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The Abduction & Murder of Ashley Estell Part 3: Ashley’s Laws · Gone Cold - Texas True Crime

0:01
Speaker 1: Gone coll Podcasts may contain violent or graphics subject matter.
0:05
Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised. The trial of Michael Nawie Blair
0:11
Speaker 1: for the September fourth, nineteen ninety three abduction and murder
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Speaker 1: of seven year old Ashley Nicole Astelle began on Monday,
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Speaker 1: September twelfth, nineteen ninety four, with opening arguments. The case
0:24
Speaker 1: was so high profile in the Dallas area, certainly in
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Speaker 1: both Dallas and Cullin Counties, that the defense filed a
0:32
Speaker 1: motion for a change of venue. The motion was granted,
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Speaker 1: and the trial was moved about three hundred and fifty
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Speaker 1: miles away to Midland, Texas and closed off to television
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Speaker 1: news cameras. The accused's past criminal record could not be
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Speaker 1: used as evidence against him. Blair, wearing a dark suit
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Speaker 1: with his hair trimmed short in stark contrast to mugshot
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Speaker 1: photos that had since surchedulated through the press, pleaded not
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Speaker 1: guilty to the charge of capital murder. Blair, whose strange
1:07
Speaker 1: behavior practically begged the Plano police to investigate him, including
1:12
Speaker 1: repeatedly driving by the site where Ashley's body was discovered,
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Speaker 1: was represented by a team of two very capable lawyers,
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Speaker 1: though Blair's was arguably the highest profile case attorney Don
1:26
Speaker 1: McDermott had prepared to try. Up until this point in
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Speaker 1: his career. He'd also represented seventeen year old Chrissy Lynn
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Speaker 1: Caldwell two years before she was convicted of the charges
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Speaker 1: against her the capital murder of her mother Rosalind, after
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Speaker 1: she convinced her boyfriend and another to help her kill
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Speaker 1: her parents. Blair's other counsel, Stephen Myers, was an up
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Speaker 1: and coming criminal defense powerhouse. He would go on to
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Speaker 1: represent several high profile clients, like Glenn Samuel mc curley,
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Speaker 1: who was convicted in twenty twenty one of the nineteen
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Speaker 1: seventy four abduction and murder of Carla Walker in Fort Worth.
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Speaker 1: Collin County. Assistant District Attorney Brian Clayton told the jury
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Speaker 1: during opening statements that witnesses placed Blair at every relevant location,
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Speaker 1: from the soccer field the day Ashley was abducted to
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Speaker 1: the gravel road six miles away, off of which the
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Speaker 1: seven year old girl's body was found. Hair and fiber
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Speaker 1: samples also linked Blair to the murder, Clayton said. Defense
2:35
Speaker 1: attorney Don McDermott, however, told the twelve jurors that the
2:39
Speaker 1: state's forensic evidence was not even close to what should
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Speaker 1: be required for a verdict of guilty in a death
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Speaker 1: penalty case. Particularly, Hair McDermott said, is not fingerprints, is
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Speaker 1: not DNA. A Dallas policeman, he went on, saw his
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Speaker 1: client eighteen miles from the scene of the abduction at
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Speaker 1: the same time civilian witnesses placed him at the park.
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Speaker 1: These contradicting accounts were only a sample of the convoluted
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Speaker 1: and confusing evidence presented at Blair's trial, and emotions were
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Speaker 1: running high. After all, the trial was for the accused
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Speaker 1: murderer of a child. Even though the change of venue
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Speaker 1: from Plano to Midland allowed for a jury who hadn't
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Speaker 1: necessarily seen Ashley Estell's abduction and murder on page one
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Speaker 1: for the past year. Like folks from the Dallas Fort
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Speaker 1: Worth area, they were likely still aware of the case that,
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Speaker 1: by the time of the trial had long gone nationwide.
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Speaker 1: The primary evidence presented against Michael Blair at trial included
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Speaker 1: a ten hour videotape of Blair's statements to investigators before
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Speaker 1: and after his arrest during multiple interrogations. The jury watched
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Speaker 1: the entire ten hour videotape where Michael Blair appeared disheveled
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Speaker 1: with long hair sticking out in multiple directions. At times,
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Speaker 1: Blair appears cocky and defiant as he sometimes lies about
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Speaker 1: his past criminal record as a child molester. He claims
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Speaker 1: he was asleep during the abduction of Ashley. As police
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Speaker 1: pressed him on this, a detective says, tell the truth,
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Speaker 1: cleanse it out, let it come out of you. After
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Speaker 1: hours of interrogation, Blair momentarily doubts his innocence. He says,
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Speaker 1: I don't know if I was there. Maybe I blacked out,
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Speaker 1: maybe I was there. I feel lost because I don't
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Speaker 1: know to my belief I was home. A detective responds,
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Speaker 1: it's an evil inside of you. You've got to get
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Speaker 1: rid of it. But Blair pauses as he catches himself
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Speaker 1: and goes back to claiming his innocence. The only reason
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Speaker 1: I'm in this situation is because I'm trying to find
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Speaker 1: answers to why a little girl had to die. Blair
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Speaker 1: told them, I definitely hope you guys catch this guy.
