had a passion for reading from a young age.

00:50:52Melissa had many friends at school and spent a lot of time at the Boys and Girls Club of America.

00:50:57When she was nine, her adoptive parents divorced, and her father hasn't been involved in her life

00:51:04since. Sometime later, her mother started dating another man named Robert, but he didn't live with him.

00:51:11On September 11th, 1988, when she was 11, her mother took Melissa to Lawrence, where she was

00:51:17supposed to meet Robert. They often spent time at a local bar, and Jeannette frequently took Melissa

00:51:23along because she had no one to leave her with. Usually, her mom would let Melissa play outside,

00:51:29since she got bored sitting with them. Jeannette always told her not to go far, so Melissa spent

00:51:34time on the nearby streets. Because her mom went to this bar quite often, Melissa made friends with

00:51:40other kids in the area and would occasionally play with them. That day, Melissa spent most

00:51:45of her time outside, checking in with her mother now and then. During one of these visits, the

00:51:51bartender made her some popcorn. Melissa said she'd come back for it soon and left. But she never

00:51:57returned to the bar. Around 4pm, her mother started to worry since Melissa had been gone for a while.

00:52:04She went outside and checked her car, but Melissa was nowhere to be found.

00:52:09She and Robert began searching for her, going street by street, but they couldn't find Melissa.

00:52:15They searched the area for several hours, and around 9pm, Jeannette decided to call the police.

00:52:21Officers immediately joined the search, but they also couldn't find any traces of her. By then,

00:52:27it was already dark. It made their task much more difficult, but the police continued searching for

00:52:33Melissa late into the night. They also considered the possibility that she might have run away,

00:52:39but her mother insisted that Melissa was afraid of the dark and didn't like being alone,

00:52:44so she would never have run off. The next day, Melissa's whereabouts were still unknown, and the

00:52:51search continued. This went on until about 3pm, when a railroad worker called the police. He had been

00:52:58conducting a routine inspection of an old rail yard just a few hundred yards from the bar. The yard

00:53:04was quite large, with up to 8 tracks in its widest section, although some of them hadn't been used in

00:53:10a long time. There were a lot of empty boxcars, and between two of them, the worker noticed something

00:53:17unusual. When he got closer, he realized it was a human body and immediately called the police.

00:53:24Detectives arrived at the scene and quickly identified the body as Melissa Tremblay.

00:53:29Aside from the fact that she had been reported missing since the previous morning,

00:53:33there was a card with her name from the Boys and Girls Club in a purse found near the body.

00:53:38Melissa's body was lying on tracks that were still in use, and one of her legs had been severed.

00:53:45The detectives believed this likely happened due to a passing train, since the section of track was

00:53:50still active. However, they immediately doubted that this was the cause of death. The lead detective

00:53:56noticed several details that contradicted this theory. Melissa's purse, containing the card with

00:54:02her name, was found almost 20 yards from the body. This seemed strange, as it was unlikely that a train

00:54:08accident could have thrown the purse so far. The detective also noticed a large number of footprints

00:54:15and drops of blood near the purse. This led him to suspect that Melissa might have been attacked there,

00:54:21and only then her body was moved to the tracks. The assailant might have hoped to make it look like

00:54:27she died in a train accident. Another factor pointing to foul play was the location itself.

00:54:33The old rail yard, with its numerous empty boxcars, was a known hangout for homeless individuals and

00:54:39those looking for secluded spots to use illegal substances. So the detectives considered the

00:54:45possibility that some of them might have attacked Melissa. Her body was sent to medical examiners,

00:54:51while the police began searching for clues. Since no useful evidence was found at the scene where

00:54:57Melissa was discovered, investigators focused on finding witnesses to piece together the timeline of

00:55:03events. First, they spoke with an employee of the railroad company. He mentioned that the day before the

00:55:09body was found, he saw a girl fitting Melissa's description near the tracks. He told her to leave

00:55:15immediately because it was unsafe for children to be there, and she left the area. Next, the police

00:55:21found a woman living not far from the bar. She said she had known Melissa for several months because her

00:55:27children had become friends with Melissa, and she often visited their house. On that day, Melissa had

00:55:33come over to invite her children to play, but the woman told her they were grounded and couldn't go out.

