Forensic Investigation of Vehicles

of the horror classic evil dead. Our grandpollic believed the devil would return. If anyone read from lookook at the dead. CQnda Now dear We just just deserve this. Every family. We can all be reunited demons. I couldn't ever come live without you. I won't let you live without me. B Dead Burn, RadD RR under seventeen Un Mute withithout Parernt, july tenth Nothing beats tradition, like weekly game nights at M's House, and tostitos, crafted with masa made the traditional way, starting with whole corn kernels, with flavors worth gathering around, like a hint of lime and Mexican street corn, and no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. That's the Tostitoos way. Bring Tostitos to your next game night and you'll be winning either way Toastitos. tradition matters So this story isn't Dallas, Georgia. You're listening to the dateline morning meeting. These two trials are back to back and we think they're gonna happen. Producers are catching up on breaking crime news. It's this milkshake that he has, and then they have this vial of blood. She's sort of the lead on this Facebook group that called attention to the case. I got a lot of people sending it to me saying like, this is like a tailor made dateline Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Ellison Barber, NBC newews correspondent and host of the Netflix video podcast allegedly, filling in for Andrea June eighteenth Here's what's on our docket Legal fireworks in Durham County, North Carolina, as the defense attorney of a man accused of murdering a college student points the finger at her roommate. The defense alleges Karina must have been in the apartment when Faith was killed In Date Line roundup, we're inside the courtroom for two dramatic sentencings A judge has strong words for Tracy Grist The Utah mom who masterminded the murder of her son in law Gilogo beach serial killer Rex Herman faces the tears and anger of the families of the women he murdered. But ye it' done to our family is beyond what words can express Plus cars and crime A veteran crime scene investigator tells us what he looks out for when he's processing a car for clues. A lot of vehicles have touchscreens, which are fantastic. It's basically saying, leave your fingerprints here. Before all that, we're heading back to a San Diego courtroom where an unusual witness took the stand last week and transported the jury to a world of charms, energy work and powerful magic It is week five in the trial of Larry Miliet, the Navy optician accused of murdering his wife Maya back in twenty twenty one and hiding her body Prosecutors say when he found out Maya was planning to leave him, Larry tried everything, including spells to keep her When that didn't work, they say he killed her Lry denies murdering his wife, he does not deny buying spells The jury has already heard how much he spent on them. moreore than a thousand dollars And last week, they got to hear from one of his favorite spellcasters, Test Joy A woman with long blonde hair that he met online who promised to turn his desires into reality for a fee Tess Joy was not the person Larry thought she was person turned out Test Joy was actually a heavy set, red headed man named Frank Pve And whether you believe in magic or not, Frank had a story to tell the jury about Larry's state of mind leading up to his wife's disappearance. Here to Fillis in is NBC seven invvestigative reporter Alexis Aivas Hi, Alexis, thanks for being here. It's great to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Okay, so before we get into spells and magic, Take us back to twenty twenty one when this case began. So thirty nine year old Mayamelete vanished from her home in Tula Vista on january seventh, twenty twenty one The last sighting of her was on her neighbor's surveillance camera. She got out of her car and walked into her home And she shared that home with her husband, Larry, and their three young kids. But there is no footage of her ever leaving that house. Larry was arrested for Maya's murder nine months after she vanished and Maya's body has never been recovered, but prosecutors believe Larry killed his wife because of a relationship she had with another man, right So in part, yes, prosecutors say She was having an affair with a coworker of hers. His name was Jamie Laird And Maya clearly wanted a divorce. In fact, prosecutors say, they think that was really the catalyst to the day that she vanished. So for me, I feel like I can confidently say, I have never heard the word magic spellcasters in a courtroom. What do you make of it? Like is this a first for you too? Yes. And I think, you know, this is a witness that I don't think anyone is going to forget anytime soon. So yeah, more than a month into this trial, this witness comes to the stand. hisis name is Frank Pvey. by day, he works in SEO online, he goes by, as you said, Test Joy. And according to his website for spellcasting, he claims to have joined a mystical coven in nineteen ninety seven. claims to be a licensed energies worker, there's no such thing. There's no license for any one get that? Yeah And he I think also said he got a degree in mysticism from Bryce University. Bryce University doesn't