Blind Trust | FULL EPISODE | The New Detectives

in new mexico a college student is missing the police must assemble a web of evidence to catch those responsible if they ever hope to find her alive in virginia a murderer uses the interstate as his personal dumping ground a woman's body is found and investigators have Little time and few clues to lead them to a murderer who could strike again. Perpetrators try to hide their crimes, but expert investigators can take the darkest facts and recreate a murder. Although murderers treacherously lure their victims by gaining their

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. Forensic science brings crimes to light. committed and the betrayal of a

blind

trust

in this

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some of the names have been changed the city of las cruzes new mexico is located on the rio grande just north of mexico a vast desert surrounds the city the perfect place to hide a crime 9 -1 -1 emergency operator In January 1998, 9-1-1 dispatch received a call about a missing student named Carly Martinez.

The 18-year-old freshman was starting her second semester when campus police arrived at the dorm where her roommate and parents were waiting and said that unlike Carly, who was out of touch, her father told her. To the police that they had not seen Carly since the previous day, he and his wife had taken both girls to dinner and then dropped them off at their bedroom around 6:30 p.m. m., university police began a missing persons investigation. Her parents and her roommate gave police a description and photograph of Carly, an extremely attractive girl with long dark hair and dark eyes, was five foot six and was last seen wearing jeans and a Brown jacket.

Desperate to find her, they posted flyers around campus hoping that someone would recognize Carly and contact the police. She began a massive search effort. Officers and volunteers on horseback combed the surrounding desert area. Police gave the dogs a piece of her clothing in the hopes that the scent would lead them to her, and investigators knew time was running out if Carly got lost or wandered. In the desert she would not survive for long. It was four days before they had their first break in the case a fellow student samuel sanchez saw the missing person posters and contacted the police, he said he saw carly with jesse avalos, one of his coworkers at at an off-campus bookstore, according to sanchez, he saw them at a local skating rink the night she disappeared jesse and carly were skating together and holding hands sanchez told police the couple was later joined by jason des Neuers, one of Jesse's friends, looked like they were having a good time.

The Las Cruces Police Department was called to assist the university in the investigation. David Cortez was the lead detective. The co-worker said they closed the skating rink early that day. afternoon of the 14th and he saw the three of them leaving together the campus police were the first to talk to jesse avalos hello how are you they were hoping I could give some answers from the university police and I just wanted to ask you about your whereabouts and if you were leaving with uh carly martinez the other night, yeah, tell me, Avalos said he was with Carly on a date and that his friend Jason Desnoyers had joined.

You know we hung out with them after skating and they had a few beers at a local bar. He told the police. Carly asked to be dropped off at a gas station near campus to use a pay phone. He said he hadn't seen Carly since Detective Cortez found the story strange and asked why Carly would use the pay phone at the gas station and not in her dorm room. detective now wanted to talk to jesse friend jason desnoyers maybe you could provide more information are you ready jason's story started out very similar to his friends he said jesse avalos had a date with carly and met them at the rink skating, me, jesse and his girlfriend, but then Jason's story changed excited to go out and have a couple drinks, he said they didn't drop her off at a gas station, he said they took her back to school so we took her to her bedroom and we left her outside, and where were you?

The boys left her in Detective Cortez became suspicious that she knew one or both boys were lying when it came to their story Due to the conflicting stories we felt something was not right Detective Cortez asked for permission to search Jason Desnoyer's truck with hoping to discover something that would bring them closer to finding Carly the police noticed some scratches on the outside of the car on both the driver and passenger side, they extended along the entire length of the car, other than the car looked be spotless, we noticed that the inside of the truck was very clean as if it had been recently washed.

Various fibers were collected from the floor and seat using the chemical luminol. They checked for blood and other body fluids. If there were, they would glow under the light when performing the luminol test we discovered. that the center bench seat area was lighting up, this caught our attention along with the scratches, some indicators to us that something just wasn't right. When investigators examined the seat more closely, they discovered a large reddish-brown stain, a portion of the seat cushion was cut away. They took him out and sent him to the forensic lab for testing at the New Mexico State Crime Lab.

