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00:06These are college students in Arizona. They love spring break. Kathy is a very popular student. She
00:13attracted a lot of attention around town. She was only 23. She had to date the night before,
00:18then hiked the trails in Prescott Forest. She was so young and had her life ahead of her.
00:25It was a brutal attack in Broaddalen. Her body was discovered by a couple hiking the trail.
00:32There was a tremendous amount of blood, almost like a crime of passion. There were a number of
00:38possible perpetrators. He was obsessed with Kathy's looks. Six months after Kathy's murder,
00:45there were still no answers.
01:10Prescott is a little over 100 miles from Phoenix. Prescott College sits in the middle of town.
01:17It's a liberal arts school, a very small school, that focuses on art and ecology and environmental
01:24studies. Students come here to work in nature. The whole city is surrounded by Prescott National
01:33Forest. Prescott National Forest is 1.25 million acres. Its terrain is a variety of meadows and hills
01:41and lakes, hiking trails. The trails can be very busy, especially on a beautiful summer morning. People
01:48out walking their dogs, people jogging, biking, you name it. There are activities for day trips,
01:55and then there's some areas where you can camp also. It definitely becomes touristy in the summer
02:02and spring break. In 1987, Kathy Sposito is a 23-year-old student at Prescott College. Kathy is a very
02:14popular student there. She had a lot of friends, was very social, just a sweet person.
02:23Prescott, Arizona, was a big change from where Kathy grew up, 2,400 miles northeast in Brooklyn, New York.
02:31Kathy was my neighbor. She lived four or five doors away from me, and we were best friends. We grew
02:37up
02:38together, we played together, we went to Girl Scouts together, we went on camping trips together. Kathy was
02:45the best. She was outgoing, super sweet. She lit up a room when she walked in. She was just full
02:51of life.
02:53She had two brothers, Sal, her oldest brother, and Anthony. She was also an aunt to Sal's daughter.
03:00As children, Kathy and her brother Sal would go on bike rides down Ocean Parkway to Coney Island.
03:06She grew up as a New York City girl, but loved the outdoors.
03:10She was such a nature girl, just loved nature to the fullest. That was just in her blood.
03:19She moved to Arizona because of the nature out there, the mountains, the beauty of it all.
03:25That was the perfect place for her.
03:29At Prescott College, Kathy dives into her studies in forestry and environmental education.
03:34Kathy is living her dream at this point. She's near the outdoors. She's studying in a field she wants to
03:40pursue. She has a great group of friends, nice community here. Kathy would hit the trails to get
03:48away from, you know, the grind of studies, be by yourself, just be out in nature. Kathy is in her
03:54third
03:54year of studies. She now has an opportunity to take a spring break from all of the responsibilities of school.
04:06Early Saturday morning, Kathy bikes to one of the trails in Prescott National Forest.
04:13Thumb Butte is the central feature there in the park, and she was hiking up the Thumb Butte Trail.
04:20Kathy hit the trail at around 7.30 a.m. and started up the east side of the trail. By
04:27this time,
04:28the park is filling up with people. About a half an hour after Kathy arrived at the park,
04:34a couple had just begun their hike up the Thumb Butte Trail, and they encountered the body of a young
04:41woman laying with blood all around her in the middle of the trail. The female victim is found wearing a
04:51bikini top, red shorts, white leather, sneakers, and gray socks. The couple finds no breath or pulse.
05:00They ran back to the parking lot, called the police, and out of respect and courtesy,
05:05pulled out an old blanket from their trunk and ran back up the trail. It wasn't far from
05:10the start of the trail and covered her with the blanket. First responders from Yavapai County's
05:17sheriff's office rush to the scene. They confirm the victim is deceased.
05:22The victim was obviously the subject of a brutal attack. There was a tremendous amount of blood
05:28and bleeding everywhere. The wounds that were evident were abrasions and bleeding on her face and skull
05:36area, and there was an apparent trauma to her eye, possibly a gunshot. Based on her injuries,
05:44this appears to be a murder. First responders call for CSIs and homicide detectives.
05:53Less than an hour later, at 9 30 a.m., investigators arrived to process the crime scene.
