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Police Needed Therapy After This Case Finally Caught S1 E10 True Lives · Weird Darkness:True crime & The unexplained

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: A happy couple on a weekend road trip in Grant County, Washington.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Diane Levine and Edward Terrell Smith are looking forward
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: to some fun and relaxation.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: They're engaged to be married in the summer, and they're
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: very much in love.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Little do they know that the path they're going down
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: is leading to a sudden dead end.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: We hadn't had a homicide in four or five years,
• 0:25
  Speaker 3: and so we have 11 that year.
• 0:28
  Speaker 4: Is it possible that there's a serial killer out there?
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: What happened to Kim and Eddie is a mystery that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: will take years to solve.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: The case originally was a whodunit because we had a
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: victim with no ID.
• 0:43
  Speaker 5: We didn't have a car. We didn't have anything to
• 0:46
  Speaker 5: identify this guy.
• 0:49
  Speaker 6: Nothing is found that could explain what happened to him.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: But there was one small detail, a clue so ordinary
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: that it seemed unlikely to lead anywhere.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: My job is to throw bad guys in jail, and
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: I don't want to hurt my family, your family, or
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: anybody else's.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Will one tiny clue be enough to ensure that a
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: vicious killer is finally caught? Grant County, Washington has a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: wide open landscape about 200 miles east of Seattle on
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: the I-90 highway.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: It's big sky country, sparsely populated, established in 1909. It's
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: named after President Ulysses S.
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: Grant.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: It's 120 miles from the southern tip to the northern
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: tip and there's a lot of open country.
• 2:24
  Speaker 7: Its biggest city is Moses Lake, which has about 25,000 people,
• 2:27
  Speaker 7: and the lake itself is the largest body of water
• 2:30
  Speaker 7: in Grant County, with about 120 miles of shoreline.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Moses Lake was dammed in the early 1900s for irrigation purposes.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: It's part of the Columbia Basin Project, which is the
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: largest water reclamation project in the U.S.
• 2:45
  Speaker 7: The Columbia River is right on the westmost edge of
• 2:47
  Speaker 7: Grant County, and it's the largest river in the Pacific Northwest.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: It's a big, beautiful place where travelers can go and
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: get lost in the wonders of nature.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Diane Levine and Edward Terrell Smith are engaged. They're
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: here for the weekend to take in the landscape.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: They're a happy couple, enjoying a relaxing couple of days
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: surrounded by beautiful wilderness.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Diane Levine is born in Peterborough, New Hampshire, on
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: January 2, 1958.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: She's the third of six children with two older brothers,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Michael and Joel, two younger sisters, Nancy and Shannon, and
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: one younger brother, Robert. Her father, Bob Levine, becomes particularly
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: attached to baby Kim because she's such a sweet, loving child,
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: and she's feisty.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Kim enters kindergarten in Laconia, New Hampshire, in 1963. Kim
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: goes to high school in Dover, New Hampshire. In her
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: senior year, she has to switch to a new school
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: and rent the Massachusetts when her father gets a job there.
• 3:52
  Speaker 8: What makes matters even worse for Kim is that her
• 3:55
  Speaker 8: father is the new principal at her school.
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: She puts her head down and she studies hard. Kim
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: graduates with high marks and even makes the National Honor Society.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Kim has good enough grades to get into the very
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: best colleges and universities. But instead, she decides to enlist
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: in the United States Air Force.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: She does a four-year tour of duty, which includes being
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: stationed in North Carolina, Guam, and the Clark Air Force
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: Base in the Philippines.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: After her time in the military, Kim studies the job
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: market and decides to become an accountant. She enrolls at
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the University of Southeastern Massachusetts at Dartmouth.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: At university, Kim meets Eddie Smith, who's also studying accounting.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: They hit it off.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Edward Terrell Smith is born in Fall River, Massachusetts, on
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: August 11, 1958.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Eddie's smart, but he doesn't apply himself in school, so
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: his grades aren't as good.
• 4:56
  Speaker 4: As they could be.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: When Eddie applies himself, he does very well. His SAT
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: scores are in the 99th percentile. He attends Bristol Community
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: College in Fall River, Massachusetts, and graduates in 1982 with
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: a 4.0 cumulative GPA.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Eddie goes on to University of Southeastern Massachusetts at Dartmouth
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: to study accounting, which is where he meets Kim Levine.
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: There's no doubt that Kim and Eddie get along well.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: It isn't too long before they fall in love. Kim
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: and Eddie both graduate with degrees in accounting in 1984.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Kim is at the very top of the class. After graduation,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: they both move to Kent, Washington, part of the greater
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Seattle area.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Eddie gets a job at the CPA firm of Shannon
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: and Associates.
