Latest / History Dark / This Charming Serial Killer Liked to _Pose_ his Victims for Shock Value _ George Russell

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This Charming Serial Killer Liked to _Pose_ his Victims for Shock Value _ George Russell · History Dark

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: The left side of her brain was crushed as a
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: result of the impact.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Somebody here had taken a lot of time, had either
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: carried out a grudge or had some vendetta that they
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: were paying her back for.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: What was she feeling? What was she experiencing and how
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: scared she must have been? Somebody would be attacking her
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: like that.
• 0:22
  Speaker 4: The kind of person that would violate a body after
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: death has a deep rage and a hatred toward women.
• 0:31
  Speaker 4: The pressure is terrible. If you don't catch the guy,
• 0:33
  Speaker 4: you know he's going to kill again.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: There's a real possibility that this could be a serial killer.
• 0:44
  Speaker 5: Every murder is a mystery. But a victim's body is
• 0:52
  Speaker 5: a sea of evidence. Every fiber is a clue. Every wound,
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: a piece of the puzzle. The medical examiner holds the
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: key to unlock their stories and catch a killer. This
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: is Secrets of the Morgue.
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: Bellevue was a much more sophisticated town in the 1990s,
• 1:27
  Speaker 4: especially in the downtown core. It was more of a
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: ritzy place than it had been before.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Bellevue is known like the wealthy town between Seattle, Tacoma,
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that. So people went there for the bars.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: It was a nice place to live.
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: But in the early days of summer, upscale Bellevue falls
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: victim to shocking violence.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: I receive a call from the station to go to
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: the Black Angus. It was a steakhouse, quite a hangout
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: for the younger set. They tell me that an employee
• 2:04
  Speaker 4: bringing out the trash discovered a body. I see the
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: body of a naked young woman lying on her back
• 2:12
  Speaker 4: right next to the dumpster. There's a pine cone between
• 2:17
  Speaker 4: her hands, which are on her stomach, and her feet
• 2:20
  Speaker 4: are together. She's bruised and battered, it looks like. Her
• 2:25
  Speaker 4: head is turned to one side, and there is a plastic,
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: like a coffee cup, lid covering one eye. That's the
• 2:34
  Speaker 4: first time I'd ever seen the victims pose. It was
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: posed that way.
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: Detectives called the medical examiner, Dr. Donald Ray, to the
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: crime scene.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: My view is that the autopsy actually begins at the
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: scene of death. And so that's where your examination really begins.
• 2:53
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray has performed more than 5,000 autopsies and helped
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: work both the Ted Bundy and Green River Killer cases.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: I think I'm a meticulous pathologist. My motivation or goal
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: is to do the best examination for the family. You
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: never know when you make your observations whether or not
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: that observation is going to be critical in the overall investigation.
• 3:24
  Speaker 5: Investigators need to learn everything they can about the victim
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: in the alley.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: I estimate the time of death taking into account the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: ambient temperature. The body cools at a certain rate. There's
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: usually a one and a half degree change in body
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: temperature per hour of death. I estimated that she died
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: between 2.30 and 5.30.
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: It would have been quiet in those early morning hours.
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: but detectives are struck by where they find Jane Doe's body.
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: Bodies are normally dumped in a hidden location. In my opinion,
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: the killer wanted this to be found. He wanted the
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: statement to be made.
• 4:08
  Speaker 6: Victims who have been killed and posed in a degrading way,
• 4:12
  Speaker 6: that tells investigators right away that this is a sexually
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: motivated killer.
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: I thought he was taunting us.
• 4:22
  Speaker 5: Detective Hanson is determined to bring the perpetrator to justice.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: In my heart, I'm a hunter of hunters. I'm a
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: hunter of predators. I'm the kind of detective that I
• 4:34
  Speaker 4: would put my hands under my pockets and walk through
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: a scene and absorb the whole thing. Sometimes I can
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: almost feel or hear the screams of the victims.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: Investigators are hoping a thorough examination of the body can
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: help point them towards the killer.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: First of all, you're looking for trace evidence. The collection
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: of hairs and fibers becomes very important. We also take
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: multiple samples of the mouth and the anus and vagina.
• 5:07
  Speaker 5: These samples, including traces of semen, are sent to the FBI.
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: But in 1990, DNA analysis is in its infancy.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: The results can often take months because of the backlog.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: at the FBI lab.
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray turns his attention to the cause of death.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: This woman had multiple injuries. She had some marks on
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the surface of the skin over the neck. And the
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: conclusion was, I think this could be the result of
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: manual strangulation. Well, I was impressed with the extent of
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the injuries to the head, with the fractures and the damage.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: To the brain.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: This is a very violent injury to the head, which
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: is the result of a blunt object impacting the skull.