05:59On the ground, about six feet away from the victim, there was a .22 caliber cartridge case.
06:06There does not seem to be obvious signs of sexual assault. She's fully clothed.
06:11The victim was still wearing the blue backpack with the yellow bicycle helmet attached to it.
06:17In the victim's backpack, there was an address book. There was also a wallet with the victim's ID.
06:26Kathy Sposito, 23 years old, and a student at Prescott College.
06:33Near the body, two bloody rocks with hair on them were taken to evidence to be further examined.
06:42Investigators find more blood further up the trail.
06:44There was blood in areas other than where she was found. The crime scene showed that the attack started
06:52in one location and then moved as she appeared to have fought back and tried to escape.
06:58Another pair of hikers coming down the trail saw a half-inch ratchet wrench on the trail,
07:04kind of out of place, and they picked it up and continued until they encountered the crime scene,
07:09where it became obvious that this may be some related evidence. They handed it over to the deputy.
07:18With the crime scene secured and in process, sheriff's investigators speak to potential witnesses
07:23who were in the park around the time of the attack. At least one individual did report hearing what
07:29sounded like a pop or possibly a gunshot, and also an argument between a man and a woman,
07:35and a woman yelling for help at approximately 8 a.m.
07:40There was a gentleman at the bottom of the trail, and he distinctly remembered Kathy arriving on her bike,
07:48locking the bike, and then walking up the trail at around 7 30 a.m.
07:53He did not see anyone follow her up the trail, so most probably someone was already there waiting and lurking.
08:03Another witness reported seeing a young woman that fit the description of Kathy riding her bicycle up to the park,
08:12and soon afterwards encountered a cream-colored car that was around 7 in the morning.
08:18It seemed as if this car was following Kathy, and there were reports that Kathy didn't seem very happy.
08:27She felt threatened by this car.
08:30The witness describes the driver as a Caucasian male with brown hair in his mid-20s.
08:35Could he have had something to do with Kathy's death?
08:37To find out, investigators have to identify the man or his vehicle.
08:45Later that morning, investigators went to Kathy's place of residence, knocked on the door.
08:51No one answered.
08:52The investigators knocked on the neighbor's door.
08:55A woman named Paula answered, and Paula knew Kathy.
09:00About 5 p.m. the day before, Paula reported that Kathy had told her that she had just gotten back
09:06from a week in Utah on a trip.
09:10Paula told law enforcement that she was up walking her dog about 5 a.m., and she noticed that Kathy's
09:16bike
09:16was not in its usual place by the house. She also knew that Kathy's car was in the shop at
09:23this time.
09:25Paula assumed that Kathy was not home at all that Friday night.
09:28She had no information of Kathy's plans or whereabouts that Saturday.
09:34But she did know Kathy lived with a roommate who might know more. So investigators make
09:38a point to return later to catch Kathy's roommate at home.
09:43Back at Sheriff's headquarters, a detective notifies Kathy's family in Brooklyn.
09:50I spoke with Sal. His mom and dad were just devastated beyond. Sal said he came home from work
09:58and saw all these people in the living room, family, and they told Sal what had happened. And Sal
10:04said he pretty much doesn't remember anything from there on. Her mom took it the worst. She was really
10:11in bad shape. She was really never the same. Sal had received a postcard from Kathy two days after
10:21the murder, and it was for his daughter, which is so sad. I just broke down crying. It's left a
10:30void
10:30in my heart for 38 years. I'll never forget it.
10:35Kathy's friends and family in Brooklyn also have no idea where she may have been at 5 a.m. on
10:39the
10:40morning she was killed, whether she was out late or slept at a friend's place. They also tell
10:44detectives Kathy had no enemies. She was so sweet and beautiful. I can't even imagine someone would
10:52want to ever hurt her. Later that same day, detectives returned to Kathy's apartment,
10:58still looking for her roommate. This time they find her there. Kathy had a roommate named Megan Ellis.
11:04They had lived together for a relatively short amount of time, and she told us that she'd only
11:09seen Kathy a week prior to the homicide the day before Kathy was to leave for Utah with her friend.
11:15Megan Ellis did not have any knowledge of Kathy's whereabouts the night before the Saturday morning.