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: And Kim works as an accountant for a government agency.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Eddie does well at his new job and is told
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that the firm considers him to be partnership material. Kim
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and Eddie get engaged. They plan to return east in
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: the summer of 1985 to be married in front of
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: their friends and families. On Saturday, March 9th, 1985, Kim
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: and Eddie leave on a road trip together through Grant County.
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: When Kimberly and Ed moved from the east coast to
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: the west coast, they moved into the Seattle area. When
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: they came through, they saw.
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: The Columbia River. They bought a new car and then decided.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: They were going to go for a trip and they
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: were going to go look at the Columbia River.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: They're due back at work on Monday, so it's really
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: just a one-night vacation in their brand-new Toyota.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Somewhere along the I-90, Kim and Eddie simply vanish. On
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Monday morning, neither Kim nor Eddie shows up at work.
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: They're both known to be reliable employees. It's not just
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: like them to not show up. They don't answer their phones,
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: and nobody can find them.
• 7:13
  Speaker 7: After failing to contact Eddie and Kim several times, their
• 7:16
  Speaker 7: employers call the King County Sheriff's Department and file a
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: missing persons report.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: King County includes Seattle and stretches east for about 50 miles.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Kim and Eddie drove much further than that, but their
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: employers don't know it.
• 7:30
  Speaker 7: Days go by, and the missing person's investigation fails to
• 7:33
  Speaker 7: turn up any trace of the young couple.
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: If they had car trouble and were stuck somewhere, they'd
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: have called by now. Now, if they're hurt and can't call, well,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: someone else should have done it for them.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: To just disappear without a trace, that's very concerning.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Where are Kimberly Levine and Edward Smith? And what has
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: happened to them? The answers are too horrible to contemplate.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: The I-90 Interstate crosses America from east to west, from
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Seattle to Boston. On its western end, it passes through
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Grant County in Washington State. On Saturday, March 9, 1985,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Diane Levine and Edward Terrell Smith take the I-90
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: to Grant County for a relaxing weekend together.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: They just bought a new rose-colored Toyota together and wanted.
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: To take it out for an outing.
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: They are never seen again.
• 8:32
  Speaker 7: A missing persons report is filed, but nothing turns up.
• 8:41
  Speaker 7: A week later, police get their first break.
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: On March 16, 1985, state highway workers find an abandoned
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: car parked at a lookout just off the I-90 northeast
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: of Vantage, Washington.
• 8:56
  Speaker 4: That's a pretty big car.
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Fairly good-sized turnout for people to go in and look
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: at the Columbia River. The car was that road car,
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: Toyota Corolla, brand spanking new.
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: It only has 1,200 miles on it, not the kind
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: of vehicle you expect to see abandoned in the middle
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: of nowhere.
• 9:15
  Speaker 3: And where they were, the overlook is at, it's wide
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: open air.
• 9:20
  Speaker 4: House for miles.
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: In fact, the Wanapum Dam is the closest building other
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: than the buildings across the river.
• 9:27
  Speaker 7: Detectives have already been in the area for several days
• 9:29
  Speaker 7: after two boys made a gruesome discovery six days earlier.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: On March 10th, two boys find a dead man in
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: a gravel pit with his hands tied behind his back.
• 9:46
  Speaker 3: He was found by a couple of boys that were
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: going to go down to that pit and shoot bottles
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: in the bottom of the pit.
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: And when they got to the rim, that's when they
• 9:55
  Speaker 5: saw him.
• 9:57
  Speaker 6: It's clear that he's the victim of foul play. His
• 10:00
  Speaker 6: hands are bound with a yellow poly rope with a
• 10:02
  Speaker 6: blue strand in it and his throat is being slashed.
• 10:06
  Speaker 6: There are several different sets of footprints going in and
• 10:09
  Speaker 6: out of the pit.
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: One of those footprints was a cowboy boot.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: The coroner, Penny Sibley, confirms that the cause of death is.
• 10:30
  Speaker 6: A laceration to the neck. It's also clear that the
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: body was dumped in the gravel pit no more than
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: 24 hours before it was found.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: So in all likelihood, this man was killed on Saturday,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: March 9th, But without knowing who he is, it's almost
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: impossible to know why.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: We only found one set of tire tracks, and we
• 10:53
  Speaker 3: took plaster casts of those tire tracks, and they ended
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: up being the tires.
• 10:57
  Speaker 5: From the crud.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: When lead investigator Detective Michael Shea learns about the abandoned
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: Toyota car, he gets closer to identifying the body in
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: the gravel pit.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: King County Detective Joe Purcell came in and said, we
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: have a missing person, two missing persons, and.
• 11:19
  Speaker 5: Their car was located in your county.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: And that was the first we knew about the car,
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: even though we drove by it.