Forensic scientist Mark Salva tested the seat of the truck for human blood. They had removed the foam seat cushion and you could see obvious stains there that I did a presumptive examination on. for the presence of blood on the side of the material, which you couldn't see at all and I got positive results on that, as well as on the foam, where a stain could be seen and I got a positive indication that there might be blood present on those items of the seat. The cushion tested positive for human blood, but recent cleaning of the seat had destroyed all DNA while police gathered evidence.

The search for the young woman. Continuous disappearance was reported in all the southwestern states. Authorities hoped media coverage would prompt someone with information to come forward as a victim. The family just killed me this morning and as the days went by we had leads on hundreds of leads that were distributed to the task force and followed up by investigators. They spoke with an informant who had recently been arrested for a parole violation. jesse avalos' neighbor and claimed to have information about a jacket jesse was wearing the night carly disappeared the man said jason desnoyers approached him several days after carly disappeared and asked him for a favor the guy told us he took her jacket to jason and hid under a rolled up carpet right outside the apartment, police searched behind the apartment building where the witness said the jacket was located, they found a roll of carpet where he said it would be and untangled it, inside it looked be a military style jacket. stained with blood more stains here the jacket was packaged and sent to the laboratory for further examination after the police obtained a warrant they also searched inside jesse avalos's apartment why don't you take life?

A team of forensic experts arrived and searched each room in the bathroom. Investigators noticed reddish stains that they believed were blood. The shower curtain was collected for testing on Jesse's bed. Investigators found a long, dark hair part of Avalos' clothing was also packaged and sent to the lab if stains were found on the jacket and shower curtain where forensic scientists would need to compare it to Carly's blood. Detective Cortez asked her family for personal items that could provide them with a sample. of DNA investigators were piecing together a case they knew the longer it took to hope for finding the girl alive diminished.

They hoped the evidence would be the break they needed to lead them to the missing student for five days. Investigators in New Mexico searched for missing college student Carly Martinez so far the search turned up nothing. The two men last seen with the young woman stated that they went skating. She had a few beers and left it, but investigators didn't believe her story. Blood stains found on the truck and on the shower curtain inside one of the suspect's apartments cast even more doubt that police obtained a warrant to collect DNA samples from Jason Desnoyers and Jesse Avalos Jason Here I Just Need some body standards de neuers appeared with his lawyer a technician took blood and saliva samples from the hair detective david cortez supervised the procedure he looked for any sign that the lawyers had been in a fight one of the things i did notice at the time had a big cut on his right hand that was in the process of healing and scabbing over, but you can tell it was very recent if it's not a search right now, no, just one vote ago neuer.

The lawyer refused to allow police to take photographs of the severed body. Jesse Avalos standards were also collected. All samples were sent to the state crime lab to be compared to blood stains found on both the jacket and the shower curtain. Forensic scientist Mark Salva conducted the examinations. The first salvo extracted DNA from Carly's personal items to compare with samples found on the jacket, then applied a chemical solution to the stains on Des Neuer's jacket. There appears to be some discoloration here in this area. I'm going to do a presumptive test. and the presence of blood i have a colorless solution that will turn a dark pink color if there is blood the jacket tested positive for human blood except also cleaned the shower curtain found in jesse's apartment using the same method he knew there was blood on both sides of the shower curtain, these were collected and marked as evidence, he then compared the blood found on the jacket and shower curtain and was shocked to discover that the blood on these items came from three separate individuals and discovered that the DNA did not match. only both suspects but also the victim, I think it's unusual in a case like that where you can link three people to one piece of evidence to be able to show that all three people were injured and bleeding and left their material in this article. or that some of the individuals took the DNA and left it on that object.