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Speaker 1: If you catch him, I can say this is what
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Speaker 1: I went through because of him. Blair, visibly and audibly
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Speaker 1: angry declared, I ain't gonna say I did something when
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Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't do nothing to Ashley. Prosecutors told
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Speaker 1: local news this could read as Blair being close to confessing,
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Speaker 1: but his lawyer said that Blair never admitted guilt, and
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Speaker 1: anyone under those circumstances would get confused and start to
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Speaker 1: question themselves. He attributes the comments to fatigue and stress,
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Speaker 1: since he was interrogated for more than nine hours, that
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Speaker 1: was at least partially true. Nonetheless, Blair played right into
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Speaker 1: detective's hand when he became particularly angry on the tape
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Speaker 1: after police confronted him about molesting his six year old
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Speaker 1: half sister when he was just sixteen years old. He
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Speaker 1: admitted that he molested her for two years, saying quote,
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Speaker 1: I wasn't good with girls. I was learning about sex.
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Speaker 1: What he was learning about was rape. Jurors likely thought
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Speaker 1: Blair's burst of anger in the HS video also played
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Speaker 1: right into the hands of Colin County Assistant District Attorney
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Speaker 1: Brian Clayton, as he sought to show the jury that
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Speaker 1: the defendant was easily angered. Still, Michael Blair denied vehemently
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Speaker 1: that he kidnapped and killed Ashley Estelle, and when it
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Speaker 1: came down to it never really budged from that position.
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Speaker 1: The accused police interview was hardly the only trick of
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Speaker 1: the prosecution's sleeve, but they certainly had compelling evidence as
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Speaker 1: well well. Plano employee Charles Boatwright testified that Michael Nawie
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Speaker 1: Blair had driven past the scene where Ashley's body was
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Speaker 1: found two days after the fact and asked his co
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Speaker 1: worker Robert Crane to take down the license plate number
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Speaker 1: of his vehicle. Blair asked Crane, who also testified, is
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Speaker 1: this where the little girl was found? Boatwright told jurors
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Speaker 1: that there was something strange about Blair's presence there that day.
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Speaker 1: On the same day of his and Crane's testimony, Colin
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Speaker 1: County medical examiner doctor William Rohre testified as photographs of
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Speaker 1: Ashley's bruised and scratched body were shown to jurors, she
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Speaker 1: put up a fierce struggle, Roor said, as she was
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Speaker 1: being strangled with what was likely a thin cord or rope.
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Speaker 1: Within hours of her abduction from Carpenter Park, Ashley's fingernails
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Speaker 1: had marked her own neck as she fought to remove
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Speaker 1: the ligature. Doctor rr testified this drove home to jurors
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Speaker 1: the depravity and remorselessness with which her killer acted. The defendant,
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Speaker 1: the Dallas Morning News reported, moved to the seat near
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Speaker 1: the jury box in order to be in viewing range
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Speaker 1: of the photos, but he rarely looked up from the
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Speaker 1: legal pad he used to take notes. While there were
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Speaker 1: no physical signs that Ashley Estelle had been sexually assaulted,
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Speaker 1: doctor Rhorr said her t shirt was missing, which suggested
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Speaker 1: such PLAINO policeman Chris Peiritt also took the stand. He
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Speaker 1: described the day of the seven year old girl's disappearance
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Speaker 1: from the park and staying with the Estelle family for
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Speaker 1: the rest of the day. Defense attorney Don McDermott took
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Speaker 1: the opportunity to introduce an alternative suspect during his cross
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Speaker 1: examination of the officer, a soccer referee who had pending
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Speaker 1: indecency with the child charges in Arkansas, a man who
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Speaker 1: had left town shortly after the murder. This claim was
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Speaker 1: a bit disingenuous, which you'll hear later the next day,
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Speaker 1: Blair's defense dropped a bomb. This suspect. The soccer referee
9:23
Speaker 1: had invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination during
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Speaker 1: a videotaped deposition, refusing to answer any questions that pertained
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Speaker 1: to Ashley's killing. However compelling it was, it paled in
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Speaker 1: comparison to other testimony on this third day of trial
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Speaker 1: that alleged police corruption. On the next day of trial,
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Speaker 1: Play I Know Police Department crime scene technician Daniel Rhodes
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Speaker 1: took the stand. It was here, perhaps that the defense
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Speaker 1: had the best possibility of creating reasonable doubt in the
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Speaker 1: minds of the jurors. Rhodes told the court that his supervisor,
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Speaker 1: Ben Armstrong had ordered him to destroy his original report
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Speaker 1: that documented the day Michael Nawie Blair came on the radar.
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Speaker 1: Both Rhades and Armstrong had been further processing the scene
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Speaker 1: several days after Ashley's body was found, and Blair had
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Speaker 1: approached in his vehicle. He was seemingly nervous and inquiring
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Speaker 1: as to whether they'd found any evidence. When Blair was
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Speaker 1: asked to come to the police station, Rhodes went out
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Speaker 1: to his vehicle, got in, and directed him where to
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Speaker 1: park before the Ford Explorer could be processed for evidence.
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Speaker 1: Rhodes getting into Blair's Ford Explorer, he testified, was one
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Speaker 1: of the details his supervisor, Ben Armstrong asked him to
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Speaker 1: leave out of his second, so called corrected report. He
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Speaker 1: alleged Armstrong then told him to destroy the original report.
