Bodies Found Only A Few Miles Apart | The New Detective | Real Responders

Women are turning up dead in their offices in suburban Texas. The

bodies

were

found

only

a few

miles

away. Investigators must link the crimes in hopes of stopping a killer before he strikes again. The owner of a convenience store is stabbed to death in broad daylight, although the crime. The scene provides few clues. The victim's bones reveal the killer's signature. Scientists must gather small clues to solve crimes. Criminals are often careful not to leave any evidence, but the methods of murder themselves can create a lasting impression, especially when the tools of a trade leave an innocent victim marked for death Houston, Texas, one of the areas The fastest growing metropolitan area in the United States, boasting economic growth and rapid expansion, is a mecca for people seeking a better life and greater opportunities, but in 1996 Houston's suburban workforce was terrorized at the hands of of a sadistic killer At approximately 5:30 p.m. on January 5, Jerry Cowan returned to the rental storage facility he owned with his wife Rita in Spring, Texas, Cohen was shocked to find Rita's office door closed and the closed sign posted on the door. rita panic jerry broke the window rita rita the office looked ransacked but what jerry saw next was devastating he notified the police wait for the sheriff's department please quickly she is here but it was still too late okay sir I need you to stay here she is okay just stay here rita cowan was dead on arrival 48-33 we have a confirmed team away we need a crime scene supervisor investigators were called to the residence it appeared she was strangled with a self-locking plastic tie her hands and feet Rita were tied up and investigators speculated that she worked with one free hand in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

Harris County Detective Ben Bell did some research on the cash box. It was a very brutal way to dye the tie around her neck. Our victim would have known she was dying. there was no way to remove the tie from his neck the motive appears to be a robbery we believe it was premeditated because the murder weapon the ties were brought to the scene from outside the scene the ties were industrial gauge plastic Investigators searched the

apart

ment and the office for clues to the identity of the killer, although money was stolen from the till, it was something else that caught Detective Bell's attention, we have money from the till, what is this over there?

It's a contract, a partially completed 308 rental form here. On the desk was a contract that was used by many people from the storage warehouse and all the company information was complete and the storage unit number was written on it, but there was no customer information on the contract. Detectives began their investigation by searching. to the people closest to the victim waiting for answers with any type of homicide you basically start at home you move out of the house bell family

detective

interviewed the victim's husband jerry cowan get some information from Here, what is that? What time did you get home this afternoon around 5:15?

His wife Rita was alive that morning when she left for work around 8 a.m. m. They talked about running some errands and everything seemed fine when Cowan returned from work around 5:30 to find his wife dead and was able to have a pretty good alibi for the entire day he was at work at the autopsy, the medical examiner He noticed deep abrasions on the victim's neck. The ligature around his neck was tightened with extreme force. She had no chance to survive. The official cause of death was listed as strangulation. Additional bruises were

found

. On the victim's bound wrists and ankles, the plastic restraints provided the killer with a weapon that combined efficiency and lethal force.

The restraints were sent to the Harris County Crime Laboratory for analysis. Matthew Clements is a tool mark examiner in the Tool Mark Identification Laboratory. You have to be able to recognize a pattern in a three-dimensional element that will have a shape rather than a plane. You know, a flat sheet of paper or something, so you have to train your eye. and train your mind to look at these things in three dimensions. The flanges were industrial grade common in the electrical and air conditioning sectors. At first they looked generic with no distinguishing features, but under magnification, Clements noticed something on the ends of the zip ties. had been cut there were tool marks present this was a key discovery because the tools in this case a pair of pliers or wire cutters leave distinctive marks and the ties were cut into equal lengths the wire cutters have a blade and that blade actually press on this the plastic strap the variations of the surface of the blade are going to basically scratch a set of lines on that cutting surface these are the striations that we use to compare in a very similar way to how a fingerprint is identified to a individual, you are identifying that set of marks to an individual Tool researchers believed that if they found the tool that cut the ties they could also find the killer.