11:22Megan does tell detectives that Kathy had a boyfriend in Prescott, a man named Ryan Cole.
11:29I believe Kathy was dating her boyfriend in Prescott for quite a while.
11:34Megan tells investigators that Ryan is also a student at Prescott College and Kathy's relationship
11:40with Ryan isn't going well. Detectives learned their relationship got worse when Ryan announced
11:46he was moving to Alaska for a summer job. According to Megan, Kathy was crushed. Just over a week before
11:53her murder, Kathy told Megan she was lonely and wanted to get away from Prescott for a while. So she
11:58planned to take an impromptu trip to Zion National Park in Utah with a guy named Mark.
12:03Detectives consider whether Ryan was upset that Kathy went on a hiking trip in Utah with this new man.
12:09Police in Prescott thought maybe he had something to do with it. Investigators use the address book
12:15found in Kathy's backpack to track down Ryan Cole. Ryan doesn't answer the door at his last known address
12:21and he won't pick up his phone. Does that mean you committed murder? Not necessarily. It just makes
12:28one suspicious. Investigators wonder if Kathy stayed at Mark's house the night before she was killed
12:33and if her jealous boyfriend Ryan followed her from there to Prescott Forest and killed Kathy in cold
12:39blood.
12:55Investigators finally get a hold of Ryan Cole by phone.
12:58He tells police he's in Prescott but he says he's been working in another state and he's going back
13:04there soon. I believe he was working on a fishing boat. He tells police he moved to Alaska on May
13:1017th
13:11for a summer job and that's where he was at the time of the murder. He also has the receipts
13:15to prove it.
13:17Kathy and he maintained a long distance relationship but were effectively broken up.
13:22They would write letters back and forth, cards and letters, trying to maintain a friendship.
13:28He also says he had no idea Kathy took a trip to Zion Park in Utah, let alone with another
13:33man.
13:34Whether or not Ryan knew about Mark, one thing is clear. Ryan was 3,200 miles north in Alaska when
13:40she
13:40was killed. He was ruled out as a suspect. The medical examiner conducts an autopsy on Kathy Sposito.
13:52Kathy received multiple injuries. The medical examiner indicated that the presumed cause of death
13:59was as a result of blunt force trauma and blood loss, presumably from the rocks with blood and Kathy's
14:06hair found at the scene and the ratchet wrench found near the scene. The medical examiner also
14:12determines that the single gunshot did not kill her. It appears that Kathy was attacked from behind
14:20with the wrench. There were about 18 to 20 lacerations on her body. Blood at the crime scene
14:29indicated that she likely fled about 100 feet trying to escape the assailant. The killer followed and
14:36caught up with her and then fired that shot. A .22 caliber bullet was fired into her left eye,
14:45ultimately lodging in her neck muscle. Looking at the powder burns around her face,
14:50it was determined that the shot was fired less than a foot away. She was also stabbed possibly with a
14:56knife
14:56in her ear, but it was absolutely the blunt force trauma that killed her. Kathy received blunt force
15:03trauma from the rocks found with blood on them, delivering the final blows. That was possibly a
15:10last-ditch thing for the assailant to do to make sure she was dead. It appears this was not a
15:18planned
15:18event. This was not an intentional homicide. There was a lot of unrelated means used to harm her, to hurt
15:27her,
15:27to subdue her, and ultimately kill her. The medical examiner estimated that Kathy had only been lying on
15:35the trail for about 15 to 30 minutes before she was found. The killer made a quick and very stealthy
15:42getaway with no one observing anything untoward. But investigators still have no idea who perpetrated
15:49the attack. They hope trace biological material on Kathy's body may lead them to her killer. The rape
15:55kit was produced and there was no evidence of sexual assault. During the autopsy, fingernail clippings
16:02were collected. The victim may have fought back and scratched her assailant or assailants and there
16:08would be a different blood type present. The testing on the fingernail clippings were of no
16:14evidentiary value at the time. The ratchet wrench was initially tested and there were no usable prints.