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Speaker 1: Rhads continued, so Blair's defense couldn't use it to claim
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Speaker 1: the vehicle had been contaminated. After all, they'd been standing
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Speaker 1: in the grass and brush where Ashley was found and
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Speaker 1: could potentially drag and drop evidence in Blair's vehicle. That
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Speaker 1: was a stretch, unlikely and perhaps bordered on the absurd,
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Speaker 1: but it was possible theoretically. Armstrong denied ordering Roads to
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Speaker 1: destroy the very lengthy initial report and insisted he'd only
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Speaker 1: ordered him to write up a second, shorter version because
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Speaker 1: the crime scene tech, who was technically a civilian, was
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Speaker 1: playing detective. Daniel Rhodes later filed a lawsuit against the
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Speaker 1: Plano Police alleged racist practices and good old boy activity
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Speaker 1: after he said he was investigated by internal affairs for
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Speaker 1: speaking with his brother about the case. But it was
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Speaker 1: allegations that Armstrong ordered him to destroy the first report
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Speaker 1: that they were supposed to be investigating, Rhodes told the
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Speaker 1: Dallas Observer. After testifying at trial, Rhodes alleged the department's
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Speaker 1: employees turned cold and hostile toward him and were encouraged
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Speaker 1: by supervisors not to associate with him. The Department and
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Speaker 1: Ben Armstrong denied all allegations. While there were no fingerprints
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Speaker 1: or body fluids to point to Blair as the killer,
12:43
Speaker 1: the prosecution did have hair evidence and some fiber evidence
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Speaker 1: as well. They called doctor Charles Lynch to the stand
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Speaker 1: to testify, a forensic consultant formerly of the Institute of
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Speaker 1: Forensic Sciences in Dallas. Perhaps his name may sound familiar
13:02
Speaker 1: as he worked the Darley Rutier case, the Kenneth Allen
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Speaker 1: McDuff case, and the West Memphis three case. Doctor Lynch
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Speaker 1: testified that hares found in Blair's car had the same
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Speaker 1: microscopic characteristics as Ashley's. The forensic consultant also claimed that
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Speaker 1: two small black hairs found on her body had quote
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Speaker 1: Mongolian characteristics, which was relevant because Blair is half Taiwanese.
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Speaker 1: The pathologist went on to say that fibers from a
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Speaker 1: stuffed bunny Blair apparently used to lure Ashley away was
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Speaker 1: similar to fibers found on her body, and that a
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Speaker 1: clump of hair near the park contained both Blair's and Ashley's.
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Speaker 1: While doctor Lynch was careful to use terms like consistent
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Speaker 1: with and similar to. The prosecution used terms like match
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Speaker 1: and line when referring to the hair and fiber evidence.
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Speaker 1: On cross examination, defense attorney Don McDermott urged the jury
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Speaker 1: to recognize that hair is not as strong as DNA
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Speaker 1: or fingerprint evidence, but the jury was fascinated and compelled
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Speaker 1: by doctor Lynch's testimony. In Blair's vehicle, Prosecutors and investigators
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Speaker 1: also noted that they found stuffed animals, a long stemmed
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Speaker 1: rose binoculars, a knife, newspaper clippings about Ashley's kidnapping and murder,
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Speaker 1: and an oatmeal box wrapped with paper and filled with candy.
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Speaker 1: In an unusual move, later in the trial, as defense
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Speaker 1: presented their case, Blair took the stand as his attorney
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Speaker 1: questioned him for ten minutes, asking variations of the question
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Speaker 1: did you kill Ashley Estelle, including the questions did you
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Speaker 1: ever see her? And did you ever have her in
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Speaker 1: your lif carr. In contrast to his presentation on the
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Speaker 1: interrogation tapes, he spoke softly as he repeatedly responded no, sir.
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Speaker 1: The prosecution only questioned Blair for an additional five minutes
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Speaker 1: and nothing momentous was achieved other than sneakily slipping in
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Speaker 1: his criminal past. The defense produced one character witness, a
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Speaker 1: volunteer from a runaway shelter, who told the jury that
15:30
Speaker 1: Blair had been steadily employed as a carpet cleaner. They
15:35
Speaker 1: also brought forth witnesses who testified that Blair was home
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Speaker 1: asleep when Ashley disappeared from the park. This included Blair's
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Speaker 1: roommate and boss, who said he saw Blair asleep in
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Speaker 1: the apartment that day until he left there at ten
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Speaker 1: thirty am, and upon his return at four thirty pm,
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Speaker 1: he testified Blair was still at the apartment asleep. After
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Speaker 1: the nearly three week trial that included testimony from Ashley's mother,
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Speaker 1: Diana Estelle, in closing arguments, Colin County prosecutor Brian Clayton
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Speaker 1: choked back tears as he held up a large photo
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Speaker 1: of Ashley and urged the jury not to forget her.
16:18
Speaker 1: During their deliberations, some jury members also began to cheer up.
