Latest / FBI Files / The Photographer Who Became America's Most Wanted Killer

Transcript

The Photographer Who Became America's Most Wanted Killer · FBI Files

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: In the Pacific Northwest, tragedy would forever.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Bind three women who would never meet. One disappeared just
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: months before her wedding. Another vanished, leaving two children behind.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: A third survived her night of terror and spoke for
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: the others she never knew. The hunt for a serial
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: killer led FBI agents cross country as they followed his
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: deadly trail.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: The disappearance of young women triggered a search that spanned
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: the Pacific Northwest. Even a massive media campaign failed to
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: locate the drifter who first charmed, then killed them. As
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: investigators followed his trail, he always stayed one step ahead.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: I'm Jim Kallstrom, former head of the FBI's New York office.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: In a case that landed on the FBI's 10 Most
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: Wanted list, agents hoped that the one victim the killer
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: spared would help put him behind bars.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: March 28th, 1987.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Leron Crouston left a party in the suburbs of Tacoma,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Washington at four in the morning. He was looking forward
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: to a day of fishing. Leron's fiance, 22-year-old Robin Smith,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: decided to stay. She was having a good time.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: Robin assured Laurent she'd be fine. Love you too.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: She would just get a ride home from someone she'd
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: met at the party. After fishing all day Saturday, Laurent
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: fell asleep exhausted. He didn't wake up until early Sunday afternoon. Robin.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: He hadn't seen his fiancee Robin since the party two
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: days earlier.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Robin. Concerned, the young man called Robin's mother.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: Hello?
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Edna Smith had assumed her daughter was with Leron. Let
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: me check, just a minute.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Robin?
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: She checked to see if Robin was in her old bedroom. Robin?
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: No, I haven't seen her.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Perhaps she had come in late without being heard.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Leron told Edna not to worry.
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Maybe Robin had decided to spend the rest of the
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: weekend at their friend's house.
• 3:15
  Speaker 7: Hello?
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: About an hour later, Leron and Robin's brother arrived at
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: the apartment.
• 3:21
  Speaker 8: No one's there.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I don't guess we have any choice. With no sign
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: of Robin, her family decided to call police. Leron joined
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the Smiths at their house to wait for detectives from
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: the Pierce County Sheriff's Office.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: They were all worried.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Robin had never done anything like this before. They described
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Robin as a happy young woman, though quiet. She worked
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: long hours as a waitress, saving most of her money
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: to help pay for her upcoming weddings. Detective Terry Wilson
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: and his partner initiated an investigation.
• 4:06
  Speaker 9: Important information we received from her mother, Ms. Smith, it
• 4:14
  Speaker 9: was unlike Robin to have just walked up and taken off.
• 4:18
  Speaker 9: She was engaged to get married. She was close to
• 4:21
  Speaker 9: her family. And if she ever went anyplace, her family
• 4:24
  Speaker 9: usually told them where she was going to be at.
• 4:26
  Speaker 9: And so this was unlike her.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Laurent Crouston told detectives about the last night he'd seen Robin.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Early in the morning of March 28th, Robin and Laurent
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: hung out at a bar until it closed at 2 a.m.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Some people they had.
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Met during the evening invited them to an after-hours party
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: at their nearby apartment.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: The place was rented by Elizabeth Glynn and Darren D. O'Neill.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Leron and Robin were having such a good time, they
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: didn't want it to end. The last place Leron had
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: seen Robin was at the party. Detective Wilson went to
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: the duplex where the party had been held. He found
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth Glynn at home. She corroborated Laurent's story and told
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: the detective that she had intended to drive Robin home.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: But as the night wore on, her plans changed.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: Darren seemed more interested in Robin, so Elizabeth remained in
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: the kitchen and flirted with a man named Mike Prohoda.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth told the detective.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: That she and Prohoda had made plans to meet later
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: at his apartment where they could be alone. Rehota left
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: the party first to avoid arousing Darren's suspicions. By daybreak,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: Darren D. O'Neill hardly seemed to notice. He was wrapped
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: up telling Robin about his favorite author, Louis L'amour, who
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: wrote stories about the Wild West. O'Neill was unemployed and
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: talked about living off the land like the outdoorsman in
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: L'amour's books.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: Elizabeth had heard it all before.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: At about 8 a.m., she left the apartment to meet Prahoda.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: She told O'Neal and Robin she was going out to
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: buy more beer. When she returned 24 hours later.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: O'Neal and Robin were gone.