It can break a case. It can be yours. It could be the lynchpin of his case. Whether it doesn't have fingerprints or not. You don't have any DNA If you don't have any other evidence that actually links your suspect to your scene If there are tool marks left, that's a good ID If that tool was recovered from your possession, the crime lab technicians also analyzed the rental agreement found at the crime scene for possible fingerprints undetectable to the naked eye. Latent print examiner Gail Mills when the document was discovered to be partially filled we knew they had been tampered with on a porous item like this paper when a person touches the paper the fingerprint residue is then transferred to the document or paper and Within this residue are things like fats, oils, salts and amino acids.

Mills apply a chemical called dfo to process paper, the dfo reacts with the amino acids and residue. of the fingerprint, then the paper is dried and the latent print is studied using an alternative light source a light source is an intense forensic light that we use to view certain types of evidence there are different wavelengths within the light source which can be changed to cause different types of evidence to fluoresce the document is examined under those light sources and if the latent print is there and has reacted with the amino acids, it should fluoresce. The deputies had isolated a fingerprint that did not match the victims at that time the fingerprint must be photographed to preserve it, so that is what I did in this case.

It was now up to investigators to match the unidentified print to a suspect at the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Detective Bell reviewed the evidence even though he knew the zip ties were cleanly cut. and the killer left a fingerprint. No clue brought him any closer to a suspect. Detective Bell returned to Rita's husband, Jerry Cowan, and asked her to check his residence to see if any additional items were missing from the cash box. Cowans walked through the

apart

ment and discovered some jewelry and two money orders were also missing. Investigators sought to trace the money orders. Jerry recalled that about two or three days before the murder, he and his wife had purchased two money orders at the grocery store near his residence and used the money orders.

To pay his bills, a money order was several hundred dollars, we used to pay the car payment and then there was a second money order for ten dollars. Jerry Cowan said he knew the money orders had been stolen because the carbon receipts were missing since the money orders were sent. They were as good as cash Detective Bell believed the killer might have been motivated by money He set out to track the money orders Harris County

detective

s showed the clerk a photo of Rita Cowan The clerk remembered that Rita had purchased the money orders but there was a problem the store did not keep records of the money orders.

Investigators moved quickly and contacted the company that issued them, so we would have to call the company itself to verify if you call the company and give them that number, they can track it. Hello, Detective Bell, what's your fault in Houston? I'm trying to track down a couple of money orders. I contacted the money order company and informed them that we are working on a homicide. The company that owned the money told me that they could trace the money orders from us, but that it would take several weeks before they could get back to us. Detectives know that if they don't have a suspect within 48 hours, their chances of solving the crime drop dramatically.

Any delay in a homicide investigation would keep the killer in the crosshairs. The streets grew longer, and detectives quickly

real

ized that the delay would also prove deadly. Detectives were struggling to solve the cruel murder of Rita Cowan, but her killers appeared to be one step ahead of them in neighboring Montgomery County, just 17 days after Rita Cowan was murdered. The woman was found strangled in her office. The victim was

real

estate agent Janice Vogel. Her hands and feet had been tied with red electrical cables and around her neck was a thick plastic tie just like the one used to strangle Rita.

Cowan News of Janice Vogel's murder spread quickly throughout the Houston metropolitan area and people were scared. Hey, I was just watching the news and Montgomery County is working on a deal. A Harris County Sheriff's Office detective saw the story and quickly recognized similarities to the murder of Rita Cowan, apparently strangled. I jotted down some notes and stuff maybe I can call them to see what they're doing. Detective Bell contacted investigators in Montgomery County. It was likely that they were looking for the same killer and that he would probably strike again. It seemed like the same. These types of ties had been used in that murder, also before Miss Van Hesp was murdered, we had not had any cases even remotely similar to that and then when a second homicide occurred 10 days later, nearby, we felt that we had a predator. out there and that he was probably going to continue murdering the victims until we caught him.

A fax arrived from the Republic's money orders. Investigators knew they had a major breakup. They had discovered that the larger money order had been cashed and had sent me a photocopy. of the cash, the front and back of the money order showed the buyer's name and the back had been endorsed by another person. The 400 money order had been cashed at Icehouse, a local bar, and the signature revealed that the front of the money order showed that the money order had been purchased by a Roy Landry who with an address in south Houston had a second signature on the back of the money order, but

only

the first name was legible.