exist either. anyyway, he says on the stand that he believes he really can turn your desires into reality using altars, gemstones and herbs and these spells. Do I ask what is the going rate for spells these days? likeike what's a werewolf turn versus just I don't know, I want good luck. So some of them are you know, around thirty dollars, maybe a little less, maybe like ten dollars ten But some, you know, the combination of immortality and the ability to fly, for example, I think was ninety ninell, ninety nine cents to like one hundred dollars. Pretty reasonable. Yeah. I mean, it's a bargain, really. What kind of messages was Larry sending? Initially, they were things about making Maya not wna leave, making Maya fall in love with him again But he did get pretty explicit with some of the requests he wanted of my, you know, to humumble her. In fact, he explicitly asked for several sexual acts. And Frank testified that it's not unusual for people to be desperate. They often come to him in a state of desperation and vulnerability. However, he says usually he'd get like two messages a day. Larry would send him twenty seven. It was just nonstop rapid fire messaging. Let's talk about the defense, right? becausecause On cross, they didn't get up and say, this is not true. Larry's never in his life bought a spell, but they did try to say, Frank, maybe we don't trust, right to the jury. Yeah, they definitely poked holes into Frank's credibility And as for the spells themselves, I think the main point they drilled down in the cross was none of the spells wanted Maya to disappear All of them were about bringing Maya closer. So the defense is saying, you might think this is weird. Maybe you wouldn't do it, but look at what it says, this is a guy who is desperate and wants his wife in his life, not out of it Is that true based on the totality of the messages that you've seen from Frank Sash Test Joy and some of the other quote unquote spellcasters He was messaging, I think up to five spell casters. So, you know, they start with making her love me. They go into sex slave and sexual acts and then they turn into punish her. There were some requests in this phone about wanting to have an accident, perhaps, maybe a broken bone. reallyally the Dadline spell requests that the prosecution wants this jury to think about that This is a man asking someone to hurt his wife Another big reason I think that the prosecutors go so far into the spell casting evidence is because after Maya vanishes, all of the spell requests about Maya stop. The affair between M and her married coworker, it is kind of at the heart of this case Do we know about this guy Jamie Ld. So this is the witness I think everyone is waiting to hear from. Jamie is someone who worked with Maya and he was married to a woman who was three months pregnant around the time they started having an affair, according to some of the witnesses we've heard from the prosecution. So far, we just know that Larry had caught Maya in the car with Jamie Laird And we just found out that in the third search of the Miliete home, when police arrested Larry, they found abortion paperwork inside of a closet in that home That's pretty huge because we had seen some of these spell requests where Larry mentioned that Maya got pregnant and that maybe it was Jamie's she had an abortion, but no medical professional's been able to confirm that on the stand. Do we think Jamie Laird will take the stand or is it still a bit of a question mark The prosecution is motivated to do this, according to some criminal defense attorneys that I've talked to because they need to take the sting away from the idea that she had this affair And they need to present that so that the defense doesn't come in and kind of drop it like this bombshell revelation. But a big part of the defense's case was going to be third party culpability They asked before the trial even started, if they could present evidence showing that Jamie Laird is Maya's killer And there's a couple things about him that are suspicious that they mentioned in the opening statements. The anniversary of their affair is the day that Maya vanished. The next day, his wife gave birth. The judge ruled though there wasn't enough for them to bring up any of that evidence in court But you gotta think they're going to try to ask quite a bit of him during this cross examination Alexis Rivus, who will be watching your coverage. Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. Thank you so much for having me Coming up, a controversial defense filing in the case of a murdered college student prompts the prosecutor to make a bold request. Adobe Firefly is the all in one creative studio with AI powered image and video editing for today's creative process. buuilt for creators of every kind Firefly helps you generate, edit, and experiment fast Because the asks aren't getting smaller budgets aren't getting bigger, and the timelinees, oh yeah, still tight With all the best creative AI models in one place, Firefly brings your ideas to life. Unlock a better way to make with Adobe Firefly. 