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: Elizabeth pointed out that she found several items missing from
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: the apartment.
• 7:11
  Speaker 9: In searching the apartment, we found that there was a
• 7:14
  Speaker 9: television that had been pulled out and the television electrical
• 7:17
  Speaker 9: cord had been removed. There was a couple of lamps
• 7:21
  Speaker 9: from his girlfriend had told us that had extension cords
• 7:24
  Speaker 9: on it. These were missing. A lot of his clothes
• 7:27
  Speaker 9: were gone. And she specifically mentioned that there was a
• 7:30
  Speaker 9: blanket that also was missing from the house.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: Is this yours? In a file box, Wilson also found
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: social security cards with several different aliases. They included the
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: unusual name of Zebulon McCranahan. When Detective Wilson told his
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: partner what he'd learned, Detective Walt Stout immediately suspected foul play.
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: Robin was left alone with Darren O'Neill, and something happened
• 8:00
  Speaker 7: at that residence after that. It would be speculation that
• 8:05
  Speaker 7: maybe Darren tried to come on to her physically or sexually.
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: She may have rejected that, or there was something that
• 8:12
  Speaker 7: happened there, and I believe she was probably assaulted in
• 8:15
  Speaker 7: that house.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Detective's next question, Dennis Morrison, O'Neill's friend and former employer.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Morrison said O'Neill had worked for him as a carpenter.
• 8:28
  Speaker 7: When's the last.
• 8:29
  Speaker 8: Time you saw him?
• 8:31
  Speaker 9: It was last night.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: He asked if we were alone.
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: He said he had seen O'Neal just a few days earlier.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: It was Saturday afternoon, the day after the all-night party.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: O'Neal stopped by to ask for traveling money. He said
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: he was heading east over the Cascade Mountains. Morrison had
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: no cash to give him. O'Neal was about to leave
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: when Morrison realized he could write him a check.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: He went to O'Neal's car to make the offer.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: His friend seemed nervous and anxious to leave. Then a
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: movement in the back of the car caught Morrison's eye.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: It looked like something was pushing against the back seat
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: from inside the trunk. O'Neal told him it was his dog.
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: He put it there to punish it. While Morrison could
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: say another word, O'Neal pulled away. Morrison described the car
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: as a tan Chrysler with Montana tags. Authorities knew they
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: were three days behind O'Neal. By now, he could be anywhere.
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: There's a monster.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Detectives continued to pursue the handful of O'Neal's known contacts
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: in the area.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: They called Gary Skinner, the.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Owner of another cabinet shop where O'Neal had worked part-time.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: He told detectives he'd been looking for Darren O'Neal since
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: his last day at work.
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: When Darren left, he apparently took a hammer with him
• 10:19
  Speaker 7: from the shop because it was missing, and Mr. Skinner
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: couldn't account for it having been taken in any other way.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: With no leads pointing to his whereabouts, Pierce County detectives
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: hoped O'Neill's past would provide some answers. A background check
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: revealed that the suspect was no stranger to trouble.
• 10:43
  Speaker 9: He had worn South Army. He had been in trouble
• 10:46
  Speaker 9: in Colorado.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: He had been.
• 10:50
  Speaker 9: Accused of sexual assault, physical assault. All of his victims
• 10:55
  Speaker 9: that we were aware of had been females. So a
• 10:59
  Speaker 9: profile of him was starting to form that we were
• 11:01
  Speaker 9: looking for a person who is possibly predatory in nature,
• 11:05
  Speaker 9: but violent for sure.
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Pierce County deputies entered everything they knew about Darren D.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: O'Neill into the National Crime Information Database, the NCIC, a
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: listing of criminals and victims nationwide. They included his physical characteristics,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: a description of his tattoos, and the make and model
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: of his car. If O'Neill were picked up by any
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: police department in the country, Pierce County would.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Be notified immediately.
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: Detectives also helped Robbins' family launch a media campaign to
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: locate the missing woman. Robbins' picture was posted all over
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: the Tacoma, Washington area along with O'Neill's. The campaign began
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: to generate leads. O'Neill was spotted entering a local hospital
• 11:58
  Speaker 2: alone on March 29th.
