Silent Killers | FULL EPISODE | The New Detectives

In a small town outside Fort Worth, Texas, a truck driver leaves his house, never to return. The authorities suspect that something is terribly wrong. Weeks pass as forensic investigators search for even the smallest clues only to find what they feared in their own backyard in Canada. Two people die suddenly. of unknown causes and their deaths may not be as coincidental as they seem at first glance, but a mix of intuition and science takes the

detectives

on a journey to discover the deadly answers. Half a world away, perpetrators try to disguise their actions to avoid prosecution, but forensic investigators use advanced systems.

The techniques are able to uncover their crimes, revealing the

silent

killers

in this

episode

. Some of the names have been changed. Graham Texas is located on the prairies just west of Fort Worth. The quaint cowboy town surrounded by cattle and horse ranches has a family-friendly, homey atmosphere with picturesque landscapes. rarely serves as a crime scene On January 20, 1996, the Young County Sheriff's Office received a call from T.J Ryan's parents: Their son was missing and they were worried that the 27-year-old, six-foot-tall man and six inches, 300 pounds, would have disappeared into thin air on the Wednesday he had been missing.

Since Wednesday, do you have a girlfriend? TJ's mother reported to the police that her son worked as a long-distance truck driver transporting livestock. She was worried because she hadn't shown up for work for several days. The young county sheriff, Carrie Pettis, was the first to investigate TJ's whereabouts. Sheriff Pettis knew most of the citizens of the county, so she knew the quiet trucker. He was a good person. He was a young man. He drove cattle trucks. He helped gather cattle. He simply worked in agriculture. His whole life was the same as any young person. He always wore a big hat, he always wore boots generally speaking, since it was unusual for TJ to miss work without informing the police.

He hoped his employer might have some information about his whereabouts. How many years ago tj's boss told him that his girlfriend Helen Moore had called a A few days earlier, he explained that he was too sick to go to work, so we began the follow-up process. Did he have girlfriends? Did he have a drug addiction? Where could he have gone? The sheriff put out a missing person report in the surrounding areas hoping for some news on the missing trucker on Monday we started when word got out in the community and we started getting hundreds of calls well I saw it here I think it was there and so on and all those things had to be revised and that was it.

It took a long time. The sheriff met with Chief Deputy Gary Barnett to discuss the case and also called Texas Ranger Marshall Brown, who worked for the District Attorney's Office handling special cases. Together, they focused on finding TJ Ryan as TJ Chief said Helen Moore called in sick on On behalf of her boyfriend, Ranger Brown and Deputy Barnett decided to pay her a visit. Helen and TJ live together on a small ranch where they kept some cattle and some horses. The couple had been involved for more than five years. Sir Helen told the officers that she and tj were arguing about finances, she said he stormed out of the house and she had not seen him since she told the brown gamekeeper that this was not the first time something like this had happened, he always returns, although he will return to the house ranger.

Brown noticed what appeared to be blood stains on the front porch. Helen became agitated and quickly explained that a stray dog ​​had attacked her pet, a pot-bellied pig, yes, the blood is from our pain, the pig's injuries were so severe that she couldn't save it, she asked. son to shoot him, of course, Helen Pig later told the officers that she had placed the body in a horse trailer. the brown ranger wanted to look inside. I don't know, would you go with us? Although everything seemed to be in order, one thing was noticed. her eye noticed the floor looked like the carpet had been removed helen said the carpet was one of the things she and tj were arguing about she said he yelled at her because the carpet was dirty and that she was a bad housekeeper She wanted to make him happy, so she broke it and took it outside.

She explained that the rug was too heavy to drag to the side of the road, so she thought it would be easier to burn it in a while. Yeah there's something on the carpet that you may not want us to see properly, Carrie always thought we denied any wrongdoing, she was just getting rid of some old rugs, how messy the carpet was, so I took her outside and the investigators in bankruptcy had arrived empty at the ranch they were on. Was no closer to finding T.J Ryan, but that was about to change In neighboring Palo Pinto County, a Possum Lake area resident called authorities and saw what he believed was a deer carcass shot by hunters. poachers hiding on their property.

