1984 Cases (Part 1) | DOUBLE EPISODE | The FBI Files

In 1989, residents of a close-knit a

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ment complex in Virginia gathered to celebrate the holidays for Tammy Brandon and her 5-year-old daughter Melissa. Christmas was always a special time; Then, without warning, the girl disappeared. Her disappearance sparked a passionate search by authorities. and the local community spared no effort, but could they gather the evidence and find her before it was too late? In 1989, in front of nearly 200 witnesses, a missing girl, Melissa Brandon, age 5, disappeared from a Christmas

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y at her mother's house. apartment complex in Virginia children have a way of wandering, but it soon became clear that this was more than a case of a missing child someone had taken Melissa what pain compares to a mother's pain what kind of monster prays for children I'm Jim Costom former director of the FBI's New York office the search for Melissa galvanized the community as a nation held its breath and waited for news all victims deserve justice all criminals must be punished, but when a crime involves a child, the stakes become much higher December 3, 19 89 the Woodside apartment complex in Lorton Virginia held its Christmas party U tide, how are you doing?

Woodside was a large but friendly community, a community that revolved around family life and children's activities, the children were always excited to party which meant special treats and gifts. Tammy Brandon, a single mother, had found the Woodside complex a safe community in which to raise her only daughter, Melissa. They asked me if you would come when the night was over. Tammy stopped to visit a friend before heading home, we'll have some pizza, how about it? Okay, can I go get some fries? Okay, but come right back. Well, I'm very good for you, we have to get ready, we have L to Large, how pretty she is.

Did you see where she went? She lost sight of her daughter for only a few seconds, but they were enough for our mother's worst nightmare to begin. You see, my daughter Melissa Melissa Melissa Melissa disappeared. They called the Fairfax County Police Department in Virginia immediately. No, I will do everything I can to find your little girl, but you have to tell me everything you can. Detective Bill Wildon assured Tammy that they would do everything possible to find her little girl. Detectives began questioning people at the party. No one remembered seeing Melissa leave the party or near the front door.

I'm Detective Wilden, I'm Rapaport with Richard Rapaport, the search commander of the Fairfax Department joined Detective Wen to organize the search party, if he finds anything suspicious or an item, he will lead the investigation. Everyone understands that one of the possibilities, of course, was that she had just been hiding somewhere in the building was playing with some friends or had wandered away, so immediately the patrol officers on the scene did a very good job of searching the building and began a search of the immediate area surrounding the building. The night of December 3rd was a bitterly cold night in the Washington area uh someone outside who was 5 years old without much protection probably wouldn't have survived the whole night it was so cold adults I need you outside flashlight Rapaport coordinated a more specific search in the area with patrol officers and dozens of volunteers from the complex let go the search effort began about 100 neighbors police and military Personnel from nearby Fort Belvoir combed the forest around the complex most were the parents themselves United by a single concern to find Melissa as the waiting detectives Finding a shaking, scared little girl lost in the dark woods and crying for her mother, officers began questioning the 200 people who had attended the party and interviewing more than 400 Woodside residents, Although the complex was large, many residents knew Melissa and knew her.

Being very shy Surprised to hear that she was missing Almost everyone expressed doubt that she would ever be gone without her mother and certainly not with a stranger. This is Detective Wilden went with Tammy to her apartment to interview her. He tells her most of the last time he saw her. He told her at length about her past and possible problems with her neighbors or her employer, an accountant. She had never had problems with anyone and I believe she had lived in Woodside for over 3 years since she divorced her husband in Texas. Suici, she had experienced the normal readjustments of a newly single mother, but she and her ex-husband were getting along well when detectives discovered an open window in the boiler room.

Jim Goen, the crime scene investigator for the Fairfax County Police Department, was willing to examine the way the door was positioned here. everyone had to go through the crowd to get out the front of the building, that was just the front door and the only door available to get out, with the exception of the hallway that led to the bathrooms and the boiler room, they had big uh big windows and Then in the boiler room there was a window that was discovered open and from there it was assumed that possibly that was how they took her out of the building.

Melissa's disappearance was suddenly much more complicated, the search for a missing child had turned into a possible kidnapping case as she left the party at some point the police continued their interrogation with even greater urgency and began hearing repeated mentions of the strange even strange behavior of the complex maintenance man who was the last one they saw several of the women reported how offended they were by the extremely vulgar sexual propositions that Caleb Hughes made to them, there was a possibility that if she had been kidnapped for sexual purposes , they might sexually abuse her, but we were very hopeful that at least we could find her alive before she did. life was in danger now that they were dealing with a possible kidnapping case, the detectives returned to Tammy's apartment and collected nightgowns, hairbrushes and bedding, any items that had traces of Melissa, did you describe as the detectives continued questioning the people at the party who learned the most disturbing? details about Hugh's behavior that night he had spent what seemed to many an unusual amount of time playing with the children he made the parents uncomfortable touching the children there was something disturbing something indecent about him you know at the party no He was dressed as nice as the rest of the people, he was close to work, he mingled with some of the people he knew at the party and spent some time talking to Melissa's mother, making comments about Melissa and offering to take her. to Melissa and a couple. of the other children to the bathroom if they needed to go, he simply engaged in very suspicious behavior by a man his age around the children, with growing suspicion, the detectives repeatedly attempted to contact Hughes by phone and then went to his house, but they were told His wife told him she had no idea where he could be.