• 6:00
  Speaker 5: At the end of his external examination, Dr. Ray makes
• 6:03
  Speaker 5: a disturbing observation.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: The amount of bleeding that you see on the surface
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: of the skin is a reflection of whether that injury
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: was before death or after death. In this case, there
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: were some injuries inflicted after death.
• 6:20
  Speaker 5: Then, another horrific detail is discovered.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I noticed vaginal penetration because of the tearing and the bruising.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: My conclusion was this was likely the result of post-mortem insertion.
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: A killer who will mutilate and have sex with the
• 6:42
  Speaker 6: deceased is somebody who It gets a thrill out of
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: controlling the person who is excited by the aspect of
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: having total and utter complete control over them.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: We're dealing with not only a sick individual, we're dealing
• 6:59
  Speaker 4: with a very dangerous individual.
• 7:05
  Speaker 5: With the victim's identity a mystery, detectives reach out to
• 7:09
  Speaker 5: the public for help.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: We sent out a teletype describing the victim as a
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: Jane Doe and asking for any of these surrounding agencies
• 7:20
  Speaker 4: for any missing persons that might match the victim's description.
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: I also took pictures of her jewelry. She had a
• 7:27
  Speaker 4: distinctive necklace on her neck. I took pictures of that
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: as well. This was also later released to the newspaper.
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: That's a very difficult situation for any homicide investigator because
• 7:39
  Speaker 7: you need to know who your victim is. That's sort
• 7:41
  Speaker 7: of ground zero.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: That's where you begin. Clock is ticking and it's working
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: against us because we don't know who the victim is,
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: so we don't know how to look for the suspect.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: After four days, we get a break in the case.
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: A woman who was the victim's roommate identified the photograph
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: of the necklace. We got the dental records from the
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: mother and the identification was made by the medical examiner's office.
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: We now know that the victim is Mary Ann Polreich.
• 8:23
  Speaker 5: Police are determined to find justice for this innocent young woman.
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: Mary Ann Polreich was from a rural community in South
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: King County. She had moved to the Bellevue area where
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: she was working and living with a girlfriend. in an apartment.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: She was friendly. He was outgoing. There was an innocence
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: about her, knowing that added to the mysteriousness of her
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: as a character and what had led to her death.
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: Detective Hansen hopes to retrace Mary Ann's last steps. Her
• 9:01
  Speaker 5: roommate suggests a local hangout.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: We found Mary Ann's car parked in Papagayo's parking lot.
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: Papagayo's Cantina was probably a 10-minute drive from the Black
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Angus where her body was found. In doing interviews with
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: the employees and the patrons of Papagayo's Cantina, we learned
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: that Mary Ann Polreich was a regular there, especially on
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: Friday and Saturday nights.
• 9:31
  Speaker 5: Detectives want to know who Mary Ann was with the
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: night she disappeared.
• 9:36
  Speaker 7: Any homicide, you start with the victim and you work
• 9:38
  Speaker 7: your way out. But you always start that circle very small.
• 9:41
  Speaker 7: You can always expand it. And you eliminate people.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: As you go.
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: They're either in the investigation or they're out of the investigation,
• 9:48
  Speaker 7: either by way of alibi or documentary evidence.
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: There were a few people that would say they remembered
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: her being at a certain table most often, but she
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: moved around a lot. She often would leave the bar
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: with a guy and come back. So it was tracking
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: this down to a particular person was difficult.
• 10:09
  Speaker 5: But they do identify a close friend of Mary Ann's,
• 10:13
  Speaker 5: Steve Kowalsik. They hope he can shed light on Mary
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: Ann's movements in and around the bar.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Most of our evenings that we spent on either a
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Friday or Saturday night, we would go to Papagayo's. What
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: we would do often is we would bring alcohol with
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: us in our car and we just call it kind
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: of tailgating in the parking lot. We didn't have a
• 10:33
  Speaker 3: lot of money, so we didn't want to spend a
• 10:35
  Speaker 3: lot of money on the drinks. So we would just
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: go out and we'd exit the bar a couple of times,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: go to the car, get a drink or something like
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: that and go back in. Going to the bars felt
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: very comfortable. For her, it was a means of kind
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: of exploring, getting out, and just finding who she was.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: And she was very much enjoying it. She was having fun.
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: So we had a very close friendship.
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: Detectives questioned Steve about his alibi that night.