• 11:27
  Speaker 5: Every time we went down to the crime scene, we
• 11:29
  Speaker 5: had to drive right by that car.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Shea needs someone to identify the body found in the
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: gravel pit.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Detective Joe Purcell said, hey, I'm going to bring Ed
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: Smith's dad And we're going to take a look at
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: the car. We have a homicide. We'll have a picture
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: of the victim. And we met him at the car.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: And that's when we finally got Ed Smith identified positively.
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: And so now we had at least some place to start.
• 12:03
  Speaker 7: The parked car is now the second crime scene in
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: the murder case.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: So we impounded that car and took it to our
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: impound yard in Ward. King County actually did the fingerprints
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: of the car.
• 12:15
  Speaker 7: There are two sets of fingerprints inside the car. One
• 12:18
  Speaker 7: is from Edward Smith. The other is from his fiancée,
• 12:21
  Speaker 7: Kim Levine.
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: And there is one fingerprint on the hood of the
• 12:25
  Speaker 6: car that doesn't match either of them.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Eddie Smith is dead. But where is Kim Levine?
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Once we identified Ed Smith and knew we had a
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: missing person, we then searched the whole area for miles.
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: On Tuesday, March 19, 1985, a helicopter is brought in
• 12:46
  Speaker 7: from the Chelan County Sheriff's Office to scan the area.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Larry Boyd, Chief Criminal Deputy for the Grant County Sheriff's Office,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: calls a press conference to explain the police efforts to
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: locate Kim Levine.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: He says a sheriff's boat will be used to search
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: the Columbia River.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: They are particularly interested in the areas.
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: Behind the nearby Wanapum Dam and the Priest Rapids Dam
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: further down the river.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: On Saturday, March 23, 1985, a massive foot search is conducted.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Searchers include deputies, job corps workers, and the sheriff's mounted posse.
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: We had our sheriff's posse ride that whole area.
• 13:26
  Speaker 7: Deputy Boyd acknowledges that police can't rule out Kim Levine
• 13:30
  Speaker 7: as a suspect, but he says that he believes that
• 13:32
  Speaker 7: she's a victim of foul play.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: The couple were testing out their new car. Maybe they
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: picked up a hitchhiker.
• 13:41
  Speaker 7: At this point, almost anything could have happened. It's a
• 13:44
  Speaker 7: very puzzling case.
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: This one was important because you had.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: A boyfriend-girlfriend that was completely innocent.
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: The parents were really, really nice people, really concerned.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: As days and weeks go by with no trace of
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: Kim and no further evidence found, the case gradually goes cold.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: And anytime we got information, we had an information box.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: And if it came in, a tip came in from anybody.
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: It went into that information box, and we looked into it.
• 14:18
  Speaker 8: Two months after Eddie's body is found, Kim's father, Bob Levine,
• 14:21
  Speaker 8: flies to Washington from his home in Oxford, Maine, and
• 14:24
  Speaker 8: demands to know why his daughter hasn't been found yet.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: On Thursday, August 15, 1985, more than five months after
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: Eddie and Kim are first reported missing, there's another break
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: in the case.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: At 9.45 a.m., about two and a half miles south
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: of the gravel pit where Eddie's body was found, rabbit
• 14:43
  Speaker 6: hunters come across a female body deep in the brush.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: She was not disturbed by animals at all.
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: She was just mummified, laying on top of the ground.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Could this be Kimberly Levine? And if so, what happened
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: to her? Seattle area residents Edward Terrell Smith and Kimberly
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: Diane Levine go missing while on a weekend road trip.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: In the week that follows, Eddie's body is found in
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: a gravel pit with his throat slashed. And their brand
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: new Toyota car is found abandoned a few miles away
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: at a scenic overlook above the Columbia River. Five months later,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a second body is found two and a half miles away.
• 15:41
  Speaker 5: She was found by rabbit hunters that were going through.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: And we had our sheriff's posse ride that whole area,
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: but I don't know if they stopped short of where
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: she was at, and that's why we didn't find her.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: But she was, well, two or three, four miles away, but.
• 15:59
  Speaker 5: Where she was found was five-foot stage brush.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: And she would have been hard to see. Once she
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: was found, we secured the scene. We were there for
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: two days processing that stain.
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: An autopsy is performed on the weekend of August 17th,
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: 1985 by Dr. George Lindholm, a forensic pathologist and a
• 16:24
  Speaker 6: consultant to the Spokane County Coroner's Office.
• 16:29
  Speaker 7: Just like Eddie, Kim's hands and feet have been bound
• 16:32
  Speaker 7: with a particular type of nylon rope.
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: He was again tied with the yellow poly rope with
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: a blue scram just like Ed was. When the coroner
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: takes knots off, ropes off, we photograph the ropes and
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: the knots. Dr.