The police still did not know if Carly was alive or dead and believed that the only people who did know were the two suspects of her, since Jason Desnoyers had cooperated at first. Detective Cortez. I was hoping you would talk now when we tried to contact Jason Desnoyers. I learned from his attorney and his family that his whereabouts were unknown, so we turned to Jesse Avalos City Police. Jesse Cortez hoped that with a suspect on the run he would get the information. another to talk without wanting to reveal his hand, the detective took it easy and just asked jesse for help on the case, yes, and we explained to him that we wanted to talk about Carly and that if he would help us, he would give us any information that he wanted . had or knew one of the things we explained to jesse was how the family felt not knowing the whereabouts of their daughter it seemed that their tactic was starting to bear fruit with that jesse out of nowhere told us let's get in the car let's go walk around the land around the crosses is so isolated that if a person wanted to hide something or someone out there they could do it very easily right there Jesse Avalos took Detective Cortez to a remote place in the desert Jesse pointed out a place where Desnoyers had burned incriminating elements what Cortés found among the ashes was chilling there were remains of clothing and accessories zippers and metal rivets glasses and a woman's lipstick and a compact case a particularly revealing element the main thing that caught our attention were the keys that uh, I don't know burned, they were keys, what we knew was Carly's bedroom number two, two and a half miles, advised the task force that if they could contact me, Jesse told Detective Cortez that Jason killed Carly and burned her personal items in a attempt to destroy the evidence that this is his first statement that he truly links Jason to trapping Carly and killing her.

Jesse tried to retrace Jason's steps the night Carly was killed, but it was dark and they couldn't locate the young woman. Contact me on my cell phone, but even without a body, Detective Cortez knew they were close to solving the case, at least here we have Jesse talking to us and at least we have a place to work with the

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, then they had a difficult task, they called Carly's parents. Identify the items found at the burn site Mr. and Mrs. Martinez confirmed that the keys and earrings were their daughters and then Detective Cortez received an important call Raise your handsnow down here behind the head take a step towards me keep walking lie down on the rails the In the early morning hours of March 17 I received a call that Jason Desnoyers had been located outside of San Diego, California, the officer recognized Jason from one of the mugshot booklets, it was only by luck that we were able to locate and arrest Jason Jason.

Desnoyers was transported back to Las Cruces and formally booked for the murder of Carly Martinez once Jason was in custody, then Jesse Avalos was arrested for tampering with evidence. Investigators knew that without a body it would be more difficult, but not impossible, to convict them of murder. It's very important to find this body not just for the family, which was a big concern for us because we still needed to process these guys. Police carried out an extensive search around the scene of the fire. Hundreds of search personnel were on hand to try to locate the remains given the In the vastness of the desert, authorities knew the search could take weeks and throughout the process all cuts of

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continued to pit one suspect against the other, convinced of that it was only a matter of time before one of them collapsed, we decided that we would meet with Jesse and tell him, hey, we located Jason, he's blaming you now, jesse, jesse tells us, well, I'll tell you, I'll come out clean now and I'll tell you where he is, I'll take you right to his body, we said to Jesse, okay, here's your last and last chance, we start on the grid search and we'll coordinate with us three canines how we want to do it, well, keep them ready, one where we can communicate with you jesse avalos again showed detectives several areas where he thought the body was located even with the help of university police border patrol agents and search dogs they found nothing, so detective cortez came up with one more strategy on the way out, we made sure that jesse saw jason and that this wasn't a hoax, okay jason, you have good luck after seeing jesse avalos helping the police, jason Desnoyers now began accusing his friend of the murder, claiming he could show the police where Avalos had buried the body Jason was now leading.

Detectives went to several locations, but Carly's body was not found. Frustrated officials continued searching on their own. Finally, the rescue team made a gruesome discovery not far from the fire site. We heard over our police radio that one of our civilian search and rescue riders had located what he believed to be Cortez's body and his team of investigators quickly went to the scene and confirmed it was the body of a young woman. . After 67 days of investigation, police finally found the missing college student. When we got there, we knew what it was. carly we finally found her the body was exposed to the harsh elements of the desert for more than two months and was severely decomposed it was removed for autopsy the police believe that the forensic evidence obtained at the autopsy would not only reveal how she died but would also ensure a conviction of her killers police in las cruzes, new mexico, had arrested jason desnoyers and jesse avalos in connection with the disappearance and murder of college freshman carly martinez, more than two months of investigation came to an end After police discovered Carly's body at a remote desert site, the body was transported to the coroner's office for an autopsy.