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: When Mary went missing, I could explain to them I
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: was with my brother and his wife. We were watching
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: a movie that night.
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: With Steve in the clear, investigators searched the bar where
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: Mary Ann was last seen, looking for clues.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: A purse was found. It was a black purse, a
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: fairly small one, and there was a checkbook in there
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: with her name on it. The fact that her purse
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: was found at the bar would have indicated to me
• 11:25
  Speaker 4: that she left the bar temporarily, maybe to go out
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: and have a drink with a guy, but we couldn't
• 11:33
  Speaker 4: find anybody that saw her leave.
• 11:35
  Speaker 5: Detectives fear the trail for Mary Ann's killer could grow cold.
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: I feel a sense of obligation to her family. Mary
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: Ann herself is gone, but she left behind survivors who
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: need closure. And it's up to us to provide the closure.
• 11:55
  Speaker 4: We're pretty much working seven days a week to solve this.
• 11:58
  Speaker 4: We were very frustrated.
• 12:00
  Speaker 5: As police struggle with Mary Ann's murder, the citizens of
• 12:04
  Speaker 5: Bellevue are shocked by another similar crime.
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: I learned of a second murder became kind of a
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: I think people are growing a little scared and stuff
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: at the clubs.
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: Citizens of my town, the women are not safe. There's
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: a killer on the loose.
• 12:32
  Speaker 5: Detective John Hanson is on the way to a second
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: murder scene in a quiet Bellevue neighborhood.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: This is a good, this is a kid's neighborhood. The
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: front door was not locked. It was that kind of
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: a neighborhood.
• 12:45
  Speaker 5: The victim is identified as 35-year-old Carol Beeth, a bartender
• 12:52
  Speaker 5: and single mother of two.
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: I see a body that is in bed that's been
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: mutilated horribly. And there is blood spatter all over the
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: walls and the ceiling. And her body has been desecrated. Again,
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: a body has been posed. There is a rifle barrel
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: inserted into her vagina. Her legs are spread. She's had
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: nothing on except red high-heeled shoes. All over the head,
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: there's these impressions, these blows have been inflicted by some
• 13:30
  Speaker 4: kind of a tool, and their head has been wrapped
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: in plastic. Oh, I was shocked. I've never seen anything
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: like that. My impression was that the suspect was stating
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: that this woman is an immoral person and he is
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: showing her for what she really is. And he wants
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: everybody to see this and to basically to destroy her
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: and her reputation.
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: With two women brutally killed within seven weeks, police question
• 14:02
  Speaker 5: whether the two murders may be related.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: You have two posed bodies that have been murdered and
• 14:08
  Speaker 4: there was a beating or brutalization of the body post-mortem.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: In Mary Ann Polreich, the body was in a public place.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: In the case of Carol Beath, it was in a
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: private home, which indicated to me that the killer knew her.
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: Police interview Carol's daughter.
• 14:28
  Speaker 4: She found her mother like that and called her father.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: The father came. He told me that he came in.
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: He saw the body. He made the phone call from
• 14:37
  Speaker 4: the bedroom. I learned from the ex-husband that the rifle
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: was his. She had kept it in the house along
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: with another rifle, kept both of those under her bed.
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Her ex-husband was not considered a suspect because of the
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: fact that he came quickly, he called us right away,
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: he answered our questions, very badly shaken. All of his
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: responses were completely appropriate.
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: Carol's daughter may have caught a glimpse of the murderer.
• 15:10
  Speaker 4: She said that at about 4.30 in the morning, she
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: heard a noise. She saw the figure of a man
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: walking down the hallway toward her mother's bedroom or away
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: from it and figured it was Mike Sewell, the boyfriend,
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: because he sometimes would come over at night.
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray performs the autopsy on Carol. Police know that
• 15:32
  Speaker 5: if the killer left a clue, Dr. Ray will find it.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: The body is scanned with an ultraviolet light in a
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: dark room because different samples can fluoresce. We may not
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: be able to see them on the body, but if
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: you use ultraviolet lamp, they stand out because they reflect light.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: We're very conscious of trace evidence. We're very conscious of
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: taking samples of head hair, pubic hair.
• 16:04
  Speaker 5: The carefully collected hairs will need to be sent to
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: a lab for analysis. Dr. Ray examines the violence done
• 16:13
  Speaker 5: to the body.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: There were two wounds to the palm, which would indicate
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: that she was alive at the time that she was assaulted.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: There were fractures of the two ribs on the left
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: side of the chest. Impact to the torso on the
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: right side would... cause enough damage to lacerate or tear
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: the liver. The rifle was identified to be five or
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: six inches insertion. The left side of her brain was
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: crushed as a result of the impact injuries to the head.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: The cause of death was a result of the head injuries.