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Speaker 1: Clayton then dramatically confronted Blair, calling him a subterranean troll
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Speaker 1: who committed murder. In their closing arguments, the defense claimed
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Speaker 1: that Blair was innocent, and prosecutors were trying him on
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Speaker 1: his past, not on the offense of Ashley Estelle's abduction
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Speaker 1: and murder. On Wednesday, September twenty eighth, nineteen ninety four,
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Speaker 1: after a mere twenty seven minutes, the jury reached their
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Speaker 1: decision and announced as Ashley's parents and grandparents looked on,
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Speaker 1: that they, beyond a reasonable doubt, had found Michael Nawie
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Speaker 1: Blair guilty of the offense of capital murder as alleged
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Speaker 1: in the indictment. Ashley's father expressed his surprise at how
17:11
Speaker 1: swiftly the verdict came in, but hoped the family could
17:14
Speaker 1: get a bit of closure now. The next day, the
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Speaker 1: jury was called for sentencing, where past criminal offenses and
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Speaker 1: even accusations of such, were allowed. Prosecutors brought forth witnesses
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Speaker 1: who depicted Blair as a drug abuser who harassed women
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Speaker 1: and fondled girls. Blair's ex common law wife testified that
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Speaker 1: he repeatedly raped her. A former coworker testified that Blair
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Speaker 1: sexually harassed her for one and a half years and
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Speaker 1: tried on multiple occasions to molest her two daughters, ages
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Speaker 1: two and four. Jurors had a choice between a sentence
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Speaker 1: of life imprisonment, which meant he would be eligible for
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Speaker 1: parole necessarily after forty years, or the death penalty. Prosecutors,
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Speaker 1: of course, pushed for the death penalty, saying that children
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Speaker 1: would not be safe if he were ever released. The defense, however,
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Speaker 1: asked the jury to spare Blair's life because he had
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Speaker 1: an abusive childhood. Blair shared a prepared statement with the courtroom.
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Speaker 1: No I am not perfect. Yes, I've done a lot
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Speaker 1: of wrong acts, but I did not abduct and murder
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Speaker 1: Ashley Estelle, Blair said, reading the words from a yellow
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Speaker 1: legal pad. Ashley's mother, Diana Estelle, who had previously avoided
18:44
Speaker 1: the media for the most part, told reporters in a
18:47
Speaker 1: quiet and tense voice that she found the statement inappropriate.
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Speaker 1: She called it a lie, hopefully his last, she added.
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Speaker 1: After deliberating for about an hour hour and a half,
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Speaker 1: the jury ruled that Blair would be sentenced to death
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Speaker 1: by lethal injection. Blair showed no emotion as the verdict
19:09
Speaker 1: was read, while Ashley's parents wept. Juror six told the
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Speaker 1: Dallas Morning News, I don't want him out in society
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Speaker 1: because I don't want him to grab my Ashley or
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Speaker 1: your Ashley. After the sentencing, Diana Estelle told the media
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Speaker 1: she was relieved because Blair will never hurt anyone else again.
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Speaker 1: While that was and continues to be true, it is
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Speaker 1: not because the state of Texas followed brough with the
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Speaker 1: execution of Michael Nawie Blair. In fact, his conviction for
19:46
Speaker 1: the abduction and murder of seven year old Ashley Estelle
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Speaker 1: didn't stick. While on death row, Blair continued to insist
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Speaker 1: he was innocent of Ashley's murder, but, much to Jock
20:10
Speaker 1: Hilburn of d Magazine's surprise, he admitted to having sexually
20:15
Speaker 1: abused children on many occasions. In June of two thousand
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Speaker 1: and one, the Reporter published an article titled did this
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Speaker 1: creep Really Kill Ashley Estelle? In it, Hilburn describes meeting
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Speaker 1: and exchanging extensive letters with Blair, where he revealed extremely
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Speaker 1: disturbing details about his sexual assaults and rapes of more
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Speaker 1: than a dozen children, including both boys and girls. The
20:44
Speaker 1: article states that, by his own accounts, Blair is a
20:48
Speaker 1: serial child rapist. In a stomach turning moment, when Hilburn
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Speaker 1: visited Blair in prison, the child rapist showed the reporter
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Speaker 1: photos he kept of some of the kids he assaulted
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Speaker 1: while still on death row. In two thousand and three,
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Speaker 1: Blair wrote to the district Court and confessed to specific
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Speaker 1: cases of child molestation. This led to an investigation and
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Speaker 1: for additional indictments against him for indecency with the child
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Speaker 1: committed in nineteen ninety two and nineteen ninety three. Michael
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Speaker 1: Blair pled guilty to the counts in June of two
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Speaker 1: thousand and four and was given three life sentences. Even
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Speaker 1: before Blair confessed to and was found guilty of these
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Speaker 1: additional sexual assaults, the evidence against him for Ashley Estell's
21:41
Speaker 1: murder began to fall apart, and his attorneys began to
21:44
Speaker 1: push for a new trial. In June of two thousand,
21:48
Speaker 1: an independent lab tested the hairs that the prosecution presented
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Speaker 1: as proof of Blair's guilt. The lab found that, contrary
21:58
Speaker 1: to the testimony of forensic consulting doctor Charles Lynch, the
22:02
Speaker 1: hair in Blair's car did not match Ashley's, and a
22:05
Speaker 1: second hair that was used in the trial could not
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Speaker 1: have originated from Ashley Blair or any of their maternal relatives.