Agent Noah Bragg was dispatched to the scene. He was horrified by what he saw in the overgrown grassland eleven fifty-six palapa I'm going to need a sheriff an investigator here please we have human remains Agent Bragg reported that the torso was that of a big white man, okay? We'll be on our way Marshall, we, Barnett and Brown, immediately went to the crime scene hearing that their missing persons case had now turned into a murder. When they arrived, Palo Pinto police had already cordoned off the area. The researchers noticed something strange immediately. There was not a large amount of blood around the torso; given the severity of the dismemberment, officers speculated that the victim had most likely been killed elsewhere and then dumped in the grass.

Closer examination of the torso revealed even more clues that whoever cut up this body knew something about anatomy. The legs and buttocks had been removed at the joint. The hands were separated at the wrists. The victim's head and neck were also missing. Investigators noticed an abrasion around the victim's waist. Brown Ranger had several initial theories about a drug-related crime. They dismember the bodies to prevent the body from being identified and in this case that is what appeared to be on the torso was removed and sent to the coroner's office for an autopsy. Investigators would have to wait for DNA testing before knowing if this was actually the body of T.J Ryan in Young County, Texas.

A truck driver named T.J Ryan was reported missing a few days after a dismembered torso was discovered in a remote field. In nearby Palo Pinto County investigators speculated that the gruesome murder could be the result of a bad missing drug deal and now waited for DNA results in hopes of making a positive identification to see if it was actually the missing trucker in the scene. Investigators gathered more clues and noticed coastal Bermuda hay, a commonly used feed for livestock, around the torso were stains of manure. Present as prickly pear needles, they collected these samples for later analysis.

Texas Ranger Brown and his team found other peculiar clues. There was a black plastic bag next to the torso. There was also a piece of wood found at the scene that was red in color. paint on it that looked like the vehicle had been run over and maybe the wood, the paint from the vehicle was on the wood and that was basically the physical evidence that was at the scene, officers noticed tire tracks in the loose soil, there were two separate and distinct sets of tire tracks, it appeared as if a truck pulling a trailer had approached the torso while the ground was too dusty to obtain track samples, officers documented the size and characteristics of the tire tracks and also measured the footprints to determine the vehicle's turning radius at the dallas county medical examiner's office the torso was processed pathologists made a detailed report of the victim's injuries determined that a knife or tooth saw was used fine to dismember the body also believe that the abrasion around the victim's waist was caused by a rope.

DNA samples were collected to help determine if this was actually TJ Ryan's body. They sent them for analysis. The researchers also sent the biological samples to the laboratory for further toxicological testing in hopes of proving their drug theory. But what the lab showed surprised even the most experienced researchers. The lab report informed Sheriff Pettis that there were fatal levels of morphine in the victim's body, but no one knew whose torso they were investigating. The answer was deep in the body's DNA, but test results took days. Investigators continued to search for other body parts and additional evidence.

Search and rescue teams combed the surrounding areas where the torso was found. Forensic dogs specially trained to alert human remains were also called in to assist in the search. Despite this effort, there was no further evidence. was found at the torrent county medical examiner's office, senior forensic dna analyst carolyn van winkle used reverse paternity testing to positively identify t.j. Ryan, Sheriff Pettis was now officially leading a murder investigation and decided to go back to the last known person. who saw tj ryan alive his girlfriend helen moore needed answers sheriff perez wanted to take another look at the ranch he was particularly interested in the blood on the porch which moore said came from an injured pig crime scene investigators took blood samples from Helen said she transported the pig in the horse trailer Pettis moved it to the seized lot investigators would do a closer inspection at the police lab she is caroline carolyn van winkle examined the blood samples taken from the porch that blood turned out to be blood from pig was not human van winkle's test confirmed that the sample taken from the porch was in fact from a pig it seemed that helen moore was not lying but the researchers were still not convinced that she was telling the whole truth, they believed that she was hiding something that They had just done I don't know what it was, the county's young forensic team examined the truck and trailer taken from Helen's ranch and discovered prickly pine needles embedded in the tires.