We performed a computer check on Mr. Landry and located a fairly extensive criminal history on him. and immediately determined that he was a potential suspect in our case based on his past criminal history. Detective Bell finally had a suspect now that he needed to find him. We located a mugshot of Roy Landry, placed it in a photo, and my partner and I drove. out there, to the ice house the ice house was a simple place for beer and whiskey where customers minded their own business. Investigators were going there hoping to find more information about the money orders they presented.

The series of photographs with the photo of Roy Landry that the owners did not recognize anyone and had never heard of Roy Landry. Okay, how about the detectives in the back showing you the other signature with the name Bill? They immediately recognized it as Bill Kutzner. They had another check from Kutzner. One that bounced. The signatures were almost there. Identical, you immediately recognize the name as Bill Kutzner and he is the person who is your refrigeration and air conditioning man. Detectives needed to speak to both Kutzner and Landry. We were able to make contact with Mr.

Landry. He came here to the homicide division. to give us limited information about Mr. Custer and where we could locate him because the buyer is Roy Landrieu. They discovered that he had a long criminal history and when they caught up with Landry he was reluctant to give them any information he could. Be a witness or you may be accused. What is going to happen? I'm not going to accept rap. Landry surrendered to detectives and gave information about Kutzner's whereabouts. Yeah, he said something about committing a robbery, so it was an easy choice. Since the lady was alone, heI asked why he didn't do it himself and he said he lived too close.

You know where those things are now. Yes, in that house investigators drove to Bill Kutzner's house. Most of the windows did not have curtains. To them there seemed to be very little furniture in the house and it almost looked like the house had been abandoned. Kutzner was nowhere to be found, but then Detective Bell made a surprising discovery. When he was walking back to our car, I stopped right and noticed that he was lying down. In the driveway, almost embedded in the gravel was one of the large white ties that had been used in the two homicides.

Detective Bell knew that the tie was insufficient circumstantial evidence to make an arrest. Each clue brought them closer to catching the killer. but the detectives had to hurry if they wanted to stop him before he attacked a third time. Investigators were closing in on the killer who was terrorizing a community. Two women were dead and detectives were working around the clock to catch him before he killed Detective Ben Bell again. did a background check on their main suspect his full name was richard william kutzner and he had an arrest record detective bell interviewed kutzner's ex wife there has been almost no communication she said she hadn't spoken to him in weeks and had I have no idea where he could be, but then he remembered a key incident which was Trump and they took him away and that was really the last thing we had left.

Kutzner had fallen behind on his truck payments while he watched it be taken away. His ex-wife recalled that I didn't even have the opportunity to remove his equipment from the back of the truck. He was very violent. She remembered the name of the automobile company that took possession of the vehicle. I can smell alcohol on it. You know, that's an old story that's never going to change. aw motors, if I'm not mistaken, investigators went to the car lot and spoke to the manager. He remembered that Kutzner's red truck had arrived. He had told us that when the truck was seized, all of Kutzner's personal documents were seized.

Air conditioning equipment. Tools. All his belongings. They were still in the truck that Kutzler had contacted him with, said he was going to pick up things and then when he never showed up, they took all the customers' belongings out of the truck, boxed them up and locked them in one of their sheds. For custody, investigators looked at Kutzner's possessions, careful not to touch anything. Wanting to take a closer look, they chose to obtain a court order. We were able to see that several of the ties similar to those that had been used in our case and in the County of Montgomery were clearly visible in the box.

Since we were dealing with the possibility of two capital murder cases here, we decided to err on the side of caution and went ahead and obtained a search warrant before searching the box and all the belongings from the scenes. A few hours later, investigators returned with a warrant. They discovered a ton of evidence once we received the box, we found there were seals that matched the Harris County case. There were precincts matching the Montgomery County case along with a red wire. They also found a $10 money order and a tenant. information form in unit 308 matched the contract found on Cowen's desk rental information form with the unit number listed on it.