• 16:57
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray also determines time of death to be approximately
• 17:01
  Speaker 5: 4 a.m. around the time Carol's daughter saw someone in
• 17:06
  Speaker 5: the hall.
• 17:07
  Speaker 7: When you deal with a homicide where the suspect and
• 17:10
  Speaker 7: the victim had a relationship, you will often find that
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: there is a far more violent emotional mechanism of death.
• 17:19
  Speaker 7: There's emotion, there's rage, and you can see it in
• 17:22
  Speaker 7: the autopsy. The body may be posed in a degrading
• 17:25
  Speaker 7: way to demean them one last time.
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: Police begin the search for Carol's boyfriend, Mike.
• 17:33
  Speaker 4: Mike Sewell was a divorcee with a couple of kids
• 17:36
  Speaker 4: of his own, worked for a construction company, drove a
• 17:40
  Speaker 4: blue Corvette. I learned from witnesses that a blue Corvette
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: was seen going through the neighborhood on that street around
• 17:50
  Speaker 4: 4 a.m. There aren't that many Corvettes around, let alone
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: blue Corvettes. We get hold of Mike Sewell. He denied
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: having seen her. in the last couple of days.
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: But when detectives press Mike on his alibi, his mood changes.
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: He was resistant and combative with us in our trying
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: to nail it down. He was looking more and more
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: like some guy, the person responsible.
• 18:18
  Speaker 5: As investigators piece together Carol's final hours, they discover that
• 18:22
  Speaker 5: Mike wasn't the only man in her life.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: We interviewed her co-workers. We learned that after Carol got
• 18:29
  Speaker 4: off work, she went to meet John, this new boyfriend
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: of hers.
• 18:36
  Speaker 5: Detectives tracked down John through Carol's friends.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: John was a bartender. After they closed up, they went
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: out in his car in a parking lot and they
• 18:46
  Speaker 4: had sex in the car and then she went home.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: He said it was about 2.15 in the morning when
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: he last saw Carol after she left to go home.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: But the fact that he had had sex with her
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: that morning would not fit with killing her brutally a
• 19:05
  Speaker 4: couple hours later.
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: For investigators, Carol's boyfriend, Mike, is the strongest suspect.
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: When we mentioned to him about Carol having these other relationships,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: he began to pound the table. He began to go
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: practically berserk. There was a strong possibility he fell into
• 19:27
  Speaker 4: a jealous rage he found out about another one of
• 19:29
  Speaker 4: carol's lovers and we wanted mike to submit to certain
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: tests to establish whether his guilt or his innocence he
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: refused there was more ground i wanted to cover by
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: interrogation and interview but he had come to the point
• 19:47
  Speaker 4: where he said he wanted an attorney we had to
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: stop We were pretty unanimous that this guy had to
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: be cleared one way or another before we move forward.
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: But three weeks later, a third murder is reported. King
• 20:05
  Speaker 5: County police receive a call from a frantic couple who
• 20:08
  Speaker 5: believe something horrible has happened to their basement tenant. The
• 20:13
  Speaker 5: victim is 24-year-old Andrea Randy Levine. Veteran King County Detective
• 20:21
  Speaker 5: Larry Peterson is dispatched to the scene.
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: Randy had moved into that apartment, I believe, about a
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: year prior. She was a pretty normal 24-year-old. She was
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: a receptionist at a firm in Bellevue. Go into the
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: bedroom where she was first seen by the landlord. She
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: was on her bed. She was sort of spread-eagled. Her
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: left arm was on top of a book, something about
• 20:51
  Speaker 2: the joys of sex. She had some very severe head wounds.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: There must have been numerous bowls because there was a
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: repeated blood spray on the wall. where somebody had swung
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: and swung again. On her telephone machine, there were a
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: series of telephone calls. And I think the last one
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: was a call from her mother saying, Randy, I thought
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: you'd call me this weekend. You haven't. Please call.
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: As the medical examiner for Bellevue and King County, Dr.
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: Ray is the only person familiar with all three murders.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: There were a lot of common denominators. Three murder victims
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: that look the same in terms of the unusual features
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and the posing of the victims. There are similarities here
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: that are unexplainable.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray confirms the town's worst fears.
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: There's a real possibility we could be looking at a
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: serial killer.