The researchers collected samples to compare with similar plant material found where the torso of the known horse had been left. There was also manure near the remains. They also collected manure samples within the samples. There were visible red spots that looked like paint chips. They were sent to the laboratory for analysis. Once again, Vai Hummel Carr brought a cadaver dog to determine if it was a human. The body was transported in the trailer. We were asked to do an evidence search of the trailer to see if we could determine if there was blood or tissue from the victim.

I started by doing a perimeter search of the trailer with mercy and then we went inside. In the trailer where he alerted, on the floorboards, the dog confirmed what investigators were beginning to suspect: blood was found on the trailer floorboards and trailer axles and dripped through the cracks and floorboards and settled on the axes. They sent the boards to the laboratory to see if the blood was human or if it came from the dead pig that Helen's son had placed in the trailer, since flecks of red paint were found in the manure next to the torso, they also extracted paint samples to its subsequent analysis.

The turning radius of the truck and trailer was compared to calculations made at the crime scene. Investigators determined that Helen's truck and trailer could have been at the crime scene, but definitive evidence was needed. Nothing directly linked her to the murder. Investigators turned to those closest to TJ. Sheriff Pettis examined Helen Moore's finances. Hey, Gary, come here. Look at this very alarming piece of information: the fact that Helen Moore had recently taken out a 150,000 insurance policy on her boyfriend's life. TJ Ryan investigators now believe they were closer to a suspect; if they ever hoped to make an arrest, they needed the science to back up their suspicions at the forensic lab.

The doctor. Tam Garland examined the paint chips taken from the floorboards of the trailer and compared them to flecks of red paint embedded in the manure where the torso had been found. We found what we believe to be chunks of red paint inside the pads. fecal matter, so he actually salvaged paint chips from the trailer for us and we were able to place them next to each other and match the different colors. We could combine the colors. layer by layer and the chips that he sent us, as well as in thechips that we found from the cows, so in our mind that greatly reduces the likelihood that it was from any other trailer or any other source, Dr.

Garland determined that the cow had eaten. Paint chips found on the grass and passed through Helen's trailer had been on the scene. Forensic examiner Carolyn Van Winkle took blood samples from the floorboards of the trailer. Analysis revealed the presence of two different types of blood in the trailer. samples were obtained from the floorboards of the trailer and the samples obtained under the floorboards in the axle of the trailer, these samples were sent to the laboratory and in each of those samples human blood and also pig blood were identified. . Additional DNA analysis confirmed that the human blood belonged to TJ Ryan Sheriff Pettis now had definitive proof that the trailer on Helen Moore's property had transported Ryan's body He had the evidence he needed to obtain a warrant for Helen Moore's arrest She was arrested and charged with murder but Sheriff Pettis still needed corroborating evidence of exactly what had happened, he obtained a search warrant and his team began a detailed examination of Helen and TJ's ranch house.

The researchers used luminol tests to check for blood. It quickly became apparent that Moore had used bleach to scrub the house, erasing any residual stains on the surface, any evidence. that he placed the murder in the house he seemed to have disappeared, but when a cadaver dog was brought in, he was alerted to evidence that the luminol tests failed to detect. This could be the link

detectives

needed to firmly establish where and how the murder took place, detectives. In Young County, Texas, Helen Moore had been arrested and charged with the murder of her boyfriend, TJ Ryan.

Her torso had been found in a remote area and forensic investigators learned that she had toxic levels of morphine in her system. her. Police discovered TJ's blood in a horse trailer found on Moore's property. Detectives believed Moore had scrubbed his house with bleach and luminol. The evidence failed to reveal exactly where the murder took place, once again brought in by Hummel Carr. a cadaver dog to help find what investigators were looking for inside the Moore residence. Mercy was alerted by evidence of blood on the back door where the body had apparently been drugged through the house.