• 12:02
  Speaker 7: There was no security at the hospital, but the ER
• 12:05
  Speaker 7: nurses were nervous at this man's presence. So they did
• 12:10
  Speaker 7: call a couple of male employees of the hospital, and
• 12:14
  Speaker 7: Darren ultimately left without receiving any treatment for some scratches
• 12:19
  Speaker 7: that were visible.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: Investigators believed Robin had inflicted the scratches on O'Neill's face
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: when he attacked her. The hospital staff told police that
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: the scruffy man bore a teardrop tattoo at the corner
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: of one eye. The letters J-U-N-E were tattooed across the
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: knuckles of one hand. Detectives learned that June was the
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: name of O'Neal's ex-wife. The media campaign continued to generate leads.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: A highway flagman had seen O'Neal in his car at
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: two different locations on March 30th, two days after Robin's disappearance.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: The first sighting was on a highway construction site east
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: of Tacoma. O'Neal was heading south when the flagman waved
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: him through. He also saw O'Neal a few hours later
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: at a gas station off the same highway. He called
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: police when he recognized the man's face from the newspaper.
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: To be sure, the detective showed the flagman a photo lineup.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: It included a mugshot of O'Neal alongside five others. The
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: flagman picked out O'Neal immediately. As investigators continued the hunt,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: a Washington State trooper spotted a tan Chrysler with Montana
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: tags on the afternoon of March 30th. the same day
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: the flagman had seen O'Neill. It had been abandoned on
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: the side of Interstate 5, about 50 miles north of
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Pierce County, two days after Robin's disappearance. Unaware of the
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: ongoing investigation, the officer found nothing.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Suspicious about the car. He followed proper procedure.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: By calling in the license plate and vehicle description. A
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: communications officer entered the tag number into a database. The
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: information should have triggered the NCIC listing.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: On O'Neill and his vehicle. It did not.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: She had mistakenly typed the abbreviation MO for the state
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: of Missouri instead of MT for Montana. The trooper on
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Highway 5 was still unaware that this was the very
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: car Darren D. O'Neill had been driving following Robin Smith's disappearance.
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: Investigators' best clue.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Was about to be towed to the impound lot.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: On March 30th, 1987, a Washington State trooper found a
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: tan Chrysler with Montana tags 50 miles east of Tacoma.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: Misinformed by his communications officer, the trooper was unaware.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: That Darren D. O'Neill, the man wanted in connection with
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: the disappearance of Robin.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Smith, had abandoned the car. The vehicle was towed to
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: an impound lot for future sale. A few days later,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: the local paper ran an article about Robin Smith's abduction.
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: The story described O'Neill's car. It sounded similar to a
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: Chrysler the tow truck operator had recently impounded.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: He checked the make, model, and license plate. They matched.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: He quickly notified police. Detectives ran a check of the
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Chrysler's vehicle ID number. A man calling himself Zebulon McCranahan
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: was reported to have stolen it from an Idaho residence
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: in 1986. Wilson immediately remembered the peculiar name from an
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: ID card he'd found at O'Neil's home.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: It was one of the suspect's aliases.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: At the Pierce County West Precinct garage, detectives and evidence
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: technicians processed the Chrysler. They hoped to find some trace
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: evidence linking O'Neal or Robin to the car. While technicians
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: searched the interior, the detectives moved to the trunk. They
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: found a large quantity of dried blood. Detectives also found
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: a blood-stained lavender jacket.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Mrs.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: Smith later identified the garment as Robin's. They also recovered teeth,
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: bone chips, and a clump of hair. O'Neill's fingerprints on
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: empty beer cans pointed to his involvement. If Detective Wilson
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: had held out some slim hope that Robin was still alive,
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: it was now gone.
• 18:10
  Speaker 9: We felt now that we probably had a homicide on
• 18:12
  Speaker 9: our hands by the way the type of blood that
• 18:14
  Speaker 9: was found in the trunk and the amount of blood
• 18:15
  Speaker 9: that was found. And so we started focusing on Darren
• 18:19
  Speaker 9: as a homicide suspect. At this point in time, the
• 18:23
  Speaker 9: whole tone of the investigation started changing.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: But to charge O'Neal with murder... Examiners at the Washington
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: State Forensics Lab first needed to confirm that the hair
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: and bone fragments belonged to Robin Smith. Pierce County sheriffs
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: requested Robin's dental records and blood type sent to the lab.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: But there was a problem. Robin had not been to
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: the dentist since childhood. She also had never documented her
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: blood type. Since a definitive match with known samples could
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: not be made, murder charges could not be filed. As
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: the hunt for suspected killer Darren D. O'Neill ground to
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: an abrupt halt, 120 miles to the north, Detective Carlotta
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: Jarrett of the Bellingham Washington Police Department was working on
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: a similar case. Wendy Aughie, a 28 year old single
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: mother was reported missing when she failed to pick up
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: her daughter Wendy had a date the evening of April 24th, 1987.