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Eligible direct deposits and opt in required for overdraft protection, Fes terms and conditions apply. teen years since Faith Hedgepeeth, a college student at the University of North Carolina, was beaten to death in the bedroom of her off campus apartment nextxt to her body invvestigators found a cryptic note It said, I'm not stupid It looks like the killing might be personal And yet when investigators made an arrest nine years later The suspect, Miguel Sajro Olivareres had no known connection to faith He's pleaded not guilty to multiple charges including first degree murder and rape And in a stunning pretrial motion, his defense attorney has raised troubling questions about someone who knew faith very well And according to the defense may have been in the apartment at the time when she was killed. roomommate The prosecutor has called the motion provocative and a distortion of the truth and recently asked the judge to seal future pretrial motions from the public ere to tell us more is dateline producer, Mike Nardy. Mike, welcome back to the show. Hi, Allison. Thanks for having me So for people who don't know this case, it is fascinating I didn't realize it'd been going on so long. Tell us a little bit about fa because like most college students, she was young, full of dreams and really seemingly working towards a future Yeah, that's absolutely right. Faith was nineteen years old and she was a biology major who planned on going to med school. She was of indigenous heritage. She was part of the Halloa Sapone Native American tribe in North Carolina. And her hope, her dream was to go back to where she had grown up and be a pediatrician in that part of the state. And at the time she was living with her friend, Karina Rosario while she was waiting for her financial aid package so she could move into her own apartment. They were sharing a one bedroom apartment. You mentioned this roommate Farinna She's the person who found Faith's body, right? and called nine hundred eleven sometime after eleven AM on september seventh, twenty twelve. Do we know about the early hours the investigation. Well, when Karina called nine hundred eleven, she told police that she had come home and found Faith unconscious and that there was blood everywhere. When the paramedics arrived, they saw that Faith was dead, and it appeared that she had suffered severe head trauma She was found on the bed and there was that note that you talked about. It was handwritten on a paper bag like that you would get fast food in I mean, you read the text of it. It's an aggressive note, right? When investigators saw that note, did they immediately think this has been left behind by the killer? I think considering the circumstances and like you said, the nature of what was written on there, the assumption had to have been that this was connected to the killing that had been left by the killer, perhaps as a warning or as an explanation or justification Where did investigators think Faith was the day of her murder What was she doing and was she by herself Well, they do know that Faith and her roommate, Karina had gone out that night. They'd gone to a nightclub called The Thrill Karina told police they left around two fifteen AM and went back to the apartment. Karina said she later called a friend to come pick her up And then the next morning, Karina said she found faith when she got back to the apartment. So how did they ultimately end up connecting Miguel Sajerro Olivareres to this crime and charging him At a press conference announcing his arrest, the attorney general said his DNA matched DNA left at the scene. And you know, we're not quite sure how they sort of zeroed in on him. We know that he had been arrested for a DWI, and we don't know if they had reason to believe that he might have been the perpetrator and took his DNA and tested it purposely to try and match it. What do we know? about him and his background Very little. The local paper says he is from Guatemala and he lived in an apartment complex nearby Prosecutors added a burglary charge to the charges of murder and rape, and we'll have to wait to trial to figure out how he allegedly got to the apartment. Earlier this year Miguel Saljero Olivareres's attorney, James Rainsford, he filed this motion asking the judge to secure the attendance of that roommate Karina at the upcoming trial The motion calls her a material witness and then lays out why the defense attorney believes she is important to this case. down for us what is going on because it seems significant So in this motion, the defense raises questions about Karina, what she might have seen and also her story to investigators. According to the motion Karina told investigators she was sick when the girls got home from the nightclub and spent an hour or so in the bathroom. What significant and or interesting there The defense attorney points out that crime scene investigators noticed about a two inch bloodstain in the bathroom right where Karina told investigators she'd been sitting The defense says the stain was in fact Faith's blood. and was a transfer stain. So in other words, the type of blood stain that happens when someone, you, who had blood on their hands, drips off or smears off. So does it seem like the defense is about to make an alternate suspect theory here of some sort