00:55:39So Melissa left alone. Investigators soon found another witness who provided the first significant lead.

00:55:47He reported seeing a girl resembling Melissa standing next to a van at an intersection near the rail yard,

00:55:53talking to the driver. The witness described this man as rather large, unkempt, around 30 years old,

00:56:00with dark hair and a large beard. The van was brown, old, and rusty. The police considered that this man

00:56:08might be connected to the murder and started searching for similar vehicles. Meanwhile,

00:56:13the medical examiners finished their report and confirmed that the train was not the cause of death.

00:56:19Melissa's body had numerous bruises and three fatal stab wounds. No signs of sexual assault were found,

00:56:27and there were no foreign biological samples on her body or clothing. The experts determined that the

00:56:33stab wounds were inflicted with the left hand, suggesting that the perpetrator was likely left-handed.

00:56:39The case was reclassified as a homicide, and detectives focused on finding the killer. However,

00:56:46they still had only one lead, the description of the van seen near Melissa shortly before she disappeared.

00:56:53The police concentrated on finding similar vehicles in the area, but repeatedly hit dead ends.

00:56:59The challenge was that even if they found the right van, linking its owner to the murder would be nearly impossible

00:57:06without a confession. DNA analysis was not yet in use, and there were no additional pieces of evidence,

00:57:13like Melissa's belongings or fingerprints likely to be found in the van. The police also kept trying

00:57:19to find new witnesses. They interviewed several hundred residents in the area, but this effort

00:57:24yielded no results. Detectives continued searching for the van and other clues for several months,

00:57:31but the case eventually went cold. Melissa's murder received significant media coverage,

00:57:37and many people began blaming her mother for what happened. They were outraged that Jeannette

00:57:43let her 11-year-old daughter wander the streets alone, especially near such a dangerous place

00:57:48as a rail yard. What infuriated them even more was that while Melissa roamed the streets for hours

00:57:54unattended, her mother was drinking in a bar. Rumors began spreading in the newspapers that Jeannette

00:58:01had developed a drinking problem after her divorce and was struggling with her parental responsibilities.

00:58:06People also started blaming social services for failing Melissa by not intervening in the situation.

00:58:13Amid all these accusations, Jeannette refused to speak with media or answer their questions.

00:58:19When reporters reached out to Child Protective Services, they stated they were aware of the

00:58:23family's complicated situation and had tried to take some measures, but revoking Jeannette's parental

00:58:29rights had never been considered. Since then, there had been no progress in the case. Police

00:58:35repeatedly reviewed it and examined potential suspects, but this yielded no results. In 2000,

00:58:4212 years after the murder, investigators identified their first potential suspect,

00:58:48Tommy Lynn Sells. He confessed to 22 murders, and investigators in Melissa's case found that many

00:58:56details of his crime closely matched those of her murder. Moreover, Tommy resembled the van

00:59:01driver seen with the girl and he often spent nights in empty boxcars while traveling across various states.

00:59:09Detectives began investigating his possible involvement in Melissa's murder, but they

00:59:13eventually concluded that he was unlikely to be responsible. They couldn't find any evidence placing

00:59:19Tommy near Lawrence at that time. Instead, they determined he was probably in another state.

00:59:25The case remained cold for several more years until 2013, when detectives unexpectedly obtained a new

00:59:32lead. They arrested a man from Lawrence for an unrelated case, and during questioning, he suddenly

00:59:39claimed to know some details about Melissa Tremblay's murder. The man said that in 1988, when he was just

00:59:4613, he used to steal cars for a living. He spent a lot of time on the streets looking for suitable vehicles,

00:59:53and on the day Melissa disappeared, he saw a girl resembling her. She was sitting on the steps of

00:59:59that same bar, and next to her was a man named Mike. The witness knew Mike, but his family had warned

01:00:05him to stay away from that man because of his questionable reputation. The boy walked past them,

01:00:11and about 10 minutes later, on his way back, he saw the girl leaving the bar with Mike. At some point,

01:00:18another man, whom the witness didn't recognize, approached them, and the three of them continued

01:00:24walking together. The police asked the witness why he had remained silent for 25 years. He replied

01:00:31that at the time, he didn't want any unnecessary contact with the police. However, when he learned

01:00:37about Melissa's murder and realized he might have seen her, he asked his brother if he should tell

01:00:42someone, but he advised him to stay quiet. However, the detectives immediately found a

01:00:48serious contradiction in the story. According to the witness, he saw the girl on the bar steps when

01:00:54it was already dark outside, but Melissa was reported missing around 4 pm, when it was still daylight.