• 16:52
  Speaker 6: Lindholm is unable to determine the cause of death.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Kimberly was tied hands and feet with her pants unbuttoned.
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: Don't know whether she was raped because She had been
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: laying in the brush long enough that she mummified, and.
• 17:09
  Speaker 5: So they weren't able to determine whether she was actually
• 17:12
  Speaker 5: raped or not.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: On Tuesday, August 21, 1985, Grant County Sheriff Felix Ramon
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: confirms that the body of the woman found two and
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: a half miles from Eddie Smith's body is his fiancée,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Levine.
• 17:27
  Speaker 7: Sheriff Ramon admits there are no strong leads indicating who
• 17:30
  Speaker 7: might have done this.
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: Kim's father, Bob Levine, blames the police for not finding
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: his daughter sooner.
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: It's just unfortunate that she was so well hidden by
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: the wilderness.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: With both bodies found, investigators are still no closer to
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: solving their murders. But then, another young couple goes missing.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: On Monday, August 12, 1985, just three days before Kim's
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: remains are found, A missing persons report is filed on
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: 27-year-old Stephen Harkins and his girlfriend Ruth Cooper, age 42.
• 18:08
  Speaker 7: They're from Tacoma, Washington, which is very close to Kent, Washington,
• 18:13
  Speaker 7: where Kim and Eddie live.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: And just like Kim and Eddie, Stephen and Ruth fail
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: to show up for work on Monday morning.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: On Saturday, August 10th, Stephen and Ruth go to a
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: wedding reception in Tacoma. Afterwards, they go camping at Tule Lake,
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: which is about 10 miles south of Tacoma.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: They plan to be home on Sunday night, but when
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: they fail to show up at work on Monday, well,
• 18:38
  Speaker 2: their co-workers and their families become concerned.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: On Wednesday, August 14th, 1985, hikers stumble onto a horrifying
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: sight when they find a dead man inside a sleeping bag.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: It appears that he was shot in the head while
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: he was sleeping. Investigators identify the body as Stephen Harkins,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: but his girlfriend Ruth is nowhere to be found. On Saturday,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: October 26, 1985, a skull is found at a dead
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: end near Hearts Lake.
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: Two days later, the rest of Ruth's remains are found
• 19:15
  Speaker 6: about 50 feet away.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: The similarities to Kim and Eddie's murders are undeniable. Police
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: have to wonder if they're dealing with a serial killer. Now,
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: before the investigation can lead to any answers, a third
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: couple goes missing in the same general area.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: On Thursday, December 12, 1985, shoppers in Spanaway, Washington, make
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: a strange discovery.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: A two-year-old girl is wandering around a Kmart shopping center
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: by herself.
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: She's distraught and crying.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: Customers and staff try to find her parents to no avail.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: All that the girl can tell them is, Mommy is
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: in the trees.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: It turns out that the girl's parents are 21-year-old Diana
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: Robertson and 36-year-old Mike Reimer of Tacoma, Washington, and they
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: are missing. On Tuesday, February 18th, 1986, a motorist discovers
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: a dead body half buried in the snow.
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: The remains are confirmed to be that of Diana Robertson.
• 20:20
  Speaker 6: An autopsy shows she was stabbed 17 times.
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: Both couples are from Tacoma, and Kim and Eddie are
• 20:28
  Speaker 7: only a short drive away in Kent.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Diana and Ruth are both found with a tube sock
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: tied around their neck. That's not the murder weapon, and
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: it does nothing to restrain the women. So it seems
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: like some kind of twisted signature that a serial killer
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: might leave behind.
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: Mike Reimer has a history of abusive behavior. According to
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: friends and family, he would frequently beat Diana.
• 20:53
  Speaker 7: He's a trapper and an outdoorsman. Maybe he graduated to
• 20:56
  Speaker 7: hunting humans in the woods.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: A warrant is issued for Mike Reimer's arrest. The only
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: problem is Mike's vanished. The investigation into the March 1985
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: murders of Edward Smith and Kimberly Levine is unresolved. But
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: apparently connected with two similar attacks on Seattle area couples
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: several months apart. Authorities fear that a serial killer is
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: at work. And they wonder if the killer might be
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Mike Reimer, the male partner of one of the couples.
• 21:38
  Speaker 7: It's just a supposition at this point. Reimer's girlfriend's body
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: has been found, but he has simply vanished. The murder
• 21:48
  Speaker 7: of Kim and Eddie seemed to be different from the
• 21:50
  Speaker 7: other killings.
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: In both cases of the killings of the women from Tacoma...
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: Ruth Cooper and Diana Robertson. Two socks were found tied
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: around their necks.