She followed her from the master bedroom across the hall to the child's room just the way the body had been drunk through the house the dog had sensed something under a strip of carpet threshold. Investigators removed the strip of carpet for further examination in the laboratory inside the residence. They also found prescription bottles of Pettis morphine and later learned that Helen's ex-husband had cancer. The drug had been prescribed as a painkiller. In the laboratory, blood samples taken from the carpet were analyzed. The blood was from TJ Ryan. Sheriff Pettis was now convinced that Helen Moore murdered TJ Ryan inside her home to get her insurance money and confronted her with a possible motive.

She wanted to buy another horse and she wanted to borrow the money again to do this and he said no and I think that may have been the trigger that really set her off. I think she was probably going to do it all the time, but I think it made her angry, but Helen didn't admit anything. Finally Pettis showed him the evidence her team had collected. He told her that, given these irrefutable facts, the district attorney would seek the death penalty upon realizing that her crime had been revealed. Helen Moore told the sheriff what had happened that fateful night.

TJ complained of back pain and Helen suggested he take some morphine. She gave him a lethal dose while her children were at school. Helen proceeded to dispose of the body, but since TJ weighed over 300 pounds, it would be impossible for her to drag him outside. herself, so she wrapped a noose around her waist and tied it to the hitch of her truck, then proceeded to carry the body out of the house and loaded it into the trailer. Moore, who had experience butchering animals, then cut up the body in the trailer and discarded it. parties in three counties Helen Moore was found guilty of first degree murder She was sentenced to life in prison and will not be eligible for parole for 30 years Some find their prey and murder methods close to home Other perpetrators travel far and wide to discover the perfect

silent

killer hamilton ontario is located on the north shore of lake ontario this canadian city is home to an international population and in 1996 authorities would discover an exotic murder method john pierce an insurance investigator went to the home of natraj sukhwinder a native India Pearce needed additional information to process a recent life insurance claim while getting out of her car.

Pierce felt as if he had been in this place before Ranjit Kayla, his client, died a few weeks ago of a heart attack and named Mr. Suckwinder as the beneficiary of his $100,000 life insurance policy hello yes, I'm John Pearson The insurance that both men purchased policies naming the other as beneficiary in the event of his death told the agent that Ranjit was his nephew and that the young man had lived with him. Pierce was confused. Ranjit's driver's license indicated a different address. Suckwinder explained that the address was his brother's and that his nephew spent time at both houses.

Pierce left the documents with Suckwinder, who said his sister was in India and would ask him to clear up any discrepancies once. He returned as Pierce walked away. Something about the case was still bothering him in his office. Pierce asked his assistant to pull out Suckwinder's file while he reviewed the information. Pierce recalled that Sukwinder had filed another life insurance claim just 16 months earlier. The claim was for Sequinder's wife. priya she had also died suddenly instinctively called hamilton police detective warren carl was the lead investigator kevin dinsa a native of india who spoke fluent punjabi was also assigned the beneficiary of the case the fact that two claims were filed in a relatively short period of time and were purchased by the same individual raised serious concerns.

I understand that you represent two separate insurances. Detective Coral was very suspicious, that's why I contacted the two people who died. They had symptoms similar to those of their deaths. They were young people who had no medical history. The report stated that Praya had complained of headaches for several weeks before her death. She was taking a homeopathic remedy to help relieve the pain. One day she suddenly collapsed. Her husband, Nataraj Suckwinder, found her and immediately called 911. Doctors were unable to revive her and she fell into a state of shock. She fell asleep four days later, at the request of her husband, she was taken off life support and she died.

Dr. David King performed the autopsy in Praia. He was somewhat baffled by what he found that actually showed the floor and brain of brain death and that was about the only significant finding in post mortem there was no real indication of why it had collapsed there was no underlying disease process that could identify at that time the hospital's drug analysis found no trace of illicit drugs the cause of death was declared undetermined. Suckwinder had his wife's remains cremated and unfortunately sent back to India. The autopsy did not provide the answers that Detective Carl was hoping for.