Medical investigator Patricia McFeely's first goal was to make a positive identification of the body. Dental records confirmed easily that the victim was carly martinez an initial evaluation of the body revealed signs of sexual assault and 27 knife wounds well, we were looking for cause of death in her there were multiple areas of injury, she had stab wounds in the chest and gunshot wounds white on the head and had some blunt trauma also to the head area. Dr. Vince Stefan, a specialist in skeletal biology and forensic anthropology, was asked. To examine the wounds he was asked to determine the type of weapon used at the time the deceased had been in the desert for a couple of months, so she was in an advanced state of decomposition, so look at the wounds Mcfeely and Stefan ordered x-rays of the wounds and discovered a small piece of metal embedded in the skull that turned out to be the tip of a knife and then there was a second trauma pattern.

That was consistent with some other type of object left a clear impression that it was not made by a knife Stefan and McFeely speculated that the other instrument matched the pattern of a set of needle nose pliers two weapons could mean two attackers and either The injuries could have caused Carly's death, it would suggest that two people were doing something or that one person had an instrument for some reason, put it down and picked up another. Investigators knew the second scenario was unlikely with this analysis and the other police evidence. He reconstructed how the murder took place that night after skating, Des Neuers and Avalos took Carly to the desert to continue drinking and then raped her.

We believe that when they got to Carly with them in the truck sitting between them, they were in control. They thought they could have done it, that they could get away with it, which was to rape her for what they had done to her. At that time, they couldn't let her go, then they killed her and left her body in a remote place in the hope that she would never be found, come here, it was not the ending that Detective Cortez had expected. Here we had an 18-year-old college girl starting her life away from home for the first time and saying, "You know how this can happen to anyone's daughter." anyone's son jesse avalos was convicted of first degree murder received a life sentence jason desnoyers was also convicted and is currently serving a life sentence some murderers take advantage of those they know to gain their trust and make crimes easier to commit others depend of the vulnerability of strangers in need Virginia's highways offer panoramic views of the surrounding countryside, but on the morning of January 23, 1995, on a remote stretch, a gruesome discovery was made. 9-1-1 was an emergency shortly before dawn. 9-1-1 operators in Washington County received a call about a dead body near Interstate 81.835 Nature Respond to northbound I-81 just before Exit 10.

The responding officer found a half naked woman lying in the middle of the road the washington county crime scene unit processed the area top technicians photographed the scene and searched for evidence investigators were unable to identify the victim at the scene a purse was not found nor any identification, police also recovered a plastic grocery bag that had been partially wrapped around the victim's head, more evidence was found near a pair of pants believed to be the victims three pieces of paper in the pocket was a piece of paper on which were written two phone numbers, both out of state Gainesville 304, the evidence was packaged and sent to the state crime lab.

Investigators also found other important evidence. a set of bloody tire tracks Detective Kenneth Wilson investigated the case. There were some obvious tire marks leading from the lady's body onto the northbound ramp of I-81 North and down the ramp. It became obvious that the vehicle had escaped. On the woman's legs, forensic technicians photographed the footprints; it was evident that they were made by a very large truck. Detective Ross Sheets also worked the case. The footprints left on the road when the victim's right leg was run over left marks that appeared to be those of a tractor and trailer.

The diameter and revolution of the tire led us to believe that it was actually a tractor and trailer. Detectives canvassed the rural area to see if anyone had heard anything unusual. Police found a man who remembered hearing a truck around 3 a.m. He told police that he heard the truck idle for several minutes, then heard it turn and return to the interstate. The man was a mechanic who worked on tractor trailers. He did not see the vehicle, but he was sure the engine was a Peterbilt engine, thinking that the trucker might still be in the area.

The police moved quickly. They alerted way stations along the interstate that a possible murder suspect may be traveling north in a Peterbilt-powered truck. We also notified the Virginia State Police. West Virginia State Police. Maryland State Police and North Carolina State Police will also be on the lookout for any tractor-trailer drivers who may have signs of blood, hair or human tissue on that vehicle at the weigh stations. Attendees took a close look at each truck trailer. The search found nothing unusual. The Washington County Coroner's Office conducted an autopsy on the body officially identified as Jane Doe, the medical examiner determined the victim was between 40 and 50 years old.