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: Investigators fear Marianne Polreich, Carol Beeth, and Randy Levine may
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: have been murdered by the same sadistic killer.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: The pressure is terrible because you're feeling responsible if you
• 22:21
  Speaker 4: don't catch the guy and he kills again. And you
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: know he's going to kill again. And you don't know
• 22:28
  Speaker 4: where he is or even who he is. But you
• 22:31
  Speaker 4: know it's going to happen.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray begins his autopsy on Randy. His detailed study
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: of all three victims reveals a key pattern.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: There are 15 blows. These are the typical blows. associated
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: with a blunt impact causing the underlying injuries to the skull.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: She had multiple stab wounds all over her body. My
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: conclusion was that many of these were the result of
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: post-mortem injury. It's very similar to the other two cases
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: with extensive fractures of the skull and damage to the
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: underlying brain.
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: Dr. Ray's work proves to detectives they're looking for a
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: single perpetrator.
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: We realized that these three homicides were interconnected. There is
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: a person out there who has done three homicides, and
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: as long as he is free and at large, he
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: likely will commit another.
• 23:32
  Speaker 5: It appears that the killer is acting with cold, calculated rage.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: There are no fingerprints. And Randy's, the suspect, actually wiped
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: things down afterwards or wore gloves. Well, there was not
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: any signs of forced entry, but it obviously shows that
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: nobody had to force the door to come in. It
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: could conceivably be somebody who just found an open door.
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: It could conceivably be a known person who was welcomed
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: in by Randy. All indications point to the suspect coming
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: into the house while she is in bed sleeping. So
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: he obviously went there to do what he did. and
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: came prepared to accomplish his means. Somebody here had taken
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: a lot of time and had either carried out a
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: grudge or had some vendetta that they were paying her
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: back for.
• 24:28
  Speaker 5: To determine who Randy may have been with, detectives turned
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: to Dr. Ray to establish her time of death.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: She had come to the ambient temperature in the room,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: so that's likely that she was dead for two or
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: three days.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: It gives me a starting point to try to determine
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: her whereabouts at about that time.
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: Detective Peterson interviews Randy's friends about the last time they
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: saw her.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: Randy left a tavern in Bridal Trails sometime in the
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: early morning hours, 12 to 1 o'clock, 1.30, presumably to
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: drive home by herself. At about 5.30 that Friday morning,
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: her landlord was aware of a disturbance in the backyard
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: and He let his dog out, and he looked out
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: the back door. The dog went chasing after someone, and
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: he explained he saw a figure running from his house,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: wearing dark clothing, vaulted a fence, and was gone. He
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: called the police. Police came over. There was no breaking
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: and entry that they were aware of, and it was
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: dismissed as a prowler call. I believe the prowler that
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: was seen is very likely the suspect who caused the
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: injuries and death of Randy.
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: Randy's boyfriend is a person of interest.
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: She had a boyfriend, Brent, who she had dated, I guess,
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: for a period of time. Found out that they were
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: planning on a trip to the San Juan Islands that weekend.
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: Brent is the last person that I'm aware of who
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: saw Randy alive. You always have to make sure that
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: you can clear those people close to the victim. Call
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: it gut feelings, call it conversations with them. call it
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: conversation with other people who knew both Randy and him
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: and their relationship. But there was enough to take him
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: away from somebody who was thought to be a prime suspect.
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: Police consider whether suspects in the previous murders could be
• 26:31
  Speaker 5: connected to Randy's death. They bring in Carol Beeth's boyfriend, Mike,
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: for more questioning.
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: He came in with his attorney, and he submitted to
• 26:40
  Speaker 4: the blood samples, the saliva samples, anything else that we
• 26:43
  Speaker 4: wanted for lab comparison. He cooperated with us and he
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: was completely cleared and then we moved on. You know,
• 26:51
  Speaker 4: this is something that weighs on you very, very heavily.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: Our bag of tools is pretty much spent and we're
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: frustrated we're not getting anywhere.
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: But an intriguing detail in Dr. Ray's autopsy report gives
• 27:05
  Speaker 5: investigators a thin thread to follow.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: There was some bruising around one of her fingers.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: I talked to Dr. Ray and confirmed that the abrasion
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: on her finger could conceivably have been caused by somebody
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: pulling and forcing a ring off that finger.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: Detective Peterson invites one of Randy's friends over to her
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: apartment to look for that ring.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: She's aware of a ring that was given to Randy
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: by Randy's sister-in-law, and it was a very prized possession
• 27:39
  Speaker 2: of And we knew it was a gold ring. It
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: had an amethyst stone in it. She's looking through Randy's
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: possession and she says that her ring is not here.
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: The ring is very important. It's something that was taken
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: and serial killers quite often take something to bring back
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: with them and to reflect on what they have done.
• 28:04
  Speaker 5: As detectives begin the task of tracking down the missing ring,
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: They looked for what connects the three victims.
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: They were white women of about the same age. The
• 28:16
  Speaker 4: one thing they had in common was that they went
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: to the same bars in the same area of Bellevue.
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: The clientele is numerous, and they're very fluid. And they
• 28:29
  Speaker 4: exchange partners back and forth. They go there to pick
• 28:32
  Speaker 4: each other up. and relationships are formed and broken constantly.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: So it's a very complicated maze as far as tracking movements.
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: It's become very, very painstaking work.
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: Painstaking, but urgent. The killer could strike again at any time.
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: Serial killers often become more brazen over time because they
• 28:56
  Speaker 6: learn from the mistakes that they've made in previous kills.
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: It gave me sleepless nights to think, that the killer
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: would be on the loose and could hurt and kill
• 29:07
  Speaker 4: other people until he was caught.
• 29:16
  Speaker 5: The brutal homicides of Mary Ann Polreich, Carol Beeth, and
• 29:20
  Speaker 5: Randy Levine have rocked Bellevue, Washington. Police believe they are
• 29:25
  Speaker 5: facing a serial killer and are desperately trying to crack
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: the case.
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: You have to sustain yourself with the idea that that
• 29:33
  Speaker 4: you can interview 99 potential witnesses and not get anywhere,
• 29:39
  Speaker 4: and on the 100th, 100th one or the 101st one,
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: you get a bingo, and that makes it worth it.
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: Two weeks after Randy Levine is killed, a woman calls 911.
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: There's a prowler. He was trying to get into her apartment,
• 29:53
  Speaker 4: and he was angry, and she's in fear of her life.
• 29:55
  Speaker 4: He saw her on the phone calling the police, so
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: he left.
• 29:59
  Speaker 5: Police rush to the woman's home and search the area.
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: They locate a potential witness nearby.
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: The officer found him in the parking lot in a
• 30:08
  Speaker 4: red car. He explained to the officer he's living there
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: with friends. And then another officer came up and informed
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: the first officer the man has outstanding warrants.
• 30:19
  Speaker 5: The man in the car is George Russell, who had
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: been recently arrested for impersonating a police officer.
• 30:26
  Speaker 4: He was picked up. He's flashing a badge in an
• 30:29
  Speaker 4: altercation downtown. In the pat-down, they found a gun on him.
• 30:33
  Speaker 4: He's illegally carrying a weapon.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: Police run the serial number of the gun and make
• 30:39
  Speaker 5: a surprising connection.
• 30:41
  Speaker 4: The gun is stolen from a neighbor of Randy Levine's.
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: George Russell becomes a key suspect, but police don't want
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: to show their hand, so they only arrest him on
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: his previous warrants. During questionings, Investigators bring up Randy's murder.
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: George Russell had said that he knew Randy Levine and
• 31:04
  Speaker 4: apparently he had gone to her place.
• 31:08
  Speaker 5: They asked Russell where he was when Randy was killed.
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: Russell and three of his friends stayed at a Motel
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: 6 in the Totem Lake area on the night that
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: Randy was killed. The motel was about one mile from
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Randy Levine's home.
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: Russell denies knowing the second victim, Carol Beeth, but admits
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: to being at Papagayo's with a friend the night Marianne
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: Polreich was murdered.
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: He was very cooperative, very cocksure that he was there
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: strictly as somebody who might help us solve a crime
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: that he knew nothing about.
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: For detectives, pieces of the puzzle are coming together.
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: George Russell was narrowed down to the local bar scene
• 31:49
  Speaker 4: because so many people knew him and knew who he was.
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: So that was what in common he had with the
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: three women. They all had gone to those same bars
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: that he did.
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: We asked him whether or not he would agree to
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: give some body samples, fluid. And then he became very
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: irate and said, I think I want my attorney.
• 32:16
  Speaker 5: Police obtain a court order to get blood, saliva, and
• 32:19
  Speaker 5: hair samples from George Russell. But the lab moves too
• 32:24
  Speaker 5: slowly for police.
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: We can't hold him indefinitely. We've got a time limit,
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: and we don't meet that time limit.
• 32:32
  Speaker 5: He walks. Investigators track down George Russell's friend, who was
• 32:38
  Speaker 5: with him at the bar.
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: Smitty McClain was at Papagayo's the night Mary Ann Polreich disappeared.
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: George Russell asked him to borrow his truck to take
• 32:52
  Speaker 4: somebody somewhere, and he would bring it right back. He
• 32:55
  Speaker 4: gave him the keys to it. George was gone with
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: the truck for almost 10 hours.
• 33:02
  Speaker 5: Detectives believe Mary Ann and George Russell left the bar
• 33:06
  Speaker 5: together in Smitty's truck.
• 33:09
  Speaker 4: And Smitty even waited after the bar closed for George
• 33:12
  Speaker 4: to show up. Finally never did, and then later the
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: next day, George brings the truck back and makes an
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: excuse that he was driving around trying to find Smitty
• 33:24
  Speaker 4: and couldn't find him. Smitty smelled that the truck had
• 33:28
  Speaker 4: an awful smell to it, very nauseating smell. George Russell
• 33:33
  Speaker 4: explained to Smitty that he had clam chowder that he
• 33:36
  Speaker 4: threw up, made him very sick. Smitty doubted this because
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: the clam chowder is white. These are red stains. Smitty
• 33:46
  Speaker 4: revealed that he had taken the floor mats out and
• 33:49
  Speaker 4: put them in his garage because he couldn't kill the smell.
• 33:53
  Speaker 4: He did not clean them. We thought it would be
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: a very lucky break for us.
• 33:59
  Speaker 5: Police send samples from the truck seats and floor mats
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: to the state crime lab for analysis. They will be
• 34:07
  Speaker 5: compared to the samples carefully collected during Mary Ann's autopsy.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: At the time we're doing the examination, these samples may
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: not seem important, but six months later, it may become
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: very important.
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: The lab results return.
• 34:24
  Speaker 4: Fibers that were found on Marianne Polreich's body matched the
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: fibers that were found in Smitty McLean's truck. The stains
• 34:34
  Speaker 4: revealed that there was blood that had been tracked to
• 34:37
  Speaker 4: Marianne Polreich. First thought is, this is unraveling. This is
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: our guy.
• 34:43
  Speaker 5: The blood is Mary Ann's type, and the fibers prove
• 34:46
  Speaker 5: she was in contact with the truck. It's compelling evidence,
• 34:51
  Speaker 5: but detectives need more to secure a conviction.
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: He did commit three murders. We're convinced of this. We
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: haven't got total proof to charge him for all three yet,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: but there is nothing at all that would keep him
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: from having a fourth victim if he were allowed to
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: be out of jail and have freedom to roam.
• 35:13
  Speaker 4: We were at a great fear that if Judge Russell
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: got out again, he would not only disappear, he would
• 35:19
  Speaker 4: kill again, and he would keep killing.
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: Investigators believe they have caught the serial killer of Mary
• 35:32
  Speaker 5: Ann Polreich, Carol Beeth, and Randy Levine. But without more evidence,
• 35:37
  Speaker 5: he could go free.
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: If you had a chalkboard, you can picture with a
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: bunch of circles and a line with Our suspect, Russell,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: at the bottom, there'd be all kinds of lines coming
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: back to him.
• 35:48
  Speaker 5: Just one day before Russell must be released on his
• 35:51
  Speaker 5: other charges, results from the DNA analysis arrive.
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: I call it a miracle when these come in. When
• 35:57
  Speaker 4: they do, answer the prayer.
• 35:59
  Speaker 5: Russell's DNA has been compared to samples taken during Mary
• 36:03
  Speaker 5: Ann's autopsy.
• 36:05
  Speaker 4: The DNA evidence showed George Russell was likely the donor
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: of the semen. The DNA evidence came in just under
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: the wire.
• 36:14
  Speaker 5: As a result, George Russell is charged with the murder
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: of Mary Ann Pulreich.
• 36:20
  Speaker 4: There was great satisfaction in having gotten one. We had
• 36:23
  Speaker 4: two to go.
• 36:25
  Speaker 5: Detectives are still trying to track down Randy's missing ring.
• 36:29
  Speaker 5: If they can connect it to George Russell, they'll know
• 36:32
  Speaker 5: that he took it from her finger.
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: I became aware of a female that Russell had dated
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: and at one time had been stood up by George Russell.
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: And she had come in contact with George after this
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: date that was missed. He offered her and gave her
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: a ring as sort of an appeasement to say, I'm sorry,
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: I wasn't where I should have been.
• 36:59
  Speaker 5: The ring has since been sold, but Detective Peterson traces
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: it to a pawn shop in the Florida Keys.
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: We found what we think is the ring. Now I
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: have to find somebody who can positively tell me this
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: is the ring that Randy had. Randy Levine's father lived
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: in Florida, and the sister-in-law who had originally given the
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: ring to Randy lived in Florida. So they went to
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: the police station and were shown the ring and positively
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: identified it as being Randy's ring. We have a chain
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: of evidence that's indisputable as to whose ring it is,
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: the path it traveled, and connecting it to George Russell.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: A piece of the puzzle is put together.
• 37:41
  Speaker 5: With two down, now detectives need to link Russell to
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: their last victim, Carol Beeth.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: It was the thought of the prosecutor's office, if they
• 37:49
  Speaker 2: filed all three together, the likelihood of getting a conviction
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: was greater.
• 37:54
  Speaker 5: They test a few traces of hair found on Carol's
• 37:57
  Speaker 5: body and bed.
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: They're able to say it's a necroid hair, but they
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: cannot say that it belongs to our suspect. It belongs
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: to a person of that race.
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: To prove that Russell killed Carol Beeth and committed all
• 38:13
  Speaker 5: three murders, investigators highlight the similar pattern of death revealed
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: by Dr. Ray.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: There are so many similarities among the three victims. You
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: have damage to the skull with multiple fractures and underlying
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: brain damage. These were all blunt impact type injuries inflicted
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: after death. There was laceration of the livers. There seemed
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: to be an attempt to pose the body. The degree
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: of the injury was really not what is ordinarily found.
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: The fine details of the injuries Dr. Ray gave us
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: helped understanding the primary characteristics of these three murders.
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: We had sufficient information to convince the prosecutor that George
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: was a viable suspect, that they could take the trial
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: and charge for two counts of aggravated and one count
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: of first-degree murder.
• 39:18
  Speaker 5: Russell is formally charged with the murder of Mary Ann Polreich,
• 39:22
  Speaker 5: Carol Beeth, and Randy Levine. He pleads not guilty. Steve
• 39:30
  Speaker 5: Kowalsik attends the trial to learn more about what happened
• 39:33
  Speaker 5: to his friend Mary Ann.
• 39:36
  Speaker 3: They had conversations that night. And George, yeah, again, come out.
• 39:41
  Speaker 3: Come out to the truck. Let's have a drink. Nothing
• 39:43
  Speaker 3: unusual for us. We did that all the time. So
• 39:45
  Speaker 3: being kind of lured out there under those pretenses and
• 39:47
  Speaker 3: stuff like that, she would be completely unaware. You know,
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: anything could happen to her. Then you go through, what
• 39:54
  Speaker 3: was she feeling? You know, what was she experiencing and
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: how scared she must have been, you know, that somebody
• 39:59
  Speaker 3: would be attacking her like that.
• 40:02
  Speaker 5: After Russell killed Mary Ann, investigators believe he developed a
• 40:07
  Speaker 5: taste for murder.
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: I believe that George Russell was targeting Carol Beeth. He
• 40:12
  Speaker 4: had his eye on her. He came into her house.
• 40:15
  Speaker 4: He just came down the hallway with a flashlight and
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: closed the door. and he went straight into the attack.
• 40:22
  Speaker 5: Russell and Randy Levine knew each other. Russell admitted he
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: had been to her house before.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: He showed up uninvited at Randy's house and tried to
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: get in or tried to befriend her and was rejected
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: by her, telling him to get out of here. You're
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: not invited. So I think that his final actions were
• 40:44
  Speaker 2: as a result of being rejected by Randy.
• 40:49
  Speaker 5: Marianne's friend Steve is there when the jury reads the verdict.
• 40:54
  Speaker 3: They stand up and you're just sitting there. I didn't
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: think the wave of emotion would hit me as it did,
• 41:00
  Speaker 3: but when they, you know, count one, count two, count three,
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: when they're doing guilty, guilty, guilty, um, it was just
• 41:09
  Speaker 3: a explosion of emotions. I, I can't describe it. You know, we,
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: we knew it was him, but now everyone else knew
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: it was him. Um, It was extremely emotional.
• 41:22
  Speaker 5: Russell receives two sentences of life in prison without the
• 41:26
  Speaker 5: possibility of parole and one sentence of nearly 29 years
• 41:30
  Speaker 5: in prison.
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: Dr.
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: Ray's role in the role of a medical examiner's office
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: was crucial in solving the case of the George Russell murders.
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: It is definitely a partnership. It is something that is
• 41:46
  Speaker 2: very important to us Dr. Reed is helpful always. He's
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: a wonderful pathologist and a good man.
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: There was certainly some satisfaction. I said that the best
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: thing that we can do in this kind of work
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: is to do a good examination. As a medical examiner,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: I think that came through pretty well.
• 42:21
  Speaker 6: Thank you.