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00:00These 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.
00:23It was a brutal attack in broad daylight. Her body was discovered by a couple hiking the trail.
00:31There was a tremendous amount of blood, almost like a crime of passion. There were a number of
00:37possible perpetrators. He was obsessed with Kathy's looks. Six months after Kathy's murder,
00:44there were still no answers.
00:53Prescott is a little over 100 miles from Phoenix. Prescott College sits in the middle of town.
01:16It'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 are 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. Prescott,
02:24Arizona was a big change from where Kathy grew up, 2,400 miles northeast in Brooklyn, New York.
02:29Kathy was my neighbor. She lived four or five doors away from me, and we were best friends. We grew up
02:38together. We played together. We went to Girl Scouts together. We went on camping trips together.
02:43Kathy was the best. She was outgoing, super sweet. She lit up a room when she walked in. She was just full
02:51of life. She had two brothers, Sal, her oldest brother, and Anthony. She was also an aunt to Sal's daughter.
02:59As 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. She was such a nature girl,
03:12just loved nature to the fullest. That was just in her blood. She moved to Arizona because of the
03:22nature out there, the mountains, the beauty of it all. That was the perfect place for her.
03:27At Prescott College, Kathy dives into her studies in forestry and environmental education.
03:33Kathy 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
03:48get away from, you know, the grind of studies, be by yourself, just be out in nature. Kathy is in her
03:54third year of studies. She now has an opportunity to take a spring break from all of the responsibilities
04:01of school. Early Saturday morning, Kathy bikes to one of the trails,
04:10in Prescott National Forest. Thumb Butte is the central feature there in the park, and she was
04:17hiking up the Thumb Butte Trail. Kathy hit the trail at around 7.30 a.m. and started up the east side of the
04:26trail. By this time, the park is filling up with people. About a half an hour after Kathy arrived at the
04:33park. A couple had just begun their hike up the Thumb Butte Trail, and they encountered the body
04:41of a young woman laying with blood all around her in the middle of the trail. The female victim is found
04:49wearing a bikini top, red shorts, white leather, sneakers, and gray socks. The couple finds no breath
04:59or pulse. They ran back to the parking lot, called the police, and out of respect and courtesy, pulled
05:06out an old blanket from their trunk and ran back up the trail. It wasn't far from the start of the
05:11trail and covered her with the blanket. First responders from Yavapai County's Sheriff's Office
05:18rushed to the scene. They confirmed the victim is deceased. The victim was obviously the subject of a
05:25brutal attack. There was a tremendous amount of blood and bleeding everywhere. The wounds that were evident
05:32were abrasions and bleeding on her face and skull area, and there was an apparent trauma to her eye,
05:41possibly a gunshot. Based on her injuries, this appears to be a murder. First responders call for
05:48CSIs and homicide detectives. Less than an hour later, at 9 30 a.m., investigators arrived to process the crime
05:58scene. On the ground, about six feet away from the victim, there was a .22 caliber cartridge case.
06:05There 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. In the
06:18victim's backpack, there was an address book. There was also a wallet with the victim's ID.
06:24Kathy Sposito, 23 years old, and a student at Prescott College.
06:31Near the body, two bloody rocks with hair on them were taken to evidence to be further examined.
06:41Investigators find more blood further up the trail. There was blood in areas other than where she was
06:48found. The crime scene showed that the attack started in one location and then moved as she appeared
06:55to have fought back and tried to escape. Another pair of hikers coming down the trail saw a half-inch
07:02ratchet wrench on the trail, kind of out of place, and they picked it up and continued until they
07:08encountered the crime scene where it became obvious that this may be some related evidence. They handed it
07:14over to the deputy. With the crime scene secured and in process, sheriff's investigators speak to potential
07:22witnesses who 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, and a woman yelling for help
07:37at approximately 8 a.m.
07:41There 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.
07:54He 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
08:11the park and 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.
08:26She felt threatened by this car.