There were marks on her neck that indicated she was strangled. X-rays revealed that the victim's neck was broken. The m.e also suspected sexual assault, but no foreign DNA was recovered, the medical examiner concluded that due to the presence of insects and the level of decomposition, the victim had been dead for approximately 12 hours before being abandoned on the road. Forensic specialists took fingerprints and palm prints from the victim in hopes of identifying her. The two sets of her prints were analyzed in several national databases and a match was found in Bloomington, Indiana. The victim was identified as Wanda Jean Turner, 45 years old.

Police discovered that her fingerprints were in the system due to a previous arrest on a trespassing charge. Authorities now needed to locate Wanda's family and notify them of her death when they spoke to them. They also hope to gather additional information about her background to assist in the investigation. She was known to hang out at various truck stops and travel from various parts of the country only by trucker means, but her family didn't give detectives much to go on - they haven't seen or heard from her in months. With very little to guide them, investigators would have to track Wanda's movements in the days and hours before her death.

They look at the phone numbers found in her pocket, one of the numbers was that of a taxi company in Gainesville, Florida. Investigators contacted the Gainesville Police Department and asked for assistance. They hoped someone at the taxi company would remember Wanda. Gainesville police showed photos of Wanda to police. The taxi drivers a man recognized her, the taxi driver told the police that he took her to the bus station around 11 a.m. m. on January 22. He remembered that she was only carrying a plastic bag, but Wanda didn't mention where she was going, so we lost track of her and everything.

She cooled down, but the last place we could locate her alive was in Gainesville, Florida, getting on a bus. Detectives believe the victim's body was dumped in Virginia about 16 hours later, the investigation expanded to five states, strained the resources of the Washington County Sheriff's Office, and sent detectives off in different directions. all the truck stops, basically from Roanoke Virginia to Gainesville, Florida, handing out these signs and asking for all the information. They hoped that someone had seen Wanda Turner with a truck driver, but no one remembered seeing her and the case gradually went cold. Less than a month after the murder of Wanda Turner, the body of a woman was found on an interstate highway near Greensboro, North Carolina.

The crime scenes were eerily similar once again, the victim was partially naked and her body had been hit by a truck if the same killer had been responsible for both crimes there could be more to come police knew they needed to work quickly before more women turned up dead as Virginia detectives were piecing together the investigation into the murder of Wanda Gene Turner, 45 year old, another body was found in North Carolina the newly discovered victim was found partially naked abandoned near an interstate both crime scenes were similar and investigators believed they were looking for a killer.

The medical examiner determined that this victim was strangled like the first. The victim's fingerprints were processed through the national database and as the first victim she alsohad. a misdemeanor search she was positively identified as cindy barkley of georgia police located cindy's family and said cindy lived in florida and was not in constant contact although the last time she called she said she was going to visit relatives in Maryland, that was about two months before, when he called, he was at a truck stop and he said he was fine. I'm going to be like, you know, if you know, a couple of weeks and then I have to go.

Really yes, from the phone calls. house were so rare that no one reported her missing and there were no more leads exactly one month later in kingsport tennessee another woman was found dead on an interstate she was discovered 30 miles from the first victim to the detectives leaves there was no doubt that all the murders were the related crime scenes were similar the girl appeared to be lying in the road and her clothes were removed the victim's fingerprints were processed she was identified as tina madsen and like the two previous victims, tina had been strangled the police from five states organized a task force to compare evidence working together they hope to speed up the search that will lead them to a suspect we have the address but until now they had nothing although investigators believe the killer was driving a truck with a peterbilt engine they had no idea who It is extremely difficult for him to identify a suspect in this case, these millions of truck drivers in this country and millions of trucks and it is very unlikely that they will find a suspect at the Virginia state crime lab in Roanoke, the Forensic scientists analyzed the only physical evidence they found. he had a receipt, a piece of paper and a plastic bag.