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Speaker 1: The emergence of forensic DNA analysis was creating problems for
22:19
Speaker 1: hair and fiber identification experts as it began to reveal
22:23
Speaker 1: that the science was an inexact procedure. To be sure,
22:28
Speaker 1: or to be a bit more blunt, the procedures are
22:31
Speaker 1: considered nothing short of junk science. Doctor Charles Lynch blamed
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Speaker 1: the prosecution for over selling the results of the analysis
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Speaker 1: to the jury, and he was right. Trial transcripts revealed
22:46
Speaker 1: that prosecutors, specifically Colin County Assistant District Attorney Brian Clayton,
22:52
Speaker 1: were using language that suggested the hair and fiber analyzes
22:56
Speaker 1: were a sure thing exact matches, while doctor Lynch used
23:01
Speaker 1: language that suggested the evidence was similar but by no
23:06
Speaker 1: means said that it was an indisputable fact that they matched,
23:11
Speaker 1: but its stirring up controversy that usually gets the media
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Speaker 1: and public's attention, and attorneys working Michael Blair's appeal certainly
23:20
Speaker 1: unearthed just that. In a series of articles published in
23:24
Speaker 1: the Dallas Morning News in May of two thousand, it
23:28
Speaker 1: was revealed that shortly before Blair's trial, the prosecution's star
23:32
Speaker 1: forensic expert, doctor Charles Lynch, had checked himself into a
23:36
Speaker 1: psychiatric hospital for clinical depression and alcoholism. Prosecutors had actually
23:43
Speaker 1: temporarily gotten Lynch released from the hospital in order to testify,
23:48
Speaker 1: and none of this was disclosed to the defense. During
23:51
Speaker 1: the course of the trial, Doctor Lynch had also filed
23:56
Speaker 1: a grievance against his former employer, the Southwestern Instant of
24:00
Speaker 1: Forensic Sciences, and in this grievance he had actually questioned
24:05
Speaker 1: his own qualifications as a blood spatter and hair identification analyst.
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Speaker 1: In response to these articles, Lynch insisted that his problems
24:15
Speaker 1: did not affect his trustworthiness as an expert witness, but understandably,
24:20
Speaker 1: considering crime scene technician Daniel Rhodes's allegations that he was
24:25
Speaker 1: ordered to destroy his original report that might have shown
24:29
Speaker 1: the evidence was compromised and the following facts, Blair's attorneys disagreed. They,
24:37
Speaker 1: along with the help of the Innocence Project of Texas,
24:40
Speaker 1: pushed for DNA testing on traces of blood and tissue
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Speaker 1: underneath Ashley's fingernails that Blair's attorneys believed may match the
24:48
Speaker 1: soccer referee and convicted child molester, who had largely been
24:53
Speaker 1: overlooked as a suspect. Colin County initially fought Blair's quest
24:58
Speaker 1: for a new trial and DNA testing, but they eventually conceded,
25:03
Speaker 1: and in two thousand and six, DNA testing was completed
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Speaker 1: and submitted to a district court. This testing showed that
25:12
Speaker 1: the tissue under Ashley's fingernails and DNA found on her
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Speaker 1: shoes and shirt did not come from Michael Naui Blair,
25:21
Speaker 1: but much to the surprise of his defense attorneys, it
25:24
Speaker 1: also did not match the soccer referee. In light of
25:28
Speaker 1: this new evidence, in November of two thousand and six,
25:32
Speaker 1: investigators reopened the case, assigning it to the Collin County
25:37
Speaker 1: District Attorney's Office Cold Case Unit, and they began reinterviewing witnesses.
25:43
Speaker 1: Michael Blair was granted a new trial in June of
25:46
Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, but by August of that year,
25:49
Speaker 1: the Collin County District Attorney's Office chose to overturn the
25:53
Speaker 1: guilty verdict because of quote DNA testing and disproved certain
25:58
Speaker 1: trial evidence, and because of other post trial developments. There
26:03
Speaker 1: were many many problems besides the junk forensic sciences used
26:08
Speaker 1: in court to convict him. For one, Blair's two roommates
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Speaker 1: and one of their girlfriends testified that Blair was asleep
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Speaker 1: at his apartment the afternoon and evening that the crime
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Speaker 1: took place. The defense also, of course, introduced the alternative suspect,
26:25
Speaker 1: the soccer referee with a criminal history of sexually abusing
26:29
Speaker 1: children and who invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self
26:34
Speaker 1: incrimination rather than talk about Ashley's murder. Though again his
26:39
Speaker 1: DNA did not match any found under Ashley's fingernails. Still,
26:45
Speaker 1: Plano police excluded him due to the fact that he
26:48
Speaker 1: was known to sexually abuse boys, not girls. There was
26:54
Speaker 1: also a huge problem with the prosecution's witnesses, who had
26:58
Speaker 1: testified to seeing my Michael Blair both at Carpenter Park
27:02
Speaker 1: from which Ashley was abducted and at the scene where
27:06
Speaker 1: her body was found. Blair's defense team argued that these
27:11
Speaker 1: witnesses memories had been influenced by the intense and inescapable
27:16
Speaker 1: media coverage of the case, and also the tactics the
27:20
Speaker 1: cops used as they sought positive identification of Blair. Only
27:24
Speaker 1: backed up that notion. They gave descriptions to a police
27:29
Speaker 1: sketch artist after Blair's photo had already been distributed to
27:33
Speaker 1: the public via media sources. In fact, all of these
27:37
Speaker 1: witnesses had already seen the suspect's image before identifying him
27:42
Speaker 1: in a photographic line up. The police failed to provide
27:46
Speaker 1: a lineup that did not include Blair, and while his
27:50
Speaker 1: picture was included, failed to tell potential witnesses that their
27:55
Speaker 1: suspect's photo might not necessarily be included in the line up.