08:29The witness describes the driver as a Caucasian male with brown hair in his mid-20s. Could he have had
08:35something to do with Kathy's death? To find out, investigators have to identify the man or his vehicle.
08:41Later that morning, investigators went to Kathy's place of residence, knocked on the door. No one
08:52answered. The investigators knocked on the neighbor's door. A woman named Paula answered, and Paula knew
08:59Kathy. About 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. Paula told law enforcement that she was up walking her dog about
09:145 a.m., and she noticed that Kathy's bike was not in its usual place by the house. She also knew that
09:21Kathy's car was in the shop at this time. Paula assumed that Kathy was not home at all that Friday night.
09:29She had no information of Kathy's plans or whereabouts that Saturday. But she did know Kathy lived with
09:36a roommate who might know more. So investigators make a 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.
09:51I spoke with Sal. His mom and dad were just devastated beyond. Sal said he came home from work and
09:58saw all these people in the living room, family, and they told Sal what had happened. And Sal said he
10:04pretty much doesn't remember anything from there on. Her mom took it the worst. She was really in bad
10:12shape. She was really never the same. Sal had received a postcard from Kathy two days after the murder,
10:22and it was for his daughter, which is so sad. I just broke down crying. It's left a void in my heart
10:31for 38 years. I'll never forget it. Kathy's friends and family in Brooklyn also have no idea where she
10:38may have been at 5 a.m. on the morning she was killed, whether she was out late or slept at a friend's
10:43place. They also tell detectives Kathy had no enemies. She was so sweet and beautiful. I can't
10:51even imagine someone would want to ever hurt her. Later that same day, detectives returned to Kathy's
10:57apartment, still looking for her roommate. This time they find her there. Kathy had a roommate named
11:02Megan Ellis. They 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.
11:16Megan 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.
11:30I believe Kathy was dating her boyfriend in Prescott for quite a while.
11:35Megan 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 he
11:46was 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,
11:57so she planned 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.
12:10Police in Prescott thought maybe he had something to do with it.
12:13Investigators use the address book found in Kathy's backpack to track down Ryan Cole.
12:18Ryan doesn't answer the door at his last known address, and he won't pick up his phone.
12:24Does that mean you committed murder? Not necessarily. It just makes one suspicious.
12:28Investigators 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 blood.
12:50Investigators finally get a hold of Ryan Cole by phone. He tells police he's in Prescott,
13:01but he says he's been working in another state and he's going back there soon.
13:05I believe he was working on a fishing boat. He tells police he moved to Alaska on May 17th
13:11for a summer job, and that's where he was at the time of the murder. He also has the receipts to prove it.
13:16Kathy 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 man.
13:34Whether or not Ryan knew about Mark, one thing is clear. Ryan was 3,200 miles north in Alaska when she was killed.
13:42He was ruled out as a suspect.
13:47The 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
14:05Kathy's hair found at the scene and the ratchet wrench found near the scene.
14:11The medical examiner also determines that the single gunshot did not kill her.
14:17It appears that Kathy was attacked from behind with the wrench.
14:23There were about 18 to 20 lacerations on her body. Blood at the crime scene indicated that she likely
14:31fled about 100 feet trying to escape the assailant. The killer followed and caught up with her and then
14:38fired that shot. A 22 caliber bullet was fired into her left eye, ultimately lodging in her neck muscle.
14:47Looking at the powder burns around her face, it was determined that the shot was fired less than a
14:52foot away. She was also stabbed possibly with a knife in her ear, but it was absolutely the blunt force
15:00trauma that killed her. Kathy received blunt force trauma from the rocks found with blood on them,
15:06delivering the final blows. That was possibly a last ditch thing for the assailant to do,
15:13to make sure she was dead. It appears this was not a planned event. This was not an intentional
15:21homicide. There was a lot of unrelated means used to harm her, to hurt her, to subdue her and ultimately
15:29kill her. The medical examiner estimated that Kathy had only been lying on the trail for about 15
15:37to 30 minutes before she was found. The killer made a quick and very stealthy getaway with no one
15:43observing anything untoward. But investigators still have no idea who perpetrated the attack.
