Predators And Parasites | FULL EPISODE | The New Detectives

In Hawaii, investigators find a body inside a makeshift coffin, but to find the killer they must first rely on insects to help them identify the victim. A body is discovered under a pile of sidewalk trash in Oklahoma, although police identify a suspect it falls to an insect expert. To prove a murder in Mississippi, a young family is found brutally murdered in a rural home to expose the guilt of a murderer. Examiners must find a way to establish when they die. When a murderer leaves no trace of himself at the crime scene. Researchers can turn to the insects that remain. behind answers entomologists can find justice for homicide victims by following the trails of

predators

and

parasites

in this

episode

some of the names have been changed on october 24, 1994 a man driving on the old cali highway in oahu hawaii noticed something lying in the woods right next to the road as he approached the object he realized it was a large toolbox.

He was curious to know what he had found and opened the box. Inside were the remains of a human body in serious decomposition. He called 9-1-1 officers and the forensic department. Technicians from the Honolulu Police Department responded to the scene. Blunt trauma to the skull indicated that this individual had been murdered. No identification of any type was located near the male victims. Remains of hundreds of insects were found in and around the makeshift coffin, with little evidence found to tell. They were told who this victim was or when she was murdered. Investigators contacted renowned forensic entomologist Dr. lee goff as insect growth and development expert dr.

Goff analyzes insects found on a corpse and estimates how much time has passed since the death of a person in the toolbox that found more than 250 species of insects, including a colony of long-legged ants that had nested inside the skull of the The victim, after collecting dozens of samples, returned to his laboratory at the University of Hawaii. An examination of the skeletal remains revealed that the male victim was in his 50s. and 60 years of age and approximately six feet tall, the damage to the skull was consistent with injuries caused by massive blunt force trauma, other than noting that the victim had had extensive bridge work performed on his teeth, no For other identifying characteristics, researchers began searching previously submitted files. missing persons reports looking for a match to his victim, although there were some potential matches, homicide detective Hal Fitchett knew that until they could be sure of the man's identity, solving this case would be nearly impossible in all homicide cases there are. make an identification. of the body or skeletal remains in any case to make it solid for a jury to understand that this was a victim and this is how he died and this is who he was and how it happened to firmly establish the identity of the male victim, investigators first. necessary to determine when dr.

Lee Goth believed the insects found in the makeshift coffin held the answers. Typically, what we observe are the life cycles of individual insects or the succession patterns of insects in the body when the first fly lays its egg and begins When the eggs hatch, the maggots begin feeding on the body, they change the body and in doing so they make the body attractive to another group of insects and you have successive waves of insects invading this particular body, each using a different part of the body among the various insects found dr. gough identified the black soldier fly.

Entomological research has shown that the black soldier fly will not be attracted to a body until decomposition has occurred for at least 30 days, but dr. Gough also located newborn fly larvae or maggots that came from the black soldier fly, knowing that it takes an additional 60 days from the time the soldier fly arrives to the time its eggs hatch and begin to mature into adults. , concluded that the victim had been dead for at least 90 days, but the presence of the ant colony inside the skull indicated that the victim had been dead for much longer. The ants were there basically looking for a somewhat dry place to establish their colony.

They were looking for a protected type of environment. A good place to establish the colony. and are mainly just a shelter rather than using the body as a food source to determine when this victim died. The doctor. goff now needed to determine how long the ant colony had been present inside the toolbox and began to investigate how ant colonies grow and develop, you will find several different forms that will be present within the colony, each one doing a job. different initially, you're just producing workers, tending to the queen, making sure the colony keeps getting food, but then you reach a certain colony size at that point, this colony is big enough that you want to establish other colonies, usually one Colony reaches that size in 12 months, then the queen begins to produce other reproductive ants.

Dr. Gough found ants identifiable by their wings, which allowed them to leave the colony and continue forming their own knowing that the ants had not arrived until the soldier fly larvae began to hatch. Dr. Goff estimated the victim had been dead about 15 months, but then took into account the additional time he would have had. Measures were taken to prevent insects from entering the toolbox. Finally, he estimated that the victim died 18 months before his body was discovered using Dr. Goff's analysis. Investigators were able to quickly identify a missing person report filed 18 months earlier that closely matched the victim's description and contacted the man's family.