01:01:01Given that all the bar patrons and staff were aware of her disappearance, and her mother had been

01:01:06searching for her for hours, the detectives found it highly unlikely that Melissa could have been

01:01:11right outside the bar without being noticed. The police considered the possibility that the witness

01:01:18had either seen a different girl, or his account was inaccurate. Despite this, they investigated Mike

01:01:24for potential involvement, but made no progress. Nevertheless, the witness's story brought renewed attention

01:01:31to the old case, and in 2014, it was reopened. By then, DNA analysis was widely used, and the police hoped

01:01:40that experts could find some new clues by re-examining all the available evidence. They examined Melissa's

01:01:47clothing and other items, but found no foreign DNA. However, there was something else among the evidence,

01:01:55samples taken from under Melissa's nails, collected in case she had scratched her attacker.

01:02:01The experts analyzed these samples and indeed found traces of foreign skin, which were promptly sent to the

01:02:08lab. But there was a new problem. Experts were able to extract a DNA profile of an unknown male,

01:02:15but it was only partial. It wasn't enough to get a match in the database, but the investigators were

01:02:21determined not to give up. Some time later, they reached out to a company specializing in genetic genealogy.

01:02:29The company analyzed the sample and began searching for potential matches in available databases.

01:02:35This was a challenging task because they had to work with a partial profile, which made it impossible

01:02:41to identify the person with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, through meticulous work,

01:02:47they managed to find a possible distant relative of the sample's owner in the databases. This led them

01:02:53to a specific family with the last name McClendon. Detectives began investigating the members of this

01:03:00family, trying to determine who might have committed the crime. This process took several years due to the

01:03:06primary challenge, the lack of a complete DNA profile, to definitively prove the guilt of any

01:03:13family member. Therefore, investigators carefully examined who among them could have been in Lawrence

01:03:19in 1988, matched all the criteria like age, and so on. Eventually, they focused on two brothers,

01:03:27one of whom was Marvin McClendon. Marvin lived in Alabama, but investigators discovered that in the late

01:03:3380s, he lived just 20 minutes away from Lawrence and worked as a carpenter. Digging into Marvin's past,

01:03:40they learned that he frequently visited a church located just a few hundred yards from the bar where

01:03:46Melissa was last seen. Marvin had also worked as a prison guard for about 30 years, but with breaks,

01:03:53one of which occurred in 1988. The intriguing findings didn't stop there. Police found that

01:04:00Marvin owned an old brown van during those years, which he used for work. Despite this, Marvin had no

01:04:07criminal record, aside from numerous traffic fines for not wearing a seatbelt. He had been married twice,

01:04:14but both wives had left him. He had two sons from his first marriage, but was not actively involved

01:04:20in their lives. Finally, Marvin was left-handed, unlike all his close male relatives. While detectives

01:04:28were investigating this suspect, Melissa's mother passed away in 2015 at the age of 70. She had struggled

01:04:35with a severe illness for a long time and never found out who killed her daughter. After gathering all

01:04:41the information on Marvin and checking his other relatives, detectives concluded that he was the

01:04:46most likely perpetrator. In 2021, they went to Alabama to question him about that time in the late 80s.

01:04:54Eventually, they brought up the murder of Melissa Tremblay, and Marvin claimed he had nothing to do with it.

01:05:00When told that DNA from one of his close relatives was found on the victim, Marvin suggested that the

01:05:05killer might be his brother. That same year, Marvin voluntarily provided his DNA sample,

01:05:12but experts still couldn't establish a complete match. The partial profile from under Melissa's

01:05:17nails only indicated that Marvin was either closely related to the killer or was the killer himself.