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: She left her daughter with the child's grandmother. When Wendy
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: failed to return a call, the grandmother drove over to
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: her house to find the little girl's favorite pillow.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: On Wendy's bed, she.
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: Found bloodstains and called the police. Detective Jarrett obtained a
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: warrant to search the house. Wendy's car, a red Ford Torino,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: was missing. The front door to Wendy's house had been
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: left unlocked. Her wallet and keys were missing. In the bedroom,
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: Detective Jarrett found evidence of a brutal attack.
• 20:17
  Speaker 10: There was bodily fluids in the bed, and there was
• 20:20
  Speaker 10: a great amount of pooled blood underneath that pillow, which
• 20:24
  Speaker 10: had seeped to the mattress below. There was low to
• 20:28
  Speaker 10: medium impact velocity blood spatters on a wall, and there
• 20:33
  Speaker 10: were also blood smears on the wall.
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: Bellingham police retrieved the entire bit as evidence. On the headboard,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: they found more of Wendy's blood, along with two blonde
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: hairs that did not belong to the missing woman. Police
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: also recovered an acrylic fingernail. Wendy's friends told police that
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: she had worn acrylic nails on her date with a
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: man named Michael Johnson. Wendy had met Johnson earlier that
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: afternoon on her.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Lunch break.
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: He was the new bartender at La Paloma Restaurant. Detective
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Jarrett checked the restaurant for leads.
• 21:20
  Speaker 10: I contacted the owner to see if she'd filled out
• 21:23
  Speaker 10: an employment application for Mr. Johnson, and the only thing
• 21:28
  Speaker 10: she had was a placemat that he had written some
• 21:31
  Speaker 10: information on. She gave that placemat to me, and we
• 21:35
  Speaker 10: did process it for fingerprints.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: While the detective waited for results, he visited a local
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: mission which the bartender had listed on the placemat as
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: his residence. Detective Jarrett spoke to the desk clerk at
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: the mission, who remembered the day Johnson checked out.
• 21:54
  Speaker 10: He had seen Mr. Johnson at the mission at 7.30
• 21:59
  Speaker 10: in the morning on the day after that Wendy Ahe
• 22:04
  Speaker 10: had a date with him. And at that time he
• 22:07
  Speaker 10: was wearing black slacks, a vest, a white shirt and
• 22:12
  Speaker 10: a tie and told him he was going to work.
• 22:14
  Speaker 10: He also said he had met a lady and he
• 22:15
  Speaker 10: was going to move in with her. This person also
• 22:19
  Speaker 10: said that Mr. Johnson was driving a red Torino and
• 22:23
  Speaker 10: drove away in it. Previous to this point, he'd had
• 22:25
  Speaker 10: no vehicle.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: On May 4, 1987, Jarrett received a phone call from police.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: In Eugene, Oregon.
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: They had found Wendy's car, a red Ford Torino, abandoned
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: in the parking lot of a tavern. Inside, police recovered
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: fingerprints that matched the fingerprints.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: Found on the placemat.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: A check through the automated fingerprint identification system revealed that
• 22:52
  Speaker 2: the prints belonged to Darren D. O'Neill, the man wanted
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: for the suspected murder of Robin Smith. Detective Jarrett contacted
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: authorities in Pierce County, 120 miles south of Bellingham. They
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: quickly realized there were striking similarities in both cases.
• 23:17
  Speaker 10: Since we were convinced that Darren O'Neill was responsible for
• 23:20
  Speaker 10: Robin Smith's death, and we also felt that he was
• 23:24
  Speaker 10: responsible for Wendy Ahe's disappearance and possible death, we felt
• 23:30
  Speaker 10: that the rest of the people in the country were
• 23:33
  Speaker 10: also at great risk from Darren O'Neill.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Pierce County deputies called in the FBI to assist in
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: the hunt. Former Special Agent Del Oros of the FBI's
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: Tacoma Resident Agency was assigned the case.
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: At that point, we knew we were dealing with an
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: individual who was extremely mobile and extremely dangerous. He had
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: the history of a violent sexual predator, and now he
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: had the current tag or label of a murderer.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Since Wendy and Robin's bodies were still missing, formal murder
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: charges were not filed. Sexual assault charges against O'Neal were
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: still pending in Colorado. The FBI opened a federal case
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: against the fugitive for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Still,
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: O'Neal managed to stay one step ahead. No one knew
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: where the suspected serial killer fled after he left Oregon.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: and authorities still had no murder case unless they found
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: the bodies of the missing women. In May 1987, evidence
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: pointed to the brutal slaying of two innocent women.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: In Washington State.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: The FBI and local police launched a media campaign to
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: flush out suspected killer Darren D.