16:22There was blood on it, but that also proved inconclusive at the time. In 1987, we were very
16:29limited on our testing. DNA was in its infancy. The important thing was to hang on to the evidence
16:36and hope that someday we would get a result. The fingernail clippings weren't destroyed.
16:43Felony evidence is retained in perpetuity, but we had no evidence of the assailant's identity.
16:50The killer had an amazing ability to vanish so quickly. We believe he was very familiar with the
16:56area. We know the killer is likely a male, someone with some physical strength, and he carries a 22.
17:04Was it someone she knew? Investigators turned their attention to Mark Harper, the man who took Kathy
17:10hiking in Utah for a week just prior to her death. We tracked down Mark Harper and we spoke to
17:17him.
17:18He was very shocked and horrified by what happened. He was very cooperative and we asked about the nature
17:25of their relationship. He told law enforcement that their relationship was purely platonic. Mark ran into
17:33Kathy at a bank a few days before the trip to Utah. They began talking and had mutual interests in
17:40the
17:40outdoors and hiking and Kathy ended up going along with them. They just wanted to go hike and have a
17:46good time.
17:47Kathy was maybe a little bored in town. Her friends were gone for the break. They left Prescott June 7th,
17:55driving six hours in Mark's car and arrived at Zion National Park in Utah to camp for the week.
18:03On June 12th, they returned home to Prescott. Mark dropped Kathy off at her house around 2 p.m. that
18:10day,
18:1116 hours before she was murdered. He called her later that day because he knew that she needed a car.
18:19He had a friend who was selling a car and he was calling her to let her know about that.
18:26So they did
18:26communicate later that day on the phone. Other than that, Mark had no information regarding Kathy's plans
18:32for that evening or the weekend. To Mark's knowledge, Kathy was at home. He was aware she was dating
18:40she did have a boyfriend at the time and that he worked in construction and did not treat her well,
18:46according to him. Detective Swine Mark's comment that Kathy had a new boyfriend in construction,
18:53curious. Her boyfriend Ryan's a student at Prescott College, not a construction worker.
18:58So who is this new man that Mark claims is in Kathy's life? Or is Mark just saying this to
19:03take the heat
19:03off himself? When police ask Mark for his alibi between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on June 13th,
19:09the time frame of the murder, he says he was home alone, something he can't prove.
19:14He had no one to confirm his whereabouts. He would absolutely remain a suspect.
19:21While they don't have anything to hold him on, investigators consider,
19:24is it possible, Mark Harper is Kathy's killer?
19:45He was a suspect, so we looked further into it.
19:49But investigators can't find anything that ties Mark to the murder. There's no forensic evidence
19:54that links him to the crime scene. Mark doesn't own any registered guns and he has no criminal record.
20:01The investigating officers at that time saw no reason to pursue him anymore.
20:09On June 20th, one week after her murder, Kathy Sposito is laid to rest in New York City.
20:15They flew her back to Brooklyn and they had a wake for her. It was very sad. A lot of
20:21family,
20:21a lot of friends, our neighbors, everybody was there. It was horrible. And her mom was just
20:28devastated. She was just crying uncontrollably. It was a horrible, horrible thing.
20:35While Kathy's family grieves, back in Prescott, Arizona, investigators look for leads to her killer
20:40at Murphy's, a bar where Kathy worked. They find a promising one. Staff tell them Kathy was there the
20:46night before her murder with a man who appeared to be her lover. The bartender told investigators that
20:53she last saw Kathy the evening before she was murdered having beer with another individual the
21:00bartender knew who was a local about 29 years old and his name was Cole Maddox. Cole Maddox is well
21:07known at Murphy's. He's familiar with the staff and he visits there often and he works in construction.
21:15The bartender reported that she saw Cole and Kathy together at the bar from approximately 9 to 11
21:23p.m. and reported that they left together. Another waitress at Murphy's also reported seeing Kathy
21:29that evening and mentioned she was wearing red shorts, presumably the same shorts she was wearing
21:36when she was discovered the next morning on the Thumb Butte Trail. Kathy's neighbor reported that the
21:41night before the murder she never saw Kathy's bike which implied that Kathy was not home the night
21:47before she was murdered. Investigators now believe she spent the night with Cole Maddox. It appeared that
21:54Cole Maddox was the last person to see Kathy alive. We had to wonder if Cole Maddox had anything to
22:00do with
22:01Kathy's homicide. Investigators brought him in for questioning and he reported that the last time he
22:12saw Kathy was a week before she was murdered. Investigators tell Cole the bartender at Murphy's
22:19saw him with Kathy the night before she was killed not a week earlier. Cole denies the bartender's claim.