28:02
Speaker 1: After the conviction was thrown out, Blair was removed from
28:06
Speaker 1: death row, but stayed in prison in general population due
28:10
Speaker 1: to his subsequent guilty pleas and convictions for indecency with
28:14
Speaker 1: a child, three of them. He attempted to claim one
28:19
Speaker 1: million dollars in wrongful conviction compensation, but was denied because
28:24
Speaker 1: the purpose of compensation is to help released inmates rebuild
28:28
Speaker 1: their lives and reintegrate into society. But luckily, Blair will
28:33
Speaker 1: remain in prison for the rest of his life. Tim Wyatt,
28:38
Speaker 1: Collin County spokesman, said the District Attorney's office had re
28:42
Speaker 1: labeled Ashley Estelle's murder as a cold case, and whatever
28:46
Speaker 1: semblance of justice that Blair's conviction for the murder of
28:49
Speaker 1: their daughter might have given Diana and Richard Aestelle was
28:53
Speaker 1: stripped from them. Despite this new and cruel reality, Ashley
28:59
Speaker 1: left a lectionlegacy that continues to help other children. Not
29:03
Speaker 1: long after Blair's arrest, Texas State Senator Florence Shapiro pushed
29:08
Speaker 1: for a series of laws that would enforce stricter rules
29:12
Speaker 1: for child sex offenders. Signed into law by then Texas
29:17
Speaker 1: Governor George W. Bush in nineteen ninety five, Shapiro labeled
29:22
Speaker 1: the package of laws Ashley's Laws, in honor of Ashley Estelle.
29:28
Speaker 1: The laws required sex offender registration and public notification after
29:33
Speaker 1: release from prison, required notification to school districts in the
29:38
Speaker 1: area they move, established child safety zones so that sex
29:43
Speaker 1: offenders could not go within certain distances of schools and parks,
29:48
Speaker 1: established automatic life sentences for repeat child molesters, and required
29:54
Speaker 1: victim notification if the offender was released on probation or
29:59
Speaker 1: escaped from prison, among other things. While it would appear
30:04
Speaker 1: Ashley's Laws are not always followed as strictly and to
30:08
Speaker 1: a tee, as such laws are required to be followed
30:11
Speaker 1: due to the seemingly endless failings of the Texas justice system,
30:16
Speaker 1: they became a model for the entire nation as Senator
30:20
Speaker 1: Shapiro met with lawmakers from other states and with the
30:23
Speaker 1: FBI as they looked to establish a national sex offender registry.
30:42
Speaker 1: In early two thousand and nine, investigators for the Collin
30:45
Speaker 1: County DA's Cold Case unit revealed another man, now deceased,
30:50
Speaker 1: as a plausible suspect in Ashley's death. Court papers identified
30:55
Speaker 1: the man only as Suspect Number four and stated that
30:59
Speaker 1: he had not been a target of police during the
31:02
Speaker 1: initial investigation. At some point, this man was detained by
31:07
Speaker 1: police while at a soccer field watching children. He also
31:11
Speaker 1: joined Ashley's church, moved to an apartment near her school
31:16
Speaker 1: and home, and even resembled Michael Nawie Blair. Suspect Number
31:22
Speaker 1: four recorded the episode of America's Most Wanted that featured
31:26
Speaker 1: Ashley's case and had raw news footage pertaining to the
31:30
Speaker 1: abduction and murder. He also oddly told people that he
31:34
Speaker 1: had a child who was abducted from a park, killed
31:38
Speaker 1: and dumped on a gravel road, which was not true.
31:42
Speaker 1: This man practiced autoerotic asphyxiation, a haunting fact since Ashley
31:48
Speaker 1: Estelle's cause of death was strangulation. By all accounts, he
31:53
Speaker 1: was obsessed with Ashley Estelle and seems like a very
31:57
Speaker 1: likely suspect in her abduction in n murder, but authorities
32:02
Speaker 1: did not have enough certainty to release his name and
32:05
Speaker 1: close the case. Not only could they not place him
32:09
Speaker 1: in the Dallas Fort Worth area when the unforgivable crime occurred,
32:14
Speaker 1: but his DNA was also excluded as being a contributor
32:18
Speaker 1: to that found under Ashley's fingernails and the hair evidence
32:22
Speaker 1: collected at the scene. However, Suspect number four could not
32:27
Speaker 1: be excluded as the male DNA profile lifted off Ashley's
32:32
Speaker 1: right shoe. This person not only exhibited suspicious activity after
32:38
Speaker 1: the murder, much as mister Blair did, but this person
32:41
Speaker 1: cannot be scientifically excluded as a contributor to a piece
32:45
Speaker 1: of DNA evidence in the case. Colin County District Attorney
32:49
Speaker 1: John Roach said in two thousand and eight, adding, Unfortunately,
32:54
Speaker 1: despite strenuous efforts, the team has been unable to eliminate
32:58
Speaker 1: or conclusively connect this person to the offense. One of
33:03
Speaker 1: Michael Blair's appeal attorneys called suspect number four the best possibility.