• 25:13
  Speaker 4: O'Neill.
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: Dozens of agents fanned out to investigate sightings all over
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: the Pacific Northwest. O'Neill was spotted hitchhiking at truck stops
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: north and south of Seattle.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: One trucker gave O'Neill a ride on May 23rd.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: He claimed his passengers thanked him for the ride because
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: the cops were after him. The trucker pulled off the
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: highway a short time later and left O'Neill just a
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: few miles outside the city. Special Agent Del Oros recalled
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: that even as leads came in, the hunt for the
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: elusive killer did not get any easier.
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: The months immediately following the disappearance of Robin Smith and
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: Wendy Ahe were extremely frustrating. Because of O'Neill's change in
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: facial appearance, a change in weight, people were consistently telling
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: us that the pictures that we were showing of O'Neill
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: were actually two different people. Well, they weren't.
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: The FBI focused on places the drifter might blend in.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: Because O'Neill was constantly on the move, Agents questioned travelers
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: at local bus and train stations. They hoped someone had
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: spotted O'Neal and would remember his distinctive tattoos. Even when
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: they found people who had seen the fugitive, it was
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: always too late. O'Neal was comfortable in the ever-changing world
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: of transients and drifters, where people could easily disappear forever.
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: It wasn't as though we were going to find Darren
• 27:07
  Speaker 5: O'Neill at the local Ramada Inn. It forced us to
• 27:10
  Speaker 5: take a hard look at the reality of having to
• 27:14
  Speaker 5: search for him in places where he would blend in very,
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: very easily. By way of example, we looked in bus stops,
• 27:22
  Speaker 5: homeless shelters, day labor camps. He was certainly not anyone
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: who was going to be holding a 9-to-5 job, which
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: really did increase the difficulty in trying to find him.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: as the pursuit went on through the subsequent months.
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: While agents and detectives continued to pursue hundreds of mostly
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: false sightings, detectives were called to the rural area surrounding
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: Crystal Mounter, just east of Washington State's Mount Rainier. Hikers
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: had reported finding what appeared to be human remains. The
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: location was close to where a flagman had seen O'Neill's
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: car about a month earlier, not long after Robin Smith's disappearance.
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: Just inside the wood line, officers spotted a jawbone and
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: a skull.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Each item was carefully flagged before it was retrieved.
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: As Stout and Wilson surveyed the crime scene, they wondered
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: whether the remains were Robin's Investigators also found other bones
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: scattered in the vicinity. Folded clothing was found hidden in
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: the base of a nearby tree. It matched the description
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: of the outfit Robin had worn to the party. They
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: also recovered a wallet. Inside, they found Robin Smith's driver's license.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Investigators fanned out to cover a wide area. Their persistence
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: paid off. They found a claw hammer with markings similar
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: to the one reported missing by one of O'Neal's former employers.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Detectives also suspected it was the murder weapon. The Pierce
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: County Medical Examiner agreed. A careful examination of the remains
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: revealed that Robin had probably died as the result of
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: blunt force trauma to the head.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Darren D.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: O'Neill was charged with first-degree murder.
• 29:51
  Speaker 5: Once the remains of Robin Smith were found, we certainly
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: had the confirmation that a murder had occurred. And by
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: virtue of that murder, the Washington federal authorities then issued
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: their own separate and second investigation. They issued another unlawful
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: flight to avoid prosecution warrant for him.
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: The FBI was more determined than ever to get their
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: hands on the man responsible.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: For this heinous crime.
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: By June of 1987, the FBI had issued two federal
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: warrants for the arrest of suspected serial killer Darren D. O'Neill,
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: still on the loose in the Pacific Northwest. The remains
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: of one woman had been recovered close to Mount Rainier.
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: The second woman was still missing and presumed dead. Since
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: O'Neill was last known to be in Eugene, Oregon, Special
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: Agent Michael Elsie of the FBI's Portland field office was
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: called in.