Investigators also recovered a pair of diagonal wire cutters. Examiners at the crime lab had already established that the killer had used a cutting tool such as wire cutters. At the crime scene, forensic examiners compared the red wire from the suspect's belongings to the wire used to bind Janus Vogel's feet. Ultimately, what you want to try to find in the end is the same pattern of striations on the piece of evidence that you did on the one he knew of. articles, a high powered magnifying glass would be used to enhance the wire patterns and if you have a sufficient amount of these striations then I can give an opinion that no other tool could have made that mark based on all the evidence we could. to recover from the used car lot we were able to obtain an arrest warrant for bill kutzner for capital murder for the case in harris county once suspect roy landry had told investigators where kutzner was staying harris county deputies They decided to close late at night when Kutzner would likely be at the residence and passersby would be minimal.

Detectives entered the residence and found Bill Kutzner sleeping on the couch. Protect the doorbell. Stop now. Stop. What do you want? You are under arrest. He was arrested without incident and denied any involvement in the murders he said you're under arrest well that's all I know about the money orders what more do you want with the suspect in custody? Investigators continue to strengthen the case against William Richard Kutzner. Latent print examiner Gail Mills compared Kutzner's fingerprints to those of a single latent print revealed at the crime scene. The fingerprint was found on the partially executed rental contract.

It was photographed and then I compared it to Richard Kutzner's prince, the suspect in this case, and identified that Richard Kutzner's fingerprint was on the document. The fingerprint match verified that Kutzner had been in the mini storage office, but did not prove that he had committed the murder. Police believed that Kutzner's equipment from his storage locker would seal his case. Tool mark examiner Matthew Clements knew the ties had been cut with wire cutters and now. he had the tool to match the brands. The process he would use to compare the wire cutters to evidence recovered from the crime scene would be to make the test cuts in a similar medium that will not damage the tool itself after making the test cuts.

Clements used a comparison microscope to do a side-by-side analysis of the scratches or gouges found on both the evidence and test cuts in the Bill Kutzner case. The examiners found exactly what police expected, a perfect match to the forensic evidence we could find. get the fingerprint, the tool marks on the cable and the tie showed that bill kutzner was the person who committed both murders and only bill kustner and bill kustner got what he deserved when he was sentenced to death. He was executed on August 7, 2002. Here, Bill Kutzner deliberately avoided high-profile locations to commit his crimes, but for some murderers, busy roads are not a deterrent to murder.

Foley Alabama is a small town of 150,000 people, the crime rate is low and murders are rare. December 4, 1997 boldly in a. In broad daylight a robbery is taking place on a highway a customer has just finished filling up his car with gas came in to pay nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next he called 9-1-1 9-1-1 which Is it his emergency? an ambulance arrived within minutes but it was too late the victim's driver's license was found she was 43 years old nancy biddle the owner of the store lieutenant richard springsteen of the foley police department responded it seemed like there was a fight and there was uh what which appeared to be defensive wounds on the victim's hands, there were some blood stains, fingerprints collected, multiple photographs of the crime scene, and of course, the victim's body was taken to the forensic science laboratories.

Investigators noticed the knives on the sandwich counter. appeared to have been tampered with, were collected as evidence, the victim was autopsied by Dr. James Downes at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, his brutal murder was analyzed, he had at least 35 different stab wounds and cuts to his face, chest , her limbs, Nancy fought to She survived, she fought fiercely against her killer, as indicated by the dislocated finger and multiple defensive wounds. When I look at a knife wound on a body, what I'm trying to do is get an idea of ​​the measurements, how far does a knife go into the body? and there is some room for interpretation, for example, in a stab wound to the chest, the depth of penetration of a stab wound is different depending on whether or not one inhales, expands the chest, or exhales.