33:10
Speaker 1: This man, however, will never be convicted if he is
33:13
Speaker 1: indeed responsible. In another sick twist, Suspect number four bought
33:19
Speaker 1: a burial plot for himself as close as he possibly
33:23
Speaker 1: could to Ashley. Estelle's grave. It was never clearly reported
33:29
Speaker 1: if he was indeed buried there without Suspect number four's name,
33:34
Speaker 1: we cannot state that for a fact. However, by all
33:38
Speaker 1: indications in the poorly worded articles we found, it appears
33:43
Speaker 1: as though he was buried there. It is also not
33:48
Speaker 1: clear if another suspect has been completely eliminated, the alternative
33:53
Speaker 1: suspect that Michael Nawie Blair's defense team brought up at trial.
33:57
Speaker 1: The soccer referee is named Matthew Patrick Frontera or Patrick
34:03
Speaker 1: Matthew Foster or josh Crowley or Matthew Colin, Derek John Foster,
34:10
Speaker 1: maybe Joshua Foster, or perhaps another of the dozen or
34:15
Speaker 1: so aliases this convicted child rapist used. He used just
34:20
Speaker 1: as many social security numbers and dates of birth. Frontera, anyway,
34:26
Speaker 1: was officiating three soccer matches at Carpenter Park the day
34:30
Speaker 1: Ashley disappeared from there. In nineteen ninety one, he was
34:35
Speaker 1: convicted for a sex offense against a child in Greenville,
34:39
Speaker 1: South Carolina. After serving eighty days, his tenure sentence was
34:44
Speaker 1: suspended for unknown reasons, and he was instead given five
34:48
Speaker 1: years probation that was revoked in nineteen ninety two, warrants
34:53
Speaker 1: were issued for his arrest, and in June of that year,
34:57
Speaker 1: he was ordered to serve a single year of his
35:00
Speaker 1: original ten year sentence. In July nineteen ninety three, not
35:05
Speaker 1: long after getting out of the slammer, FRONTA was right
35:08
Speaker 1: back at it with the help of authorities who should
35:11
Speaker 1: not be authorities. An Arkansas judge granted Frontera a permit
35:17
Speaker 1: to travel to Amarillo, Texas as a case concerning him
35:20
Speaker 1: there was being resolved charges that he was ultimately never
35:24
Speaker 1: prosecuted for, and included the sexual abuse of three separate
35:29
Speaker 1: child victims in one week, according to crimean Charlotte dot com.
35:35
Speaker 1: Of course, Frontara was officiating a game next to the
35:39
Speaker 1: game Ashley Estelle's brother was competing. In the day following
35:44
Speaker 1: the discovery of Ashley's body, the child rapist was reported
35:48
Speaker 1: as suspicious by a soccer league in nearby Farmers Branch,
35:52
Speaker 1: a small city to Plano's southwest. Police and Farmers Branch
35:58
Speaker 1: alerted detectives in Plano that were investigating Ashley Estell's abduction
36:03
Speaker 1: and murder. Youth soccer league officials in both towns were
36:07
Speaker 1: appalled as he had used an alias to get close
36:11
Speaker 1: to the kids, calling himself Josh Crowley, among other deceptive methods,
36:17
Speaker 1: and the cops sprung into action to investigate Frontera. According
36:23
Speaker 1: to the Dallas Morning News. When this news leaked to
36:26
Speaker 1: the public, the rumor mill regurgitated the information incorrectly, as
36:31
Speaker 1: rumor mills most often do, and by word of mouth,
36:35
Speaker 1: it was spread that police had identified up to twenty
36:38
Speaker 1: five convicted child molesters from the photographs and videos parents
36:43
Speaker 1: had turned over. That simply was not true, Plano Police
36:48
Speaker 1: Chief Bruce Glascock said, while also taking the opportunity to
36:53
Speaker 1: reiterate to parents that such offenders might damn well be
36:57
Speaker 1: attracted to any event where large no members of children gather.
37:02
Speaker 1: After attempting to question Matthew Patrick Fronterra in the original investigation,
37:08
Speaker 1: when he pleaded his Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent
37:12
Speaker 1: about Ashley's case, Plano police decided he wasn't their guy,
37:17
Speaker 1: mostly because his victims were all boys. He was released
37:22
Speaker 1: to the custody of Potter County, Texas officials, where he
37:26
Speaker 1: was to face a probation violation for a theft conviction.
37:31
Speaker 1: You might think one of the many state judicial systems
37:34
Speaker 1: finally through the book at Fronterra for his serial sexual
37:37
Speaker 1: abuse of pre pubescent and early pubescent boys. But since
37:42
Speaker 1: his run in with the Plano police as a suspect
37:45
Speaker 1: in Ashley Estell's murder Frontara continues to travel the country
37:50
Speaker 1: using different aliases and dodging sex offender state registries. He's
37:55
Speaker 1: been caught with child pornography on his computers and other device,
38:00
Speaker 1: encrypted some images so well that the cops couldn't get
38:04
Speaker 1: into them, and been sent to prison for two years
38:07
Speaker 1: on another Arkansas child sexual abuse case. Even considering the
38:15
Speaker 1: identification of such seemingly strong suspects, both Matthew Patrick Fronterra
38:21
Speaker 1: and Suspect Number four, the original suspect is hardly off
38:26
Speaker 1: the hook in the minds of Plano police detectives and
38:29
Speaker 1: Colin County DIA's Office investigators, and justifiably so. Here's the thing,
38:37
Speaker 1: Michael Nawie Blair is a liar. Colin County Prosecutor Brian
38:42
Speaker 1: Clayton did get one thing right in the original trial.