• 30:59
  Speaker 8: Knowing that he was a sexual predator. I went and
• 31:01
  Speaker 8: checked with the local police agencies with some of their
• 31:04
  Speaker 8: sexual assault cases to see if his M.O. fit any of,
• 31:09
  Speaker 8: or description or anything, fit any of their pending cases.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: It meant hundreds of man hours, but agents refused to
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: simply wait for another sighting or another victim. Dozens of
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: agents met with detectives in districts across the region to
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: try to link O'Neill to outstanding sexual assault cases. The
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: search was complicated by the fact that O'Neill looked very
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: different in each of his mug shots.
• 31:40
  Speaker 8: Most often the agents.
• 31:40
  Speaker 7: Left empty handed.
• 31:41
  Speaker 5: Frustrated and out of leads, agents continued to wade through
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: hundreds of.
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: Old case files.
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: With a dangerous predator on the prowl, agents had to
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: exhaust every possibility. An agent met with police detective Bill
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: Carter in Portland. As he had done a dozen times before,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: the agent compared O'Neal's picture to sketches of sexual predators.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: One sketch stood out.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: It bore a strong resemblance to the fugitive. A 14-year-old
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: girl named Heidi Lang had provided the drawing five months
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: earlier when she filed rape charges against her unknown attacker.
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: From the police report, her description of the crime sounded
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: eerily similar to O'Neill's other assaults.
• 32:46
  Speaker 8: I'm looking at the photos of Mr. O'Neill, especially when
• 32:52
  Speaker 8: he had a beard and the glasses. I saw that
• 32:55
  Speaker 8: there was quite a bit of resemblance between the two
• 32:58
  Speaker 8: and the method and... M.O. were similar as well. Luckily,
• 33:03
  Speaker 8: he did not kill Ms. Lang as he had other subjects.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Agent Elsie wanted to speak with Heidi Lang as soon
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: as possible. Detective Carter arranged a meeting between the young
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: girl and the FBI. With her mother by her side,
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: she told the story from the beginning. At around midnight
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: on January 17th, 1987, two months before Robin Smith disappeared,
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Heidi broke her mother's curfew and walked to the nearby
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: convenience store to get a soda. It was a tough
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: part of town. The young girl had walked it many
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: times before, but never this late at night. As she
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: crossed an overpass leading to the store, a trucker called
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: to her from his parked rig. She ignored him and
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: walked on. It only took her a few minutes to
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: get the soda.
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: Then she started back home.
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: She walked as quickly as she could to get back
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: before her mother knew she had left. Heidi told investigators
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: that as she approached the overpass, the man and the
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: truck were gone.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: But on the other side of the.
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: Overpass, the trucker jumped out of the bushes and grabbed her.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: He forced her down an embankment at knife point and
• 34:56
  Speaker 2: shoved her into his semi.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Parked at the side of the highway.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Years later, Heidi recalls that she believed her young life
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: was over.
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: The first thing I noticed is how dangerous he was.
• 35:14
  Speaker 4: I felt that he had every intention of killing me.
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: There was no question in my mind.
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: He threw her into the sleeper compartment of his truck.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: She was terrified, with no idea where he might take
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: her or what he might do.
• 35:35
  Speaker 4: He threatened to make me a whore, sell me to pimps.
• 35:40
  Speaker 4: He was going to cut me open. I tried finding
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: what was going to keep from angering this man. I
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: had to behave like I was just holding conversation with
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: him and at the same time learn what I could
• 35:58
  Speaker 4: about him.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: Despite Heidi's best efforts, the trucker climbed into the sleeper
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: compartment and repeatedly raped the 14-year-old for four hours.
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: And he did not like to think of you as
• 36:16
  Speaker 4: a woman. That brought him to violence. That brought him
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: to violence. I had to keep him talking, mostly to
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: keep his mind off other things. And I had... I tried...
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: my best to give him the impression that I was
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: insignificant and I was just there to be there with
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: him and it wouldn't it wouldn't mean anything if he
• 36:49
  Speaker 4: let me go.
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: Heidi's insight and courage paid off. After suffering hours of abuse,
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: her tormentor let her go. She ran until she reached
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: a truck stop. She asked an employee for a ride home.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: After all she'd been through, Heidi bravely submitted to a
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: rape test. This provided investigators with samples of the rapist's semen,
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: though no match could be made until the suspect was
• 37:40
  Speaker 2: in custody. When Heidi finished her story, Detective Carter showed
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: her a number of photos of Anil and some similar-looking men.
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: It was amazing that he was in it, and I
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: did see him. And I picked him out. I really
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: did not expect to see him in them. I hadn't
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: really heard anything since I had given the sketch.