01:05:24However, investigators who had already examined all his close male relatives knew that none of them

01:05:30could have committed the crime, leaving Marvin as the prime suspect. They also understood that without

01:05:37a full DNA match, it would be extremely challenging for the prosecution to secure a conviction. As a result,

01:05:44they spent another year trying to find any additional clues. Detectives also checked Mike,

01:05:50the man whom the 13-year-old boy claimed to have seen with a girl resembling Melissa on the bar steps.

01:05:56After obtaining his DNA sample, experts determined that it didn't match the skin particles found under

01:06:02the victim's nails, ruling him out as a suspect. They visited Marvin several times, asking him various

01:06:10questions, and in April 2022, they finally decided to arrest him. Despite his continued claims of innocence,

01:06:17Marvin allegedly made a suspicious remark during his arrest. He told one of the officers,

01:06:23at least I got to enjoy 20 years of my pension. Marvin, who was 74 years old at the time,

01:06:30was sent to jail awaiting trial. The judge had to place him under constant protection because other

01:06:36inmates quickly learned about his charges and the fact that he had worked as a prison guard.

01:06:42Without conclusive evidence, the prosecution relied on a process of elimination. DNA from someone in Marvin's

01:06:48family was found under the victim's nails, but none of his close relatives had the opportunity to commit

01:06:54the crime. As for distant relatives, a match with their DNA would be less evident and experts could

01:07:00easily see the difference. They also pointed out that in 1988, Marvin frequently visited a church on the

01:07:07same street as the bar, owned a similar van, and matched the description given by a witness who saw a

01:07:14girl near his vehicle. The trial began in December 2022. Marvin's lawyer immediately focused on the

01:07:21lack of a complete DNA profile of the perpetrator, claiming that without it, his client's guilt couldn't

01:07:27be confirmed. The defense then called two experts. One was a forensic specialist who testified that,

01:07:34based on crime scene photos, she couldn't confirm that the killer was indeed left-handed.

01:07:40The other was a genetics expert who argued that a partial DNA match with one family doesn't rule

01:07:46out the possibility of it belonging to distant relatives, as any person can have hundreds or

01:07:52thousands of them. Marvin declined to testify in his defense, and by the end of December,

01:07:57the jury began their deliberations. It took them almost a week, and on December 27th,

01:08:03they reported being unable to reach a unanimous decision.

01:08:07Some jurors felt that without a complete DNA profile, they couldn't definitively convict Marvin,

01:08:13leading the judge to declare a mistrial. In early 2024, the prosecution announced

01:08:20plans for a retrial, set to begin on September 30th, 2024. Until then, Marvin will remain in jail.

01:08:28Considering that he is 76 years old now and suffering from multiple health issues,

01:08:33there is a possibility he might not survive until the end of the new trial. If the court fails to

01:08:40convict him again, Marvin could be released, leaving Melissa's murder unresolved. And we may never learn the truth.

01:08:48Tanya van Kylenborg was born on March 7th, 1969, in Victoria, Canada. She had loving parents and an

01:08:57older brother she was very close to. From a young age, Tanya loved animals and even considered becoming

01:09:04a veterinarian someday. She also wanted to travel and explore the world. In high school, she went to

01:09:11Paris with her best friend, and that trip made her dream of traveling even stronger. Shortly before

01:09:17graduating high school, when she was 18, Tanya met a boy named Jay Cook. They went to the same school,

01:09:24but Jay was two years older. They met through a mutual friend after he had graduated, and soon they

01:09:30began dating. Even though Tanya wanted to be a veterinarian, she decided to take some time before

01:09:36going to college so she could travel. After finishing high school, she got a job at a cafe to save money for

01:09:42these plans, and she also worked as a dog walker. Jay also didn't go to college after high school. Instead,

01:09:49he helped his father with their small family business installing heating systems. In November 1987, Jay's

01:09:56father received an order, but the local suppliers didn't have one of the key parts in stock. The nearest

01:10:02place to buy it was Seattle, in Washington state. Jay's father decided it would be quicker and

01:10:08cheaper to get the part himself, rather than order it for delivery. However, he was swamped with work

01:10:14and knew he couldn't fit the trip into his schedule. So, he asked his son to go to Seattle instead of him,