Dr downs also noted the width and depth of each wound. By comparing the cuts left on the victim's bones, Downes compared the stab wounds to each of the knives collected at the scene at Nancy's autopsy, it was easy to determine that the stab wounds had actually penetrated the body up to approximately four four inches. and a half that actually penetrated through the bone through the rib and through the breast pump you look at the injuries for the type of weapon that could be used and I measure each and every one of those 35 stab wounds I measure how long the wound lasts in the body how deep it penetrates into the body that penetration gives you an idea of ​​how long the blade is and looking at the suspicious knives that were brought to me to compare with the wounds on the body, it was pretty easy to rule them out because the blade links didn't They were true, they were not the right thickness or width, so none of them fit the wounds that were present on his body.

I didn't notice that anyone inside came out again. Maverick was still there. The police located a witness, perhaps the last person besides the killer to see Nancy Biddle alive. The witness bought gas that morning. He recalled that when he was returning to his car he noticed a green Ford Maverick parked in the store. He hadn't seen the driver, but his description of the car gave police their first clue, although the Maverick hasn't been manufactured since 1977. A search of motor vehicle records indicated a surprisingly large number of green Mavericks in the area. Police tracked every registered Green Maverick within a 60-mile radius of the crime scene.

Five atoms six two eight correction five Adam six two zero eight d david kenner road 71 north of 64. Drivers were interviewed and their IDs were verified. Good afternoon. See your license please, but after several days no significant leads developed. The investigation had stalled. We are looking for a vehicle that matches this description, obviously. You're not him, thank you, and although the detectives believe the car would lead them to a killer, the trail of the green Mavericks had led the police to a dead end. 9-1-1, what's your emergency? I'm sorry you said there is a fallen woman.

What is her address there? 10 days after the brutal murder of convenience store owner Nancy Biddle, 911 dispatchers received another distressing call transfer for a woman at the Diamond gas station. A second cashier, Linda Weber, was found stabbed to death in a back room. The similarities between the crimes were disturbing: the gas station was along the same road as Biddle's gas station and although the store had a video surveillance camera, the video recorder was torn from the wrapper leaving no trace of the crime. , examiners took fingerprints from the area where the video recorder was located. taken, but the results would not be conclusive to Lieutenant Warren Steward of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation.

The similarities to the murder of Nancy Biddle could not be ignored. Both scenes seemed to be a robbery and a fight. We didn't really know what we were dealing with. Were we simply dealing with someone who needed money or if we had a serial killer possibly within the Foley area, once again the victim's body would be examined at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences as in the first case, Dr. James Downs measured Linda Webber's stab wounds and reviewed them. For the bone lacerations in Linda's case we did not have a bone defect to compare to the suspected knife but we did have physical measurements of the wounds on the body that were identical to those on Nancy's body.

The studies concluded that both Nancy Biddle and Linda Weber had been stabbed with the same weapon. With the community and local businesses gripped by fear, the Bowen County Sheriff's Department formed a task force of the county's most experienced investigators. They structured a plan this is the area near the diamond mall and the diamond mall here in the parking lot at this line of woods here that's behind the area investigators reviewed photographs and details of each of the murders this is the area in the who had to act quickly to restore peace to the community Highway 59 is here Detective Huey Mack of the Bowen County Police Department led the task force's investigation.

The predominant emotion at the time on the part of the public was the fear that it is a low crime area. Homicides are rare, but when two homicides occur in just a few days that are believed to have beencommitted by himself individual fear was beginning to be rampant with limited evidence the task force would need the public's help they covered the local media with information they established a hotline and requests for leads began to yield results a witness came forward when the police returned To canvass the area Around the scene of the second murder, Detective Mack believed there might be a solid lead after the second homicide, we had an individual describe a black man coming from the woods within minutes of the report being reported. crime.

Our witness literally heard the sirens responding to the gas station when he saw this individual run from the wood line he thought he recognized the man from his neighborhood his name was Calvin Stalworth the detectives immediately searched the area behind the store among the leaves they found a video recorder which they believed was the same as the one taken from the store hoping to find a tape detectives were disappointed to find the machine empty the tape had been torn from the machine the woods were dense but police searched the large area for They found nothing on the tape.