38:47
Speaker 1: While I would be far less polite in my chosen
38:50
Speaker 1: description of this man, Blair is, as Clayton put it,
38:54
Speaker 1: a subterranean troll. His admittance and guilty pleas to the
38:59
Speaker 1: sexual abuse use of children, both girls and boys, is
39:03
Speaker 1: disingenuous in its likely scope. Blair told the magazine's Jacques
39:09
Speaker 1: Hilburn that his victims, who he said at the time
39:12
Speaker 1: were all still living, were either relatives or children of
39:16
Speaker 1: his associates. As the child rapist phrased it. By all indications,
39:22
Speaker 1: here's where Blair is being disingenuous. Found in his vehicle
39:27
Speaker 1: were stuffed animals, along stemmed rows, binoculars, and an oatmeal
39:32
Speaker 1: box wrapped with paper and filled with candy, among other things.
39:38
Speaker 1: These items suggest that he lured children to him, which
39:42
Speaker 1: further suggests that he had victims that he did not
39:46
Speaker 1: know at all, Though evidence was surely not sufficient to
39:51
Speaker 1: warrant a guilty verdict, which the Collin County District Attorney
39:55
Speaker 1: fully admitted to in two thousand and six and again
39:58
Speaker 1: in two thousand and eight, by no means excludes Michael
40:02
Speaker 1: Nawie Blair as a suspect in Ashley's murder. Then Texas
40:07
Speaker 1: State Senator and former Plaino Mayor Florence Shapiro is also
40:12
Speaker 1: not convinced of Blair's innocence. She told the Plano Star
40:17
Speaker 1: Courier in two thousand and eight that although Blair got relief,
40:21
Speaker 1: she was not convinced he did not do it. She
40:24
Speaker 1: said that everyone wants to know who took the life
40:27
Speaker 1: of that innocent child, and if it's not Michael Blair,
40:31
Speaker 1: they intended to find clues and bring someone to justice.
40:36
Speaker 1: The murder is still considered to be unsolved, has long
40:40
Speaker 1: gone cold, and it is unclear if there are plans
40:43
Speaker 1: to retest evidence using current forensic methods such as forensic
40:48
Speaker 1: genetic genealogy. Ashley Estelle's lasting memory goes far beyond the
40:55
Speaker 1: state and federal laws established in her name. WFAA Channel
41:01
Speaker 1: eight reported in October of two thousand and nine that
41:04
Speaker 1: the Collin County Advocacy Center, which serves children victimized by
41:09
Speaker 1: abuse or neglect free of charge, had established a fountain
41:14
Speaker 1: and cabin in Ashley's honor. Sixteen years after the abduction
41:19
Speaker 1: and murder of Ashley Estell, her spirit was captured and
41:23
Speaker 1: kept alive through the publication of a book she wrote
41:27
Speaker 1: before her murder while in the first grade. The book
41:31
Speaker 1: was published and kept in Ashley's haven at the center.
41:35
Speaker 1: In the book, Ashley wrote, my name is Ashley and
41:39
Speaker 1: I have pretty brown hair. I love bubble baths, chocolate cake,
41:44
Speaker 1: and macaroni and cheese. Ashley's mother told WFAA that those
41:50
Speaker 1: words were a bright light that helped her deal with
41:53
Speaker 1: the loss, and that her greatest fear had been that
41:55
Speaker 1: Ashley would be forgotten. More than fifty witness interviews, five
42:02
Speaker 1: thousand hours of manpower and almost fifty thousand dollars spent
42:07
Speaker 1: on the cold case unit's investigation alone, and likely close
42:12
Speaker 1: to that much time at least on the initial investigation,
42:16
Speaker 1: Ashley's killer remains elusive. Now, Ashley's memory lives on and
42:21
Speaker 1: serves to prevent other children from facing what she went
42:25
Speaker 1: through and to help those who have survived abuse. Her
42:29
Speaker 1: case was incredibly well known during the investigation and trial
42:34
Speaker 1: of Michael Nawie Blair, while the coverage the case received
42:38
Speaker 1: paled in comparison to one that would take place less
42:42
Speaker 1: than two and a half years later, the kidnapping and
42:45
Speaker 1: killing of nine year old Amber Hagerman. Media concerning the
42:49
Speaker 1: disappearance murder case that occurred less than two months before
42:52
Speaker 1: Ashley's came to a complete stop almost immediately upon her
42:57
Speaker 1: violent death. Next time on Gone Cold the murder of
43:02
Speaker 1: eight year old kem Nohen. If you have any information
43:07
Speaker 1: about the abduction and murder of Ashley Nicole Estelle, please
43:12
Speaker 1: contact Texas Crime Stoppers by calling seven to one three
43:16
Speaker 1: two two two tips. That's seven one three two two
43:21
Speaker 1: two eight four seven seven. You can remain completely anonymous
43:28
Speaker 1: if you have not already. Look for Gone Cold on Instagram, Facebook,
43:33
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43:36
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43:47
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43:58
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44:02
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44:08
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44:11
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44:14
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44:19
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44:27
Speaker 1: the episode's show notes. Thanks for listening, y'all,