• 38:12
  Speaker 2: Seeing her attacker's face brought the memories flooding back, but
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: she never hesitated to press charges. Heidi was determined to
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: face her rapist and put him behind bars.
• 38:28
  Speaker 8: I think that she wanted to see that this person
• 38:31
  Speaker 8: did not do that to anyone else ever again. And
• 38:35
  Speaker 8: so it showed very much strength in her character, and
• 38:39
  Speaker 8: especially at the age of 14, being able to be
• 38:42
  Speaker 8: so descriptive in the events that occurred, the description of
• 38:48
  Speaker 8: the subject and him, that kind of got us to
• 38:52
  Speaker 8: the path where we were.
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: Agent Elsie called the Tacoma office. they finally had a
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: witness to testify against O'Neal. But they still had to
• 39:05
  Speaker 2: find him. Agent Del Oros called FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: to request additional assistance. On June 18th, 1987, Darren D.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: O'Neal's name was placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.
• 39:32
  Speaker 2: The case was now a priority for every FBI office
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: in the country. Agents had to find O'Neill before he
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: could strike again. In June of 1987, suspected serial killer
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: Darren D. O'Neill was added to the FBI's 10 Most
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: Wanted list. Special Agent Del Oros was in charge of
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: the case. He convinced the FBI's Fugitive Publicity Unit in Washington, D.C.
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: That Darren D. O'Neill fit the list's criteria.
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: The Bureau's determination as to who goes on to the
• 40:20
  Speaker 5: top 10 wanted list is a function of a lot
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: of different factors. Primarily, it's the protection of the community. Secondarily,
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: it has to do with the ability of those individuals
• 40:29
  Speaker 5: to be mobile, to transport themselves across interstate lines, so
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: effectively going from state to state.
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: With nationwide publicity, the manhunt for O'Neill was relentless. Countless
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: sightings were reported in several states. O'Neal was most often
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: spotted in bars and taverns in the northwest. Investigators followed
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: up on dozens of leads, only to find witnesses with
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: vague descriptions.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: Of the fugitive. Nobody knew of his whereabouts. Agents were
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: left with little to go on it.
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: So we had a long stretch of time when the
• 41:21
  Speaker 5: clues were drying up. The leads from other agents were
• 41:24
  Speaker 5: not producing any form of immediate return. We were going
• 41:28
  Speaker 5: back to the same people, consistently re-interviewing the family, friends.
• 41:33
  Speaker 5: We were reaching out as far as going to prior instructors,
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: prior employers, looking for some type of clue that would
• 41:40
  Speaker 5: tell us or show us a pattern of his activity
• 41:43
  Speaker 5: and his mobility across the country.
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: Seven months later, on February 3rd, 1988, agents discovered that
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: O'Neal had made his way to Lakeland, Florida. He was
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: spotted by a Lakeland police officer conducting what appeared to
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: be a drug deal. The officer was unaware that O'Neal
• 42:10
  Speaker 2: was wanted for murder. O'Neal noticed the cop, but did nothing.
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: The officer turned his car around to investigate. When the
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: cruiser pulled past the stopped car, O'Neal pulled up and
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: asked for directions, pretending he was lost. The officer asked
• 42:51
  Speaker 2: him to pull.
• 42:54
  Speaker 7: Over.
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: Instead, O'Neal took off.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: The officer followed, calling in the Louisiana tags on O'Neal's car.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: As he drove.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: O'Neal tried to lose him, zigzagging through the streets of Lakeland.
• 43:08
  Speaker 2: When their car jumped a curb, the suspects ran. The
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: officer pursued on foot and eventually caught them all. O'Neal
• 43:21
  Speaker 2: was extradited to Louisiana when police learned the car he'd
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: been driving was reported stolen from that state. When asked,
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: O'Neal told police his name was Zong Mei Yu.
• 43:36
  Speaker 5: A clerk who was working nights compared the fingerprints of
• 43:40
  Speaker 5: the individual that she knew as Jean Mayhew to the
• 43:43
  Speaker 5: list of fingerprints associated with FBI top 10 wanted fugitives
• 43:47
  Speaker 5: and found that the individual that she knew as Jean
• 43:49
  Speaker 5: Mayhew was the individual that we knew as Darren O'Neill.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: O'Neill was extradited to Washington state to face charges. But
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: state prosecutors knew their cases were weak. Since Wendy Aughie's
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: body was never recovered, O'Neal could not be charged with
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: her murder. The Robin Smith case was stronger, but lacked
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: definitive forensic identification. It would be difficult to prove beyond
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: a reasonable doubt that the body found in the woods
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: was Robin Smith's. Despite the evidentiary obstacles, prosecutors moved ahead
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: with the Robin Smith case. they would take their chances
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: with a jury. O'Neal and his attorney would never let
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: the case get that far. In a Pierce County court
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: on January 4th, 1989, O'Neal pled guilty to first degree
• 44:54
  Speaker 2: murder in the killing of Robin Smith. Detective Wilson knew
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: there was an ulterior motive behind the plea.