01:10:20and Jay agreed. Jay wanted to help his father with the business, but he was also excited for another

01:10:27reason. He decided to invite Tanya, knowing she would likely enjoy the trip. At that time, they

01:10:33had been dating for about six months, but their relationship wasn't very serious. Jay hoped that

01:10:39the trip would change that and bring them closer. As he expected, Tanya agreed right away. They planned

01:10:45to leave Victoria in the morning, reach Seattle by evening, and return the next day. Jay's father gave

01:10:51him his van and money to book a hotel room for the night. However, Jay and Tanya decided to save that

01:10:57money and just sleep in the van. Jay's father also gave him a check for $700 to buy the part,

01:11:04and a few hundred dollars for other expenses. Despite Seattle being relatively close to Victoria,

01:11:09the couple had to take two ferries, first to get into the US, and then to cross the bay near Seattle.

01:11:16On the morning of November 18th, the couple got into the van and headed to the first ferry,

01:11:21which would take them to Port Angeles. Their parents expected them to return home the next

01:11:26day in the afternoon, but Tanya and Jay never showed up. Their families began to worry almost

01:11:33immediately, knowing the ferry schedule and realizing that if the couple had taken the ferry,

01:11:38they should have been home by now. However, the parents considered the possibility that Tanya and Jay

01:11:43might have simply decided to explore and enjoy the beautiful sights along the way, causing them to

01:11:49miss the ferry in Port Angeles. As time passed and there was still no sign of them, Tanya's parents

01:11:55called Jay's parents. By the afternoon, they were seriously concerned that something bad had happened.

01:12:01Despite their worries, the family held on to hope that the couple had just decided to extend their trip

01:12:07and continued to wait. Jay and Tanya did not return home by the end of the day,

01:12:12and the next morning, their parents went to the police station to file a missing persons report.

01:12:17However, the local police decided there wasn't enough reason to conduct a full search.

01:12:22Tanya was 18 and Jay was 20. There was no direct evidence that they had been harmed or were victims

01:12:28of a crime, so the police assumed the couple had just gone off on an adventure and told their

01:12:33parents to wait a few days. Naturally, they weren't satisfied with this response, but the officers refused

01:12:40to start the search. By that time, Tanya and Jay's parents were completely certain that they wouldn't

01:12:46have just decided to extend their trip for several days. Jay was supposed to do an important job for

01:12:52his father's business, and he had never been so irresponsible before. And if they had indeed

01:12:58decided to extend their trip, they would have at least called their families from a payphone,

01:13:02which were plentiful along their route. Eventually, Tanya's father decided to start the search on his own.

01:13:09First, he and Jay's parents found out that their children never picked up the part in Seattle.

01:13:14The supplier said he had waited for them for several hours, but no one showed up. Next, Tanya's father

01:13:21drove along the route to Seattle, but this didn't yield any results. He found no trace of Tanya, Jay,

01:13:27or their van. Undeterred, he contacted a private company and rented a helicopter with a pilot to

01:13:34survey the area along their route from the air. However, this also led to nothing. Most of the

01:13:40area was covered with dense forests, making it difficult to spot anything. After that, Tanya's

01:13:46father made flyers with information about their disappearance and went to Seattle to post them on

01:13:51the streets. This went on for several days. The families of the missing couple did everything they

01:13:57could to find them, and the local police department finally started taking the case seriously. However,

01:14:04they still believed that Tanya and Jay were just spending time together somewhere and would eventually

01:14:09come home. As a result, they only contacted their colleagues in Seattle, providing a description of

01:14:15the van and information about Tanya and Jay, asking to notify them if anyone spotted them. On November 24th,

01:14:22five days after the disappearance, a man went for a walk in the woods near a small town about 90 miles north

01:14:29of Seattle. While walking along the road near an embankment leading into the forest, he noticed something

01:14:35unusual under a tree below. When he took a closer look, he realized it was a human body and immediately called the police.