22:24Investigators think Cole's lying. He doesn't deny that they have a physical relationship and that
22:31he does spend time with Kathy. Cole was asked where he was the day of the murder and he said
22:37that he got
22:38up early to work on his roommate's car and that car matched the description of the car that was observed
22:45following Kathy as she was riding her bicycle to Thumb Butte Park earlier that morning. Cole tells
22:51investigators he was home all morning and then at noon he drove to Thumb Butte Trail to see if any
22:56of his friends were there. It's a popular hangout he says especially during spring break. When pressed
23:01Cole insists he was home the morning Kathy was killed and didn't get to Thumb Butte Trail until noon.
23:07He says he had no idea Kathy went to Thumb Butte Trail that morning at all. Cole stated that he
23:13visited the
23:14area later that day later that day and discovered crime scene tape law enforcement at the scene and he
23:21returned home. He claimed he had no idea that Kathy had been murdered there. The witness that identified
23:28that cream colored car following Kathy when shown a photo of Cole identified the photo as the driver of
23:35that car. He did identify Cole. It appears Cole Maddox lied about his whereabouts that morning so
23:43investigators hold him but to charge him with Kathy's murder they'll need more direct evidence.
23:48Investigators talked to Maddox's landlord who has a story to tell. Cole Maddox informed his landlord that
23:55he had seen Kathy the night before her murder and that he was likely the last person to see her
24:00alive.
24:01He told his landlord specific details of the murder that weren't common knowledge and told him he had
24:10spoken to EMTs who were at the scene who he knew who gave him all this detail. Cole was obviously
24:17not
24:17being truthful. He claimed to have not seen Kathy for a week before she was murdered yet we have witnesses
24:25at Murphy's Barn restaurant who saw them together the evening before she was found dead on the Thumb Butte
24:32Trail wearing the same color shorts. He was the main suspect at that time.
24:39Investigators searched Cole Maddox's home with a search warrant and recover a number of items of
24:45evidence. In Cole's toolbox we found two ratchet wrenches same type and style and manufacturer as
24:53one of the murder weapons recovered at the crime scene. Some nine millimeter handguns were recovered
25:00which were owned by Cole's roommate and his roommate had bought a 22 caliber conversion kit because the
25:0822 caliber ammunition was a lot cheaper. Detectives theorize Cole was obsessed with Kathy and became
25:14furious when he learned she'd just been on an overnight trip with Mark Harper to Zion Park. After Kathy
25:20returned to Prescott and spent the night with Cole he may have followed her to Thumb Butte Trail early the
25:25next
25:25morning and killed her in a fit of rage.
25:31But with only circumstantial evidence against Maddox the DA believes the case is too weak to charge him.
25:37So the sheriff is forced to release him. That was frustrating.
25:41Investigators still don't have a viable suspect in custody.
25:44There were considerable resources spent talking to witnesses and leads and pursuing tips.
25:51A week after releasing Kathy's lover Cole Maddox, investigators identify a new suspect when one of
25:57Kathy's friends tell them about a local painter named Trevor Lang. Both the friend and Kathy nude
26:03modeled for Trevor. The friend characterizes Trevor as creepy and says he was fixated on Kathy.
26:09He was just fascinated with Kathy and seemed obsessed with Kathy's looks. He had a studio downtown
26:16Prescott. He had asked her to sit for a portrait. She couldn't sit still for him through the portrait.
26:24He was getting annoyed with her, ended up telling her just to leave.
26:30To find out more about Trevor Lang, investigators ask Kathy's roommate Megan Ellis what she might know.
26:36Megan confirms that Kathy found Trevor off-putting. She says sometimes he showed up to the house
26:41uninvited to see Kathy, which upset her.
26:44Investigators confront the painter to hear how he describes his relationship with Kathy.