The children told police that their father, Charles Osborne, 55, had disappeared in April 1993. They had last spoken to him by telephone shortly before he disappeared. Charles, a father of three, was co-owner of a marble and tile installation business. He was described as a dedicated craftsman who took pride in his business and the quality of his work. The family did not believe he had strayed from their livelihood. His co-workers said they last saw him at a job site in Waikiki, where he was in the process of renovating condominiums. Photographs of Charles Osborne were given to police to verify that the victim found in the toolbox was actually Charles Osborne.

Investigators sent the photograph and skull to the nearby U.S. Army Central Forensic Identification Laboratory. Anthropologists have spent years trying to match human remains found around the world with military personnel who have been classified as missing in action since World War II to identify the remains. Dr. Robert Mann uses a process called video overlay using photographs of a missing service member. They use video cameras to generate an image of the face, then the image is projected on a monitor, and then the face is superimposed on a video image of the unidentified skull, guided by the spatial arrangements that make each person's face unique. .

Examiners look to see if the bone structures align with the contours of the face in the photograph. You take the skull that is recovered from one site and take a photograph of the individual you think it might be and using two different cameras you overlay those images and match them. the bone landmarks under the skin with the features seen above on the skin overlying the bone using photographs of the skull found in the toolbox and photographs by charles osborne. Examiners looked for similarities using the extensive dental work as their examining guides found a perfect match with The alleged victim the man found murdered inside the toolbox had been positively identified as Charles Osborne.

Now investigators needed to find out who had put it there and why, by analyzing insects recovered from the crime scene, forensic entomologist Dr. Lee Goff had helped authorities identify decomposing human beings. Remains of contractor Charles Osborne, 55, had been murdered 18 months earlier and his body was hidden inside a toolbox. Now police in Honolulu, Hawaii, have struggled to identify his killer seeking to trace the victim's movements before his death. Investigators have located other contractors who worked with Osborne at the time of his disappearance. They remember the last time they saw him. He had gotten into a heated argument with his business partner while working on renovating condominiums in Waikiki.

His partner and longtime friend Ross Horton said he needed more money to finish the project. Osborne refused the job, in fact accusing Horton of using company money to buy drugs. Ross Horton denied the allegation and then left the workplace when they returned to the condominiums the next day. There was no sign of Charles Osborne, however, they noticed a reddish puddle. -brown liquid on the floor believing it to be some type of cleaning solution they did not give it any importance the construction workers agreed to accompany investigators to the former workplace in Waikiki, although almost two years had passed they hoped to discover evidence of the murder the criminalists They began searching Although the floors of the residence were covered with tiles and the walls painted, the technicians managed to locate some tiny traces of what appeared to be human blood.

The samples were collected and sent for further analysis in the laboratory. Examiners compared the genetic profile of the blood found in the apartment with known samples from the victim. Something violent had happened to Charles Osborne inside that condo and for the homicide detective, all the circumstantial evidence pointed to Ross Horton, so now the goal was to locate Ross Horton and we contacted people here. with the state of Hawaii and were able to give us possible addresses where Mr. Horton might be residing, so he followed up on those areas and located an address. Ross Horton was eventually located at an address in Oakland, California, where police were notified and when Horton showed up for work he was arrested.

Detectives traveled to California to interview the suspect. Horton was surprised that after so much time the police were able to identify the remains of Charles Osborne. We have the evidence confronted with the evidence against him. Orton confessed to the murder Horton said that after the other contractors left the job site the day he and Osborne argued, he returned to confront his partner; he needed money to buy drugs, but when Osborne refused to give him more money than company, became enraged by the confrontation. escalated into a fight that quickly got out of control later that night to hide his crime horton placed charles osborne's body inside his toolbox and dumped it on the side of a road a jury found ross horton guilty of murder in second degree and sentenced him to life in prison with the help of insect analysis by dr. lee goff authorities were able to identify the victim and her killer in oklahoma investigators must also rely on insects but this time to disprove the alibi of a murder suspect on the morning of august 8, 1993 in the small town of stroud oklahoma , a resident on her way to work was suddenly overwhelmed by a foul smell coming from a large pile of trash in front of her neighbor's house, examined the trash worried about a possible health hazard, and then noticed a human hand sticking out of the rubble she quickly called 911.