01:14:44Officers arrived at the scene and discovered the body of a young woman. Her clothes were partially missing,

01:14:50hands were tied, and there was a gunshot wound on her head. Investigators quickly determined that the

01:14:56victim had been killed elsewhere as there was almost no blood near the body. There was no ID on the victim,

01:15:03so the police checked the list of missing women in the area. They quickly concluded that the victim matched

01:15:09the description of Tanya van Kylenborg and contacted her father. He went to the morgue and confirmed that

01:15:15the deceased was indeed his daughter. Detectives began their investigation, trying to establish all

01:15:21the details of what had happened. They learned that Tanya had been traveling with Jay, whose whereabouts

01:15:27were still unknown. Jay's van was also missing, leading investigators to consider his possible

01:15:33involvement. Jay's family refused to believe he could have done something like this. They insisted

01:15:39that he had never shown signs of aggression and that he loved Tanya. He also did not own a firearm

01:15:46and would not have been able to purchase one easily. While the police were trying to locate him,

01:15:50they got another call. A bartender from a town called Bellingham, about 18 miles from where the

01:15:56body was found, went outside and saw a wallet and keys on the ground. When he opened the wallet,

01:16:02he found an ID with the name Tanya van Kylenborg. At first, he didn't call the police. Instead,

01:16:09he took everything back to the bar, thinking the owner might return for them. But after seeing a news

01:16:14report about Tanya's murder on TV, he immediately called 911. Detectives searched the area around

01:16:21the bar and found several plastic zip ties, identical to those used to bind Tanya's hands,

01:16:27under the back porch. They also discovered rubber gloves and a half-empty box of bullets.

01:16:34But that wasn't all. One of the officers noticed a van parked nearby, and the police quickly determined

01:16:40that it was the same vehicle Tanya and Jay had traveled in. Inside the van, there was utter chaos.

01:16:47Everything was scattered and broken, but investigators managed to find several important clues. There were

01:16:53numerous receipts that could help reconstruct Tanya and Jay's route, as well as a ferry ticket.

01:16:59This indicated that the couple had indeed made it to Seattle, and something horrible happened to them

01:17:04there. Detectives also noticed that Tanya's camera, which she had taken on the trip,

01:17:09was missing from the van. Since it wasn't found near her body either, they speculated that the

01:17:15killer might have taken it. The interior of the van was covered in blood. Forensic experts collected

01:17:21these samples and sent them to the lab, hoping that this evidence would bring them closer to solving the

01:17:27case. At that time, DNA analysis was just starting to be used in criminology, but it had already helped

01:17:34solve several cases. The lab in Seattle conducted the analysis and found three blood samples, Tanya's,

01:17:42Jay's, and an unknown man's. Since the FBI's DNA database did not exist yet, it was impossible to

01:17:50identify the third person without a direct comparison. Nevertheless, detectives realized that

01:17:56Jay was likely not involved in the murder and stopped considering him as the main suspect.

01:18:02They now faced other questions. Was he still alive? And where was he? Unfortunately, it didn't

01:18:09take long to find the answer. On November 26, a group of friends went hunting just a few dozen miles

01:18:15from Seattle. While walking near a bridge over a small river, they saw a human body in the bushes

01:18:21and reported it to the police. Investigators quickly identified the deceased as Jay Cook. His body

01:18:28showed numerous bruises and the cause of death appeared to be strangulation. Given the brutality

01:18:34of this crime, detectives even considered that the perpetrator might have known Jay and had some

01:18:39personal motives. They also theorized that Jay had been killed first since his body was found closer to

01:18:45Seattle. The perpetrator then drove Tanya in the van almost to the Canadian border, killed her, and left her

01:18:52body in a wooded area. Medical experts also found traces of semen on her body, and DNA analysis revealed

01:18:59that it belonged to the same man whose blood was found in the van. However, his identity remained unknown.

01:19:07At the same time, investigators were trying to reconstruct the couple's route, and the receipts

01:19:13found in the van helped them establish an approximate timeline. After Tanya and Jay took the ferry from

01:19:20Victoria to Port Angeles, they stopped at a store to buy some food. Then, they headed toward Seattle,

01:19:26but Jay apparently missed the turn for the shortest route. This was supported by a receipt from a store

01:19:32in the small town of Hoodsport and the testimony of the store clerk, who saw a young couple matching

01:19:38their description and remembered they asked for directions to the ferry crossing. The clerk also shared

01:19:44an interesting observation. She thought that a man in a brown raincoat was following the couple.