• 22:03
  Speaker 7: These were displays left by the killer. The women weren't
• 22:06
  Speaker 7: strangled with the socks.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Four years go by, and these seemingly connected murders remain unsolved.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Kim Levine's father, Bob, has been very active in trying
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: to get justice. After four years of waiting, he's starting
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: to believe that his daughter's murder may never be solved.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Basic evidence collected over the years by detectives in Washington
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: state is entered into a national computerized database.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: Fingerprints have been around for years and years and years,
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: but it was never automated.
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: The FBI created a fingerprint system back in 1924, but
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: it had to be manually searched by human beings. It
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: was basically impossible to compare fingerprints in the system unless
• 23:00
  Speaker 6: you first suspected a connection between two separate prints.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: So when the state finally went automated, we thought, all right,
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: we're going to solve some more crime.
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: And that's exactly what this did.
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: In the late 80s, law enforcement introduced a new computer
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: system called the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, or AFIS for short.
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: And the floodgates just opened on cold cases everywhere.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: I was trained as a fingerprint expert for the sheriff's
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: office because of AFIS.
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: Simply getting all the existing fingerprints into the AFIS system
• 23:37
  Speaker 7: is a huge job. And there were new prints being
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: collected every day.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Modern technology has helped law enforcement immensely, but they're no
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: good if you don't do your job and gather the evidence.
• 23:51
  Speaker 6: Fortunately, a lone fingerprint was collected from the hood of
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: Eddie and Kim's new Toyota by Detective Shea's investigative team
• 23:59
  Speaker 6: back in 1985. It's a clue.
• 24:10
  Speaker 7: But it isn't necessarily the killer's print. It could be
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: from a gas station attendant or even the guy who
• 24:15
  Speaker 7: sold them the car. But it's worth entering the print
• 24:18
  Speaker 7: into the APHIS system. The question is, who does it
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: belong to?
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: It came up negative for the longest time.
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: In January of 1989, Detective Shea gets the answer he's
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: been waiting for.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: The big turnaround was when the APHIS people in Olympia,
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: Washington called us and said, Guess what?
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: We have a hit. And your bad guy is Billy
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: Ray Ballard.
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: At this time, Billy Ray Ballard is in a prison
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: in Wyoming.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: He was in custody in Rollins, Wyoming, Wyoming State Penitentiary,
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: for a rape and kidnapping of a gal at a
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: convenience store.
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: That's how we got his.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Fingerprint and was able to tie it to the fingerprint
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: that we found.
• 25:11
  Speaker 5: On Ed Smith's car.
• 25:13
  Speaker 7: Ballard had connections to a number of violent crimes, some
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: solved and others not.
• 25:19
  Speaker 3: I did a complete check on his criminal background, found
• 25:23
  Speaker 3: out that he was involved in a possible murder down
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: in Texas where he was in possession of the gun
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: that killed the guy they found in a rock quarry.
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: Eddie Smith was killed in a quarry. This suggests a
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: pattern in the locations Ballard chose to kill people.
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: We also found out that he was a suspect in
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: another abduction of a man and a.
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: Woman in Salmon, Idaho, where he stabbed the man and
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: left him for dead and then raped the woman.
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: Ballard liked to choose young couples as his target, and
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: this case was very similar to what happened to Eddie
• 26:02
  Speaker 7: and Kim.
• 26:04
  Speaker 8: To bring charges against Ballard for cold cases like 1985
• 26:07
  Speaker 8: murders of Eddie and Kim, Detective Shea will need as
• 26:10
  Speaker 8: much evidence as possible.
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: And we decided to go on a road trip, see
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: if we could interview all the detectives that had investigated
• 26:22
  Speaker 3: Billy Ray Ballard. We went to Salmon, Idaho first. Salmon,
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Idaho said that they didn't prosecute because the female victim
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: was a secretary for a police department in Utah, and
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: she didn't want to press charges.
• 26:38
  Speaker 5: And he stabbed the man there numerous times.
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: He didn't try to kill him like he did Ed Smith,
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: but he stabbed him a number of times, and then
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: he raped the gal.
• 26:50
  Speaker 7: By extraordinary luck, the victims in the Salmon, Idaho attack survived.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: We were also able to find out where Billy Ray
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Ballard was residing at the time of our homes.
• 27:03
  Speaker 5: That was in Thompson Falls, Montana. His mom had a farm.
• 27:08
  Speaker 7: The couple said Ballard drove a white van, and Shea
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: knew he had to find that vehicle.
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: We then went to Missoula and contacted the state detectives there.
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: They helped us grab the surfboard for the farm and
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: that van.
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: When Shea got to Montana, he needed local law enforcement's
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: help to locate and impound Ballard's van.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: The van is sitting on Ballard's mother's property. While searching
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: inside the van, Detective Shea finds something highly incriminating.
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: We were hoping to find some more evidence that would
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: link Billy Ray Ballard other than just a fingerprint, because
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: at our crime scenes, both of them, with Kimberly Levine
• 27:51
  Speaker 3: and Ed Smith, we found a poly rope with a
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: blue strand in it.