When are you going to play with her tonight? He finally returned home 2 and a half hours after Melissa disappeared. Caleb Hugh called the police, who then returned to his house. I would like to know. When questioned, he claimed that he had simply taken the long walk home, where officers immediately noticed that he was wearing different clothes. clothes from what Witnesses reported at the party I washed clothes tonight when I got home they were in the washing machine there in the washing machine they found the clothes that Hughes had been wearing, as well as his slippers and a leather belt with a belt holster knife was missing knife you washed your shoes at 2: a.m. in the morning he had been gone for several hours and coming home in the middle of the night when your family was sleeping and feeling the immediate need to wash everything he had been wearing, including his shoes, we found that behavior quite suspicious and that escalated even Adding to our interest in knowing his whereabouts, as Hughes seemed reluctant to speak in front of his wife, the officers decided to take him to headquarters for further questioning, suspecting that Hughes might be covering up time he spent with a girlfriend.

The officers wanted to give him a chance to tell the real story. Do you know most of Brandon? No, I didn't know, to the detective's surprise, there was no real story. Hughes had no alibi, he claimed to have one. He had no idea who Melissa was. He had driven the long way home. Why were you waiting after picking up a six pack and then just doing his laundry? You usually wash your shoes with your clothes sometimes. Yeah, what were they dirty with? He said like an Excuse me that those were his only work clothes and he had to go to work the next day and they were dirty so he needed to clean them for work.

Look, he could be in charge of anything despite hours of intense interrogation. Hughes remained smug and evasive. I'm free to go, Detective Wilden finally told him that he was free to go, he was pretty sure Hughes was lying, so you're going to have to prove it, aren't you as far as the Fairfax County Police Department is concerned? Caleb Hughes Was the prime suspect believing that Caleb Hughes was involved in Melissa's disappearance? Detective Bill Wen contacted Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Ran, it was a suspected homicide; certainly, by then he made some statements that were out of character for someone who is actually suspected of a crime.

Of this nature, you would normally think in a minute that someone would suggest that you or I have kidnapped a 5 year old child. I mean, you'd think it would be a vehement, vigorous outburst. No, they didn't get anything like that. In fact. at one point he told Wilden Pro that again it's an unusual reaction for someone who had nothing to do with it. Goen had photocopied Melissa's photo and printed hundreds of brochures to help in the search and when the sun came up, the search expanded to you know, further south on the highway, they send soldiers to do massive searches in the woods along of the railroad tracks and, as possible ideas of places where it might have been were developed again, hundreds of people were gathered to search and walk those areas.

The car Hughes had driven that night belonged to his wife. She gave investigators permission to seize and search it. Detectives examined it for fingerprints, blood fibers, hair, any evidence that would document Melissa's presence there. Fingerprint tests revealed that only the Hughes family had left fingerprints on the car, so all the hairs and fibers needed to be collected from inside. This type of evidence trail was usually recovered with a vacuum cleaner, but there was simply too much debris inside when I first approached the car and looked. inside I just said whoa um they had two big dogs, the H um They took them in that car a lot, they were full of dirt and debris and just a mess inside that car and I just shook my head like this is going to be a real challenge , so I decided to use masking tape as an alternative to the vacuum cleaner, just hoping to get what was on the surface, which was certainly an unusual technique in my years.

It was the first time I encountered it at the Fairfax police bomb and it is a very common technique now. Goen then placed the tape between layers of clear plastic so it could be examined intact under a microscope while the car processed Melissa's disappearance. quickly became the top news story in the Washington DC metropolitan area Melissa Brandon is 3 feet tall, weighs 48 pounds, has blue eyes and shoulder-length dark blonde hair. She was last seen wearing a pink ski jacket, red plaid skirt, and black shoes with gold buckles on the night of At the party, Melissa wore a navy blue acrylic sweater with red tights with the image of the Big Bird from Sesame Street, a red cotton plaid skirt and a pink Parker.

When I found the red blue fibers that were visible on the tape, I got a little excited. about that, but at the time I was excited but worried because we needed to find her to identify the clothes, the possible clothes without Melissa, that was going to be very difficult when Goen ran luminol tests on the inside of Hughes' car and found traces of blood. on the steering wheel brake pedal and on the floor mat, when a light is shined on the luminol treated area, the blood stains will appear fluorescent, while the luminol process is quite accurate as a blood locator, it can also destroy the genetic characteristics of the sample when I sprayed the direction.

I got the reaction on the steering wheel and also on the pedals of the vehicle, that's where she fell. These items were cleaned and collected. Hughes' shoes had been washed, but the lab was able to identify possible blood stains on his soles where Fresh Cuts had been made. It became very suspicious when I received the clothes from the officers who searched the house and noticed that he had cut his sneakers, a kind of adding two andTwo, why was he cutting his sneakers? shoes and why I had a blood reaction on the accelerator pedals surely Caleb Hughes had tried to cover his tracks to avoid a link to an unimaginable crime what's your name c see how old you are with luminol findings showing blood in his car Detectives became increasingly confident that they would be able to obtain a confession from Hughes.

They took him for a polygraph test. He had no explanation for the Fresh Cuts in his shoes. Once again, he gave no explanation for the 2 hour and 30 minute delay in getting home. It turned out there was never an explanation. He said I just took the long way home. That was the best they got. Did you hurt Melissa Brandon? No, did you kill Melissa Brandon? No, these are proving to be misleading as Hughes adamantly denied killing Melissa. Holograph Examiner Rick Danielle was sure she was lying, she actually denied seeing this child and I, knowing who the child was, was showing pictures of her, she had never seen that child before and of course the police knew that That wasn't true because he had been at the same table with the boy he had talked to the boy he had the wrong person asking what did you do Danielle was absolutely satisfied he was hiding something he was lying about something to I'm out he was trying to trick him but of course, None of that under Virginia law, as you may know, none of that is evidence, you can't use it at trial.