Dispatchers learned that the residence where the body was found belonged to Lito Cisneros, 44, and his wife Linda Howell. When police arrived, they began rummaging through the trash. Under the mountain of rubble wrapped in a blanket, investigators found the lifeless body of a middle-aged man with cuts and blood stains on his shirt. It was clear that he had been stabbed to death. The technicians collected all the trash, including the fly larvae that had covered the body, neighbors confirmed that the victim was actually Lito Cisneros and had not seen his wife Linda Howell or Lito's vehicle in some time for fear that there might be more victims inside.

Investigators cautiously entered the house. No one, including the victim's wife, appeared to be Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation Agent Jackie Johnson. I worked the case when we entered the house and couldn't locate Linda, who hadHaving said that she also lived there, we were very concerned for her well-being because the car was missing, so we were also afraid that she would be a victim of her fears. appeared to be well founded in the kitchen there were signs that a violent struggle had taken place technicians found blood splatters on the wall and floor and hidden under the refrigerator investigators located a steak knife evidence was collected and sent to the crime lab for processing in Oklahoma Authorities were faced with a dead body and a missing woman.

A search warrant was immediately issued for Lido's vehicle. Investigators knew that if they didn't find answers, more victims could quickly appear. Stroud Oklahoma authorities had few clues in the murder of 44-year-old Lito Cisneros whose body was found under a pile of trash in front of his home with the victim's wife and the couple's vehicle missing authorities struggled for answers in The autopsy determined that Lito Cisneros had died as a result of multiple stab wounds to the head and chest. A knife with a 5.8-inch wide blade had caused the fatal injuries. The level of decomposition indicated that Lito had been dead.

A few days, but with the additional insect activity, it was difficult to determine a specific time of death. Additional examination yielded no clues to the killer's identity. Police turned to forensic examiners at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation's crime lab, there. Examiners examined the knife found hidden under the victim's refrigerator for clues - the blade measured 5 8 inches wide - the same dimension as the weapon that caused the fatal wounds - but technicians could find no traces of blood on it. the sheet. The handle had been cleaned of fingerprints. Desperate to generate a lead. Investigators began interviewing local residents.

One recalled seeing Lito in a bar on Thursday, August 4. days before they found her body and she said he was not alone according to the witness. Lido and his wife Linda Howell got into a heated argument and that was not unusual. Linda started yelling at her husband, humiliating him in front of the other customers. The witness also heard Linda threatening to kill Leto before storming out of the bar. Leto followed her and The witness never returned. The witness hadn't seen Leto since that night, but he had seen Linda Howell leaving town in Lito's car a few days later.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure suddenly investigators weren't worried about him anymore. The victim's wife was in some kind of danger, Officer Jackie Johnson found out that Linda had been. She was seen two or three days after the last Lido sighting and therefore we knew that she was okay and she had also been seen in the Lido car. The fact that she had left town made us suspect that she might have been involved, but efforts to locate her in the missing vehicle were unsuccessful so a week later a farmer in a nearby county found an abandoned vehicle parked on his property.

A check of the license plates revealed that it belonged to Lito Cisneros and, according to the farmer, she had only been there one day. Linda Howell had to be nearby in a matter of hours. Authorities learned that Linda had friends who lived near where the vehicle had been abandoned. , the area was placed under surveillance shortly after the tactic paid off the police saw a car passing through the small town and parked in the The passenger seat was a woman who fit the description of Linda Howell when she was questioned. The woman identified herself as Linda Howell.