15:50They hope trace biological material on Kathy's body may lead them to her killer. The rape kit was
15:56produced and there was no evidence of sexual assault. During the autopsy, fingernail clippings were
16:02collected. The victim may have fought back and scratched her assailant or assailants and there would be a
16:08different blood type present. The testing on the fingernail clippings were of no evidentiary value at the
16:16time. The ratchet wrench was initially tested and there were no usable prints. There was blood on it,
16:23but that also proved inconclusive at the time. In 1987, we were very limited on our testing. DNA was in its
16:32infancy. The important thing was to hang on to the evidence and hope that someday we would get a result.
16:40The fingernail clippings weren't destroyed. Felony evidence is retained in perpetuity, but we had no
16:47evidence of the assailant's identity. The killer had an amazing ability to vanish so quickly. We believe
16:55he was very familiar with the area. We know the killer is likely a male, someone with some physical
17:02strength and he carries a 22. Was it someone she knew? Investigators turned their attention to Mark
17:09Harper, the man who took Kathy hiking in Utah for a week just prior to her death. We tracked down Mark
17:15Harper and we spoke to him. He was very shocked and horrified by what happened. He was very cooperative
17:23and we asked about the nature of their relationship. He told law enforcement that their relationship was
17:30purely platonic. Mark ran into Kathy at a bank a few days before the trip to Utah. They began talking
17:38and had mutual interest in the outdoors and hiking and Kathy ended up going along with them. They just
17:45wanted to go hike and have a good time. Kathy was maybe a little bored in town. Her friends were gone
17:51for the break. They left Prescott June 7th driving six hours in Mark's car and arrived at Zion National
18:00Park in Utah to camp for the week. On June 12th they returned home to Prescott. Mark dropped Kathy off
18:08at her house around 2 pm that day, 16 hours before she was murdered. He called her later that day because
18:17he knew that she needed a car. He had a friend who was selling a car and he was calling her to let her
18:24know about that. So they did communicate later that day on the phone. Other than that, Mark had no
18:30information regarding Kathy's plans for that evening or the weekend. To Mark's knowledge, Kathy was at home.
18:38He was aware she was dating. She did have a boyfriend at the time and that he worked in construction
18:45and did not treat her well, according to him.
18:47Detective Swine Mark's comment that Kathy had a new boyfriend in construction, curious. Her boyfriend
18:54Ryan's a student at Prescott College, not a construction worker. So who is this new man that
18:59Mark claims is in Kathy's life? Or is Mark just saying this to take the heat off himself?
19:05When police ask Mark for his alibi between 7 am and 8 am on June 13th, the time frame of the murder,
19:11he says he was home alone, something he can't prove. He had no one to confirm his whereabouts.
19:18He would absolutely remain a suspect. While they don't have anything to hold him on,
19:23investigators consider, is it possible Mark Harper is Kathy's killer?
19:41He was a suspect, so we looked further into it. But investigators can't find anything that ties
19:52Mark to the murder. There's no forensic evidence that links him to the crime scene,
19:56Mark 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.
20:06On 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 family,
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.
20:34While 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
20:46the night before her murder, with a man who appeared to be her lover.
20:50The bartender told investigators that she last saw Kathy the evening before she was murdered,
20:57having beer with another individual the bartender knew, who was a local, about 29 years old,
21:03and his name was Cole Maddox. Cole Maddox is well-known at Murphy's. He's familiar with the staff,
21:10and he visits there often, and he works in construction.
21:16The bartender reported that she saw Cole and Kathy together at the bar from approximately 9 to
21:2211 p.m., and reported that they left together. Another waitress at Murphy's also reported seeing
21:29Kathy that evening and mentioned she was wearing red shorts, presumably the same shorts she was
21:35wearing when she was discovered the next morning on the Thumb Butte Trail. Kathy's neighbor reported
21:41that the night before the murder, she never saw Kathy's bike, which implied that Kathy was not home
21:47the night before she was murdered. Investigators now believe she spent the night with Cole Maddox.