He decided to investigate Suckwinder's past. A search of the Canadian criminal database revealed that Suckwinder was arrested for domestic violence. He had arrived in Praia. He paid a fine and was released. Detectives Carl and Dinsa decided. To investigate the death of Suckwinder's nephew, they began by visiting Ranjit's widow to ask her about the night her husband died. She explained that Ranjit had friends that day, including his uncle Suckwinder. Ranjit's friends were partying and drinking a lot, but his wife told detectives that Ranjit never drank alcohol. and tonight was no exception he drank she remembered that when the guests left he had complained of back pain and took some pills to relieve the pain while getting ready for bed he collapsed she said she called an ambulance while her husband was convulsing on the floor ranjit died in the emergency room the official cause of death heart failure well, thanks for the information, although his death was ruled a heart attack ranjit like Praya the first victim had experienced intense pain, He took medication and collapsed on the floor.

The detectives went to see Dr. king in hamilton, general dr king's colleague dr. chitra rao, listened to the detective's questions and had particular concerns given the peculiar cause of death, we discussed the case and then he asked me if I had any suggestions, then I realized that both the Indian origin and I know that the three most common poisonings in India are the strict use of arsenic and chloroform, so I said maybe we should test for those three agents. Detective Carl wondered if the victims had actually been administered the deadly poison that Dr. King gave to the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsies. coral tissue samples from the two victims priya sukwinder coral handed over to the forensic science center for further toxicology testing, but they would have to wait for the results, it took time given dr.

Rao Coral began researching strychnine poisoning and learned that the plant comes from is indigenous to India because it is used as a pesticide in homeopathic medicine the substance is readily available the toxic chemical is lethal and is banned in Canada a small amount 1 40 of a sugar cube is enough to cause a horrible death it's just a terrible, terrible death, you are conscious while this is happening while you are in these seizures, the state of the seizures and you basically know that there is impending doom, you people who have ingested strychnine, they will say: I'm going to die, I'm going to die, yes, although he said he didn't notice anything unusual the night Ranjit died, he did remember that Sukwinder gave his nephew a pill for back pain and then He told officers that he heard a rumor that Suckwinder had returned to India after his wife Praya died and remarried there and there was a more surprising revelation.

He also heard that his new wife died suddenly, as did Ranjit and Praya. The friend believed Suckwinder had also collected insurance for this wife. Three people had died and a pattern was beginning to emerge in Hamilton, Ontario, two. young indian immigrants died suddenly for no apparent reason the only link between them a man the traj suckwinder the sole beneficiary of the life insurance policies taken out for both victims let me ask you this and although there were rumors about suck winder there was no evidence of any kind, they are my brothers, the only solid lead was the toxicological tests of the second victim, ranjit kayla, the presence of a lethal poison strychnine was discovered and, although it is illegal in both the US and Canada, The substance is available in Suck Winder's native India at the center. of forensic science dr. joel mayer examined the samples taken from both victims dr.

King had saved samples of Ranji's blood but because Praia had died almost 18 months earlier there was no blood left, only small blocks of tissue due to the limitations of his equipment. Dr. Mayer was unable to detect the presence of strychnine in Praia's samples, however, he did find evidence of strychnine in Ranjit's blood sample, while Hamilton investigators now believe the young man was poisoned, proving it was another matter. and linking it to the death of pria, Suckwinder's wife, was almost impossible. They were convinced that he had a killer who could strike again at any moment and they had reached a dead end for fear of not being able to stop him given the discovery of the poison.

Detectives Carl and Dinsa decided to question Sukunder further. The used car salesman was cooperative at first. until they asked him if he had ever heard of the poison strychnine. Kayla Warren spoke to him in English and the situation got progressively worse when they asked him some key questions and that's when I approached him and told him that I could speak Punjabi and then we could talk in his native language and I don't think he was quite ready for that because he got caught up in it and when I was able to talk he didn't have much room to back away.

Of the questions at that time, although Sukwinder said that he visited Ranjit the night he died, he insisted that he never gave him a pill for back pain when asked about his wife, Priya Sukwinder became sad, I want you to think about the questions, but detectives. He didn't believe his show of emotion was genuine. His evasive responses only increased her feelings.suspicions but that alone was not enough evidence to arrest him the detectives wanted to check the rumors surrounding suck winder so they needed to travel to the other side of the world coral and dinsa made a call to pierre carrier the liaison officer of the canadian high commission in new delhi asking for information about suckwinder's background, how could you follow those steps? pierre corriere sent them a fax from interpol the rumors turned out to be true suckwinder's past was alarming he remarried and his new wife died suddenly as did his first wife priya they also found out he had two children who died mysteriously shortly after birth.