She was detained and then transported back to Stroud Oklahoma when she was questioned. Linda admitted that she and Lito had gotten into a fight at the bar on a Thursday afternoon in August. 4, but she claimed that she and Lito had reconciled the next morning, in fact, things were going well between them, but on Saturday, August 6, her ex-husband, Lucky Lee Lancaster, showed up at her house unexpectedly, Lancaster wanted to come back to be with his ex. Wife, I didn't hear anything and then I believed him when the two men started arguing Linda left when he returned shortly after Lucky was standing in the kitchen holding a bloody knife I killed him He had killed Leto during the fight Linda Howell was arrested for her role in the cover-up of the murder.

If she decides to answer questions now without her attorney being present, she believed that after her murder her ex-husband returned to California, we contacted Lucky's parents and they were very accommodating and generous. They gave us an address where we could contact Lucky in California, we contacted California officials and they located him on the beach and actually brought him in for us to talk to the authorities. We traveled to San Clemente, California to speak with the suspect. They found out that over the last several years. For months Lucky had been living in a homeless shelter under questioning, insisting that he had not spoken to Linda Howell in more than a year and denying that she had recently been to Oklahoma.

A review of shelter records corroborated his statements. He would sign for his food each day and show identification and by checking those records we were able to establish that he had been in California for six to seven months and had not left California before the homicide, which meant that Linda Howell's story was a lie. , now she explained that her marriage in Toledo was complicated. and without an alibi, she knew that they would blame her for her husband's death. She said that the last time she saw Lito was the morning of Saturday, August 6, when she left town to visit some friends.

When he had not returned the next day, she decided to visit him, friends of hers. In a nearby county it seemed like someone was trying to frame her for the murder. Investigators were not buying the story to prove that Linda had killed her husband. Investigators needed to establish that Lito was already dead on August 6, the day Linda claimed she saw him. life to her husband for the last time the only evidence authorities had to firmly establish the time of death were insects collected from the victim's body the insects were sent to forensic entomologist dr. neil haskell professor at st joseph's university in rensselaer indiana the oklahoma bureau of research investigator jackie johnson had collected entomological evidence mainly maggots from the body of the deceased.

We can use those worm larvae of a particular species of fly to estimate how long the body has been there based on its growth and development of the life stages of these insects that Dr. Haskell has gone through. The last 18 years have investigated the relationship between insects and decomposing human remains to understand that relationship and determine the life cycles of insects in a corpse. Most of their studies have been conducted using pigs that have died of natural causes. Pigs are easily available anywhere in the world. In the world and many of the organs and tissues of pigs are almost identical to human organs and tissues, so we found it to be a very suitable model and probably the closest animal that we can find and we found relatively no difference in the rate. of decomposition of humans and pigs nor did we find any difference in the insects or the sequence of insects that are attracted to both humans and pigs based on those studies dr.

Haskell concluded that the housefly larvae collected at the crime scene were in the third stage of development, meaning they were very close to becoming adult flies, but to determine how long it took them to reach that stage, Dr. Haskell consulted weather data from the days before the body was discovered. Heat accelerates the development process. The cold slows it down. He found that it had not been warm enough between August 6 and August 8 to explain the advanced stage of development which meant Lido could not have died on August 6, as Linda had claimed that his death probably occurred more than 90 hours earlier. of it being discovered. i would put the murder in the late afternoon of thursday august 4 the night lito and linda got into a fight in the bar entomologically this was very easy to test because we had

full

y mature third stage worms and we had the temperatures available for their growth and development and was very consistent with a death interval of more than 96 hours instead of the 36 hour interval, so we were able to refute that the 36 hour interval was not true and we chose a 96 hour interval that was consistent with her was with the uh, her husband, the deceased at the time and him dying shortly after she was with him, okay, dr.