and say, hey, we believe Karina had Faith's blood on her hand and was potentially involved here? You know, I'm not sure if that's exactly where they're going to go, but they're certainly trying to sort of cloud the water there in terms of whether Karina played a role in it or if she knew about it. But he's asked the judge to allow him to test the swab taken by crime scene investigators at the scene to see if that lab can identify the DNA of whoever transferred the blood All of it seems pretty vague, R? Even if it does come back as something that was on Karina's hand, there is still no saying when the blood got there. Right, But there is more. Karina told investigators that a friend picked her up from the apartment that night And in the motion, the defense alleges that friend told investigators he noticed a small smudge of blood on Karina's right finger And the defense goes on to say that investigators processed the car and found a stain that could be blood on the indoor passenger handle. The defense motion includes one more claim about Karina's story that is Fairly explosive. takeake us through that. Right. So according to this motion, the medical examiner determined that faith died around two fifty one AM Karina and the friend who picked her up said Karina left after four AM. So the defense alleges Karina must have been in the apartment when Faith was killed We asked the medical examiner to confirm the estimated time of death, but we haven't gotten a response yet. Has Karina said anything about those specific allegations? No. I don't believe Karina has ever spoken publicly about what happened that night. And she's never been charged in connection to the murder, right? No, no. Could we see her take the stand? or did the judge decide? The judge agreed to issue what's called a certificate to secure attendance, meaning she's been summoned to appear. And while that sounds dramatic, one thing we have to bear in mind is that Karina does not live in North Carolina DA in Durham County has sharply criticized the defense for this motion, telling one local newspaper that it contained a quote bunch of falsehoods and allegations that were not true. Right. We don't know which allegations she believes are distortions are untrue. But the prosecution asked the judge to seal pretrial motions and court orders moving forward, arguing the defense might taint the jury pool with inaccurate, incomplete and inadmissible information Do we think that could happen here? Well, the judge refused the prosecution's motion now, but said he's keeping the door open to revisit the issue. Given it has been so many years since Faith died, we're talking fourteen years now The trial is coming up in September Do we know how her family is doing? Well, I mean, the family's coping, which I think is all you can really expect. They're ready for trial They're hoping for answers and they want justice for faith. Thank you so much for bringing us up to speed on this case. We appreciate it. Thanks for having Next, it's time for dateline roundup Emotions run high at the sentencing of Tracy Grist, the Utah mother who plotted to murder her son in law in the sentencing The Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Humerman Plus, what happens when a car becomes a crime scene? A crime scene investigator gives us the lowdown Every bold journey starts with a decision to go, and if you're ready, the Defender is too. This is a vehicle built for more, whether you're heading off the grid or just getting out of town for the weekend. Defender is a true icon, reimagined for a new generation. Its rugged exterior is built from durable materials and tested in the toughest conditions Inside it's modern, functional, and refined, with smart storage and premium touches that keep you comfortable wherever the road leads. It's packed with tech, like three D surround cameras, clear sight ground and rear views, driver assist features, and an intuitive infotainment system. With three models, the Defender ninety, one hundred ten, and one hundred thirty There's a defender for every kind of adventure, from city streets to remote trails. This is a vehicle that, like you, is capable of great things. Explore the full Defender lineup at landrooverususa. com This message comes from DSW, with their semiiannual sales starting now and featuring lots of deals. At Designer Shoe Warehouse, they'll give you something to brag about, like forty percent off clearance in all DSW stores, or an extra ten percent off clearance at dsw d. com Find shoes that get you at prices that gets your budget DSW. Let us surprise you Celebrate America's two hundred fiftieth birthday with a perfect night's sleep. This july fourth, save up to six hundred dollars on SERDA Perfect SleeperX mattresses and adjustable baseets with a Q four support system that helps relieve aches and back pain. Visit A SERDA retailer today Joining me for this week's roundup is Dateline booking producer Caitlin Cutt. Caitlin, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. For our first story, we're heading to Suffolk County for the sentencing of the Gilgo Beach serial killer. It is a case that started in twenty ten when police were searching for a missing woman along a remote