26:50Trevor stated that yes, he was interested in her, and he did ask her to pose for a number of
26:56paintings.
26:57Lang also reveals that he had asked Kathy out on a date. She turned him down, but he admits he
27:03still had a crush on her.
27:04They thought maybe he was angry with her, and they thought maybe, you know, maybe he had
27:10a grudge against her. He became a suspect because of the apparent obsession with Kathy.
27:16Detectives speculate that when Kathy turned down his advances, Trevor Lang tracked her into Prescott
27:22Forest and took revenge.
27:35Since Kathy had resisted Lang's advances, investigators consider whether he could have
27:39been enraged enough to not only kill Kathy, but also disfigure her face.
27:48Lang claims he was home alone asleep when Kathy was killed in the early morning on the hiking trail.
27:53Since investigators can't corroborate Lang's alibi, he remains a suspect. But as weeks go by,
27:59detectives find no other evidence to support their suspicions about Trevor Lang or Kathy's ex-lover,
28:05Cole Maddox. The Kathy Sposito case starts to go cold.
28:09Six months after Kathy's murder, there were still no answers, but her family continued to communicate
28:17with us and ask for progress and if there's anything they could do to help. They went and asked their
28:23friends and networked out and just maintained a continual presence. Kathy's mom kept calling
28:30out to Prescott Police Department to see if there was new leads, looking for justice for her daughter.
28:36She died not getting it, which was the saddest thing in the world. I always thought of her mom, always.
28:43The heartache she went through.
28:47Despite the efforts of the Spositos and Arizona investigators, Kathy's case goes cold for months
28:53and those months turned into years.
28:57Every 10 years of the anniversary of her death, there was a big
29:00article in the paper and a lot of publicity and posters went up around town and we got in another
29:06batch of tips. Some of them were the same tips that we'd been getting for decades, but every now and
29:11then something came up which looked promising. We pursued and then ran it to ground. Work never stopped.
29:17But in 2016, 29 years after Kathy's murder, advances in forensic science bring new hope that investigators
29:25may find her killer. So all the Sposito forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene can now be
29:30processed. All the crime scene evidence was secured. The wrench and the fingernail clippings from Kathy,
29:38the rocks and the blood from her body has all been preserved in evidence since 1987 and can be used
29:46today for extraction of DNA and analysis.
29:51Tests on the wrench revealed that the two top DNA contributors were Kathy Sposito and an unknown male.
29:59Cells scraped from under Kathy's fingernails belong to the same male suspect. Investigators now have the DNA
30:06profile of Kathy's killer and the case comes back to life.
30:12They were reopening the case and I was like, thank God, maybe we're going to get somewhere now.
30:20Cole Maddox, the compelling 1987 suspect who slept with Kathy the night before she was killed and then
30:26lied about his whereabouts the morning she was murdered, is swabbed to see if his DNA matches the DNA of
30:31Kathy's assailant. There's no match. Cole Maddox is a liar, but not a killer.
30:38Painter Trevor Lang, whose advances Kathy had thwarted, was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1992.
30:43His brother provides a swab that's then compared to the killer's profile. Again, no match.
30:52Yavapai Sheriff's Office's strongest leads are dead ends. They need fresh eyes to identify new suspects.
30:59I came on board at the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office in August of 2016. This case was definitely
31:06still a very active case. I kind of came on to look at it differently. We couldn't pin it on
31:13anyone that Kathy knew, so the thought was to refocus and look at the possibility of someone she didn't
31:22know, that it was a sexual assault attempt that went horribly wrong, and to look at other sexual
31:30assaults that occurred in this time frame. We had to do some actual looking in storage areas and boxes
31:38really digging in that sense just to kind of get a lead on something else. And there were a number
31:44of
31:45possible perpetrators, men that were committing sexual assaults in the county during this time frame.
31:52Investigators review case reports for connections between those prior sex assault cases and the attack
31:57on Kathy. We came across the name Frank Delaney, who was a known rapist in the area, was currently serving
32:06prison time for various attacks about town. There were some similarities in that he attacked women
32:12on another trail in town. He was known to carry a gun. He seemed like a good person to seriously
32:19look at.