Haskell contacted Agent Johnson with his findings. Linda Howell was later charged with murder, police believe that after arriving home from the bar on Thursday night, August 4, the fight between Linda Howell and Vito Cisneros escalated after Linda stabbed him to death and dragged his body Even the sidewalk was covered with debris and left with garbage to be collected in a few days according to the analysis of Dr. Haskell Linda Howell pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison an hour's drive from Jackson, Mississippi's state capital, the rural community of Summit offers an escape from the bustling city life, it is a quiet small town and in 1993 it seemed like an ideal place for a family to spend some quality time together on the night of December 16 the police received a frantic 911 call a man reported that he had discovered his family dead inside their remote home Vacationing officers from the Pike County Sheriff's Office and the Mississippi Highway Patrol were dispatched to the scene 50-year-old Michael Rubinstein told officers that when he hadn't heard from his 24-year-old stepson Daryl Perry years for some time, drove from his Louisiana home to check on him when he entered the residence.

Michael found Daryl and Daryl's 22-year-old wife, Annie. Dead Annie's four-year-old daughter, Crystal, was also dead when

detectives

arrived at the residence. They were immediately struck by the smell of natural gas in the living room. Police found the decomposed bodies of Daryl and Annie Perry in an adjacent bedroom. found Crystal's lifeless body lying on her bed police removed the bodies and sent them for an autopsy the next day Mississippi Highway Patrol investigators began looking for clues to explain the deaths, other than the smell of natural gas, Detective Alan Applewhite was left with few answers due to the state of decomposition there was no way we could determine the cause of death the room was not disturbed in any way it did not appear to have been a struggle we had two victims in a study area with nothing At the location where police turned to the medical examiner for answers, the level of decomposition and stage of development of insects observed on the bodies suggested the family had been dead for at least two weeks, meaning they had likely been dead. died in early December, believing it was due to a gas leak inside the residence. responsible for the deaths, the coroner began a more detailed analysis almost immediately and realized that these deaths were not accidental.

Both Daryl Perry and Annie, 22, had died from multiple stab wounds. Crystal had been strangled. The young family was found dead inside an isolated vacation home in Mississippi. was brutally murdered after autopsies revealed that a family of three had been victims of homicide police in pike county mississippi returned to the remote vacation home where the bodies had been discovered now searching for clues that could lead them to the killer, but Investigators found there were no signs of forced entry and all windows were securely closed. Technicians processed each surface in hopes of finding fingerprints that may have been left behind, but found none.

Whoever had committed these murders had been very careful not to leave any traces behind. Signs of a violent struggle or forced entry led investigators to suspect that the victims likely knew their killer. Hoping that the victim's family could provide useful information, investigators traveled to Louisiana to interview Daryl Perry's mother, Doris, and her husband, Michael Rubinstein, who had discovered the bodies. Michael explained that he had taken the family to his remote retreat in Mississippi in early November. His stepson Daryl and Daryl's wife Annie had recently gotten back together after a long separation. Annie's young daughter from a previous marriage desperately needed a father figure in her life for the sake of herself, Daryl, and Annie. they wanted the marriage to work they hoped that spending quiet time together as a family would bring them closer michaelHe offered to let them stay at his Mississippi residence.

He said he last spoke with Daryl on the phone on November 16. According to Daryl, everything was going well, but then a month went by without saying a word. Michael returned to the residence on December 16 and that is when he discovered the bodies. The Rubensteins told police that while Daryl and Annie were separated, Annie had dated an alleged drug dealer named Tony Harris. Harris was rumored to be violent. Police quickly located the suspect and brought him in for questioning, but Tony Harris denied any knowledge of the murders and had a solid alibi for the first week of December, when the murders had likely occurred.

He later agreed to submit to a polygraph test which indicated that he was telling the truth, the investigation stopped, that's around 12:50. How are you, Mr. Kerry? A few days later, Daryl Perry's brother David came to talk to police. David believed his stepfather, Michael Rubinstein, had committed the murders. He said that Daryl and his stepfather had been involved in insurance scams for years and, from past experience, David believed that Michael Rubinstein would have no problem killing for money. David gave information that Rubenstein, he, Daryl and other family members had been involved in during the years when Rubenstein primarily made his living from insurance scams, he told us about a death in a hunting accident in which a partner died in 1979, following up lead investigators reviewed case files on the 1979 death of Rubenstein's business partner, according to company court documents.