Investigators were convinced that Hughes had kidnapped and harmed the beautiful girl, but Tammy Brandon tried to keep her hope alive by fighting her worst fears. Melissa's Christmas presents were waiting under the tree News 7 has confirmed tonight that the investigation into the disappearance of 5-year-old Melissa Brandon appears to be focusing on a main suspect. Police will continue their search efforts and to follow up on leads, there is now a $10,000 reward. For any information on Melissa's whereabouts to Tammy Brandon and her parents, hours passed in an agonizing wait for more information. Melissa's disappearance electrified the small rural community of Lorton, a Washington DC suburb.

Just 5 months earlier, 10-year-old Rosie Gordon was riding her bicycle in her neighborhood when she was kidnapped, raped and murdered. Her killer had never been found friendly in meeting you. Rosie's mother quickly came to Tammy Brennan's support. The yellow tape marking the trees and balconies at the Woodside apartment complex in Lorton has Melissa missing. It was reported in the news that the community was quick to support her. Yellow ribbons began appearing on Christmas trees throughout the area. By all indications, Tammy was a wonderful mother, a very loving mother, very, very protective of her son. Melissa was her only daughter and I believe all those facts. together they struck a chord that virtually anyone could identify with those circumstances and people's hearts went out to the Brandon family, hundreds of people volunteered to post flyers throughout the region and assist local authorities in their search.

A new expert was also brought in. search effort, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent John, one of their search and rescue consultants, we are legislated to be the state Clearinghouse for all missing persons information and we also help families and authorities as a kind of liaison between the two of us uh working on as many

cases

as we could after questioning Golden, his partner went straight to the Casa Club Che apartment complex one step out here they found footprints of an adult male leading from the window of the boiler room to a split rail fence whose top rail had recently broken, we started finding transfers across the fence to a small parking lot there next to the clubhouse uh in a parking lot I think with an abandoned restaurant or some type of building there and that's where the track stopped directly over here.

On this fence from the beginning we found the Footprints of adults, but we never found the Footprints of a child, so we felt comfortable that this was the kidnapper we were looking for and we felt quite comfortable that Melissa was probably being taken even from outside. outside the window she was being taken by the kidnapper to the point where she and the kidnapper got into the vehicle, but where would Hughes have taken her? I don't know, the detectives had a lucky break when they interviewed Hugh, his wife, she had kind of suspected that he might go somewhere else after work, she didn't want him to go anywhere else except work and straight to home, and without him knowing, he took note of the mileage and the next day he told us that he had verified the mileage. again and that 12 miles had been put on the car, we now had other possible information about how far she may have gone that night.

First he marked the location of the crime. This was the apartment complex in southern Fairfax County. We located the residence of Caleb Us, which was in Northern Prince Wayam County, approximately in this area. Then we took a rope that was equal to 12 linear miles, we tied the two ends of the rope together and placed them over the pins, so we simply took a pencil and defined that area so that any point at the end of that chain represented the outer limits of the search that was carried out on December 8. I believe that with the TRU you will be able to support Melissa Brandon investigators within 3 days of the disappearance.

We had organized a joint search of 25 square meters with the Civil Air Patrol of the Army Police Department and the Coast Guard. More than 500 volunteers participated in the effort. We have a 12m radius and need to cover black Le shoes with a gold and pink hooded jacket. We had dozens. of search teams that were composed of trained law enforcement people, civilian volunteers and military personnel who were doing step-by-step searches in defined areas, each area had been divided and assigned to a team, we are going to search a lot for the clothes that is happening. To be one of the main things, they had specific instructions on how to search if they found something that they thought might be evidence, they had to market it so as not to disturb it and we had teams of crime scene people who would then respond to that particular location. and process the evidence at this point, we have found nothing today that brings us any closer than we were this morning.

The volunteers were frustrated and extremely disappointed. I know there were nights when I would go home and my family would have seen a news program about another day of searching and my own children would say daddy you're going to find that girl when you're going to find that girl and and I think that was a conversation that took place. It was hitting the homes of dozens of investigators and police officers. The officers involved in this case while the search continued, Goen approached the nearby FBI laboratory with the evidence he had processed from the car because Melissa was still missing.

The FBI's cutting-edge technology would be essential to establish the connection between hair fibers. and bloodstains collected and Melissa Brandon's agent, Doug Dedri, of the FBI's evidence tracking unit, would examine the evidence, perhaps he could find a link to Melissa Brandon. There you must go to Extraordinary Measures to try to recreate, if possible, the environment of the victim's most recent environment and also the types of hairs that the victim may have the type of clothing that the victim may have been wearing on the night of the disappearance and that's a difficult part while Melissa was still missing to bring charges against Caleb Hughes was almost impossible unless convincing evidence could be found of dedri and the lab examiners were impressed by the large amount of fibers that had been transferred to the seat of the passenger in Hugh's car.

Fairfax County investigators had identified nearly 70 different fibers that included blue acrylic. fibers, red cotton fibers, black rabbit hairs and I think there was one or two hairs in the case, but that's monumental, it sounds like a small number, but it's huge once the FBI got into the case, their agents carried conducted their own investigation of the Hughes home when Caleb Hughes' name was revealed as the main and only suspect in the case, followed by a media frenzy. Hughes has not been charged in the case, but he is the subject of 24-hour surveillance by federal FBI investigators who worked with Fairfax County police last night.

They executed a search warrant at the house rented by the gardeners and recovered several items that were taken to the FBI laboratory to be analyzed to see if there is any evidence linking this man to Melissa. Meanwhile, the FBI's official comment is not a comment. The FBI brought in the power of a Federal Grant jury to the investigation, the grand jury ordered Hughes to undergo blood tests and other forensic tests, something that local authorities had failed to order. Hughes complained bitterly in interviews that his life had been ruined by the details of Invasion of a Troubled Family. the past emerged Hughes grew up in an abusive and dysfunctional home had a history as a juvenile delinquent a long history of drug and alcohol abuse and a disturbing attraction to children as an adult he had been convicted of larsy he had been convicted of car theft um he had been convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the evidence indicated that he spent a lot of time with young children, no one Melissa Brandon's age, but certainly with many children in their teens at the lab.