stretch of coastline and then discovered human remains than another set and another and another eleven in all Some of the victims, their bodies were wrapped in burlap Some of them were dismembered Many of the victims were sex workers when they were killed This passed to April Rex Huerman, a husband, father, and architect from Long Island ped guilty to murdering seven of the women and then admitted responsibility for an eighth. On Wednesday morning Hewerman was back in court for sentencing Caitlyn set the scene for us. What was it like in court Well, as you know, this is such a huge case. Our NBC team was there. The courtroom was packed with spectators and family members of the women that Rex has been convicted of killing Just a lot of emotions, you know in the courtroom from the very start. Yeah, I can imagine for so many of these families, they have been desperately looking for answers for so long When Uerman admitted and plleed guilty back in April, people in the courtroom said that he showed no emotion at the time. There's video where you can see him kind of walking in with what looks like a smirk. What was he like this time? He walked in emotionless. He was wearing a suit with a blue shirt and a yellow tie His handcuffs were taken off as he sat next to his attorneys. Who in terms of families of the victims spoke today? You know, first of all, let's start by reading the names of the victims that Rex was convicted of killing Melissa Bartholomey Meghgan Waterman, Amberlyn Costello, Maureen Brainnard Barnes, Sandra Costia Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mac. There's also Karen Vergata Herman was never charged with her death, but he did take responsibility. Now, there was a victim's statement entered for each of these women, but not everyone was physically there in the room Valerie, Mack's family, including her parents, they were there, right? and had some very strong words for their daughter's killer. What you have done to our family. beyond what words can express. even though justice is done. It cannot replace what you have taken from us. And her son also shared what was on his heart and you could hear the pain in his voice. I think about her son a lot because I remember reading this article it was from A British publication, I think it was the observer, but he talked about the last time he saw his mom when he was six years old. and said they'd played video games together the night before and had to sleepover she'd left in the morning and how he spent his whole life thinking his mother abandoned him. and then found out when he was much older, the truth that she had never left in the way that he thought For these families, all of them, there are so many layers to what has happened to them, the pain they have felt over the years. Is there anything you wish to say before I pronounce sentence? Stand up. One of the biggest moments it came when Rex, Herman actually spoke himself. Thout the words like you say I' responsible for what was said in this room The words, I would say have no meaning there So what was Rex Heerman ultimately sentenced to? Judge Timothy Mazzy sentenced him to three counts of life without parole, and he had his own sharp words for him. I know that you're sorry that you got caught I assume that you sorry For what you've done to your wife and children Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these poor innocent women women that you strangled to death, at least eight that we know of Are you at least a little bit sorry for that? Yes Yes, I do You know what? you've been described as a very big man, but you're a disgusting and despicable small man if you're a man at all And you're a coward Wow, this case is one that is clearly touched Everyone involved Next we're going to head to Provo, Utah, where there was another sentencing. This one for Tracy Grist She was sentenced for her role in the twenty twenty four murder of her son in law, Matthew Stelly Caitlin' three family members were ultimately convicted in connection with this murder plot. But at her sentencing, the judge singled out Tracy. You were clearly the mastermind in a plot that led to your son in law's death a man who simply thought he was coming to Utah to pick up his wife and children And he had a lot more to say, but before we get to that, remind us what happened in this case. Okay, so back in July of twenty twenty four, Matthew Ristelli arrived at his mother in law's home Just minutes later, he was shot and killed. At the time, Tracy told investigators that Matt had entered the house unannounced and that her son, Kevin Ellis, shot him in self defense. But investigators were they quickly learning things that they felt did not match with that story. They did. Almost immediately, investigators began developing a very different theory that Matthew had been lured to the house by his wife, Kate and intentionally murdered. And what did prosecutors give as the motive Essentially, this is a custody story. Matt and Kate shared two children but their marriage was falling apart. So she took the children to her mother Tracy's home in Utah, where, according to prosecutors Tracy. came up with the idea to lure Matt to the home and ambush him So Kate pleaded guilty to her