• 27:56
  Speaker 6: Shea now had reason to conclude that this van, driven
• 27:59
  Speaker 6: by Ballard, on the day he killed Eddie and Kim
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: in Washington State.
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: So we photographed the van.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: We seized all the evidence that would relate.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: To our case.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: Next, Shea went to Missoula, Montana, where Ballard's ex-wife was living.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: She was very helpful. In her possession, she had a.
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: 22 rifle that had a sling on it. The sling
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: was made out of that yellow rope with the blue strand.
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: So it was identical to what was binding both of
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: our victims.
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: Ballard is a big man, but detectives always wondered how
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: he was able to control the victims until he tied
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: them up.
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: We were able to recover a gun that we think
• 28:41
  Speaker 5: that he used to control these people.
• 28:45
  Speaker 3: Because how do you control people with just words? So
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: we had a gun that had the same type of rope.
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: Shea always wore cowboy boots, just like the killer, who
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: left a pointy booted print in the mud leading to
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: the quarry where Eddie Smith was murdered. Billy Ray's wife
• 29:07
  Speaker 6: said Ballard preferred cowboy boots.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: She said that he was a truck driver, and that
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: he wore cowboy boots almost all the time.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Meanwhile, Chief Deputy Bill Weister of the Grant County Sheriff's
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Department announces that they have identified a suspect in the
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: killings of Edward Smith and Kimberly Levine.
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: Chief Deputy Weister refuses to say who the suspect is
• 29:35
  Speaker 7: or what evidence police have that might link the suspect
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: to the murders.
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: He does.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: say that two detectives have visited 30 cities in five
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: different states interviewing people about the suspect.
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: Deputy Weister calls it a major break and predicts that
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: they will have enough information to start building a prosecution
• 29:53
  Speaker 7: by the very next week.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Having spoken to everyone they feel might be helpful, Detective
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Shea goes to Rawlins, Wyoming to interview Billy Ray Ballard
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: at the penitentiary. He is not cooperative.
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: We had a picture of the victim's car and we
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: showed him that and he denied ever being in that car.
• 30:14
  Speaker 3: I've never driven a Toyota Corolla before, never seen that
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: car before.
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: As far as we were.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Concerned, that was as good as an admission because his
• 30:22
  Speaker 3: fingerprint was found in that car.
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: Shea has an impression of a cowboy boot taken from
• 30:28
  Speaker 6: the mud track leading to the quarry in 1985. Now
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: he wants the boot that made that mark.
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: We had a search warrant for his property at the penitentiary,
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: which included a pair of cowboy boots.
• 30:42
  Speaker 6: The boots will be compared to the plaster casts of
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: the footprints taken at the gravel pit where Eddie was found.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: On April 28, 1989, Chief Deputy Bill Wester announces that
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: he believes they've identified the murderer.
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: He explains how the fingerprint taken from the car in
• 31:04
  Speaker 6: 1985 has led them to their suspect, a man who
• 31:07
  Speaker 6: is now an inmate in Wyoming.
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: Still, the Grant County Sheriff's Department does not release the
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: name of the suspect to the public, but they must
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: be close to an arrest. For family and friends, the
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: news seems to be getting better. But with no arrest
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: and not even a mention of the suspect's name, well,
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: there's still a lot of apprehension.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: When Detective Shea brings his findings to the Grant County prosecutor,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the DA says he isn't sure they have enough for
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: a conviction.
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: I and my partner presented the case to the Grant
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: County prosecutor and told him that we would like to
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: extradite him from the Wyoming State Penitentiary and charge him
• 31:49
  Speaker 3: with two.
• 31:49
  Speaker 5: Counts of murder. And he was a little hesitant. He thought,
• 31:54
  Speaker 5: I don't know whether we have enough.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: If the fingerprint, a matching cowboy boot, and a rare
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: yellow rope with a blue strand aren't enough to bring
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: Billy Ray Ballard to trial for murder, what is? The
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: investigation into the 1985 murders of Edward Terrell Smith and
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Kimberly Diane Levine is stone cold for four years. Then,
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: in 1989, a fingerprint lifted from the hood of Eddie
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: Smith's car is matched in a computerized system called APHIS
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: to a Wyoming inmate named Billy Ray Ballard. In Grand County,
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: where Edward and Kimberly were murdered, the Sheriff's Department announces
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: that they finally have a suspect and that they expect
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: to launch a case against him very soon. But then
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: the months pass with no arrests and no further news.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: For Eddie and Kim's traumatized families, it starts to feel
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: like another dead end.