32:21Frank Delaney had served time in California and was released in 1986, the year before Kathy's homicide.
32:28Frank Delaney moved from California to Prescott right after serving his sentence in California.
32:35He was very familiar with the area, with hiking trails, the forest areas.
32:41Delaney has no DNA profile on record to test against DNA found at the Sposito crime scene,
32:47but investigators zero in on him as a suspect. Detectives interviewed his family,
32:53any friends we could locate. He was a serious suspect.
32:57The home that he stayed in when he moved to Prescott, the roommate owned various handguns. Did Frank have
33:05access to those guns? All signs pointed to Frank Delaney possibly being involved in Kathy's murder.
33:13Our theory regarding Frank Delaney was that he attempted to sexually assault Kathy on the trail. She fought
33:20back and that it progressed to her being ultimately murdered.
33:27In 2018, 31 years after Kathy's murder, police interview Frank Delaney, who's serving time for
33:34sexual assaults he committed in the Prescott area between 1991 and 1992.
33:39He does admit that he's familiar with the area where she was murdered.
33:44He admits to his past of sexually assaulting women,
33:48but denies any involvement in Kathy's homicide.
33:51We got his DNA and ran it through our comparison process to all the forensic evidence collected.
33:58He did not match with the evidence, so we had to kind of dismiss him as a suspect and move
34:05on.
34:07Investigators then discover an assault case from 1990 that's also strikingly similar to the attack on Kathy.
34:13Three years after Kathy Sposito's homicide, another woman was sexually assaulted on the trail.
34:20She did survive and we had DNA evidence. She was hiking on the trail and the attacker came up behind
34:28her, pushed her down and sexually assaulted her and used a rock as a threat. Thankfully, she escaped.
34:36We have a rape in the same location as Kathy Sposito was assaulted, same time of day. And in both
34:44cases,
34:45rocks were used as the weapon and the assailant escaped without being seen.
34:51In a report, the victim stated that her attacker was a young white male, blonde with buck teeth.
34:59A semen stain was preserved and placed into evidence and then we were able to test it.
35:06This male DNA profile from the 1990 assault is compared to the unknown male DNA
35:11found on the wrench used in Kathy's murder and under her fingernails.
35:16It's a match.
35:19Investigators now know the same assailant committed both crimes, but all investigators now know
35:25about Kathy's killer is that he's white, blonde, and has buck teeth. With no name,
35:31investigators get creative and devise a new plan to find Kathy's killer.
35:46The DNA profile of the blonde-haired buck-toothed suspect from the 1990 assault on a woman hiking
35:52thumb butte trail that matches the DNA of Kathy's killer isn't linked to any name in any criminal
35:58database. The assailant's identity remains a mystery, but investigators don't give up.
36:03We received a SACI grant, which is a Sexual Assault Kit Initiative grant, which allowed us to then
36:10pursue genealogy to give us a name, hopefully, for this person. Some months later, they notify us they had
36:17matches. Technicians determined that the unknown suspect could be one of two people.
36:23In November 2020, DNA analysis of the semen from the 1990 rape case identified the contributors as
36:34one of two brothers living in Kentucky, Jason and Brian Bennett.
36:39Detectives learned the Bennett brothers lived in Prescott, Arizona at the time of the attack,
36:43and one of them has a criminal history. Turns out Brian Bennett was involved in multiple attempted
36:50rapes and sexual assaults. Brian Scott Bennett was identified by Parabon National Labs as the most
36:58likely assailant in that rape case. To be 100% certain Brian Scott Bennett's Kathy's killer,
37:05detectives need a new clean sample of his DNA to confirm it matches the DNA found on the wrench
37:11and under Kathy Spicito's nails. Investigators tried to locate Brian Scott Bennett, but initially
37:17find no records of his whereabouts. At this point in the investigation, we tracked down our suspect's
37:24brother in order to obtain a DNA sample. Jason Bennett was asked to give a voluntary DNA sample, and he
37:32refused. We obtained some DNA from some trash left in front of his home, but none of that is conclusive.