21:53It appeared that Cole Maddox was the last person to see Kathy alive. We had to wonder if Cole Maddox had
22:00anything to do with Kathy's homicide. Investigators brought him in for questioning, and he reported
22:11that the last time he saw Kathy was a week before she was murdered. Investigators tell Cole the bartender
22:18at Murphy's saw him with Kathy the night before she was killed, not a week earlier. Cole denies the
22:23bartender's claim. Investigators think Cole's lying. He doesn't deny that they have a physical
22:30relationship and that he does spend time with Kathy. Cole was asked where he was the day of the murder,
22:37and he said that he got up early to work on his roommate's car, and that car matched the description
22:43of the car that was observed following Kathy as she was riding her bicycle to Thumb Butte Park earlier
22:50that morning. Cole tells investigators he was home all morning, and then at noon he drove to Thumb Butte
22:55Trail to see if any of his friends were there. It's a popular hangout, he says, especially during spring
23:00break. When pressed, Cole insists he was home the morning Kathy was killed and didn't get to Thumb Butte
23:06Trail until noon. He says he had no idea Kathy went to Thumb Butte Trail that morning at all.
23:11Cole stated that he visited the area later that day and discovered crime scene tape, law enforcement
23:19at the scene, and he returned home. He claimed he had no idea that Kathy had been murdered there.
23:27The witness that identified that cream-colored car following Kathy, when shown a photo of Cole,
23:33identified the photo as the driver of that car. He did identify Cole.
23:37It appears Cole Maddox lied about his whereabouts that morning, so investigators hold him. But to
23:44charge him with Kathy's murder, they'll need more direct evidence. Investigators talked to Maddox's
23:50landlord. Who has a story to tell? Cole Maddox informed his landlord that he had seen Kathy the
23:56night before her murder, and that he was likely the last person to see her alive.
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 not
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 9mm handguns were recovered,
25:00which were owned by Cole's roommate, and his roommate had bought a .22 caliber conversion kit,
25:07because the .22 caliber ammunition was a lot cheaper. Detectives theorize Cole was obsessed
25:13with Kathy and became furious when he learned she'd just been on an overnight trip with Mark Harper to
25:17Zion Park. After Kathy returned to Prescott and spent the night with Cole,
25:22he may have followed her to Thumb Butte Trail early the next morning 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,
25:36so the sheriff is forced to release him. That was frustrating. Investigators still don't have
25:42a viable suspect in custody. There were considerable resources spent talking to witnesses and leads and
25:49pursuing tips. A week after releasing Kathy's lover Cole Maddox, investigators identify a new suspect when
25:57one of Kathy'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.
26:08He was just fascinated with Kathy and seemed obsessed with Kathy's looks. He had a studio downtown
26:17Prescott. He had asked her to sit for a portrait. She couldn't sit still for him through the portrait. He was
26:24getting annoyed with her, ended up telling her just to leave. To find out more about Trevor Lang, investigators
26:33ask Kathy's roommate, Megan Ellis, what she might know. Megan confirms that Kathy found Trevor off-putting.
26:39She says sometimes he showed up to the house uninvited to see Kathy, which upset her.
26:44Investigators confront the painter to hear how he describes his relationship with Kathy.
26:49Trevor stated that yes, he was interested in her and he did ask her to pose for a number of paintings.
26:57Lang also reveals that he had asked Kathy out on a date. She turned him down,
27:02but he admits he still had a crush on her. They thought maybe he was angry with her and they
27:08thought maybe, you know, maybe he had a grudge against her. He became a suspect because of the
27:14apparent obsession with Kathy. Detectives speculate that when Kathy turned down his advances,
27:20Trevor Lang trapped her into Prescott Forest 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. Six months after Kathy's murder,
28:12there were still no answers, but her family continued to communicate with us and ask for
28:19progress and if there's anything they could do to help. They went and asked their friends and
28:24networked out and just maintained a continual presence. Kathy's mom kept calling out to Prescott
28:31police department to see if there was new leads, looking for justice for her daughter. She died
28:37not getting it, which was the saddest thing in the world. I always thought of her mom, always,
28:43the heartache she went through. Despite the efforts of the Spositos and Arizona investigators,
28:51Kathy's case goes cold for months, and those months turn into years.