part in all of this and She testified against her brother as well as her mom. When they were on trial, her brother, Kein Ellis was convicted of several charges, including murder. He was sentenced earlier this year. So that brings us to Tracy. Exactly. Tracy was convicted in April of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Her sentencing happened a few days ago and Matthew's younger brother, Jonathan got very emotional when he was talking about what his family lost when Matthew was killed. And then he addressed Tracy directly The grandmother is are supposed to protect their grandchildren Tracy. You destroyed your grandchildren's potential future. And he wasn't the only one who had strong words for Tracy that judged it too. In The court's view you're incredibly dangerous and your character and actions show that any rehabilitated needs are overcome by your willingness to kill simply for your or your children's convenience. Judge Roger Griffins ultimately sentenced her to fifteen years to life on the murder charge, plus additional prison time for conspiracy and two counts of domestic violence in the presence of a child. The judge ordered all of those sentences to run consecutively. Just a disturbing and devastating case all around Kaitlin, thank you so much for all of these updates. No problem. Thankk you for having me there's so many ways a car be relevant to a murder investigation. It's come up in a few high profile cases of late, the case of Ohio teen Mackenzie Serilla who was convicted of murdering her boyfriend, Dominiic Russo and a friend, nineteen year old De Oon Flanagan. Both were passengers in McKenzie's car when prosecutors say she drove one hundred miles an hour into a brick wall, killing both of them Karen Reed, many people know, was acquitted at her second trial last year after she was accused of running over her police officer boyfriend John O'Keeffe, and leaving him to die in the snow It got us thinking about cars and crime could be the actual crime scene. the murder weapon or even a witness, right If so how do crime scene investigators process a car that is involved in a suspicious death And what kind of clues can a car offer up to crack a murder doctor Mike McCutchon is a former detective sergeant with over twenty one years of experience in crime scene investigation and estimates he's processed hundreds of cars. He's here now to tell us how he does it. doctor McCutchon, welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Hey, thank you for having. I'm glad to be here. for you as a veteran crime scene investigator How do you describe the art of forensically processing a car? Can it make or break a case? Absolutely. You have to think of a vehicle. It's just another piece of evidence. So there's three things you're going to look at the outside of the car. The inside of the car and then the telematics, that is, I'll say your navigation type systems. That's telling you when the car started and when it stopp those type of things. What are some of the unique things that you're looking for when you're processing just the outside of a car? Like I think about in cases where people are describing so specifically like we know this Tire mark was made by this tire company. It's with this sort of tread. So now you're getting me excited because I love tire tread. like I'm getting goosebumps now. It's the individual characteristics that you're going to look for if there are rocks stuck in the tire tread or their rips or tears or maybe there's a flat repair or something like that that's going to make that tire unique. That's what's going to tie that higher to that tire tread pattern that we saw at a crime scene. When you're looking for fingerprints Where are the most common spaces that you tend to find those? So on the outside of the car, of course you're going to look at, you know the door handle, but also you want to look at how people shut their doors. Like most people, when you open the door, they kind of slap it shut and so they're touching We'll say like in the middle of the window kind of shutting the door on that way. And then on the inside of the car, steering wheel, radio, any of those things that they might touch. now it's really great. A lot of vehicles have touch screens, which are fantastic. It's basically saying leave your fingerprints here. and then we As a society, eat and drink and live in our cars So I look for any garbage that is left behind in a car. I may look for fingerprints, but I may look for DNA because people leave their coffee cups, straws, food, wrappers, receipts, Receipts are fantastic. I can use that, compare it with the telematics that I got from where the vehicle is And now I'm locking all these pieces in. so now I know where your c's been. This idea of possibly having a car that you are searching, trying to gather clues from where maybe a body was transported in that car I find it fascinating in part because we have an episode coming up next week on allegedly where we're looking into the case and the allegations against David, the singer who has now been accused of killing a fourteen year old girl named Celest Rivis Hernandez He's pleaded not guilty to multiple charges When police found her body in the front trunk,