• 33:02
  Speaker 8: Prosecutors have to be careful not to move ahead with
• 33:05
  Speaker 8: a case if they can't win. Double jeopardy rules mean
• 33:08
  Speaker 8: that once a suspect is found innocent, he can never
• 33:10
  Speaker 8: be tried again for that crime. So you've really got
• 33:13
  Speaker 8: to be sure your case is solid.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: The Grant County DA isn't convinced the case against Ballard
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: is strong enough to go to trial.
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: He was a little hesitant.
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: He said, well, I don't know whether we have enough.
• 33:24
  Speaker 5: And I said, well, I think we do.
• 33:28
  Speaker 8: Shea also said he expected Ballard would plead guilty rather
• 33:31
  Speaker 8: than face a conviction that could result in a death
• 33:33
  Speaker 8: penalty in Washington state.
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: I told him that the detectives that arrested him and
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: all these other jurisdictions said that he would plead guilty
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: if the evidence shows that we're going to convict him.
• 33:47
  Speaker 8: Billy Ray Ballard was already in prison in Wyoming, serving
• 33:49
  Speaker 8: a 50 to 90 year sentence. He would have to
• 33:52
  Speaker 8: serve at least 30 years before he was eligible for
• 33:55
  Speaker 8: his earliest parole.
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: But Kimberly's father, Bob Levine, is extremely persistent. He phones
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: the DA office and police station consistently, demanding to know
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: what's happening. He flies 3,000 miles to talk to prosecutors
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: in person. He simply won't let it go.
• 34:13
  Speaker 8: It is possible that without Bob Levine's constant pressure, Billy
• 34:17
  Speaker 8: Ray Ballard would never have been charged with these two murders.
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: Two full years later, Bob Levine gets the news he's
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: been waiting for. On Thursday, March 28, 1991, Grant County
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: Prosecutor John Nodell announces that a Montana man named Billy
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Ray Ballard is being charged with two counts of aggravated
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: first-degree murder. in the deaths of Edward Smith and Kimberly Levine.
• 34:47
  Speaker 8: John Nodal speculates that Billy Ray Ballard could be brought
• 34:49
  Speaker 8: to Washington to stand trial in the next.
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: Three or four months.
• 34:53
  Speaker 8: He also acknowledges that the state may seek the death penalty.
• 34:56
  Speaker 8: The threat of the death penalty is a key strategy
• 34:59
  Speaker 8: for prosecutors. More time in jail might not sound like
• 35:02
  Speaker 8: much of a threat to Billy Ray, but the death
• 35:04
  Speaker 8: penalty may get his attention.
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: Bob Levine is very pleased that someone has finally been charged.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: He tells reporters it's a great sense of relief to
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: have things finally in process.
• 35:16
  Speaker 8: Now Kimberly's father will have to hope his persistence isn't
• 35:19
  Speaker 8: in vain.
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: On Thursday, March 28, 1991, Billy Ray Ballard is charged
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: with two counts of aggravated first-degree murder. in the deaths
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: of Edward Smith and Kimberly Levine. In 1991, six years
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: after the crimes take place, Wyoming inmate Billy Ray Ballard
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: is brought back to Washington State to face the charges.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Kim's father, Bob Levine, is in the courtroom when Ballard
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: is brought in. After all this time and effort, Bob
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: isn't about.
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: To miss it.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: The prosecution is clear that they will seek the death
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: penalty if the case against Ballard goes to trial.
• 36:11
  Speaker 8: Ballard is already in prison for the abduction and rape
• 36:14
  Speaker 8: of a convenience store worker in Wyoming. And he's suspected
• 36:17
  Speaker 8: of abduction, rape, and attempted murder in Idaho.
• 36:21
  Speaker 7: And a murder in Texas, where the body was dumped
• 36:23
  Speaker 7: like Eddie's in a pit? It's a crime that has
• 36:26
  Speaker 7: Ballard's M.O. written all over it.
• 36:29
  Speaker 8: It takes more than past deeds and suspicions to get
• 36:31
  Speaker 8: a new conviction. The prosecution needs to show hard evidence,
• 36:36
  Speaker 8: and they believe they've got a pile of it.
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: We had a gun that had the same type of rope.
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: We recovered rope that was identical with rope that was
• 36:45
  Speaker 3: used to bind them out of his vehicle. And so
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: we felt we had more than enough with the fingerprint
• 36:52
  Speaker 3: and all the other evidence, the boots, everything that we
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: could convict.
• 36:57
  Speaker 8: At trial, the prosecution, with the help of now Chief
• 37:00
  Speaker 8: Deputy in Charge of Investigations, Michael Shea, paints a clear
• 37:04
  Speaker 8: picture of what they think happened back in March of 1985.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Edward Smith and Kimberly Levine take a road trip in
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: their brand-new Toyota Corolla and stop at a scenic overlook
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: above the Columbia River. Unfortunately for them, Billy Ray Ballard
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: stops in his white van at the same spot. He
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: gets out.