28:54Every 10 years of the anniversary of her death, there was a big article in the paper and a lot
29:02of publicity and posters went up around town and we got in another batch of tips. Some of them were
29:08the same tips that we'd been getting for decades, but every now and then something came up which
29:13looked promising. We pursued and then ran it to ground. Work never stopped. But in 2016,
29:1929 years after Kathy's murder, advances in forensic science bring new hope that investigators may find
29:26her killer. So all the Sposito forensic evidence gathered from the crime scene can now be processed.
29:32All 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. Tests on the wrench revealed that the two
29:54top DNA contributors were Kathy Sposito and an unknown male. Cells scraped from under Kathy's fingernails
30:02belonged to the same male suspect. Investigators now have the DNA profile of Kathy's killer,
30:07and the case comes back to life.
30:09They 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
30:31DNA of Kathy's assailant. There's no match. Cole Maddox is a liar, but not a killer.
30:37Painter Trevor Lang, whose advances Kathy had thwarted, was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1992.
30:44His 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.
31:05This case was definitely still a very active case. I kind of came on to look at it differently.
31:12We couldn't pin it on anyone that Kathy knew, so the thought was to refocus and look at the possibility
31:20of someone she didn't know. That it was a sexual assault attempt that went horribly wrong.
31:28And to look at other sexual assaults that occurred in this time frame.
31:34We had to do some actual looking in storage areas and boxes and really digging in that sense,
31:41just to kind of get a lead on something else. And there were a number of possible perpetrators,
31:47men that were committing sexual assaults in the county during this time frame.
31:52Investigators review case reports for connections between those prior sex
31:56assault cases and the attack on Kathy. We came across the name Frank Delaney,
32:01who was a known rapist in the area, was currently serving prison time for various attacks about town.
32:10There were some similarities in that he attacked women on another trail in town. He was known to carry a
32:16gun. He seemed like a good person to seriously look at. Frank Delaney had served time in California
32:24and was released in 1986, the year before Kathy's homicide. Frank Delaney moved from California
32:32to Prescott right after serving his sentence in California. He was very familiar with the area,
32:38with hiking trails, the forest areas. Delaney has no DNA profile on record to test against DNA
32:45found at the Sposito crime scene, but investigators zero in on him as a suspect. Detectives interviewed
32:52his family, any friends we could locate. He was a serious suspect. The home that he stayed in
32:59when he moved to Prescott, the roommate owned various handguns. Did Frank have access to those guns?
33:07All signs pointed to Frank Delaney possibly being involved in Kathy's murder. Our theory regarding
33:14Frank Delaney was that he attempted to sexually assault Kathy on the trail. She fought back
33:21and that it progressed to her being ultimately murdered. In 2018, 31 years after Kathy's murder,
33:31police interview Frank Delaney, who's serving time for sexual assaults he committed in the Prescott
33:36area between 1991 and 1992. He does admit that he's familiar with the area where she was murdered.
33:44He admits to his past of sexually assaulting women, but denies any involvement in Kathy's homicide.
33:52We 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 on.
34:07Investigators then discover an assault case from 1990 that's also strikingly similar to the attack on
34:12Kathy. Years after Kathy Sposito's homicide, another woman was sexually assaulted on the trail. She did
34:20survive and we had DNA evidence. She was hiking on the trail and the attacker came up behind her, pushed her
34:29down 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,
34:42and in both cases, rocks 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.
35:05This male DNA profile from the 1990 assault is compared to the unknown male DNA found on the
35:12wrench used in Kathy's murder and under her fingernails. It's a match.