It was possible that Suckwinder had not only killed another wife but had also murdered his two young children. In a way it confirms that the information from the trip to India also confirmed that said Winder had easy access to strychnine, the poison found in the blood of his nephew. Dinsa and Coryl felt it was imperative that they travel to India to collect more evidence to corroborate the death of his other family. To determine what the cause of death was and what the circumstances were, we also learned that the second wife he had married in India gave birth to twin babies who had also died, so we wanted to determine what the cause of death was. his death and what the circumstances were and you know what the connection was with all these deaths and marriages that occurred immediately after the death of the first wife.

They learned that the symptoms of the new wife's death were identical to those of praia and ranjeets. Detectives also discovered how easy it was to buy strychnine. Strychnine is indigenous to India, it is a tree called kapilo tree and grows in the northeastern part of India and is easily available and is mainly used for homeopathic reasons but is also available in its raw form and is sometimes used to kill animals , so it's pretty easy. Available in some of India's organic and homeopathic stores to obtain a conviction in Priya's case, Coral India would need definitive proof that the poison was present in her tissue samples.

They were hoping that forensic science would provide the link they had. Missing Hamilton, Ontario detectives Carl and Dinsa were immersed in investigations into five mysterious deaths. They discovered strychnine in the blood of one of the victims and believed that the others were also poisoned. It seemed that all the evidence pointed to a suspect, Suckwinder, but linking him to the deadly substance proved difficult. Detectives contacted readers of dr. World-renowned Frederick, a Pennsylvania-based toxicologist who had advanced equipment calibrated to detect the smallest trace elements, working only with the small tissue block sample obtained from Suckwinder's wife, Priya readers began a painstaking process using this. method, the reader was able to determine that there was a large amount of strychnine in Priya's system at the time of her death.

Carl and Dinsa now had the evidence they needed to arrest Sukhwinder for the murders of his nephew and his wife. The hours of interrogation Sukwinder continued to maintain his innocence, he again gave a cautionary statement and stated that he continued to say that he did not murder these people, he did not murder his first wife, he did not murder Ranjit, the things that were happening in the India were all a coincidence, Coral Indinsa obtained a search. warrant for his house they discovered several elements that supported the case they had reconstructed they hoped to find something more substantial that linked him directly to strychnine the search warrant was for stryk nine or any related literature with strycknight and no We found neither, but what we did find was a motor and guns, which was not that uncommon in Indian homes as spices are ground for daily consumption, however our theory was than raw strychnine, which comes in round brown mortars.

It was ground in these mortars and then placed in gelatin capsules and given to the victims. The detectives presented the evidence they collected to prove the poison, but Suckwinder had covered up traces of it. Dr. Mayer found no traces of strychnine, but the fact that these items were in his home, along with the other evidence they had collected, gave detectives a clear picture of how he carried out the crimes. Suckwinder knew that his wife was taking medication for her headaches. He ground the strychnine in the mortar and then replaced the contents of its capsules with the deadly poison.

He had also offered him ranjit as a remedy for his back, what the man did not know was that the pills he took were mixed with strychnine in July 2001, Sukhwinder was convicted of his wife's murder and received a life sentence that same year. He received an additional life sentence for the murder of Ranjit Kayla. It was an exhilarating experience, it was a tough fight and once it was over it was a very, very big victory for us and it was a relief because of the problems I've had. It was briefly described as being a problem throughout the investigation throughout the trial, so once we got the convection it was a huge relief and of course after the second convection we were excited about the whole thing, although it may just have been Need a small amount of poison to kill these toxic chemicals, it leaves a telltale trail that only forensic science can trace and with it the silent

killers

come to light and their heinous crimes become all too clear.