FBI examiners had begun analyzing the stains on the soles of Hughes' shoes, although luminol tests had damaged samples taken from Hughes' car. They were increasingly convinced that these small traces contained blood serum proteins that could determine the crucial connection to Melissa BL the samples were sent for DNA and serology testing which SL Surely 15 days after Melissa's kidnapping a candlelight vigil was held for Melissa at the apartment complex that the girl's disappearance had brought together to the Fairfax community in compassion and outrage and throughout that 1989 Christmas season that every night on the 6:00 news she saw uh the video footage that her grandfather had taken of Melissa Brandon and I'm sure that I was like many people in the Washington metropolitan area who felt like they knew her from watching this adorable little girl every night on television, but shortly after New Year's, a judge.

In the next county he received a letter from Hughes' probation officer informing him that Hughes had violated probation for a car theft conviction 2 years earlier, on January 24, the judge revoked Hugh's probation and he was finally placed Behind bars. The soonest he could be released was in November, giving the Fairfax County prosecutor enough time to build his case without enough evidence to file charges. Hughes had remained at large, but now that Hughes had been safely locked up, the FBI had the time necessary for the extensive testing required by the trace evidence, there was still a possibility that Melissa's body could but without him, the The case against Hughes would have to be conducted in the FBI laboratory, as FBI examiner Doug Dedri had found his first big break in the case.

I remembered some black animal hairs in the debris on the front seats of the car and Looking through the girl's nightgown, I noticed these similar black hairs sticking out of the nightgown, so a bell rang for me. I went back and mounted them on slides and compared them and sure enough, I dyed rabbit hair and they matched each other. Rabbit hair from Hughes' car and those found on Melissa's nightgown revealed a distinctive ear of corn with an exact microscopic texture. Agent Dedri immediately called the prosecutor to determine if Tammy Brandon owned a rabbit fur coat. Not only was it confirmed that Tammy Brandon owned a rabbit fur coat, she had worn it to the Christmas party, her mother had purchased it in Germany and she was dying it an extremely rare blue-black color, almost unknown in the United States.

Joined. Melissa had handled the party coat and at home Dedri had made the crucial coat. connection between Melissa and Caleb Hughes' car you not only tied those rabbit hairs, you tied that game not only to her mother's fur coat, you tied it to the front seat of the car, but you also tied it to the child's environment. The rabbit hairs on the boy's shirt for me, that was a big point in the CU case, so it starts to push me in the direction that we might have something and from there it was a matter of doing a little more research to see if I couldn't. find some additional fibers that might be of value, so I started doing some more research, I started looking ata little closer, I asked questions of myself and the evidence because it spoke strangely, but it spoke to me as week after week Melissa's name passed by.

Finally out of the news, life in Fairfax County had returned to normal but Tammy Brandon was still no closer to finding her son. Okay, it's tremendously difficult for the family to accept everything that has happened. still trying to hold on to that glimmer of hope that your child is alive and then realizing that in all likelihood you know that they will never find your child alive or that they will never find your child's body even after being forced to die . To face the reality that at this point there was almost no chance that Melissa could still be alive, how did you do it?

We wanted to close this case and not just close it in the sense of identifying and prosecuting a suspect, but we wanted to bring in real information. closure of the case and answer to the question: what happened to Melissa Brandon that night, why did it happen? Such questions plagued Tammy Brandon, depressed and unable to work, she remained secluded in her apartment waiting, Agent Dedric had examined the blue acrylic and red cotton fibers in the passenger seat evidence collected by Jim Goen at first glance seemed to match With the descriptions he had been given of the red tit and the Big Bird sweater Melissa wore that night, but without a duplicate suit to make an exact fiber comparison, he was at a dead end and so I went home and talked to my wife, of course, she made it clear to me immediately that if I had a big bird it wasn't with Pooh and that I had to sell it to JC Pennies, having my own small children of about the same age.

D asked his wife if she kept any old JC Penney catalogs from recent years at home. She said she knew she had a Christmas catalog. Tell me it was a packrat. I think Dri was surprised to find a photo of an outfit that she matched exactly. the description of the catalog used by Melissa I picked it up two years ago at Christmas great the FBI contacted JC Penny and the store began a search of their records for over 2 months Tammy Brandon had been anxiously waiting by the phone for some type of information or news about your daughter, where is she?

Then she, completely unexpectedly, received a phone call and a man's voice told her that she had Melissa for ransom and that she must hand over $75,000 the next day or she would be seriously injured. Can I talk to her if they had found Melissa? Yes, national statistics will tell you that a child abducted by a stranger usually dies within three hours of being kidnapped, so the likelihood of Melissa being alive is months later. kidnapping Melissa's extremely thin mother Tammy immediately called her mother, but Detective Wen warned them not to let her hopes get too high no, no, don't call anyone.

I'll tell you everything, just come right now once. Once again, Melissa Branon was about to become Front Page News. The detective had instructed Tammy Brennan to cooperate with the ransom demands in the hopes that her daughter would be recovered alive, since extortion falls under federal guidelines coordinated by the FBI. The delivery of the ransom. The FBI SWAT team was ready when two young men appeared in the parking lot to collect the money. I see him getting ready to open the door, he grabbed the bag, here we go, they were quickly arrested, but did they have Melissa in her possession?