His partner died during a hunting trip when Rubinstein's gun accidentally misfired. Criminal charges were never filed, but two weeks before the accident the partner had made Rubenstein the beneficiary of his life insurance policy, but when Rubenstein attempted to collect on the policy, the insurance company refused. payment, decided to take the insurance company to court your honor, you never know when a premium tragedy will occur, but the law states that if the policyholder dies within two years of signing the documentation , the insurance company is not required to testify. Upon shooting there, Rubenstein was allegedly furious at the decision, believing they were getting closer to a suspect and a motive.

Detectives began interviewing other family members and discovered that Rubenstein had taken out a 250,000 life insurance policy on a four-year glass and that the policy was dated. two years and two months before the young woman was found murdered, although incriminating it did not prove the murder, we now knew the motive, which was a life insurance policy of 250,000 and, simply, it was not enough for the prosecutor to accept the case when Mississippi police reviewed witness statements however they found something they had overlooked several residents who lived near the vacation home where the murdered victims were found had seen Rubenstein in town on November 16 the suspect previously claimed that he had not gone to the residence until mid-December when he discovered the bodies to prove the murder.

Investigators needed to establish that the family died during Rubinstein's trip to Mississippi in mid-November, not in early December as the coroner had indicated, and the only evidence

detectives

had were photographs of the insects taken at the crime scene. . In Mississippi, a $250,000 life insurance policy was believed to have led Michael Rubinstein, 50, to murder his stepson and his stepson's young wife and son, although the suspect had been seen near crime scene on November 16, 1993, the coroner's report indicated that The family had died in early December to resolve conflicting information and firmly establish the time of death. Detectives contacted esteemed forensic anthropologist Dr.

William Bass of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville for more than 30 years Dr. Bass has conducted research at a three-acre facility known as the Body Farm using human bodies that have been donated for scientific research. Dr. Bass has become an expert on how individuals break down. After death, in law enforcement, you are often asked to determine the time since death and to do that you need to know what the rate of decomposition is and what the sequence of decomposition is in humans, so this It's one of the things I got. What is interesting is to determine the time elapsed since death and, to do so, it is necessary to observe how the body decomposes, how long it takes for this decomposition to occur, what are the factors such as temperature, insects, etc.? that help you determine the time since death, the house fly larvae observed in crime scene photographs were approximately 14 days old, suggesting that the family died in early December, but that did not account for the entire story when dr.

Bass examined the remains and, taking into account the temperature data, concluded from the level of decomposition that the victims had died a month before being discovered on December 16, after examining photographs of the house where the bodies were found, the Dr. bass believed he could explain the inconsistency. I agree that maggots only have 14 days but you have two things happening at the same time you have these bodies decomposing inside a house you have flies outside the house the flies take a few days for the smell to start appearing, hey there's a dead body there, then they have to figure out how I can get from the outside to the inside so I can lay my eggs in this decomposing body.

I am Dr. Bass from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville after weighing all the evidence. Dr. Bask concluded that these victims had died between 25 and 35 days before being discovered, placing the time of death in mid-November, exactly when Michael Rubinstein had been seen near the residence, according to Dr. Bask's analysis. .Bass. Mississippi authorities now had enough evidence to arrest Michael Rubinstein. He was charged with three counts of murder. Police believe that when Michael's financial problems became too much, he began plotting to kill his family members and then profit from their deaths on November 16, 1993, two years after taking out a life insurance policy. to four years.

Old Crystal drove to the residence where Daryl Annie and the boy were spending time together. There she brutally murdered the young family. Fifty-year-old Michael Rubinstein received two life sentences for the stabbing deaths of Daryl and Annie Perry for the murder of four. year-old crystal received the death penalty Some murderers are experts at removing any trace of themselves from the crime scene but nature has its own way of leaving clues behind Forensic entomologists can launch a dying investigation and find evidence of murder upon discovery of evidence left behind by

predators

and

parasites