37:42Investigators tracked down his mother, who informed us that her son, Brian Bennett,
37:48was attending high school here in town in 1987. He did have a girlfriend, eventually married her and
37:54had a child. Brian's mother admits her son had a troubled youth. In 1990, Brian Bennett was accused of
38:02sexually assaulting a woman at a house party. In June of 1993, Brian Bennett sexually assaulted a woman
38:10multiple times while parked outside of a post office in town. He wasn't convicted of either crimes.
38:18Brian Bennett never had a juvenile record, so he was never on our radar, never a suspect. Investigators
38:25later looked at Bennett's yearbook and saw that he had blonde hair and buck teeth just like the rape
38:31victim described. All the evidence suggests Brian Scott Bennett killed Kathy Sposito, but if he did,
38:39his final act guaranteed he'd never be arrested for his crime. We were informed that Brian
38:47Bennett had committed suicide in 1994 and was buried in Livermore, Kentucky. Brian Bennett committed
38:55suicide by shooting himself in the head with a .22 caliber pistol, just like Kathy was shot in the head
39:00with. Until a police lab can compare a direct sample of Brian Bennett's DNA to the DNA found on the
39:07Sposito crime scene, Kathy's case can't be closed. We need to look at Brian Bennett's DNA. We need to
39:16exhume his body. Over three decades after Kathy's murder, Kentucky officials exhume the suspect's
39:22remains and provide a DNA sample. And when the lab in Arizona compares Brian Scott Bennett's DNA to the
39:28sample from Kathy's crime scene, they match. 36 years after she was murdered, we finally have Kathy
39:38Sposito's killer. Pieced together from the crime scene, the evidence, the autopsy, and an investigation
39:45spanning nearly four decades. Detectives now know what happened the morning Kathy Sposito was killed.
39:52Kathy had a date and stayed overnight with Cole Maddox on the night of June 12th, 1987.
39:58The morning of June 13th, Kathy biked out to hike the Thumb Butte Trail. She was hiking the trail
40:05approximately 7.30 a.m. Brian Scott Bennett had a penchant for following and attacking women,
40:11and unfortunately for Kathy, that day she randomly crossed paths with him.
40:18Brian Bennett attacked Kathy from behind with the wrench and caught her by surprise.
40:25Kathy was his intended victim, but he probably didn't expect her to fight back. It escalated and
40:31he ended up using a rock to subdue her. I think the initial motivation was sexual assault. He never got
40:38to that. Kathy fought back as she was repeatedly attacked and tried to escape and was found 100
40:45feet from where the initial attack occurred. Since the rocks and the wrench were found up on the trail,
40:53he likely dropped them as he followed her down the trail. Brian caught up with her as she was near
41:00a collapse. Then he took his gun and shot her. Then he strikes Kathy repeatedly with rocks to make sure
41:08she doesn't survive and report him to authorities. Then he fled the scene and her body was discovered by
41:15a couple hiking the trail soon after. We were able to bring closure for the family and friends. That was
41:28very important. Unfortunately, her parents had already passed by the time we could solve it.
41:34Kathy Sposito's murder would not have been solved if the evidence recovered at the crime scene had not
41:41been collected and preserved as well as it was. It's crucial that we handle and preserve our evidence
41:48carefully because the information contained within it may not be extractable today, but with evolving
41:55technologies, it will be tomorrow. I'm proudest of us not giving up. Not just letting it die on the shelf
42:03or be forgotten. We found out who did this to Kathy. Is there justice? Never gonna be justice.
42:12But I was glad to hear he did kill himself because he was a psychopath. Anne calls Kathy's brother Sal
42:19to talk about their feelings now that Kathy's murder is finally solved. We ended up on the phone for five
42:25hours. I felt so good to speak with Sal about Kathy after all those years. She came to me in
42:32a beautiful
42:32dream and I'll never forget it. I still get goosebumps. She let me know she was okay. Family and friends
42:40fund a memorial bench in Kathy's honor overlooking Prescott National Forest, which she loved so much.
42:47I'll never forget her. It's time to let Kathy rest in peace and just think of how beautiful she was
42:54and
42:55what a beautiful soul she was. And I know she's okay.
42:58She's okay.
43:26She's okay.
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