The information provided in the ransom call was. It's so vague and so generalized that it's entirely possible that the caller got that information simply by watching the news or reading the newspaper. Typically, if there is a legitimate ransom demand, they will have very specific information that only the kidnapper and probably some of the investigators will know about. The two young men arrested were former students and roommates at a nearby university who had seen an opportunity to make easy money from the Tammy Brandon tragedy. They were found guilty of five charges, including conspiracy and extortion. in the United States District Court in Alexandria, Virginia turned out to be just a terrible hoax, I mean, just terrible, the idea that you would deliberately do that to a mother who was going through what she was going through, there were huge amounts Of dog hairs on tape samples collected by Fairfax County crime scene investigator Jim Goen, as well as dozens of human hairs, FBI lab examiners carefully separated and tested each one, eventually He found a hair that was different from the others, the hair was very light blonde, the only one. one of this type found in the vehicle, but it matched exactly the hairs found on Melissa's brush.

Matching human hair to Melissa was the second big match for Dedri, but the critical link of Melissa's clothing to the fibers from Hughes' car was incomplete without a duplicate of Big Bird's suit to analyze because it had been a special suit from Christmas produced only when could not be found in stock. JC Penney gave the FBI a list of people who had purchased the suit from its catalog division and then sent FBI agents across the country to locate those people and determine if they still had the big bird suit they had purchased from the store. JC Penney catalog and were finally able to locate a sample suit from a family that still had the suit, getting the suit could mean all the difference.

Between the conviction and acquittal in the case, the FBI asked the family tracked through JC Penney records to send them to his crime lab. Well, I remember that day quite clearly. He knew that the suit would come in the fiber color according to the color in the catalog. navy blue, but the fibers I was finding were kind of a purplish blue, so I was a little anxious that maybe it wasn't the same suit, that maybe we were going in the wrong direction, so when that package arrived, I I felt uncomfortable again even opening it. because I thought I was on the right track, but no, I didn't want to be wrong, I opened the box and sure enough, it had a purplish coloring, so it gave me a nice warm fuzzy feeling. there so it could be the correct color anyway fibers were taken from the red cotton skirt and the blue acrylic sweater a thorough analysis of the fibers from the set indicated an identical match to the fibers from hughes car from the red cotton threads Even the blue acrylic threads of the yellow cross threads of the plaid skirt, the duplicate of Big Bird's suit matched in every way the fibers of the car, what I found was significant evidence that a kidnapping had occurred and that In fact, the victim had, in all likelihood, been at the front. seat of the subject's car with the New Evidence, the prosecution could now reconstruct Caleb Hughes' actions the night Melissa disappeared at the party.

Hugh had tried to pick up several adult women, but when they rejected him, he looked for a replacement, there you go, smile. Driven by frustration and alcohol, Caleb Hughes became a desperate predator with a perverse desire. His stalking gaze fell on the children who he waited and watched until an opportunity presented itself. When he did, Caleb Hughes took an innocent, unsuspecting child, hey Melissa, hey, remember, come here for kidnapping Melissa Brenan cross the border into the Unspeakable we should catch up with each other okay, duplicate analysis of the Big Bird suit produced compelling evidence that it would be a powerful tool in the case against a man investigators considered a ruthless child molester and murderer. but Agent Dedri had to convince the jury how incredibly unlikely it would be for these fibers to come from any source other than Melissa's suit.

He started asking the FBI people to give him any items they could have made out of navy blue. ACR Ed over 100 and the goal was to see if the fibers I found in Cal Hugh Guard's front seat match any of these. The answer was no. Of the items, Dedri collected 126 different acrylic fibers and performed 7,983 comparison tests on those fibers with those found. In Hughes' car, out of almost 8,000 tests, only one managed to make an exact microscopic match to the blue acrylic fibers found in Usu's car and that was the duplicate of Big Bird's suit. Whenever you combine two things, it has a lot of meaning, they are not random.

Events like these happen in most

cases

. It's possible? You can't deny the possibility that it could be a coincidence, but after looking at these things for many years, I don't believe much in coincidences, 3 weeks before the trial was scheduled. We begin as investigators were making final preparations for the case. A surprising event occurred. They received a phone call two counties away. Police had just found the body of a child in the median of Interstate 95. I'll be there. I called Wilden. We got in his car and I had absolutely no doubt that um, but that was going to be it because Hughes knew that that area spent time in that area.

I said, wow, this is going to be that median section on I95 it's wide and densely packed, it would have been easy for Hughes to stop, hide the body in the thick vegetation and walk away unseen and there would be little chance of anyone finding the remains, but someone found a body, was it Melissa's?, yes it was Melissa Brandon's body at the roadside meeting Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Heran felt he could put Hughes behind bars on charges from Murder One. Their hopes were high, but they were soon dashed as soon as we got there and as soon as I saw it, I knew it wasn't Melissa Brandon the skeleton had rings on three fingers, but it was a girl.

She's um 13 12 13 14 years old, um, she had been in the media for two growing seasons. The young woman's body was never finally identified, almost a year after Melissa's disappearance. Hughes was arrested in a grand jury indictment for kidnapping Melissa Brandon was transferred from the Prince William County Jail to the Fairfax County Jail Moran had delayed the indictment for several months in the hope that Melissa's body would be found by then um, I know we were all pretty satisfied that the worst had happened to the boy. Unfortunately, under Virginia law, you can charge someone with murder without the body, but you have to be able to prove where the murder occurred, and of course without the body in this case.

We had no way of testing it. where it happened so we couldn't charge him with murder, kidnapping with intent to defile was the strongest case that could be made against him. Hughes pleaded not guilty. Few people in Fairfax County believe Melissa could still be alive, but everyone, especially Tammy Brandon. I needed to know what had happened and I needed justice to be done because it is tremendously important that the family of that child have definitive answers to know what happened to their child, even if the news is not pleasant, they need to understand exactly with concrete information what passed. to her son they need to be able to get closure, they need to be able to give that child the IAL he deserves and move on with their lives with Agent Dedrick's airtight analysis of the tracking evidence.