01:19:50He entered the store shortly after them and left right after they did, but she didn't see where the

01:19:56man went next. The next receipt showed detectives that Tanya and Jay had visited a store in the small

01:20:02town of Allen. After that, they reached the ferry near Seattle and bought a ticket. Several witnesses

01:20:08saw them near this location, but detectives couldn't track their movements beyond that point. Investigators

01:20:14began checking various individuals in Seattle who had previous convictions for violent crimes,

01:20:20trying to find suspects, but these efforts yielded no results. Despite having the killer's DNA,

01:20:27the police had no idea how to identify the perpetrator. They suspected this person had

01:20:33committed serious crimes before, as it was hard to believe an amateur could pull off such an elaborate

01:20:39crime. It seemed likely he had followed the couple for a while and managed to abduct them once they

01:20:45reached Seattle. Investigators thought he might have gained their trust by asking for a ride,

01:20:50and at some point used a gun to force them to comply with his demands. They also thought that the

01:20:55killer had deliberately left Tanya's belongings and the rubber gloves in a visible place to taunt the

01:21:01police. Perhaps the killer was trying to say that it was useless to search for his fingerprints,

01:21:06since he wore gloves and they wouldn't be able to catch him. It's worth mentioning that forensic

01:21:12experts found several fingerprints on the van that did not belong to Tanya or Jay. However,

01:21:18the police doubted they belonged to the killer, given that he likely wore gloves. These prints were

01:21:24not in any databases, so they did not bring investigators any closer to catching the perpetrator.

01:21:30For the next few weeks, detectives continued to search for new leads or witnesses and checked various

01:21:35suspects, but none of these efforts yielded results. This continued until December, about a month after

01:21:42the murders, when something unexpected happened. Tanya and Jay's family started receiving letters and

01:21:49postcards from someone claiming to be the killer. In these messages, the sender confessed to the crimes,

01:21:56mocked the victim's families, and said the police would never catch him. Investigators tried to trace the

01:22:02sender, but this was extremely difficult in those days. All they could determine was which cities the

01:22:08letters were sent from, but this information did not help identify the perpetrator. The letters

01:22:14continued to arrive on a regular basis, often during holidays, which investigators believed was the

01:22:20sender's way of causing the families even more pain. Police also found that the letters were sent from

01:22:25different cities and states, indicating that the sender traveled around the country. However, they

01:22:31weren't entirely sure that the sender was the killer. In high-profile cases, it's not uncommon for people

01:22:38to torment the victim's families with fake letters claiming to be from the perpetrator. Unfortunately,

01:22:44fake letters from supposed perpetrators are a common thing. Since then, there was no significant

01:22:50progress in the case for many years. Detectives continued to investigate potential suspects

01:22:56and did not rule out the involvement of a serial killer. This theory was supported by the fact that

01:23:01two other couples had been abducted in the same part of the state in recent years, although the police

01:23:07found the connection between these cases tenuous. In the following years, investigators caught several

01:23:13serial killers operating in the area, but none were linked to the murders of Tanya and Jay.

01:23:19In 2003, the case was reopened and detectives entered the perpetrator's DNA sample into the FBI

01:23:25database, but no matches were found. Despite this, they continued to believe that the perpetrator

01:23:31must have had a lengthy criminal history, but either had not been caught by the police

01:23:36or had been arrested before DNA sampling became mandatory. In 2010, something else happened. This case

01:23:43was featured on a popular national TV program, resulting in numerous fresh tips.

01:23:48One caller suggested that he might know the identity of the person who sent the letters to the victim's

01:23:54families. This lead pointed to a 78-year-old man from Seattle, and the police began investigating him.

01:24:01It turned out that this man had traveled extensively around the country during those years, and the

01:24:06location of his trips matched the cities from which the letters were sent. Detectives concluded that he was

01:24:12indeed the author of these letters, but had no connection to the actual murders. This individual

01:24:18clearly suffered from severe mental health issues, and his DNA did not match the blood and semen samples

01:24:24from the crime scenes. This confirmed that the letters were written not by the real perpetrator,

01:24:30but by a completely unrelated person. The case remained cold for several more years. In 2018,

01:24:37detectives learned about Parabon, a company offering to create composite sketches of individuals

01:24:43based on their DNA samples. Given the lack of any other leads, investigators decided to try this method.