35:19Investigators now know the same assailant committed both crimes,
35:23but all investigators now know about Kathy's killer is that he's white, blonde and has buck teeth.
35:30With no name, investigators get creative and devise a new plan to find Kathy's killer.
35:42The DNA profile of the blonde haired buck tooth 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 pursue
36:10genealogy to give us a name hopefully for this person. Some months later, they notify us they had matches.
36:18Technicians 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 one of
36:34two brothers living in Kentucky, Jason and Brian Bennett. Detectives learned the Bennett brothers
36:41lived in Prescott, Arizona at the time of the attack, and one of them has a criminal history.
36:45Turns out Brian Bennett was involved in multiple attempted rapes and sexual assaults. Brian Scott
36:53Bennett was identified by Parabon National Labs as the most likely assailant in that rape case.
37:00To be 100 percent certain Brian Scott Bennett's Kathy's killer, detectives need a new clean
37:06sample of his DNA to confirm it matches the DNA found on the wrench and under Kathy Sposito's nails.
37:13Investigators tried to locate Brian Scott Bennett, but initially find no records of his whereabouts.
37:20At this point in the investigation, we tracked down our suspect's brother in order to obtain a DNA
37:26sample. Jason Bennett was asked to give a voluntary DNA sample and he refused. We obtained some DNA from
37:35some trash left in front of his home, but none of that is conclusive.
37:40Investigators 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,
37:54and had a child. Brian's mother admits her son had a troubled youth.
37:59In 1990, Brian Bennett was accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a house party. In June of 1993,
38:08Brian Bennett sexually assaulted a woman multiple times while parked outside of a post office in town.
38:15He wasn't convicted of either crimes. Brian Bennett never had a juvenile record, so he was never on our
38:22radar and never a suspect. Investigators later looked at Bennett's yearbook and saw that he had blonde hair
38:29and buck teeth, just like the rape victim described.
38:32All 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.
38:43We were informed that Brian Bennett had committed suicide in 1994 and was buried in Livermore, Kentucky.
38:52Brian Bennett committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a .22 caliber pistol,
38:59just like Kathy was shot in the head with. Until a police lab can compare a direct sample of Brian
39:05Bennett's DNA to the DNA found on the Sposito crime scene, Kathy's case can't be closed.
39:12We need to look at Brian Bennett's DNA. We need to exhume his body. Over three decades after Kathy's murder,
39:20Kentucky officials exhume the suspect's remains and provide a DNA sample. And when the lab in Arizona
39:26compares Brian Scott Bennett's DNA to the sample from Kathy's crime scene, they match.
39:3536 years after she was murdered, we finally have Kathy Sposito's killer.
39:41Pieced together from the crime scene, the evidence, the autopsy, and an investigation spanning nearly four
39:46decades, detectives now know what happened the morning Kathy Sposito was killed.
39:51Kathy 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.
40:08Brian Scott Bennett had a penchant for following and attacking women. And unfortunately for Kathy,
40:13that 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
41:08sure she doesn't survive and report him to authorities. Then he fled the scene and her body was discovered
41:15by a couple hiking the trail soon after. We were able to bring closure for the family and friends.
41:27That was very 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 or be forgotten.
42:06We found out who did this to Kathy. Is there justice? Never going to be justice. But I was glad to hear
42:14he did kill himself because he was a psychopath. Ann calls Kathy's brother Sal to talk about their feelings now that
42:20Kathy's murder is finally solved. We ended up on the phone for five hours. I felt so good to speak with
42:27Sal about Kathy after all those years. She came to me in a beautiful dream and I'll never forget it. I
42:34still get goosebumps. She let me know she was okay. Family and friends fund a memorial bench in Kathy's honor,
42:42overlooking Prescott National Forest, which she loved so much. I'll never forget her. It's time to let Kathy rest
42:51in peace and just think of how beautiful she was and what a beautiful soul she was. And I know she's okay.
43:08Have a great day!
43:38You
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