Robert Haran entered the trial confident that he could convince the jury Beyond a reasonable doubt that the trial began on February 26, 1991 looking good, a major part of Moran's strategy was to depict Hugh's deviant sexual behavior in Party. He introduced several Witnesses who recalled the vulgar and crude sexual propositions he had made to them and others. who testified that he had spent considerable time playing with Melissa and that he had been talking to her just before she disappeared. His behavior was even more extreme as he tried to remove the evidence by washing his clothes, his leather belt, his shoes, he couldn't explain the fresh cuts on the soles. of his shoes nor could he account for his whereabouts during the 2 and 1 half hours between leaving the party and arriving home, but the problem for the defense is that in some way that time had to be explained and there was never an explanation, I want say, there would have been We got to our case, our case is over, if you can explain anything about that time, although the blood tests on the shoes had been inconclusive, the prosecution was now able to show the jury the exact matches between the rabbit hairs, the hair of the head and the fibers found. in Hugh's record, however, the defense argued that all fiber and hair evidence was purely circumstantial;

It may be circumstantial but it is powerful circumstantial evidence because it does not change to obtain the maximum sentence for Hughes Moran necessary to convince the jury that Hughes intended to defile Melissa once he had her in his car and the only way they would have found the fiers of youroutfit on the seat is that her car had had her coat taken off while she was in that car, the prosecution charged that Hughes could I only took Melissa's coat off for one purpose: an attempt to contaminate her. The real answer is that that 5-year-old girl was sitting against her will in the front seat of that vehicle.

Caleb Hughes' trial lasted 8 days after 9 hours of deliberation, the jury determined. He was found guilty of kidnapping Melissa Brenan with intent to contaminate. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison for family members. He cannot finish because of the eternal hope, if you will, that one day this never-seen child will be found. This kid will one day do it. You'll show up and that's a hard thing, that's a hard thing. Caleb Hughes is still serving his sentence today and Melissa Brandon's body has never been found. Eventually, Tammy Brandon moved out of the Woodside apartment complex, but she never changed the phone number Melissa had. memorized by heart in the hope that one day a call will come, the sun and beaches of South Florida attract many types of people, young aspiring models gravitate here in the hope of being discovered starting in February

1984

, the Dreams of stardom darkened into nightmares when several young women disappeared.

It was the beginning of a series of brutal and terrifying murders that spread throughout the country. It's a model's job to attract public attention, but in

1984

some aspiring models began attracting publicity in a new and terrifying way across the country. Dreams of glamor turned into nightmares. young women disappeared only to be found tortured and murdered I'm Jim Cstom former head of the FBI's New York office when a suspect emerged the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list became the tool we used to try to get him out of the promising Beth Kenyon's life came to a violent end on March 5, 1984.

The attractive 23-year-old Ive dreamed of being a model. She had even been a finalist in the Miss Florida pageant, but all her hopes were cut short this Monday afternoon, the next day, Beth Kenyon's parents. Beth was reported missing to the Miami police, the police simply listed Beth as a missing person and explained that many girls her age go missing for various reasons without notifying their parents, but the Kenyons knew that their daughter was not from the type that just disappears after a few days. As a prank, they hired private detective Ken Whitaker and his son Ken Jr to investigate the expense.

Ming, the Kenyons told the Whitakers that Beth worked as an emotional disorders teacher, she had a regular routine, came home, was responsible, and enjoyed a close relationship with her family. That is, as you can see, where he had a 6:00 appointment, fearing that something had happened to Beth. The Kenyans had searched their daughter's apartment in northern Dade County looking for anything that could help them find her, but all they found was an address book and a photo album and this is Beth and this is a boyfriend, someone you dated. This just shows me a photo put together with little more than a few snapshots of Beth and her friends.

The researchers got to work on the Father and Son team. They quickly narrowed down Beth Kenyon's last known whereabouts. Ken Whitaker Jr spoke with an attendant at the Miami gas station near the school where Beth taught. Ken showed the attendees several photographs. Look for this coach. A couple of days he remembered him clearly, but he also recognized someone else. the man who accompanied Beth the afternoon she disappeared was named Christopher Wild on March 11 6 days after Beth disappeared investigators contacted Wilder by phone, he denied knowing where Beth was but invited the Whitakers to his home to talk more about her, but when Wilder didn't answer his door, the suspicious investigators decided to look around and had learned that he was a successful building contractor and a self-proclaimed fashion photographer, the Kenyans had told the Father e team.

Son that Wilder had proposed to his daughter, but that she had rejected him, leaving him upset and angry rummaging through the trash the Whitakers found. A photograph of Chris Wilder on the surface seemed like an innocent image, but to trained eyes it meant more. Investigators soon discovered that Christopher Wilder had driven a car in the Miami Grand Prix on February 26, 1984, finishing 17th and winning $400 that day of the race. Also the last time anyone saw Rosario González, the 20 year old was working for a marketing company Handing out free aspirin samples at the Grand Prix, the Miami news was still talking about González's mysterious disappearance, she had disappeared only 5 days before Beth Kenyon, the researchers. discovered that Wilder knew Gonzales, she had modeled for him in amateur photo shoots, it was a critical connection, the two missing women, Beth Kenyan and Rosario González, were linked through Christopher Wilder to this information.

Mr. and Mrs. Kenyan sought the help of FBI Special Agent John Hanin. of the FBI violent crimes unit in Miami recalls the March 12 meeting, the Kenyans came to the FBI seeking more active FBI involvement, of course, we had no jurisdiction at that time, there was no evidence of a kidnapping in an attempt to pressure Wilder into having Kenyon's private investigators leak their findings to the Miami Herald. The story was published on March 16, 1984, although the article did not mention Christopher Wilder's name, it clearly accused him. The report described the man connecting Gonzalez and Kenyon as a local contractor, race car driver, amateur photographer and Australian native.

He was Wilder to the end, although the FBI had no jurisdiction, Supervisory Special Agent Gordon McNeel had already begun to investigate the matter, this connection caught my interest and I decided to open a preliminary investigation. kidnapping investigation to see if there was a possible violation of federal law. Officers Mcneel and Handland discovered that Wilder was a likely suspect. He had a criminal record dating back to his native Australia, where he was out on bail on a sexual assault charge days later in March. On the 21st, officers were notified of an incident that allowed them to open a full investigation.

A phone call was received at the Miami FBI office reporting that a woman from Tallahassee, Florida, had been kidnapped and transported across state lines into Georgia, where she escaped the initial description of her as salent fit Christopher Wilder are you good? Sorry, Special Agent Hanin flew to Georgia to hear the victim's story. It was a nightmare. Oh, sorry, no. Linda Grober, 19, told Hland that she had been shopping at a mall in Tallahassee, Florida, when a man approached. her about a modeling job magazine covers I received any number that really sounds claiming to be a photographer The stranger invited her to his car to look at his portfolio It was mid-afternoon in a very public place and Linda said she felt perfectly safe when he asked her if Had she ever modeled, she said no, he complimented her with comments about how beautiful she was and promised he could put her on the cover of vog, but Linda reported that when they got to her car, the photographer started changing his story.

He claimed that he had left his portfolio in his studio and asked Linda to come back to the studio with him when she hesitated, the man attacked her and pushed her into the car, hit her on the back of the head, everything went black when She regained consciousness and they were driving on a country road when her kidnapper saw her approaching, stopped the car in a secluded place, dragged Linda out of the car, telling her that if she tried to escape he would kill her, wrapped his fingers around her throat and strangled her. she until she passed out the next time she woke up she was wrapped in a sleeping bag lying on a bed in a cheap motel room when she got up once again he threatened to kill her if she tried to escape don't move he tied her to the bed and with her eyes glued shut for the next few hours, the kidnapper repeatedly raped, beat and tortured Linda Grober when she disobeyed his orders, he electrocuted her with an extension cord that he had turned into an electrocution device and the abuse was so severe that Linda realized she would. to be dead before someone found her and she managed to free herself from it and locked herself in the bathroom someone helps her, she hit the walls and screamed for help, stop it, stop it, stop it hey, stop it now, stop it, stop it.

I'm telling you, the rapist. Panicking, she grabbed what she could and Officer Handland showed Grober a series of photos of her and asked if he could identify her as Salent. I had no doubt, I mean, I spent hours with this person, that's who he was and I just identified him. as clearly Christopher Wilder Bud, now 35, a PhD candidate and single mother. Linda Grob's fierce determination saved her life and also made her a strong witness willing to risk everything for the arrest of her abuser. I was in the hospital for a week or so and then I basically had to leave the country while he was still a fugitive because they were worried for my safety.

They are worried about my family's safety. As atrocious as Grob's ordeal. He had the nerve to catapult the investigation into a federal case because she had been kidnapped across a state line the FBI now had full jurisdiction Christopher Wilder was now wanted for the kidnapping and rape of Linda Grober and remained the prime suspect in La disappearance of Rosario González and Beth Kenyan uh obviously now we had a federal violation and We had every reason to put all the resources of the FBI into this case without knowing exactly where to find Wilder. A team of officers descended on his house in full force kicking in the door and entered ready to arrest the suspect. they found an empty house FBI carried out a meticulous search of the abandoned house belonging to Christopher Wilder, two women were missing and presumed dead at his hands, a third had barely escaped with her life after her kidnapping and rape, the agents needed something to help them. give a clue to the current whereabouts of their suspect.

The decoration was his own, but before he left, Wilder had prepared his house for any investigators, the place had been well maintained, there were basically no fingerprints left in Wilder's house, you will always find fingerprints inside a residence, it seems as if everything would have been completely cleared by the FBI and local authorities canvassed Miami and West Palm Beach, but no one reported seeing or hearing from Wilder since he dropped Linda Grober off at a Georgia motel. The FBI alerted police to be on the lookout for Wilder's car. They asked banks and credit card companies to monitor any transactions.

You could pull it off, but in 1984 information systems moved slowly, cables arrived slowly, and usually arrived too late for a quick response. On March 21, 1984, a Sharpey utility repairman in Central Florida noticed something unusual in a shallow creek: it was the barely recognizable body of a young man. Female (later identified as Teresa Ferguson, 21). Witnesses last saw her 3 days earlier leaving a shopping center with a wild-looking man. According to the description, the autopsy showed that she had been beaten with a tire iron and strangled to death. Victim profile. and the savagery of the crime suggested Wilder, but nothing linked it directly to him.

If this was the Australian contractor, FBI agents knew they had a serial killer on the loose who had to be stopped before he killed again. Officers continued to follow the suspect's trail. and an automated security camera photographed Wilder at a bank in Tampa bank records showed he had emptied his accounts of more than $119,000 it was a sinister breakup his quarry now had the money to travel everywhere March 22, 1984 Wilder already He was in Texas Witnesses saw him approach Terry Walden, 23, in the parking lot of Lamar University in Bont, Texas. Walden was a wife, mother of two children, and a nursing student.