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: He may have already been there, or he may have
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: pulled in while they were there. My opinion is he
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: forced them back into their car and had them drive
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: to this remote location on Beverly Bird Road.
• 37:40
  Speaker 7: This is wide open, empty country. If you drive off
• 37:43
  Speaker 7: the interstate in almost any direction, you're likely to be
• 37:46
  Speaker 7: on your own.
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: Our county is 2,700 square miles, and it's pretty open.
• 37:53
  Speaker 3: So if he just told her or him to just
• 37:55
  Speaker 3: start driving, All he did was have them drive down
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: the river and take the first road to the left
• 38:02
  Speaker 3: and up the hill, and it was all sagebrush. He
• 38:07
  Speaker 3: found the first dirt road and took a left on
• 38:09
  Speaker 3: the first dirt road.
• 38:11
  Speaker 7: When the car arrived at the top of the quarry,
• 38:13
  Speaker 7: Ballard told the couple to get out of the car.
• 38:15
  Speaker 3: He didn't have to go very far. We found a
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: pit that people were tough and compassionate about.
• 38:20
  Speaker 7: Ballard ties Kim and Eddie's hands and forces them to
• 38:23
  Speaker 7: walk down the pit.
• 38:24
  Speaker 3: And unfortunately, she had to witness his killing because the
• 38:28
  Speaker 3: foot tracks going down where we found Ed Smith had
• 38:33
  Speaker 3: Ed Smith's tracks, a female's footprints, and Billy Ray Ballard's footprint.
• 38:41
  Speaker 7: Shea says the evidence shows that Kimberly and Edward walked
• 38:44
  Speaker 7: down the pit together.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: So she actually got to witness her fiancé being killed,
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: which to me was horrible.
• 39:01
  Speaker 7: After killing Edward, Ballard likely drove Kimberly to her death
• 39:04
  Speaker 7: in the couple's new Toyota.
• 39:06
  Speaker 3: One of the things that we noticed when we recovered
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: the car was the seat was pushed all the way back,
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: and Ed Smith was a short guy, you know, 5'8, 5'9,
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: and the seat was pushed back to somebody maybe my size, 6'1.
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: Hillary Ballard, I think, was around six foot, probably.
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: 175, 180 pounds.
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: Imagine how Kimberly felt.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: Her lover is dead and now she's likely being driven
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: to her own death.
• 39:38
  Speaker 3: After he killed him he then drove her up the
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: road about two miles, and then down the dirt road,
• 39:46
  Speaker 3: about two miles, and then killed her. And then he
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: drove the car back up to the overlook at Columbia
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: River because his van was there.
• 39:57
  Speaker 5: Our car back there got out, got back in his van.
• 40:00
  Speaker 3: Drove off.
• 40:06
  Speaker 6: By using his victim's Toyota Corolla to drive them to
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: their deaths, Ballard kept his own vehicle far from the
• 40:13
  Speaker 6: crime scenes. It's a smart move.
• 40:16
  Speaker 5: They used their car.
• 40:18
  Speaker 3: That eliminates his tire tracks from being anywhere. So we're
• 40:23
  Speaker 3: thinking that maybe.
• 40:24
  Speaker 5: He's a little shrewder than we would like to give
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: him credit for.
• 40:29
  Speaker 6: But then he gets careless and leaves a fingerprint on
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: the hood.
• 40:33
  Speaker 4: Of a car.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: He also made a mistake by choosing that particular rope,
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: the yellow one with a blue strand in it, to
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: tie their hands.
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: It turns out to be a very uncommon type of
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: rope in stores in Washington state.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: I looked at every store in Grant County and the
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: surrounding area and could never find a rope similar to
• 40:55
  Speaker 3: that anywhere.
• 40:56
  Speaker 8: If Grant County prosecutor John Nodell can get a conviction now,
• 41:00
  Speaker 8: Ballard would likely get the death penalty.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: In order to avoid the death penalty, Billy Ray Ballard
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: pleads guilty for the murder of Edward Smith and Kimberly
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: Diane Levine.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: Perhaps Ballard feels that it's better to be alive in
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: jail forever than to be executed.
• 41:23
  Speaker 8: In return for the guilty plea, the judge sentences Ballard
• 41:25
  Speaker 8: to life in prison. In a way, he was already
• 41:28
  Speaker 8: doing that, but now he has zero chance of being released.
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: Bob Levine is satisfied by the outcome because now when
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: Ballard's sentence is done in Wyoming, he'll be locked up
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: in Washington until he dies.
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: He can never hurt anyone again.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: Thanks to a grieving father's strength and a detective's persistence,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: a depraved and vicious killer is finally caught.
• 42:14
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry.