Serial Killer Documentary - Secret Motel Killer： Florida Serial Killer Who Targeted Tourists

0:02 The city of Punta Gorda in Central Florida was once listed by Money Magazine as the second best place in America to live. An easygoing paradise known for long, laid-back summer days. But it's not without its nightlife.

0:18 So how you doing over there? Just fine, really, I think.

0:24 Another here? Surrounding the city is a vast wilderness of tall trees and thick vegetation, the perfect spot for subtropical predators, the kinds of predators who would want to keep their activities very secret.

0:46 If you were out there, nobody could ever hear you scream.

0:56 In January 1994, two hunters head deep into these woods, known as prime hunting ground for wild hogs. But it may be that hogs aren't the only thing being hunted out here.

1:10 There's definitely foul play involved, and something really bad is going on.

1:14 An unidentified corpse is found in the Florida wilderness, and it won't be the last.

1:21 No idea who any of these people were.

1:23 The damage to the bodies suggests extreme foul play. Brutal slayings put cops on the trail of a killer who's one step ahead.

1:31 It was exactly like watching a shark circle his prey.

1:34 To catch him, they'll use every trick in the book and risk the life of one of their own. A residential development goes belly up, leaving the forests around Punta Gorda, Florida, shot through with paved roads to nowhere. These roads give hunters easy access to terrain known as the hog trails. And today, they lead Rick Hobbs of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Department to a corpse. Joining him is Jim Myers, a state investigator with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

2:52 The most typical things that we deal with here in Charlotte County are generally thefts and burglaries, arguments, things of that nature.

3:00 We don't have that much in terms of violent crime.

3:03 Authorities fear the status quo has just changed. But in trying to determine if this is a case of murder, they face an extreme uphill battle.

3:15 Bodies in the state of Florida, especially that and later time of year, they decompose rapidly. because of the moisture, the heat. Out in the wooded area, you've got animals, insects. So it doesn't take very long for a body to decompose down to skeletal remains.

3:35 That can happen within a matter of weeks.

3:41 The lack of any clothing or personal effects on the victim heightened police suspicions.

3:48 And there was just nothing there, just the body.

3:53 At the Charlotte County morgue, the medical examiner seeks to learn how the victim met his fate.

3:59 We logged the remains as John Doe, because we did not know the name. And after documenting all the external evidence, whatever was there in the remains, we performed the autopsy.

4:17 There were some indications during the examination of strangulation.

4:21 They found some.

4:22 Possible indications of some ligature marks.

4:26 On the neck and the arms and the legs.

4:30 Though exactly what happened is unclear, all signs point to homicide. The next step is to identify the victim, and it won't be easy.

4:41 When you have skeletal remains or a body that's found in a remote area with nothing else, you have to go back to... The very basics, we had to start from scratch.

4:55 We know he's a white male. I believe he was around 5'9, if I remember correctly. He was probably in his late 20s, early 30s. Dark hair.

5:08 Investigators scour missing persons' reports. The corpse's teeth are x-rayed and compared to dental records, but to no avail.

5:16 I actually had a partial fingerprint from the victim. That was difficult, though, because it was only a partial print from one finger.

5:25 Off the decomposed body.

5:27 I had that submitted to the automatic fingerprint identification system to see if there was any possible matches on that.

5:39 Then the examiner finds an unusual clue, a steel pin lodged in the victim's left leg, and it's marked with a serial number. But in the 1990s, no reliable records were kept of such implants. Having hit a dead end, authorities now turn to a forensic skull reconstructionist. Photographs and measurements of the victim's skull are entered into a computer.

6:05 The combined sciences of anatomy, osteology, and anthropology are then utilized to create a composite impression of the victim's facial features.

6:16 We got composite back for something to show the public to try to see if anyone recognized this individual.

6:29 The composite is circulated through the media, but no one comes forward. After months of intense efforts, police have a victim they still can't identify. But Rick Hobbs keeps trying.

6:41 I would physically go in and pull each piece of evidence and examine it, I would go through each lab report to see if there was anything that we may have collected that for some reason or other didn't get processed.

6:57 But despite his best endeavors, the case eventually goes cold. At least no other bodies have turned up in the time since John Doe was discovered. But all that changes on New Year's Day, 1996.

7:16 What do you got there, boy?

7:18 When a dog owned by Northport resident Wayne Brown makes a strange discovery.

7:24 His dog brought home a human head and was chewing on it on his front lawn.

7:29 The hog trails have offered up a second victim. How many more may be out there? Investigation into the mysterious death of a John Doe in Florida has gone cold. No sooner has the case been set aside when another grim discovery is made in a neighboring county. Detective Tom Schwanier of the Northport Police takes the call.

8:01 The skull, as it was found in the yard, was missing the lower jaw portion. The upper teeth were intact, and there was a minute amount of flesh still on the skull. The first thing that comes to a detective's mind is, where'd it come from?

8:16 Where's the rest of it?

8:18 So our first step is to find the rest of the body. It was an area of very few houses, and there was a lot.

8:28 Of vacant roads there. We divided the.

8:30 Area up into blocks. We had law enforcement officers from several agencies, and what we did is we did block-by-block grid search.

8:40 Days pass with no luck.

8:44 I found something!

8:45 Then... an officer wanders into an unsearched area.

8:49 There was bones, spine, rib cage. There was fleshy skin still on part of the rib cage and on one of the arms, I believe it was a right arm. We weren't really sure what circumstances we had, but we have to treat any of these scenes as the possible worst-case scenario. We called in the FDLE forensics teams that conduct their crime scene search.

9:14 They put stakes up. And they go over every square.

9:17 Inch with a fine-tooth comb to see what exactly is mixed in with the bones and the remains. And then they search the ground underneath all the remains, possible jewelry, bullets. There's no end to what may be of evidentiary value in one of these scenes. And we did find a lower jaw portion, too, through our search.

9:41 But what Schwenier doesn't find is also crucial to his assessment of the case.

9:45 The first thing that keyed in on me was lack of clothing. We found absolutely no evidence of that scene other than the body and.

9:53 Some skin on it.

9:55 Somebody brought him here or somebody probably killed him here.

10:02 An autopsy is conducted. Though the coroner's report is inconclusive, investigators are convinced of the worst.

10:09 We definitely felt it was a homicide. We had no hard evidence to say how this person was killed.

10:15 But as investigators, we're leaning towards homicide.

10:20 Investigators determine the body has been in the woods at least six months. But in all that time, no one matching its height or probable age has been reported missing. Now police in two counties have anonymous victims, their cause of death unknown. Nine weeks later on March 7th, 1996, just three miles from where the bones of John Doe number two were found, a motorist pulls off the highway to relieve himself. And the case takes another turn.

11:01 John Doe number three was found in a very, very similar area as John Doe number two. This body was mostly intact, laying on his back, his arms flailed out to his side, totally naked.

11:15 There is no question this man was murdered. And Schwinier gets a shocking new clue when he sees that John Doe number three has been horribly mutilated.

11:26 It was obvious his genitalia had been removed. Insects take the easiest route of penetration into a body. They'll go into any orifice, mouth, eyes. There's a gunshot wound, a stabbing wound. This is where the insects will infiltrate a body.

11:43 And this is where they were.

11:44 They were in the groin area.

11:46 Authorities try to fathom what kind of deranged killer they're dealing with.

11:50 Obviously, when you have genitals removed, that was an identifier that there's definitely some kind of a sexual deviancy involved.

12:00 A search of the crime scene soon sheds light on a psychopath's terrifying M.O.

12:05 It was a ligature mark around the tree at throat level. There was some at hand level, and there was also some about where the ankles and shins would.

12:16 Be on the tree.

12:18 Very obvious when you looked at them as to what happened there. This victim was tied to this tree. Now we have two naked dead men out in the woods. There's definitely foul play involved. Something really bad was going on.

12:37 When Rick Hobbs gets wind of the murders in Northport County, his cold case suddenly warms up.

12:43 I grabbed my case file and I went up to Northport and sat down with Tom and we started comparing our cases. Now we could see the similarities between not only John Doe number one and John Doe number three, but it also brought in John Doe number two. When we were looking at one another's crime scene photos, If you didn't know which scene you were looking at, you couldn't tell them apart.

13:16 Hobbs and Schwinnier revisit the first two crime scenes, only five miles apart. In both cases, they find the link they're looking for.

13:25 We started seeing the striation marks on the trees, and I suspect we have a problem.

13:33 The investigators are forced to confront the obvious. They're dealing with a serial killer. When the story breaks in the media, the entire region is gripped in fear.

13:44 When we have a death, an unusual death in this area, I mean, it's going to be on the front page.

13:51 The community is not used to crimes like this being committed, and there was a lot of worried and nervous citizens out there.

14:01 Pressure mounts on authorities to stop a madman before he kills again. Unable to identify their latest victim, police seek another way to move things forward. They turn to profiler Wayne Porter for help in the case. The brutalized state of the corpses convinces Porter that they're dealing with a particularly vicious criminal, a sexual sadist.

14:25 A sexual sadist is an individual that would in fact do harm to the individual while they are still alive. And that harm many times is to the genitalia.

14:38 Wayne, if you can give us a read on that, you know.

14:41 The ligature marks on the trees give Porter an idea of a killer's motivation.

14:47 Bondage with sexual sadists is a very common characteristic. You will find bondage magazines in their past history. Bondage is one of the facets of the fantasy. It's part of the gasoline that runs the fantasy.

15:09 One of the.

15:10 Commonalities of sexual sadism is these individuals like to document their crimes. They will videotape, they will take photographs.

15:30 To stop a monster in their midst, law enforcement agencies from all over the state band together and create a task force. They take over a vacant store in a shopping mall and centralize operations.

15:42 We had upwards of 50 and 60 people working out of there. So I had myself and then Jim Myers from FDLE, Tom Swarnier from Northport, No.

16:03 Sooner has the task force established itself when Hobbs receives disturbing news.

16:11 Sheriff's office received a call early on the morning of April the 17th from a county survey crew.

16:20 Yeah, we'll be right there.

16:21 Okay.

16:22 They discovered part of a human body lying back in the woods. Guys, let's go.

16:28 Something's up.

16:29 For the hog trail murder investigators, it seems the woods of Central Florida are full of dead bodies. Only this time, dead men will start telling tales. Three men have been found dead in the Florida hog trails, killed by the same deranged sexual sadist. Now police are back investigating John Doe number four.

16:55 We saw something.

16:57 Kind of round, laying on the ground, and looking closer, it was definitely a human head.

17:05 Among the other remains is the victim's decomposed torso. It's this grisly find that provides investigators with their first break.

17:14 There was a very noticeable tattoo from the shoulder area. It was a very good clue as far as identifying somebody. Tattoo was just like, almost like a fingerprint, no tour alike. I'll use different dyes, different colors. So we felt this will help us identify this individual.

17:32 Hobbs walks deeper into the woods in search of more evidence.

17:36 Off in the distance I can see something.

17:40 As I start getting a little closer now I can see it's carpet padding.

17:44 So my first thought is.

17:49 Do I have.

17:50 A homeless guy sleeping in the woods? But the thing that really said, uh-oh, was I could see blood.

17:59 Tom, get over here.

18:01 Lifted up the carpet padding, and there we had the remains of a white male.

18:13 And he didn't appear.

18:14 Like he had been there very long, maybe 12 hours.

18:17 He was really fresh, so to speak.

18:22 We could clearly see the ligature marks on the neck, ligature marks on the arms, around the biceps, and along the calves.

18:34 I hate to say it, but this helps.

18:37 His cause of death was suffocation, probably most likely from the strangulation from the ligature marks that were discovered around the neck. The removal of the genitals appeared to be post-mortem.

18:57 Not only has the serial killer struck again, his spree appears to be escalating. Authorities now have two new bodies from which to glean evidence. They begin with the tattoo found on John Doe number four.

19:11 We decided to take that piece of skin and photograph it.

19:21 The tattoo was released to the news media and it was on the television stations and it was printed in the newspapers.

19:28 Hobbs' tactic pays off.

19:31 Hi, this is Theresa Smith.

19:34 Is there someone I can talk to you about a tattoo in the newspaper? Once we had John Doe number four identified as Kenny Smith from Naples in Collier County, Florida, that gave us a whole new avenue of investigation. We could go and say, well, who knows him? Who hangs out with him? What's he do? Where's he work?

19:55 Kenny Smith was basically a street person.

19:59 He went from shelter to shelter, job to job, did a lot of drinking, a lot of partying, drugs.

20:05 Authorities take another look at the first three victims. and a pattern emerges.

20:11 When the medical examiner examines the body, he can tell a lot about how a person lives by the conditions of the organs and the teeth. And everything indicated that these were people who lived on the street.

20:25 Could it be that the killer deliberately targets the down and out in hopes of keeping his victims nameless? Further investigation of Kenny Smith yields no answers. Police now pin their hopes on John Doe number five.

20:45 We took some latent fingerprints from him and ran them through the automated fingerprint identification system. He had some past arrests.

20:57 John Doe number five is ID'd as Richard Montgomery, also a street person. Hobbs tracks down Montgomery's mother, who happens to have some very interesting information about her son's final hours. She said something about somebody offering him some money to pose nude.

21:15 Something about the man driving a Capri, a blue Capri.

21:21 She tells police that Montgomery went to meet this man and was never seen again.

21:26 The person was selecting transients and panhandlers for one reason, and it's because there's no one to witness the fact that she picked him up.

21:44 After more than two years of investigation, the task force has an M.O. and a profile of their killer. What they don't have is a suspect. Now, A man who took a ride with death is about to provide them with one. Hi there.

22:05 Can I talk to you for a minute?

22:16 Five men of no fixed address are murdered within a 10-mile radius of each other, and police still have no suspect. But when news of the homicides reaches state prison inmate David Pate he contacts authorities with an astonishing tale.

22:38 Mr.

22:38 Peyton M. Myers, why don't you go ahead and tell me your story?

22:43 So there's this guy, pulls up to me in a blue car.

22:47 Yeah, this will be fun.

22:48 We'll kick back, have a few cold beers.

22:52 A little weed. That sounds good to me, man. Yeah, hey, care for some of these?

22:57 These right here.

22:59 I am.

23:01 Sweet, man.

23:02 He drives out sort of into the woods, almost in the middle of nowhere.

23:07 Guy offers me more money.

23:09 He says if he can tie me up, take pictures of me for some men's magazine.

23:13 How do you feel about if we get a little more creative with the photographs?

23:19 I agree to it, but I'm feeling a little nervous about this whole situation.

23:25 He gets the car stuck.

23:26 In a ditch.

23:28 Man, it's okay.

23:29 I'll get it, and I'll give us a push.

23:30 No!

23:30 No, no.

23:31 You stay here.

23:32 I'll push.

23:34 All right, well, I'll just drive it then.

23:36 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

23:37 You drive.

23:42 During the course of the time he was in the vehicle, he started looking around and saw a bag that was in the back seat that had items like duct tape, some ropes, a blue tarp, a large, tight knife.

23:57 And with what he had seen inside the vehicle and the way the guy had acted, when he had the opportunity, he was behind the wheel of the car. When they got it free, he took off in the car, leaving the guy out there in the woods.

24:18 Peyton may have cheated death, but he couldn't outrun the law.

24:24 He got the vehicle and went back to Fort Myers, and by this time, the drug and the booze was really acting on him, and he actually fell asleep. And by this time, the subject had filled out a stolen vehicle report with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. The Fort Myers Police Department found the vehicle, and Mr. Payton was arrested for grand theft auto. And that's what he was serving time on. It was a grand theft auto from the subject's vehicle.

24:53 He provided some very specific information, which allowed us to go back through records and get an identity on the person that he said took him out into the woods. That person was found to be a guy by the name of Daniel Conahan.

25:16 Police soon locate Conahan and put him under surveillance. A background check proves very revealing.

25:23 Upon reviewing his records from the armed services, the Navy, it was determined that he was discharged for trying to commit exosotomy on other sailors.

25:33 Conahan later moved to Chicago, where authorities tracked down and interview an old roommate.

25:39 He actually was able to identify to us what Mr. Conahan had stated as one of his fantasies, and that fantasy is to... pick up an individual like a hitchhiker and take him to a wooded area, tie him up and have sex with him.

25:58 Leaving a trail of deviant sexual behavior in his wake, Conahan moves from Chicago back to Punta Gorda.

26:06 His parents were elderly and they weren't in the best of health. He moved back to help care for his parents.

26:12 Further investigation reveals that upon returning to Florida, Conahan trained as a nurse which could account for the skillful mutilation of the victims. It looks like police have their man.

26:27 He was our key suspect at the time based on what we had learned.

26:32 Now they need hard evidence to nail him.

26:36 We started a 24-hour surveillance on him to determine, you know, what his patterns, his travel patterns, daily activity was.

26:48 Cameras are mounted on telephone poles outside his residence.

26:57 In watching the surveillance video, when Mr. Cunningham would bring his backpack out, and he would stop and he would set that backpack on top of that blue car. And then he would usually stand there and smoke a cigarette.

27:10 And we believe that that backpack may contain what we refer to as tools of the trades, very similar to what Mr. Payton had described.

27:19 Some people call it a murder kit. I call it a treasure chest. And this treasure chest includes the weapons that he's going to use, the bindings that will be used, any equipment that might be needed in this assault.

27:37 Investigators follow the dutiful son as he drives his mother to and from her senior's home. They also track his less wholesome activities.

27:46 He'd drive by one of the soup kitchens or drive by one of the homeless shelters, and he was like cruising. He was looking for exactly what we thought. He was looking for a homeless person or somebody who's hanging around the dumpsters.

27:57 Or in one of the back alleys.

27:59 Another term I would use is hunting. It's exactly like watching a shark.

28:03 Circle its prey.

28:04 Armed with information about the route Conahan travels, authorities make a bold move. They place an undercover officer disguised as a homeless man right in his path.

28:15 We put undercover detective Ray Weir out on a corner where he would go by that location, coming back to or from visiting his mother.

28:27 Weir mans his post, hoping to lure the target.

28:33 Pull him back around.

28:35 OK, I know. I see him coming.

28:37 He's coming. He's back? No, he's coming your way.

28:41 Just from here? Yeah. He's leaving.

28:44 He's probably going to head home.

28:49 Finally, after weeks on the job, Conahan takes the bait.

28:54 He made contact.

28:56 He stopped his vehicle.

28:57 Hi.

28:57 How are you tonight? Good.

29:01 Good, good.

29:02 I'm Dan.

29:03 Dan Conahan. Nice to meet you, Dan.

29:06 He was eerie to me, and I felt there was something wrong with him.

29:10 What?

29:10 I didn't know.

29:11 Listen, if you're looking for work, I could probably help you out.

29:15 Yeah.

29:16 Well, listen, it'd be. At that point in.

29:21 Time, he says something to the effect that, well, there'd be some progressive bondage shots.

29:26 I don't know if you're into that.

29:27 Again, I told him, well, the money talks.

29:29 You got the cash. I need it. You know, we'll try it, whatever it takes. It's easy money.

29:36 Sure.

29:37 Yeah?

29:38 All right.

29:38 Come on in.

29:39 Yeah.

29:40 A cop drives into the hog trails with suspected serial killer Daniel Conahan. Will he make it out alive? Five corpses have been mutilated and abandoned in the Florida woods. After two and a half years of dead ends, police have zeroed in on suspect Daniel Conahan. Now, Conahan has another victim in his car, but doesn't know it's undercover cop Ray Weir.

30:10 I told him I was staying out back in the woods. I told him to come out to my camp. I drove all the way out there, parked it, he parked his car, walked up, I had a couple chairs set up, and he sat down and we started talking.

30:26 So when are we gonna take these pictures you were talking about?

30:30 I don't know, it sounds kind of fun.

30:33 Could it be?

30:36 Conahan is also unaware that this location has been staked out by police.

30:41 We had SWAT concealed in the woods.

30:44 He started getting a little nervous, and he was with that backpack. So they were watching that, I'd hate for my friends to find out about this.

31:05 But I gotta admit, I could sure use that money.

31:10 It's not gonna hurt or anything, is it?

31:11 I gotta go.

31:19 Where you going?

31:22 I can't say why he called it off. I believe it's because he wasn't in control. He wasn't in his element.

31:31 Authorities missed their best chance so far to catch Conahan red-handed, and they're running out of options. Surveillance of this magnitude is too costly to sustain for long. Time for a new direction.

31:47 Mr.

31:47 Conahan's been offering money. So we get his financial records. We get his bank statements.

31:54 We get his credit card records.

31:56 Now we started seeing a series of purchases. of particular items, rope, tape, tarps, film, knives, pliers, and cameras. And there seem to be intervals on these purchases.

32:18 Intervals that coincide with the timelines of some of the murders. Finally, police have the compelling connection they need to execute a search warrant on Conahan's home.

32:32 First we photograph, then we make a sketch of the area. If we're gonna do vacuum sweepings, which in this case we.

32:38 Did, that would be one of the first.

32:39 Things we would do.

32:44 We did see a backpack and found a backpack we thought was significant that matched some of the description of what we had seen during surveillance when he was coming to and from his vehicle. A lot of times he would have this backpack.

32:57 The murder kit they hope to find is not in the backpack. but a number of suspicious objects are found in the home.

33:04 We did find a knife.

33:05 We did find some rope. We did find some Polaroid pictures and film. We found the components, but they weren't in his bag.

33:13 Meanwhile, police intercept Conahan and bring him to a second location for questioning.

33:18 Hello? Hi, how you doing? Wow, much better.

33:22 Yeah.

33:23 I'm Special Agent Porter from the governor's office.

33:27 Do you recognize this man? I've never seen that man before in my life.

33:32 You're quite sure about that, sir.

33:34 Take a close look. Well, I just told you, I've never seen him before. You have a.

33:38 Past record of history of a molestation back in Chicago.

33:43 Can you explain that? Well, as a matter of fact, I can explain that.

33:47 That involves.

33:51 A misunderstanding within.

33:53 within an existing relationship.

33:55 He was asked if he did the crime, if he was there, if he knew the victims. He was always on guard during the interview, very evasive in his answers. Have you ever participated.

34:13 In bonding?

34:14 No.

34:17 I've been looking at magazines.

34:19 I've seen some movies.

34:20 I have never tied anybody out. Porter continues to press Conahan while the search team descends on his blue Mercury Capri.

34:29 It had a paint job that was peeling.

34:32 We took paint samplings from the chips and did scrapings from the paint.

34:41 There was fibers found from his house and his car.

34:43 Fibers that may be transferable to our victims.

34:49 Your pictures will be plastered over the paper.

34:52 Now, what do you think is going.

34:53 To happen with all the people you may.

34:56 Have come in contact with when they call in and they say, yeah.

35:01 We went out to the woods.

35:02 He said he had a fantasy.

35:04 Yeah, he took my photograph.

35:05 If we get something.

35:06 Like that, It won't look good.

35:10 It won't be good.

35:13 Mind your rest. Now, Mr. Conahan, you're free to go. So I'm free to go? Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Goodbye. He was pleasant, cold, and calculating.

35:27 The interview did not seem to impress him very much.

35:32 The search of Conahan's home and vehicle yields several items of interest. Including unusual rope fibers police hope will match those recovered from the crime scenes.

35:43 We did not find any evidence that would clearly identify him as a person responsible.

35:48 For our crimes. In this high-stakes game of cat and mouse, the mouse appears to be winning. Hobbs sends out a police bulletin to all jurisdictions in Central Florida. describing the murders and asking for any information that may help his case. The bulletin catches the attention of Officer Pedro Soto.

36:17 I'm in awe.

36:18 I'm in shock.

36:19 I'm looking at it.

36:20 I'm going like, oh my god. Soto immediately contacts the Charlotte County Sheriff.

36:25 And I said, you know, this is amazing. I had a crime scene just like this two years ago. You guys know about it?

36:33 And I told him, I said, well, I had sent out teletypes and phone calls. Anybody that had any similar deaths, you know, give me a call. He says, oh, our guy didn't die.

36:42 He lived. I went, what?

36:47 Officer Soto tells Hobbs of the time he was called to assist an assault victim who showed up at a local hospital.

36:54 He had obvious ligature marks around his neck.

36:59 His chest and his.

37:01 Arms and legs. The victim, Stanley Burden, told Soto the chilling story of a man in a blue capri.

37:08 The individual asked him if he could take naked photographs of him tied to a tree for $ 200.

37:16 Mr.

37:17 Burden agreed and went with the individual to the wooded area.

37:22 This will be good.

37:23 What are you doing?

37:24 This will be good right here.

37:25 Let's just wait. Just wait.

37:26 Just wait. And the individual then attempted to sodomize him.

37:33 Mr.

37:33 Burden stated that he resisted.

37:35 Stop it!

37:36 Stop!

37:37 And when he was dying, the individual got angry at him.

37:41 Die, you son of a bitch!

37:43 Die!

37:44 An approaching car scared the assailant off, leaving Burden for dead tied to a tree in the middle of nowhere.

37:54 He threw down a pair of pliers. Individual got into his van and he drove away.

38:01 Mr.

38:01 Burden then was able to get loose, reach for the pliers, cut himself loose.

38:10 Burden ran out to the highway and flagged a ride to the hospital. He was never able to give a comprehensive description of his assailant.

38:18 There really weren't many avenues we could have followed. In terms of investigating the case, that's as far as we could have gone.

38:27 With nothing more to go on, the unsolved crime went cold, was filed, and forgotten.

38:36 So given this new information from Detective Soto, he provided us with copies of the pictures and a copy of the police report, and gave us information on the victim in that case, which turned out to be Stanley Burden. We did a background on him to find out where he was, and he was incarcerated in.

38:51 Columbus, Ohio.

38:54 He was provided a photo lineup of Daniel Conahan in the Correctional Institute where I interviewed him, and he immediately picked him out without any hesitation whatsoever.

39:03 He said, that is the subject that did this to me.

39:05 It's like getting somebody off the autopsy table and telling you what happened to him. That's exactly what this guy was. He was somebody that should have been killed. He should have been laying in the woods with the bugs eating him, and here he was sitting there telling us exactly what happened to him and how he got away from this guy.

39:19 You have the right to remain silent.

39:22 On July 3rd, 1996, Daniel Conahan is arrested for the attempted murder of Stanley Burden.

39:29 Do you understand these rights as they've been read to you?

39:32 Yes.

39:36 And there was no surprise on his face when myself and Jim Myers walked in and I told him he was under arrest.

39:44 And he just got in the car and away we went.

39:49 Police have finally caught their killer. But there's no guarantee they can bring him to justice. After 31 months of intense statewide investigation, police have arrested Daniel Conahan for crimes against Stanley Burton.

40:13 We had a positive ID. We had a good statement. We had the evidence from the crime scene.

40:19 And ended up securing an arrest warrant for Mr. Conahan, attempted murder, sexual battery, and kidnapping.

40:37 But with five men dead, investigators are determined to nail Conahan for full-blown homicide. Taking one last look at the case forensics, they re-examine hair comings from Richard Montgomery's body and find something extraordinary.

40:53 There appeared to be a paint chip, a small piece of paint chip that was in his pubic hair area, remaining pubic hair area on his body. That was sent off along with the paint chips that we obtained from the Mercury Capri to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Crime Laboratory for analysis. See if that was a match.

41:24 From that sample taken from the pubic area of Mr. Montgomery was that that match and all characteristics the paint standard provided from the Mercury Capri.

41:37 This final forensic piece of the puzzle allows prosecutors to add a new charge against Conahan, the first degree murder of Richard Montgomery. In court, Conahan vigorously insists he's innocent, claiming that he's being railroaded simply because he's gay. The prosecution's evidence accumulates quickly.

41:59 The area was quite densely wooded, a mixture of scrub.

42:02 Brush and the badly decomposed body of an adult male.

42:07 That made him very nervous.

42:08 Some rope, tarp, I believe a hunting knife that he mentioned.

42:14 And as Mr.

42:14 Conahan... The idea of a sexual sadist is one who rapes... And.

42:19 Finally, for good measure, prosecutors bring out their smoking gun. Mr. Burden, would you please show the courtroom your neck? August 17th, 1999. After just 25 minutes of deliberation, Judge William Blackwell finds Daniel Conahan guilty of kidnapping and first degree murder. He's sentenced to die. To this day, Conahan insists he's innocent, but police are satisfied they've got the right man. None of the photographs he's believed to have taken of his victims have ever been found.

43:03 You know, it's my opinion that Daniel Cahn in hand doesn't have a guilt feeling in his whole body.

43:11 There is no remorse.

43:12 None has ever been shown that I'm aware of. This is a man that enjoyed the pain, the suffering, and the death of other individuals, human beings. Why he did this, I don't know if we'll ever know.

43:34 And as Conahan sits on death row, awaiting his fate, authorities still wonder how many more victims are yet to be found along the hog trails of Charlotte County. California's Yosemite National Park. a spectacular wildlife sanctuary that attracts millions of nature lovers every year.

44:10 Nobody thinks bad things happen in places like this.

44:14 But this year would prove otherwise. In February of 1999, Carol's son, her daughter, and a family friend visit Yosemite.

44:26 Mother's spider.

44:28 No, I'm just joking.

44:32 They spend the 14th and 15th hiking and seeing the sights, returning each night to their motel. They are scheduled to meet up with Carol's husband the morning of the 16th. But they would never make it. Three missing women.

45:01 It was as if they had fallen off the face of the earth.

45:04 A desperate search.

45:05 There were no clear clues as to what had happened to these people.

45:09 A disappearance that shocks America.

45:15 It's probably the strangest and one of the most chilling cases I've ever covered in my 20 years as a journalist.

45:23 And puts police on the trail of a master manipulator determined to outsmart them. Carol's son, her 15-year-old daughter Julie, and family friend Silvina Peloso have failed to show up for a rendezvous with Carol's husband Jens at the San Francisco airport.

46:29 Carol's son was the type of person who kept to a very strict calendar. She was someone who was always on time, where she was supposed to be when she was supposed to be there.

46:45 The anxious husband and father calls room 509 of the Cedar Lodge Motel where the women were staying. After several failed attempts to reach them, he contacts local authorities.

47:08 The hotel room was found in a typical state of someone who's left their hotel room. They had two double beds, and the double beds had prepared to be slept in and unmade. There were bath towels that were wet and used on the floor and on the rack. There was nothing really remarkable about the room.

47:31 Investigators quickly discover that Carol's son's rental car is gone, and it hasn't been returned to the agency. Police have room 509 sealed as a precaution. But with no apparent signs of foul play, they consider other possibilities.

47:53 The theory that was most predominant would be they had a car accident.

48:00 It was wintertime. The roads were slick. There had been snow.

48:07 We have had numerous vehicles that have gone off our roadways. We have had several deaths, so that is a very realistic possibility.

48:18 Agencies across the state join forces to scour the vast forested area around Yosemite. At the same time, police visit Mr. Sun.

48:28 Mr.

48:28 Sun, good day.

48:29 Yes, how are you?

48:30 Detective Sun.

48:31 Good to meet you.

48:31 Molly, I just have a few questions.

48:32 To ask you.

48:33 Investigators press Sun for any information that might help explain his wife's disappearance.

48:38 No problems, no quarrels.

48:41 Could marital difficulties lie at the heart of things? Police think not.

48:51 There was not a lot of weight given to the possibility that Carol would have simply disappeared of her own accord, in part because she was traveling with the two girls and she had left behind her other children with Jens. And everything that we were learning about Carol suggested that she was a dedicated mother and a responsible person.

49:15 With the clock ticking and still no sign of Carol Sun's car, police worry about finding the women in time.

49:23 It was just a dramatic, intense need to find these people before something, you know, permanent had happened to them.

49:33 Days had passed, and there had been Large search parties searching for any clues, and nothing was coming up.

49:42 Could something have been missed at the Cedar Lodge? The FBI takes charge of the case, sending Special Agents Chris Hopkins and Jeff Reinick to visit the motel. Together, they assess room 509.

50:03 We had a missing blanket. a missing pillowcase, items left behind in the rooms. But we didn't find any significant evidence to say this is in fact a crime scene.

50:18 The FBI now turns its attention to guests and staff.

50:23 We were working at the Cedar Lodge, interviewing employees, interviewing hotel guests, trying to do the best we could to find out whether or not anything had happened there.

50:35 From these interviews, Agent Nick Rossi pieces together a rough timeline. A park ranger remembers seeing the women over the course of two days. They appeared to be having a great time.

50:51 They had their first excursion in the park on February 14th. They returned to the park on February 15th.

50:59 We had witnesses at the Cedar Lodge that saw them eating their dinner there on February 15th.

51:07 The waitress who served them recalls the trio was in high spirits.

51:12 The family also rented two videos from the front desk.

51:16 And The last time they were seen alive was at approximately 7.30 or so in the evening on February 15th.

51:30 For all the FBI's questions, no unusual behavior, strange encounters, or anything untoward concerning the women is reported. Then, agents learn that someone besides Carol Sund had access to room 509 before she and the girls disappeared. they take the motel locksmith into custody.

51:52 He had rekeyed the locks on the door for Carol's hotel room. This individual had a brother who worked at another nearby hotel who had a prior conviction for sexual assault on children.

52:12 The employee claims his innocence and agrees to a polygraph. While it's being administered, Hopkins pays a second visit to the motel.

52:25 And again, we didn't find any significant evidence.

52:29 The room is clean. Maybe too clean. And when the polygraph reveals no evidence of deceit, agents are forced to release their first and only suspect.

52:44 After February 15th, There was no established timeline. It was as if they had fallen off the face of the earth.

52:52 Authorities find themselves back at square one, unaware that the case is about to take an alarming turn. Carol's son. Her daughter Julie and family friend Silvina Peloso have been missing for three days. Search base, team six. Search and rescue operations have yielded nothing, nor has an FBI investigation into possible foul play. But now, 100 miles away in the city of Modesto, the case is turned on its head when a student finds a wallet at a downtown intersection.

53:45 Inside is ID belonging to Carol Sund.

53:51 Once the wallet was found in Modesto, it opened a whole new range of possibilities. Everything from a possible carjacking to a kidnapping. There were lots of different theories about what may have happened.

54:08 Theories collide with reality when a car is pulled over for a missing license plate. The vehicle belongs to Modesto resident Michael Larwick.

54:27 It was a routine traffic stop. And the question that it begs is, why did Larwick react the way he did?

54:42 Larwick is arrested after an 18-hour standoff at his house. And while he's in custody, police receive an anonymous tip.

54:56 Yeah, Rossi here.

54:58 The caller tells them to take a close look at Larwick and his half-brother, Eugene Dykes, in connection with the San Peloso disappearance.

55:06 And they were very good suspects. They had a lot of assaults. They had a lot of sexual assaults, kidnappings.

55:12 Mr.

55:12 Dykes was in custody at the time that Mick Larwick was engaged in his shootout with police because he had just recently been arrested for possession of a firearm.

55:25 So they fit all the criteria that this investigation originally needed.

55:30 The investigation suddenly has two prime suspects.

55:34 I need to know where these women are.

55:36 Larwick and Dykes are subjected to non-stop interrogation by FBI agents, desperate to find the women alive.

55:43 And you don't know anything about it?

55:45 Larwick is uncooperative.

55:46 No, I don't remember.

55:48 And denies any involvement. That's not good enough! Now where are they? But after hours of grilling, Dykes starts telling a different story. Where?

55:59 That's when Dykes first began speaking of what he claimed was his involvement in this case.

56:08 Eventually, Dykes signs a confession admitting his participation in the women's disappearance. But what he doesn't tell investigators is what they most want to know.

56:21 Open 12.

56:23 Where is the missing mother and two teenage girls? Close 12. Agent Hopkins vacuums Larwick's car, looking for physical evidence tying the half-brothers to the crime.

56:41 The FBI laboratory found hairs and fibers, one of which was an orange acrylic fiber.

56:49 Unfortunately, no matching hairs or fibers are recovered from room 509 of the Cedar Lodge.

56:59 Then.

56:59 On March 18th, 100 miles away from Modesto, in remote woods beyond the town of Long Barn, a hiker makes a chilling discovery.

57:11 He noticed that the vehicle was badly burned, but he went down and got the license plate from the vehicle and called it in to the California Highway Patrol. They ran the license plate and immediately realized it was Carol's son's missing vehicle.

57:32 There was no original surface remaining on the car, on the interior of the car and the exterior of the car. All the paint had boiled off and rolled off the frame of the car.

57:44 The seats had all been burnt up.

57:47 I could see through the passenger compartment into the trunk compartment.

57:52 Let's try and get in the trunk. And upon opening the trunk.

57:59 I could see that we had remains of human beings.

58:06 Distraught when they discover charred remains in the trunk of Carol's son's rental car.

58:15 I have seen lots of burned bodies, but I have not seen anything to the extent that was involved in this case. There was not a lot left. It wasn't like looking at a normal body that you would find because the intense heat had destroyed most.

58:35 Of the body.

58:36 It was clear that we have a homicide case working out.

58:42 Authorities want answers. The car itself offers the first disturbing clue.

58:50 We could tell that this vehicle was intended to be burned. The passenger rear door was left ajar so that it would create a vent so that it would help oxygenate the fire.

59:06 They had placed the bodies in the trunk. They had taken the effort to douse the car with some kind of flammable material and then set it ablaze.

59:20 The heat of the fire was so intense that picking up some of their remains, their skeletal remains, the bones would just turn to dust.

59:28 In our hands.

59:34 As the investigation continues in the field, the remains arrive at the morgue for positive identification. Pathologists analyze the many fragments, paying special attention to the teeth.

59:48 We had already in our possession the dental records for Carol and Julie's son. We took the dental records to a forensic odontologist, and the forensic odontologist identified one of our victims as Carol's son.

1:00:04 Forensic experts also have the means to identify Silvina Peloso.

1:00:10 We had DNA samples taken from her parents. They had flown up to our area.

1:00:19 Authorities at the crime scene retrieve some evidence when they find a girl's running shoe. And something even more compelling.

1:00:30 In doing the search around the vehicle, we found additional evidence to include Carol's son's purse and her fanny pack that had cameras in it.

1:00:38 Investigators puzzle over their killer's profile. Was he sloppy or devious?

1:00:44 This was a person who had gone to some lengths to destroy evidence of their crime. And yet, this was someone who had not gone to the pains of collecting and destroying other evidence that was found nearby.

1:01:00 But all speculation is set aside when word comes back from the morgue.

1:01:04 Yeah.

1:01:05 It turns out only two of the victims were in the car. Julie Sund is still unaccounted for.

1:01:14 Knowing that she may be alive and in pain or suffering, I don't know how to describe what it does to you.

1:01:27 Every available police resource is put towards finding the 15-year-old girl.

1:01:32 We were still holding on to that slim string of hope that she might be found alive.

1:01:40 Agents used the detail that the torched car was found in such a remote location to try and zero in on the killer's MO.

1:01:48 And the fact that they had destroyed their means of transportation suggested to us that there may have been some other vehicle That, of course, suggested the possibility that there may have been more than one person. Someone to drive the victim's car and set it ablaze and someone else to follow and provide a getaway. It suggested this was someone who knew the area.

1:02:14 The prime suspects fit the bill precisely.

1:02:17 We learned that Larwick had actually resided not far from the location where the victim's car had been found. In fact, he had committed a crime not far from where the victim's car had been found. And so there were little pieces of information that it may have been involved.

1:02:37 But despite relentless interrogation, which results in statements from Dykes that he participated in the murders, feds can't get anything concrete out of their prisoners.

1:02:47 That's not true.

1:02:49 Then, on March 24th, a letter postmarked shortly after the women's disappearance arrives at FBI headquarters. It contains a map and a distressing message. We had fun with this one.

1:03:04 I mean, the statement itself is one of those that makes you sick to hear. And it suggested that this was someone who took some satisfaction in their crimes.

1:03:19 The map leads to a remote overlook known as Vista Point, only a short drive from the Cedar Lodge Motel. It's here that the investigators' worst fears are realized.

1:03:36 We went down the hill to recover Julie Sun's body. She was naked, other than a two-inch black duct tape wrapped around her left ankle. The duct tape indicates that this victim had been bound up with the duct tape and kept hostage. Her hair was fanned out, her right leg was spread apart from her left leg, and her left leg was bent forward, and her hands were crossed over her chest.

1:04:08 It appeared that she had been posed. And a person who has been posed in death by an offender indicates an offender who's sexually motivated and who has a fantasy, which is very dangerous for other people.

1:04:24 There was a very large lava mass on Julie's neck, which indicated to me immediately that her neck had been cut.

1:04:33 When they discovered Julie's body, it became even more sinister than everybody originally thought. I mean, it was horrible when they found Carolyn Silvina their charred remains in the trunk of their rental car. But when they found Julie in the position she was, I think people started thinking serial killer, started thinking, you know, this is just a crime that's bigger than we ever thought.

1:05:00 The forensic analysis of the crime scene provides investigators with a surprising piece of material.

1:05:07 That orange acrylic fiber was on Julie's son's body.

1:05:11 Consistent. with originating from the same source as fibers that were found among the belongings of Larwick and Dykes.

1:05:20 Authorities finally have physical evidence linking the half-brothers to the San Peloso murders. Tying them to the anonymous letter will seal their fate.

1:05:32 The fingerprint expert found what he thought was a right thumb partial print on the stamp that overlapped onto the envelope.

1:05:42 But their attempt to connect the partial print to Larwick or Dykes fails. No match is found. FBI DNA expert Melissa Smears now extracts DNA from saliva on the envelope seal.

1:05:58 With regards to the DNA that was obtained on the envelope in this case, I was able to determine that male DNA was present.

1:06:05 She compares this DNA with samples taken from the Half Brothers. But once again, investigators receive shocking news. It doesn't match either one of them. The weight of the evidence now suggests that police have been focused on the wrong suspects.

1:06:28 I believe they were playing with the people that were investigating them. And they both got really good treatment for at least 10 weeks.

1:06:37 While they were.

1:06:38 Being interviewed and re-interviewed and took an opportunity to send authority on a wild goose chase and had a good time doing it.

1:06:48 That means a killer may still be out there. Three women have been brutally murdered near Yosemite National Park. And the case police have built against their prime suspects, Michael Larwick and Eugene Dykes, falters when compelling forensic evidence suggests some other killer. Investigators pour over the case, looking for new leads. Jeff Reinick turns to the roll of film found near Carol's son's burnt out rental car, hoping to learn more about how the women spent their final hours.

1:07:41 The photos were of Julie and Sylvina being girls and Carol being there as the parent enjoying this moment with her daughter and her friend.

1:07:54 But of greater interest to Reinick is the timestamps on the back of the pictures. especially the last one.

1:08:03 Those rolls of film allowed us to say with relative certainty that they had been alive and well and in their room at roughly 10.30 in the evening on February 15th.

1:08:19 Authorities re-examine the victims' remains in a frantic search for answers. Remarkably, Carol's son's stomach survived the fire.

1:08:29 They found evidence of starchy material, broccoli, cauliflower, which was very interesting because we knew on February 15th that evening they had eaten a meal at the Cedar Lodge and Carol had ordered a vegetarian burrito. The stomach contents suggested to me that Carol's son met with her death within hours after eating the burrito that she had purchased.

1:08:58 Investigators realize that Carol, at least, met her death at, or in close proximity to, the Cedar Lodge. They immediately return to the motel and soon have a new suspect in custody.

1:09:13 It was the night cleaning man at the hotel's restaurant. He had come on duty late the night that the victims were last seen alive and really had no one who could account for his whereabouts from late that evening until early the next morning. A search that was done of his workplace revealed two laundry bags that tested positive for blood.

1:09:45 He was very adversarial, very belligerent, very uncooperative with law enforcement.

1:09:57 Authorities are finally closing in on their killer. Or so they think. On the morning of July 22nd, a Yosemite Park ranger stops by the cabin of 26-year-old Joey Armstrong after friends reported her failure to meet them the previous evening.

1:10:26 Inside the cabin, he could see that a tremendous struggle took place.

1:10:41 Investigators recover fingerprints and trace evidence, but it's the area outside Armstrong's cabin that offers the most intriguing clues.

1:10:51 We identified tire tread marks and shoe wear impressions in the sand.

1:10:59 Yosemite tracker Mark Fincher makes drawings of the two distinct tire treads found at the scene. He also notes a clear impression of a man's sandal The depth and trajectory of the footprint impressions suggest that Joey was dragged to a nearby vehicle. As they follow the tire tracks, investigators encounter more scuffed footprints, indicating that someone had exited the vehicle and been dragged away. The prints continue to a nearby creek, where a grisly find awaits.

1:11:48 And she had been placed up against the reeds and concealed with vegetation. It struck me immediately that the position of her body was almost identical as the position that we recovered Julie's son in.

1:12:05 It triggered a concern, a fear, that perhaps these cases may be connected.

1:12:10 There was evidence of a sexual assault. Her pants had been unbuttoned and unzipped. Her shirt had been pulled up.

1:12:17 Most shocking of all is that Joey Armstrong has been decapitated.

1:12:26 Joey Armstrong was a naturalist, and she took young children who were visiting the park on nature hikes and taught them about the plants and the animals.

1:12:37 I was dumbstruck. I mean, I was devastated. This was another tragic crime.

1:12:45 Authorities scour the crime scene vicinity for possible witnesses. A park ranger soon encounters a man lounging in the sun.

1:12:55 At that point in time, Joey's head, as sad as it sounds, had not yet been found. There was some suspicion that he was hiding some evidence in his backpack.

1:13:07 Would you mind if I had a look in your backpack? I would prefer if you didn't.

1:13:13 The man's reluctance causes the ranger to bring him in for questioning. He is identified as Cedar Lodge handyman, Kerry Stainer. Nothing of significance is found in Stainer's backpack, which leaves law enforcement wondering why he didn't consent to an earlier search.

1:13:39 He acknowledged that he had been in the park, but he denied being in the area of the crime scene. He denied having any contact with Joey Armstrong. He provided an explanation of what he had been doing.

1:13:52 In the park.

1:13:53 We asked him, will you voluntarily give us a DNA sample, and he complied.

1:13:57 While Stainer's interview continues, Hopkins takes a precautionary measure.

1:14:03 I dispatched a couple FBI agents to go take Polaroid pictures are the tire tread impressions of Kerry Stainer's Jeep.

1:14:13 With nothing to hold him, the handyman is released.

1:14:18 You're welcome.

1:14:19 Cheers. Meanwhile, the search for Joey Armstrong's head reaches a grim conclusion.

1:14:32 I didn't know what to read into that. I didn't know if this person was trying to inhibit us, our ability to identify who the victim was and place the head in a different location. I didn't know what to make of it.

1:14:47 Another woman dead and a killer still on the loose. Can police catch him before he strikes again? Five months after three sightseers are found dead outside of Yosemite Park, 26-year-old naturalist Joey Armstrong The investigation continues on several fronts. But when Nick Rossi decides to ask Cedar Lodge handyman, Kerry Stainer, some more questions, he receives strange news.

1:15:19 I don't know what to say.

1:15:21 First time in two years he's missed a day of work. The motel manager takes Rossi to Stainer's apartment. But Stainer is gone, along with most of his possessions. A lookout bulletin is issued for the handyman as a material witness in the Joey Armstrong case. Authorities soon get a hit.

1:15:58 A woman who was staying at Laguna del Sol, which is a resort south of Sacramento, recognized Stainer, and she called the Sacramento office of the FBI.

1:16:09 Special Agent Reinick is dispatched to bring the witness in.

1:16:13 Mr.

1:16:14 Stainer?

1:16:17 And as soon as Kerry was aware I was there, he stood up and put his hands on his head, which is not normal behavior for a citizen.

1:16:26 Given Stainer's odd reaction, Reiner cuffs him as a precaution. And while the agent transports Stainer back to headquarters, Hopkins studies tire tread evidence.

1:16:43 So I compared the sketch of the tire tread impressions in front of the cabin with the Polaroid pictures taken from the tires on Stainer's Jeep.

1:16:58 Mr.

1:16:58 Stainer.

1:16:59 How you doing?

1:17:03 What I'm showing you are pictures of tire treads.

1:17:08 The two front tires on Stainer's Jeep did not match the back two tires of his Jeep, but yet we had both of those tires at that crime scene, and he was telling investigators he'd never been there.

1:17:22 Can I see one of your sandals, please?

1:17:30 Sure.

1:17:34 Once we asked for his sandals, he knew that he left impression evidence behind. He knew that we were going to be able to forensically demonstrate that he was there and he was the one responsible for killing Joey Armstrong.

1:17:51 When he asked to speak to me alone, you know, I guess you could say something was up.

1:17:57 Faced with the evidence, Stainer confesses to the murder. He also tells Reinach exactly what happened.

1:18:08 Excuse me, I'm just getting ready to go.

1:18:17 Okay.

1:18:19 Ah!

1:18:22 No!

1:18:22 Carrie Stainer was in a real rush to try to remove her out of the cabin into his Jeep and move her out of the area.

1:18:31 But Joey Armstrong resisted, even managed to escape from the moving vehicle. but Stainer caught her and subdued her.

1:18:41 Joey fought fiercely against Stainer and basically forced him to kill her at that scene rather than.

1:18:50 transporting her far away.

1:18:51 The handyman is officially charged with the Armstrong homicide. Now the FBI wants him for three more.

1:19:08 He was implicating himself not only in Joey's death, but possibly also in the Sund-Peloso homicides.

1:19:17 Back to the forensics. Stainer's DNA is compared to saliva from the anonymous letter that led police to Julie Sund. Incredibly, no match is found. Have they got the wrong man again? Hopkins pays yet another visit to room 509 of the Cedar Lodge. now looking for any trace of Carrie Stainer. But none is present. Everything comes down to the partial print lifted from the anonymous letter's stamp.

1:19:50 The fingerprint examiner compared those known fingerprints with that partial fingerprint found on the stamp, and it was a match.

1:20:03 Now forensically tied to the murders of Carol, Julie, and Sylvina, Stainer realizes he's reached the end of his road. He opens up to Agent Reinach about a lifetime of twisted desires.

1:20:18 He said, I'm a bad person, I've done some bad things. He has had devious sexual drives for quite a while.

1:20:25 From the time that he was young, it had been important to him to try.

1:20:29 To control women.

1:20:33 Over them was central to his fantasies about killing and sexual assault.

1:20:40 He recognized his fantasy. He decided he was going to see it through, and he did.

1:20:49 He talked about other guests at the hotel that he chose not to attack because he thought they might have a man with them.

1:21:01 Good evening, ma'am. I'm maintenance. We're having a water leak problem.

1:21:05 May I come in?

1:21:06 He desensitized the victims to his approach by knocking on adjacent doors and hollering maintenance and going in and sort of making noises so that by the time he reached their door, it would seem more routine.

1:21:19 I don't know.

1:21:20 It's a little late for maintenance work, isn't it?

1:21:22 Okay, no problem.

1:21:23 I'll go get the management if that makes you feel better.

1:21:25 No, fine.

1:21:26 Come in.

1:21:27 Great, thanks.

1:21:29 And that began an unbelievable tragedy.

1:21:33 Everybody freeze.

1:21:34 Don't make a sound.

1:21:36 Lie down.

1:21:36 And don't look at me.

1:21:40 Stainer binds all three women with duct tape. He puts Julie and Sylvina in the bathroom, leaving Carol's son on the bed.

1:21:49 Carol's son was killed initially. He strangled her and placed her in the trunk.

1:21:57 Stainer next brings Silvina Peloso out to the bed. She makes so much noise, he becomes afraid of detection.

1:22:05 And he subsequently killed Silvina Peloso and placed her in the trunk of the car.

1:22:14 Julie Sund is now the only one alive.

1:22:18 For some weird reason, he developed quite an affinity for Julie.

1:22:25 First, Stainer assaults her. Then he wraps her in a blanket, puts her in the car, and drives her to the secluded shores of Don Pedro Lake.

1:22:40 He wants to fantasize, if you will, that they have a relationship. And he convinced himself that she loved him and he loved her. And he holds to that till the end.

1:23:06 The FBI finally has the man responsible for Yosemite's reign of terror.

1:23:13 Stainer was the proverbial boy next door, good-looking and unassuming, not the typical person you would suspect of being a killer.

1:23:26 The remaining question is how he kept authorities off his trail for so long. Cedar Lodge handyman Kerry Stainer is the confessed killer of Carol and Julie Sund, Silvina Peloso, and Joey Armstrong. He now tells federal agents how he always planned to outsmart them.

1:23:49 Kerry Stainer had fantasized about doing this event. And all the different types of forensic evidence investigators use to associate an offender to.

1:23:57 A crime scene.

1:23:59 And he used that knowledge to basically manipulate evidence and create misleading clues for the team investigating this case.

1:24:10 After killing Julie and leaving her at the lake, Stainer sets out to lead authorities far away from his crimes. He drives 100 miles to Long Barn and ditches the rental car with the bodies of Carol and Sovina inside. He then hikes to a main road, catches a cab back to the Cedar Lodge, and thoroughly cleans room 509.

1:24:34 He left all kinds of signs that the women had left that morning and were taking their drive as planned. He had gotten rid of any kind of evidence that this had been a room where two killings had taken place and a girl had been sexually assaulted for hours.

1:24:56 He informs investigators that he shaved his body before he struck in order to leave fewer traces behind. Two days after the murders, he returns to Long Barn in his own vehicle, places the women's belongings in the rental car, and destroys the evidence. But he keeps a few select items for his next trick, 100 miles away in Modesto.

1:25:29 He took many of the possessions of Carol, Savina, and Julie and dumped them in Modesto.

1:25:37 This effort to fool police gets a major boost when Dykes and Larwick, the perfect suspects, happen to pick up Carol's son's wallet and take the clothes to sell on the street. The garments are never recovered, but the orange fibers from Julie's shirt found in the car help incriminate the pair. Hearing about their arrests on the news, Stainer writes the taunting letter to suggest that more than one killer is involved in the crime.

1:26:09 He knew that we could extract DNA from things like envelopes, and the flap used to seal an envelope.

1:26:17 So he went down to Modesto and found a little Hispanic boy and paid this little Hispanic boy $ 5 to spit in a.

1:26:24 Cup He then uses the boy's saliva to seal the envelope.

1:26:31 He showed considerable intelligence and considerable planning in the way that he concealed the crime and planted false evidence.

1:26:43 Confident he can get away with murder, Stainer chooses Joey Armstrong as his next victim. But things go wrong this time when Armstrong's brave struggle throws a psychopath off his game.

1:26:58 Joey Armstrong's lust for life, her willingness to fight, to have life, is, I believe, what caused him to leave the evidence behind.

1:27:12 He wanted to go back to that crime scene and try to destroy a lot of that evidence and take it back.

1:27:17 But he never had the opportunity.

1:27:21 He later confessed that had he not been stopped at that point, he would have continued killing. None of us would think that someone who is normal could commit these kinds of crimes.

1:27:37 You don't know how to feel.

1:27:40 I like to think that I did what I did for those victims.

1:27:45 At trial, Kerry Stainer pleads insanity. the jury rejects his defense. On December 12, 2002, Stainer receives the death penalty. April 1992. After battling heavy traffic, Nancy Blackburn finally arrives at her destination. A weekend of peace and relaxation awaits, or so she believes. For Nancy Blackburn, the trip marks the end of a long, cold winter. But it also marks the beginning of a nightmare, a nightmare that will yet claim many more victims.

1:28:31 He's an absolute sexual obedient. He's a predator. The viciousness that he displayed, his ruthlessness, I find to be just chilling.

1:28:43 You clearly had someone to me to fit the category.

1:28:46 Of a serial killer.

1:28:48 Investigators must work feverishly to identify an elusive psychopath.

1:28:52 We had no idea who that person was.

1:28:54 Then hunt him down and stop his rampage.

1:29:01 There would be no end to victims until he was caught.

1:29:43 Uncle Ian?

1:29:45 Auntie Nance? Monday, April 13th, 1992. In an upscale neighborhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jamie Osborne checks in on his aunt and uncle. after they fail to show up at a weekend family party. But no one's home. Nothing in the house suggests where they may be.

1:30:10 Uncle Leon?

1:30:12 Auntie Nancy? About 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock in the evening, he also notices that there's keys to the vehicle in the key container.

1:30:25 The keys are to Nancy Blackburn's car. Perhaps it holds a clue to the couple's whereabouts.

1:30:48 He goes to the back of the car, opens the trunk.

1:30:53 Inside is a sight Jamie will never forget. Metro Toronto police are soon on the scene.

1:31:11 It was called about two bodies found in the trunk of a car at 3 St. Leonards in 53 Division in downtown Toronto.

1:31:21 Detective Sergeant Doug Grady joins forensics expert Richard McEwen and the investigation begins. An initial glance at the naked female victim reveals the case's first piece of information.

1:31:40 Lividity, which is the blood flowing to the lowest possible area, had set in on the victim, and she had been in the position she was for some time.

1:31:50 The dead couple is quickly identified as Nancy and Ian Blackburn. Neither have been seen for some days. As Nancy's car is secured to protect it from the elements, Grady moves his team inside the Blackburn's upscale North Toronto home. They spend hours combing it for signs of foul play.

1:32:25 Nothing was found that was out of place within the house. There's no signs of violence or any type of struggle that was noticeable.

1:32:39 It becomes evident that the couple was not murdered within these walls. But why were they killed at all?

1:32:49 He was the owner-broker of a business with a partner. They were quite successful. The female victim was a registered nurse who was actively involved in businesses in Toronto. So they were well enough off.

1:33:09 Authorities wonder, was robbery the prime motive behind the murders? They soon get their answer.

1:33:15 There's no way a thief could miss us.

1:33:18 All the Blackburn's possessions seem to be in place, but they learn that something crucial is missing.

1:33:24 And then when I open up the car.

1:33:26 Ian Blackburn's car is not in the garage or anywhere near the property. Grady issues an all-points bulletin for the vehicle as the bodies are removed from Nancy's car and sent to the morgue. Her vehicle is then taken to the Center of Forensic Sciences to be investigated.

1:33:49 And then we did an extensive examination of the car. Fingerprints, analysis done on all the surfaces of the car.

1:34:00 Police are hopeful the killer left behind evidence of himself, but they are disappointed.

1:34:05 Unfortunately, no usable fingerprints were found on the car itself.

1:34:09 And we attribute that to the fact that it was cold weather.

1:34:14 Sweat is necessary for a clean fingerprint. In cold weather, the pores that provide sweat close up and leave little moisture behind. In the back seat, authorities do find something interesting, a thermal bag from which they recover a roasting pan. Inside the pan is a fully prepared dinner of beef and vegetables. Meanwhile, at the morgue, An examination of Ian Blackburn's injuries raises more questions than it answers. McEwen determines that he was suffocated after being severely beaten.

1:34:47 He had been punched in the face. He had bruising to him. Somebody had taken control of him quite strongly.

1:34:57 A look at the victim's right leg reveals a particularly intriguing clue.

1:35:02 He had an unusual, in my experience, unusual markings just above his right knee. There was a ligature mark, a very strong ligature mark.

1:35:14 Most captives McEwen has dealt with have been bound at the wrists and ankles. Why would Ian be tied around the knee?

1:35:22 He also had a cylinder mark around his skull. is consistent with a firearm being placed there very strongly against the side of his head.

1:35:42 McEwen now examines Nancy Blackburn. She too has been asphyxiated. No evidence of sexual assault is found, but her injuries paint a picture of extreme violence. Most alarming is the discovery that both of Nancy's shoulders have been pulled out of their sockets.

1:36:09 At first you're trying to figure out in what kind of scenarios could have resulted in this.

1:36:19 At the forensic garage, investigators finally recover a piece of hard evidence, a bloody Kleenex on the floor of the car. Lab analysis reveals that the blood is not a match to either victim. Could it be the killer's? There's no way to be sure. With nothing but speculation to go on, Grady and his team are in need of a break.

1:36:46 And suddenly they get one when Ian Blackburn's car is located one hour north of the city at his summer farmhouse. On the case is Detective Inspector Jim Hutchison.

1:37:02 The male victim's vehicle was still in the Caledon area, had been parked there for considerable days.

1:37:11 But a much more compelling find awaits Hutchison inside. Police believe they have just found their murder scene. The bodies of Ian and Nancy Blackburn are found in Nancy's car at the couple's Toronto home. The search for their killer leads police one hour north of the city to the Blackburn's summer farmhouse. Ian Blackburn's car has been found outside and human blood on the stairs inside. Detectives Grady and McEwen arrive on the scene. Together with Inspector Hutchison, they seek hard evidence to prove this is their crime scene.

1:37:54 Ian Blackburn's car places him at the location within the time frame when the couple died.

1:38:00 We could tell that the vehicle had been there for at least a few days because there were markings around the car where rain had come down and where the soot had been, and there was a clear outline around the vehicle.

1:38:12 Grady obtains phone records for the farmhouse and discovers that the last two outgoing calls were made to the Blackburn's Toronto home three days before the couple was discovered. This evidence, together with the roaster from Nancy's car, suggests that Ian began the day alone at the cabin and telephone Nancy to join him.

1:38:31 The speculation was that she had driven up to meet with her husband and had brought a prepared meal.

1:38:41 And at that point we believe both vehicles were at the farmhouse.

1:38:53 Speculation becomes fact when lab results confirm the blood found on the stairs is Nancy's. At the same time, the investigators received some startling information from local authorities. Six months earlier, another Toronto resident had been attacked only two kilometers away from the Blackburn cottage.

1:39:14 A vehicle was found off the.

1:39:17 Road in the ditch in Caledon of a a store owner from Toronto by the name of Carolyn Case. She had disappeared from her store, downtown Toronto, and then there was some blood found in the car that was identified as being Carolyn Case.

1:39:33 Presumed murdered, Case's body has not been recovered. As police wonder if the two crimes could be connected, the investigation takes another turn.

1:39:42 Can you look out the window, gentlemen?

1:39:44 Yeah.

1:39:45 You think this is the point of entry? Looks like it, officer.

1:39:47 Flashlight, please.

1:39:52 There were small pry marks on a window that indicated that there had been a forced entry to it.

1:40:00 And you made his way in with what looks like what could be a knife.

1:40:03 Tool impressions are recorded, and investigators soon learn from local police just how significant they are. It seems that cops throughout the area are all too familiar with these impressions, having seen them at a rash of unique cottage break-ins over the winter. The homicide team is told all about the strange and elusive intruder known as the House Hermit.

1:40:27 The press nicknamed him the House Hermit. And that's how he became known. He would break into a cottage over the winter and live there for a period of time and then abandon it.

1:40:42 He was using the bed. He had the heat turned on in the area. He had a fry pan that.

1:40:46 He was using. Evidence of a visit by the house hermit includes mounds of used tea bags.

1:40:54 Our suspect liked to drink Twinings tea.

1:40:57 And that's not all.

1:41:00 He was using plastic jugs to keep his urine because the water system was not turned on for the winters.

1:41:10 He also keeps a stockpile of his own feces wrapped in newspapers.

1:41:19 Paper was folded in kind of a unique manner.

1:41:23 We referred to it as a fish and chip tuck.

1:41:28 What sounds merely eccentric turns possibly sinister when the team is informed that one of the cottages the house hermit broke into was that of a gun collector.

1:41:39 That break and enter, several handguns were taken. Newer guns, older guns, automatic revolvers. And that was quite a concern.

1:41:52 Investigators wonder, could the mysterious hermit also be a killer?

1:41:59 So we had an idea that whoever was committing the break and enters may be the person responsible for these murders.

1:42:08 The problem with this theory is that no evidence is found inside the Blackburn farmhouse to suggest the house hermit camped here. Hutchison moves the hunt for clues.

1:42:19 I had brought in the ERD team, emergency response team, to search the property and also all the concession loads and that leading up and down the farm.

1:42:37 The effort soon turns up exactly what the police are hoping for. Garbage bags on the Blackburn property containing signs of the house hermit. tea bags, urine-filled jugs, and the most telling calling card of all.

1:42:55 There were human feces wrapped in the sports section of a newspaper from the Toronto Star.

1:43:03 The pages are dated February 27th. Inside the farmhouse, Grady finds a newspaper for the same date, missing the sports section.

1:43:12 It more or less tied in the victim's residence to what we found outside.

1:43:19 In the garbage, investigators also recover ammunition they are able to trace back to the break-in at the gun collector's cottage. Authorities now suspect that one of those stolen guns had been pressed against Ian Blackburn's head.

1:43:34 We put out the information on the firearms, all of the serial numbers of the firearms.

1:43:40 In another disturbing development at the morgue, medical examiners are getting an idea of just how violently Nancy Blackburn died. In particular, how her shoulders were ripped out of their sockets.

1:43:56 The pathologist attributed you to that injury, to having your hands behind your back and then being hung up.

1:44:07 And the pathologist described it as being hogtied.

1:44:13 Clearly, their killer enjoys extreme violence.

1:44:18 But we still had no idea who that person was. Here we go. Welcome.

1:44:26 Come on in.

1:44:28 Mrs.

1:44:28 Appleton.

1:44:29 Pleasure to meet you. Jim Hutchison.

1:44:31 Then Hutchison is made aware of an extraordinary report filed weeks earlier by an elderly couple, Rose and Samuel Appleton. They had an encounter with the house hermit and were lucky to escape with their lives. Finally, the police are ready to put a face to the man they suspect is their cold-blooded killer. After making a possible link between the Blackburn double murder and a rash of bizarre break-ins in cottage country, police have found witnesses that may help them identify a mysterious drifter dubbed the House Hermit. Investigators hang on every word as Rose and Samuel Appleton recount the brush they had with their intruder.

1:45:16 In early March of 1992, an elderly couple from Toronto came up to the Midland area out on Georgian Bay to pay their taxes for their cottage, but also check the cottage and make sure that everything was fine over the winter.

1:45:34 So give me a second.

1:45:35 I'll turn on the power, check the pipes.

1:45:36 Are you okay, dear? Yeah, I won't be long. He asked his wife to stay in the car. He walks to the cottage. He opens it up. He goes in.

1:45:49 He was confronted by our suspect, who had a firearm.

1:45:54 Took control of the older gentleman and took him back to the car. Told him, drive me to.

1:46:00 Toronto to your house and I'll leave you there.

1:46:04 The hour-long trip to Toronto is spent in silence and terror. But once in the city, the Appletons defy the house hermit's order to take him to their residence.

1:46:22 He drove this person right to Dundas and Yonge, in the busiest street in Toronto, right at the busiest corner of Toronto. I will not take you to our home. If you're going to shoot us, shoot us right here.

1:46:41 The Appletons await their fate, but in the end, their brave tactic works.

1:46:47 The suspect got out of the car and took off.

1:46:51 And I honestly believe that that action saved their lives.

1:46:55 The couple now tells police everything they can remember about their assailant.

1:46:59 Both gave descriptions of.

1:47:02 of the individuals that had attacked, and a composite drawing was prepared by the OPP artist.

1:47:08 We had the similarities and the break-ins, and now we had a description of our suspect.

1:47:13 Yes, she was.

1:47:14 She had dark glasses on.

1:47:16 We thought of releasing composite drawings, but composite drawings give you quite often a thousand names that mean nothing. Composite drawing sometimes isn't exact enough.

1:47:29 Local investigation at the time of the incident revealed evidence that the house hermit had camped at the Appleton Cottage. Hutchison now returns there and discovers a box the hermit had stashed away. Inside are alarming contents.

1:47:45 There was quite an extensive collection of porn.

1:47:48 Found at that time.

1:47:52 Much of the pornography features acts of S & M. In particular, photographs of women who have been hogtied.

1:47:59 And some of it was cut out and classified. And classified, I mean categorized, would keep it in different groups.

1:48:09 There'd be a whole bunch of breast pictures and then there'd be a whole bunch of anus pictures. It wasn't that he was cutting out the and putting them together it was just that they were cutting it up and categorizing it a.

1:48:20 Troubling profile of the suspected killer emerges from this.

1:48:24 Evidence he was a somebody who was good with his hands somebody who was.

1:48:30 Methodical and also that he was fantasy driven I believe that he could only gain satisfaction through a type of bondage or violence.

1:48:42 Police now review their evidence. Ian's car, abandoned at the Blackburn farmhouse. The phone records showing calls from the farmhouse to his Toronto residence. The roasting pan in Nancy's car. Her blood on the stairs. Signs that the house hermit entered the farmhouse and camped there. His appetite for violent pornography.

1:49:05 And lastly, the vicious wounds to both Ian and Nancy. Taken together, they form a picture of how and why the Blackburns died. It starts with Ian arriving at the farmhouse alone, having driven up in his vehicle. He's completely unaware that the house hermit is residing inside. Ian enters the residence, phones Nancy in Toronto, and they discuss her driving up to join him.

1:49:54 Hey, sweetheart.

1:49:55 Hi, sweetie.

1:49:56 Yeah, I've got the roast in the oven, and I'll probably be there in a couple hours.

1:50:00 All right.

1:50:01 OK, hon. We'll look forward to seeing you then.

1:50:04 Great.

1:50:05 Bye. By the time Nancy arrives, Ian is powerless to help her. Ian?

1:50:24 Honey?

1:50:31 Please, Ian.

1:50:39 I'm scared.

1:50:44 The house hermit overpowers her. then hog ties her and assaults her in accordance with his sexually sadistic fantasies. Finally, he kills her and throws her in the trunk of her car. The hermit now cleans up his campsite, throws the garbage in the woods, and prepares to leave the area. Though police can't be sure how the Blackburns ended up back in Toronto, a closer examination of Ian Blackburn's injuries, including the ligature mark on his right leg, point to the likely circumstance. His right arm was tied to his right leg with enough slack to allow him to drive, while his left arm and ankle were tightly bound together.

1:51:32 And forced the male victim to drive the vehicle back to Toronto, possibly not even knowing that his wife was in the trunk. And probably hoping to save his own life, hoping to get back to Caledon to release his wife, who would be tied up back at the cottage.

1:51:55 What now?

1:51:59 And once he got into the driveway, he was asphyxiated, put in the trunk of the car, and they were left there.

1:52:08 But despite their theories, all police have to show for the investigation is a bloody tissue and a composite sketch they can connect to no one. Then they make a discovery that just may turn things around. Under the pornography found at the Appleton's property, are several strange lists of military equipment.

1:52:30 Fulker airplanes against Sopwith Campbells, you know, like unique planes. All crossed off. Firearms, rifles against cannons. It appeared to be a solitary game of war.

1:52:54 But for the investigators, more important than the content of the lists is the style in which they have been written. The handwriting is so unique, it might prove as effective as a fingerprint in identifying someone. The team goes public with their manhunt.

1:53:13 We provided the media with a copy of the handwriting, and it went in national media, both on television and in the print media.

1:53:26 Police know all too well the risks they take releasing their evidence. It may alert the suspect that they're onto him. But if they don't roll the dice and take this gamble, they'll never catch a killer before he strikes again. Police have distributed samples of the house hermit's unique handwriting to the media. in hopes that someone can help identify their elusive suspect. Within hours, they hit pay dirt, courtesy of Allison Shaw.

1:54:07 Well, we had a call from a female called Allison, who said that she definitely knew that writing, that she knew the individual for the last two or three years.

1:54:19 Come on in, Shaw.

1:54:20 Hi.

1:54:20 Pleasure to meet you.

1:54:20 Jim Hutchison.

1:54:21 Nice to meet you.

1:54:22 Have a seat.

1:54:22 Thank you.

1:54:25 Allison sits down with authorities and unfolds the story of their suspect.

1:54:31 So why don't you explain to me this list that we spoke about on the phone?

1:54:34 I met him in Orangeville, Ontario. He was working on a building which was behind my apartment that I rented with my husband at the time.

1:54:45 You need a bit of a description of him?

1:54:47 I have a picture.

1:54:48 Does that help?

1:54:48 That'd be fantastic.

1:54:50 She also provides investigators with what they want most. an identification.

1:54:56 And it was that.

1:54:56 Time that she gave us the name David Snow.

1:55:03 David Snow owned a shop called Nothing in Particular, and it was a knick-knack shop. Allison worked for him in the knick-knack shop.

1:55:13 Allison had seen samples of Snow's distinctive handwriting on inventory lists for the store. See, this is a German Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber.

1:55:28 See, the thing about this plane.

1:55:31 Is it wasn't the fastest plane.

1:55:35 And it wasn't even. But what it did do.

1:55:38 He'd come over after work with Darius, who was my husband.

1:55:43 Come up to the apartment, have dinner, a.

1:55:48 Couple of beers.

1:55:51 It got to be a.

1:55:52 Daily occurrence in pretty short order. I noticed he had a real problem with hygiene. He had terrible body odor. It was like he hadn't showered in months. He had really rotten teeth.

1:56:17 It was awful.

1:56:20 In fact, he had the kind of bad teeth that are prone to bleeding. But despite his terrible hygiene, Allison got along well with her eccentric employer.

1:56:31 Our relationship was okay, it was fine. It wasn't close, it wasn't just in, it was just me doing my thing and.

1:56:40 Him doing his.

1:56:42 That is, until Snow discovered that Allison was expecting her first child.

1:56:49 David, I didn't see you there.

1:56:52 Why didn't you tell me?

1:56:52 Excuse me?

1:56:56 You told Sherry that you were pregnant and you never told me.

1:57:03 He didn't react very well at all.

1:57:04 He said, I thought I was a better friend to you than that. What?

1:57:10 I guess I don't mean anything to you.

1:57:12 And stormed off.

1:57:16 You know, like he was my husband or something.

1:57:19 It was, it just blew me away.

1:57:22 Allison had to accept that something was very wrong with David Snow. But no one else in Orangeville seemed bothered by his peculiar ways.

1:57:32 No one ever.

1:57:33 Said anything about any of that.

1:57:36 Ever.

1:57:39 I felt like I was, well I was the only one.

1:57:45 In her experience, Snow's behavior continued to grow increasingly strange and unsettling.

1:57:53 I had seen this real change in him, this slow decline over the last few months. I really got frightened, you know? I don't know why, I still don't.

1:58:05 Know why, but I did.

1:58:07 Authorities ask Allison where her boss is now. She has no idea. The investigation moves to the town where Snow had his shop. Police inquire after the man believed to be the house hermit and their killer.

1:58:23 We went around to the Orangeville area there and we had officers going door to door handing out pictures of David Snow.

1:58:30 Of the homicide in your area.

1:58:31 Please tell me if you've seen this man.

1:58:35 When we started doing a background history on him, we found that he never drove.

1:58:41 He walked everywhere.

1:58:45 His older brother had tried to teach him to drive at one point, and he just broke out into a sweat.

1:58:52 He was nervous.

1:58:52 He put the car in the ditch and jumped out and said, I want to never get inside the car again.

1:58:58 Police also learned substantial details about Snow's departure from the area over eight months ago.

1:59:04 October 3rd.

1:59:08 Of 1991, he went into the taxi stand in Orangeville, which he used.

1:59:14 It was very, very early in the morning.

1:59:17 He was covered with mud and he was wet and he got a ride and he paid cash. and jumped out of the vehicle in Guelph, and that's the last that he was seen in Orangeville.

1:59:31 The most alarming thing about Snow's disappearance is that it occurred on the very same day that the car of Toronto store owner Carolyn Case was found in a ditch in Caledon.

1:59:42 Now the location of that car, if you follow the county road that the car was on, slightly farther north, almost runs into the area where the Snow's family home was.

2:00:00 David Snow may not be just a killer. He may be a serial killer.

2:00:07 I thought somebody who's committed these type of crimes is not going to stop until they're caught. They have no regard for anybody else. So, yes, we were concerned.

2:00:19 Authorities put out a Canada-wide arrest warrant for their prime suspect. But as they scramble to find David Snow, a predator is stalking more prey. David Snow is the prime suspect in the murders of Ian and Nancy Blackburn. Now, just as police launch an intense search to find him, a 21-year-old photo store clerk goes missing on July 1, 1992.

2:00:52 No one has seen her since the previous evening when she worked alone at the business. On the case is RCMP investigator Randy Bennett. But the strange thing about this crime is that it hasn't taken place in Toronto or even Ontario. The victim has been abducted over 3,000 kilometers away in Vancouver, British Columbia. Besides no witnesses, the scene offers few clues for Bennett's investigators.

2:01:18 They had absolutely no information to work on, and were relying on some public assistance to try to support their investigation.

2:01:25 Law enforcement combs the city, looking for the abducted woman. Ten days later, there's still no sign of her. Then, on July 11th, there's another kidnapping.

2:01:44 To have been a young lady abducted from a video store in North Vancouver.

2:01:48 The only witness to the crime is a badly shaken video store manager.

2:01:53 It was somewhat sketchy information that a lone male individual entered the video store. The manager was tied up and left in the building and a female employee was removed from the building. The manager was able to free himself from his ligatures and made the call in that there'd been a robbery and an abduction and the employee was missing.

2:02:14 In describing the perpetrator, the manager notes that he had terrible body odor and a mouthful of rotten teeth. Bennett learns the victim's car is missing from the parking lot, and a citywide dragnet begins. Among the cops on high alert is Constable David Kwasnicka, he decides to head for Mount Seymour Provincial Park, as the area best fits his theory about the man they are hunting.

2:02:53 I felt that the suspect was abducting this woman in order to sexually assault her and would likely take the woman to a secluded area.

2:03:08 Kwasnika drives around the corner in a remote area of the park.

2:03:14 And that's where we found the vehicle.

2:03:16 There they called in the location where they were at and we were sending extra members to reinforce and to provide backup for them.

2:03:23 Kwasnika and his partner proceed to secure the vehicle and look for any clues the abductor may have left behind.

2:03:38 And at that point, that's when we heard the screaming from the forest.

2:03:47 Tucked in the woods, just off the road, Kwasnika discovers the badly assaulted victim from the video store. At least she's alive.

2:03:57 She was in a squatting position. Her wrists were tied to her ankles.

2:04:04 And just as backup arrives, Kwasnika gets another shock.

2:04:11 And I started running towards the screams.

2:04:15 That I heard.

2:04:17 Not far from the first victim, the officers discover a makeshift campsite. Tied to a tree is another woman who's been severely brutalized.

2:04:27 Did you see where he went?

2:04:28 Kwasnika immediately recognizes her as the victim kidnapped 10 days earlier from the photo store.

2:04:36 The crime scene had some sleeping bags and personal articles and personal clothing and some food garbage and debris.

2:04:43 Kwasnika and his partner try to comfort the traumatized woman.

2:04:47 What disturbed me was how this victim reacted with no reaction, just like very calm, cool, collected, and monotone voice.

2:05:12 As the women are escorted out of the woods, more police move in, and the hunt for the perpetrator kicks into high gear.

2:05:20 They were directed that we would deploy other police cars to start setting up the roadblocks and try to contain a male suspect that had fled off into the bushes.

2:05:31 But given the nature of Mount Seymour Park, that's not going to be easy.

2:05:35 It's very densely treed with lots of undergrowth and so forth, and because it's on a mountain slope, probably hide in any crevice or corner or crack or under any trees or bushes and stay hidden for quite some period of time.

2:05:50 As the massive manhunt gets underway, authorities searching the second victim's car find a gun.

2:05:56 The police officers called the serial numbers in to our office and they ran them on the national database.

2:06:03 Bennett learns that the gun was stolen in a cottage robbery in Ontario by a man wanted on a countrywide murder warrant. His name is David Snow.

2:06:21 I get a call from British Columbia, and I think it's your fellow they're looking for.

2:06:25 Oh, I.

2:06:26 Was totally shocked. You're serious?

2:06:30 Ontario police can only hope that BC authorities will do what they could not, find and capture their killer. Concerns about a psychopath loose in the park are soon compounded when authorities learn that a marathon is taking place.

2:06:50 We were worried that he would grab another victim.

2:06:56 As night falls, the manhunt becomes much more difficult. But failure is not an option.

2:07:03 We had one of the greatest threats to the community that the community has seen in a long time.

2:07:11 And for a local restaurant owner, it's a threat that's all too real. After abducting and assaulting two women in Vancouver, David Snow is being hunted by police in Mount Seymour Provincial Park. They don't know he's managed to flee the area and choose another victim at a secluded restaurant. No! No!

2:07:38 No!

2:07:40 Snow forces the woman to the back of the building, but he's unaware that she was able to trigger the restaurant's silent alarm. With most law enforcement resources diverted to Mount Seymour, it falls on Constable Peter Cross and his partner, John Westmore, to respond.

2:08:03 We were doing what you would call standard routine police calls.

2:08:07 We got two calls for alarms.

2:08:08 One was in Edgemont Village, and the second alarm was for the Bridge House restaurant. To this day, I have no idea why I chose the Bridge House, because we were actually driving by the other alarm to get to the Bridge House for the alarm.

2:08:21 Nothing appears out of place upon their arrival. And they can't hear the victim.

2:08:26 Rue!

2:08:27 Rue! Rue! Constable Cross finally arrives at the back of the building.

2:08:58 Breathe!

2:09:00 And that's when he starts running.

2:09:07 In one fell swoop, Cross brings to an end Snow's deadly rampage. Go back to the woman back there. She needs help.

2:09:20 I said, you're the fellow we're looking for, aren't you?

2:09:24 And he said, yeah, I think so.

2:09:33 You're going to be okay. Can you hear me?

2:09:35 Snow's victim is alive, if just barely.

2:09:38 We were told by the hospital staff that she was 30 to 45 seconds away from dying. To come across someone that is in the process of being killed is extremely rare. To have the ability to stop it and have the ability to catch the guy doing it, I think it's, yeah, it's one of those moments in time that, yeah, you're pretty proud of it when you're done.

2:10:04 Snow first stands trial in British Columbia.

2:10:09 We were able to secure convictions against David Snow for several counts of abduction, forcible confinement, sexual assault, and aggravated assault.

2:10:21 After being sentenced, he's returned to Ontario to stand trial for the Blackburn homicides.

2:10:28 A DNA sample is obtained from him and it's subsequently matched to the blood in the Blackburn car.

2:10:37 Police see that years of neglect have left Snow's gums prone to bleeding. Poor hygiene caused him to leave key evidence behind.

2:10:47 On top of all the circumstantial evidence that we had, That was the bonus to show that there was David Snow's blood in the deceased car that was irrefutable.

2:11:04 David Snow is convicted of two counts of first-degree murder. The body of Carolyn Case is eventually recovered, but for lack of evidence, he's never charged with her slaying.

2:11:15 I don't believe that there's any evidence redeeming merit in David Snow whatsoever. He's not an individual that could come back into the community.

2:11:26 The viciousness that he displayed, his ruthlessness, I find to be just chilling. I have no idea what drove him.

2:11:36 The psychiatrist will spend years studying as to what prompted him to this behavior.

2:11:43 I would drive him home.

2:11:44 10 or 11 o'clock at night, two of us on the pitch black dirt roads. I never thought twice about it.

2:11:57 Declared a dangerous offender, David Snow will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

2:12:12 Thank you for watching.

2:13:03 Thank you for watching.

2:14:26 I'm sorry.