01:24:49Parabon experts created estimated sketches of the killer at different ages,

01:24:54and the police distributed these images to the media, hoping someone might recognize the man.

01:24:59However, it led nowhere. Despite this, the investigators refused to give up and decided to

01:25:06try another method, genetic genealogy. Parabon experts uploaded the killer's DNA sample to public

01:25:13databases and began searching for any distant relatives of the perpetrator. Soon, they identified a

01:25:20possible second cousin of the killer and started tracing her family tree. They were searching for

01:25:25a man who lived in Seattle or its vicinity in 1987 and matched all the criteria, including age.

01:25:32With the help of his cousin, they eventually identified their suspect,

01:25:36a 55-year-old man named William Talbot. He lived in a Seattle suburb and worked as a truck driver.

01:25:43Before they could arrest him, police needed to confirm that the killer's DNA matched his.

01:25:48They surveilled William for a couple of days and eventually retrieved a coffee cup he had discarded.

01:25:54The saliva sample from the cup provided a DNA profile that was a perfect match.

01:25:59In mid-May 2018, 30 years after the murders, investigators finally arrested William. He denied

01:26:07any involvement and the case went to court. The trial began in 2019 and the defense attorneys tried to

01:26:14challenge the primary evidence, the DNA. They argued that the semen on Tanya's body could have resulted

01:26:20from consensual intercourse. They also pointed out that the prosecution had no other evidence directly

01:26:26linking William to Jay's murder. However, the prosecutor had a strong counter-argument. As we remember,

01:26:33back in 1987, experts found fingerprints on the fan that did not match Tanya or Jay, nor did they match

01:26:41anyone in the database at the time. Now, experts compared these fingerprints to William's,

01:26:47and they were a match. Another crucial piece of evidence came from William's friend. He testified

01:26:52that he saw a brown van outside William's house in 1987, which clearly didn't belong to him. This

01:26:59suggested that William might have driven the van to his house, although it was unclear whether this was

01:27:04before or after the murders. William also lived only a few miles from where Jay's body was found,

01:27:11indicating he was familiar with the area. None of William's relatives attended the trial,

01:27:16but they did share quite a bit with the investigators. They described William as always being very aggressive,

01:27:22and other family members were genuinely afraid of him. Because of this, most had cut off contact with

01:27:29him after he had moved out. When they learned about the charges against him, none were surprised that

01:27:34William could have committed such crimes. The prosecution's theory was that William had asked Tanya

01:27:40and Jay for a ride to Seattle under some pretext. Once they arrived in the city at night, he used a gun to

01:27:47force them to drive to a remote area. He then killed them at different locations, discarded Tanya's belongings

01:27:53and the van in another town, and remained off the police radar for the next 30 years. Without a confession,

01:28:00it was impossible to establish more details, but with such substantial evidence, no one doubted William's

01:28:07guilt. The trial ended in June 2019, and William was found guilty of the double murder. He received two

01:28:14life sentences without the possibility of parole. Notably, this was the first case where genetic genealogy

01:28:22led to a conviction. However, an unexpected problem arose after the trial. William's lawyers appealed

01:28:28the conviction, arguing that the jury had been biased against the defendant, which they claimed

01:28:33violated his constitutional rights and made the jurors unfit to serve. This led to a judge overturning

01:28:40the conviction in 2021, granting William the right to a retrial. However, in 2022, a higher court reversed

01:28:49this decision, upholding the original conviction. As for William's potential involvement in other

01:28:55crimes, there is still no clarity. He had previous convictions for minor and medium offenses, but had

01:29:01never been charged with murder. Investigators still believe William may be linked to other unsolved cases,

01:29:08because the murder of Tanya and Jay did not seem like the work of an amateur. The way he executed the

01:29:14crime and evaded justice for decades indicated he might have killed before. But we may never learn the truth.

01:29:23Share your thoughts on this story in the comment section and don't forget to press the like button

01:29:27if you enjoyed my video. Thank you for watching.

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