We believe that the tape not only contained the image of the suspect, but based on the images that the particular cameras in this store would have captured, it is most likely that they filmed the entire murder. Investigators immediately followed the witness's advice. They ran a background check on Stallworth. He had an extensive criminal history and an outstanding warrant. He had a suspect now they had to find him the police distributed his mugshot to the media in hopes that someone would know his whereabouts. We disseminated information about the time, date and location to the media and asked them to contact the public if anyone had any information to call a 24 Hour Number that was created so people could respond.

This lady took her own initiative to call us and inform us after seeing her photo on the news, a manager from the city's electric company contacted the police, but about an hour today. After the murders, the manager recalled seeing the suspect at the power company. She said the man came to pay an overdue electricity bill. She recalled that he took out a large wad of money and paid his bill in cash as he heard police sirens outside. The man became agitated and nervous then left. What did he look like? uh maybe the first investigators got the billing address from the electric company the address belonged to stalwart's girlfriend they served him with a warrant when they entered the house they caught stallworth in a back room trying to escape knowing he could be armed and be dangerous, the officers drew their weapons and ordered him to surrender, they handcuffed the suspect and began searching the house while Stalwart professed his innocence, there were no weapons here, in the back bedroom, the police found incriminating evidence here.

Calvin Stallworth shook his head and started talking to the police saying he had nothing to hide. Stallworth insisted that he had nothing to do with the murders and claimed that he had never been to the stores. Detectives later told him a witness placed him at one of the crime scenes. If he could explain to me, Stallworth quickly changed his story. I panic. I saw the money on the counter and I needed the money. Lieutenant Stewart questioned the suspect and couldn't believe what he heard when he walks into the store and she is playing behind the counter and realizes that she has been stabbed, at which point she says she gets scared and sees money on the counter and on the floor and said he knew he needed money to pay his bills so he just took the opportunity that presented itself hello to anyone here second homicide gets going to the station he says as he walks in he hears a loud man he looks up and notice the VCR and camera in the back room at this point.

He gets scared, he's afraid that he's on video and that if he doesn't take that video they're going to charge him with the homicide, so he basically goes up, grabs the video and leaves the scene of the second homicide. His stories were totally incredible. Calvin placed himself. at the scene of both ladies when they died despite her detailed account, the detectives were constructing their own theory of the crimes that she liked and did not agree with Calvins forensic scientists would put all the pieces together confirming that Calvin Stallworth was in fact her man. Detectives were convinced that Calvin Stallworth murdered two Alabama store workers despite his claims of innocence.

They knew he was lying. The stalwart sweatshirt was processed for blood evidence. William Jones of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences explains that we clean the stain to see if we can achieve a color change. for a presumptive positive blood test, once we do that we will do more testing to see if there was human DNA present in a stain, the blood was found to have the same DNA markers as Linda Weber's blood, but because Stallworth admitted to being at the crime scene the evidence was inconclusive now dr downs would examine the knife found under stalwart's mattress a single sharp thick edge measured and recorded all of its dimensions the knife was consistent with the size and depth of the wounds of Nancy Biddle and Linda Weber and the measurements are consistent with those of the wound, I then compared the edge of the blade to the cut marks on the bones of both women.

This also coincided. I was able to take that knife and measure it, the length of the blade, the width of the the thickness of the blade and I compared it to the piece of bone that I had preserved from my original autopsy and I was able to take the piece of bone and the knife and literally , as if a hand fit into a glove and demonstrated that this The knife had exactly the same physical dimensions as the wound in the bone. The Alabama state appeals court sent the case back to a Balwin County circuit judge, although Stalwart's incredible story of locating himself at the crime scene may have been enough evidence to sway the jury.

He was quick to point out that this case relied heavily on science to ensure a guilty verdict without the forensics, we probably would not have obtained a conviction in this case. A forensic analysis is what linked Calvin Stallworth to both scenes. Once again, science prevailed and brought Calvin Stalworth to justice. He was judged. and found guilty of two counts of capital murder, he was sentenced to death for his crimes. Most killers desperately try to cover their tracks, but there are times when the very act of their violence creates a signature that cannot be erased. Forensic science can reveal that signature and with it.

A murderer who leaves his victims marked for death.