• 45:07
  Speaker 9: The court system in the state of Washington at that
• 45:09
  Speaker 9: time was if a person was convicted of first-degree murder,
• 45:16
  Speaker 9: but there was a loophole in there, if you pled
• 45:19
  Speaker 9: guilty to the charge, the maximum time you got was
• 45:23
  Speaker 9: 333 months.
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: The family of Robin Smith was devastated.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: Even without parole, O'Neill would be free well before the
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: end of his natural life. The killer still faced charges
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: in Portland, Oregon for the kidnapping and rape of 14-year-old
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Heidi Lang. If convicted, O'Neal would be put away for life.
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: But prosecutors had a problem. Deputy District Attorney Charles Sparks
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: recalls that the rape kit Heidi had provided at the
• 46:02
  Speaker 2: time of her assault would not be admissible for a
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: comparison with O'Neal.
• 46:09
  Speaker 6: There was a sexual assault kit that included vaginal swabs
• 46:15
  Speaker 6: that were taken, and that had molded because of the
• 46:20
  Speaker 6: way these things were stored back then, and it was
• 46:23
  Speaker 6: not usable. And DNA evidence would have been very helpful,
• 46:28
  Speaker 6: but we just didn't have it.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: On May 16, 1990, as O'Neill's trial began, prosecutors knew
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: their only chance was to put Heidi on the witness
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: stand to face her attacker. It would be traumatic for her,
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: but it was their best hope for putting O'Neal behind
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: bars for good.
• 46:49
  Speaker 4: So it was very difficult for me to testify at
• 46:54
  Speaker 4: the trial. It was even more difficult to look at
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: him face to face. It was very frightening. Very scary experience.
• 47:08
  Speaker 4: First of all, at this point, I had promised this
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: man that I wouldn't tell anybody what happened. And this
• 47:16
  Speaker 4: is a man who had no qualms about going after anybody,
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: even just a girl walking down the street in the
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: middle of the night. I knew I had to put
• 47:29
  Speaker 4: him away, or I was as good as dead. That's
• 47:35
  Speaker 4: the way I view it.
• 47:37
  Speaker 5: Could you point to that man?
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: Heidi pointed out the man who had kidnapped and raped her,
• 47:43
  Speaker 2: sitting sullenly just a few yards in front of her.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: Her testimony was enough to convict O'Neill. The jury found
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: him guilty on all 16 counts of kidnapping and rape.
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: Under Oregon law, he was sentenced to 135 years in prison.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: Darren D.
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: O'Neill is serving his first sentence of 27 years at
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: a Washington State Penitentiary. He will then be transferred to
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: Oregon to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: Once he was convicted, I was able to put a
• 48:31
  Speaker 4: lot of this in the past. I was able to
• 48:34
  Speaker 4: put it away. And I That was most important to me.
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: That's the most I don't think I would have ever
• 48:43
  Speaker 4: gotten over this if we hadn't put him away.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: For Agent Oros, though he has since left the FBI
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: to serve as deputy district attorney in Sacramento, California, the
• 48:55
  Speaker 2: case remains fresh in his mind.
• 48:59
  Speaker 5: Up to this very day, I still have the wanted
• 49:01
  Speaker 5: flyer for Darren O'Neill hanging in my office here at
• 49:03
  Speaker 5: the District Attorney's office. He, even on the wall, is
• 49:07
  Speaker 5: a constant reminder of the dangers that face each and
• 49:11
  Speaker 5: every one of us as we go out on the street.
• 49:13
  Speaker 5: I'm particularly aware of the fact that he represents a
• 49:17
  Speaker 5: significant danger to the women in society. He's an individual
• 49:21
  Speaker 5: that was a cold, calculated murder, and he reaffirms for
• 49:25
  Speaker 5: me that I'm in a profession that matters and that
• 49:28
  Speaker 5: every day when I go into court, I'm there to
• 49:30
  Speaker 5: make a difference.
• 50:00
  Speaker 4: Thank you.