Fingerprint specialist Andrew Johnson examined the evidence but was unable to reveal any fingerprints on the receipt or piece of paper. He then looked at the plastic bag found wrapped around the victim's head, it is actually a plastic bag. a very conducive surface for latent prints it is quite slippery it is not porous and if the individual who touches it has perspiration or an oily substrate on their hand it will leave a very good latent print johnson placed the bag in a sealed chamber then put cyanoacrylate or super glue on one small can and place it inside a chamber to heat and release the fumes, the glue evaporates and adheres to the oily footprints that glow under an alternative light source after three long months and so many victims, Andrew Johnson made the discovery he believed . would change the case after photographing the latent print I took the photograph and made a five-fold enlargement of the latent print and then a tracing of the details of the latent print was made and transferred to a piece of acetate.

The investigators passed the prints through the Virginia laboratory. fingerprint identification system, but to his surprise, the database found nothing. Missouri, Alabama, fingerprints were his only link to the suspect. Police believe they were looking for a truck driver and now needed to find another way to track him. Similar crime scenes. well, we developed a press release, they made copies of the fingerprints taken from the plastic bag and sent them to jurisdictions around the country for phone calls with this particular evidence, we have a lot of them and just when they were losing hope Once they found the killer his life changed across the country in Arkansas investigators found a serial killer on the loose three murders were linked to the same perpetrator who traveled the interstates in search of unsuspecting women the only clue related to the crimes It was a fingerprint found on a grocery bag and after months of empty results, investigators finally found a match.

The suspect had been arrested in Arkansas on a minor charge several years earlier. The print belonged to Sean Goble of Ashboro, North Carolina. Investigation Sheets The Washington County Virginia Sheriff's Office was optimistic that he was their killer. He was a tractor and tow truck driver, so we thought we had their man. Hey Charlie, listen, I have some things I need to take care of. I will be back. Detective Kenneth Wilson went to North Carolina and questioned the suspect's supervisor. Gobel was out. He was on the road and was due back any minute. The supervisor confirmed that Gobel was not only driving a tractor-trailer, he was driving one with a Peterbilt engine, but Global's co-workers couldn't believe he was a cold-blooded killer. .

Gobel was known throughout his department. As a quiet, friendly but somewhat lonely truck driver, but he had a good reputation. Investigators obtained the trucker's trip logs to see if there was any correlation between the location of the bodies and the whereabouts of the suspect. We determined that he was in the vicinity of many murders occurring across the country, especially the ones we were seeing here locally when Goebbels showed up, the detectives were there to meet with him, please come here. He didn't seem surprised that there was very little reaction from him, but once we told him that he was under arrest and the charge he was being arrested on he was a little surprised that Gobel denied any involvement in the murders, Mr.

Gerbil, as we told him. before, she told police she never met any of the victims, i think i saw her while gobel was detained at the winston-salem police department, investigators searched his truck inside, found a purse containing the license of the latest victim, Tina Madsen, also collected numerous strands of hair and found what appeared to be blood when detectives confronted Gobel with the evidence. found in his truck and in the plastic bag, he admitted that he had picked up the women, but claimed that they were alive when he dropped them off at the police and then obtained a search warrant for his house inside the closet of the his bedroom.

They made a gruesome discovery. The police found purses, women's shoes. and underwear and other personal items that investigators believed global was collecting keepsakes from each victim with evidence accumulating against them. Sean Goebbel eventually confessed to all three murders. There was a plastic bag. He looked at us for a moment or two and then admitted it was him. , his reaction from that point on was somewhat subtle, he was very cooperative, his response was: I'm really glad this is over, but I'd like to put it behind us and get back on the road, but Detective Wilson knew he was doing that. .

Gobel isn't going anywhere and told police what happened the night he picked up Wanda Turner near Virginia. Wanda asked him to take her to the trucker and he said he agreed with her and killed her and then put the plastic bag over her head to prevent blood from reaching the scenes. The confession gave investigators more than they needed to bring the killer to justice. We started a crime scene with three pieces of paper, two phone numbers and a plastic bag with about a million shots trying to locate this individual. His confessions allowed Gobel to avoid death. sentence that received three consecutive life sentences Murderers can lure unwitting victims by

blind

ly gaining their trust to commit a murder, but coroners can reconstruct the details of their crimes and gather the evidence necessary to convict, expose the perpetrators' lies, and bring them to justice. before justice.