Yes, I am a photographer. My job is. Wilder asked him if he would like to do something. Modeling makes a lot of extra money and you certainly don't want to keep it or think about it, but Wilder couldn't seduce Walden with his proposal, she politely declined, she had no way of knowing that she would soon see him again as the FBI began their investigation. National Hunt Witnesses later told investigators that Wilder had stayed in Bowmont Texas another day, this time he returnedto familiar territory to stalk his next victim. They have this one that costs $7.99 or 9.99. She visited the local mall shopping for a young girl to trick her with dreams. from the movie Glam you're taking some fashion pictures no, no, listen, you're too funny.

I'm legit, okay, but no one succumbed to his fake promises, no, sorry, okay, okay, after being ignored several times, he saw a familiar face. It was Terry Walden Hey she had come to run errands after dropping her four year old daughter off at daycare are you interested now? You will take the card and consider that Terry again rejected Wilder. No, I'm sure you could, but this time he. He didn't take no for an answer when he left them all. Wilder followed her to her car in broad daylight in the middle of a crowded shopping center parking lot.

Wilder attacked Wal, knocked her unconscious and pushed her into her Mercury Cougar, grabbing her suitcases. and he left in the victim's car. Walden's husband reported her missing that same afternoon when he failed to pick up his daughter from daycare, but by then it was too late. Terry Walden's body was found floating in a canal near Bowmont, Texas, a few days later, police. I recovered Wilder's Chrysler a few miles away. Got some fiber and some here get a couple pics of this before we take the stuff out. An FBI forensic search of the car uncovered hair and fibers that matched Teresa Ferguson, the young woman discovered by the repairman 5 days before it was confirmed.

What officers had suspected all along Teresa Ferguson had been Wilder's fourth known victim, Flor Mcneel fell to the ground and Hamond estimated that the killer was still at least two days ahead of them. From the Miami office they broadcast a national bulletin of all points for Terry. Walden was stolen C uh, every state police agency on the road, every state trooper that was on that highway knew the car you were looking for and unfortunately, uh, it's unbelievable, sometimes you say, well, he's in a purple car, we say how many purple cars. there are out there which is surprising how many purple cars there are out there when you look for purple cars and that was the problem, we never knew at the time what license plate was using on that particular vehicle.

The FBI teletypes blared incessantly in every field office in the country as Wild received page after page of his physical appearance, the pro

files

of his victims, where he had last been identified, and where the technology of 1984 was thought to be headed. However, he couldn't keep up with their flight; there were so many clues about Wilder's departure. Back and forth across the country, each of them went to every FBI office to get information that the FBI's teletype system had a backup of over 48 hours for about 2 weeks due to the volume of information flowing back and forth about Wilder leaving the office with only one sure way to track Wilder, they had to follow the trail of bodies he discarded while ran.

The next victim was 21-year-old Suzanne Logan. She was last seen shopping at a mall near Oklahoma City. A fisherman stumbled upon her body 2 days ago. After she disappeared, the location of her disappearance and the manner in which she died suggested one thing: she had died at the hands of Christopher Wilder. In this particular case, we had an individual who was kidnapping, raping, torturing and murdering a woman every day and a half, uh uh, there was intense pressure as there should be slow technology and a fast fugitive hindered the FBI. , but on March 28 they got the break they were waiting for.

Wilder checked into a motel in Rifle Colorado using a stolen Visa card. The FBI knew he had the card and was using it, but they had not been able to trace it back to the rifle, in those days of 1984, they did not have instant validation of your credit card when you entered a hotel, they only called to report the bills that They were going to pay. to exceed $100 uh at every motel Wilder stayed at along his murderous route, the charges were in the vicinity of 50 to $60, perhaps out of sheer boredom, the motel clerk decided to call the card credit that night instead of waiting to mail it the next day. approval the employee received a phone number to call immediately an early morning call mobilized the FBI field office in Denver Colorado placed there the FBI finally learned where the fugitive was in the early morning hours of March 29 Four agents confidently approached Wilder's motel room that they had finally cornered the killer, okay, start the war, wow, he wasn't there as quickly as the FBI had responded.

Wilder had eluded them for some unknown reason the fugitive had left before Sunrise he is not at the hotel he had been the agency's best leader He had done it and failed once again. The exasperated task force had no idea where the Predator was, but feared it was one of dozens of shopping centers within a day's drive of Rifle Colorado. March 29, 1984, in just 3 weeks, Australian contractor Christ Cher Wilder. He had kidnapped four women and murdered three of them. FBI agents noticed a pattern developing in the campaign of violence. The killer kept his direction west and had reduced his hunting grounds to shopping malls.

Cheryl Bonaventura, 18, was last seen at the Mesa Mall. mall in Grand Junction Colorado, the FBI would later connect Wilder to her death. You had a man that you knew was lurking. You had a man who you knew every day that a poor soul in mortal fear for his life was dying. In an extremely dangerous uh extremely painful way to spread the word the FBI cast a wide net across the country agents notified security officers and mall managers of the danger telling them to be on the lookout for Australian investigators provided the shopping malls photographs and brochures that were published to alert shoppers Despite warnings from the FBI, a teen magazine held a Covergirl competition at the Meadows Mall in Las Vegas.

Wilder appeared armed with her camera and chatted with several of the teams during the event, but ultimately zeroed in on Michelle Corfman, who had driven the 17-year-old. Walking the 25 miles from her family's home in Boulder City, Nevada, nervous about participating in her first modeling search, she had asked her friends and family to let her go alone. After a few minutes of conversation with Wilder Corfman, she He changed his clothes and left them all, yes, of course. It was April 1 when Las Vegas authorities alerted the FBI that a local girl had disappeared in a shopping center. The agents responded by asking for all the photographs that someone had taken of the fashion show.

A photographer immediately handed over five rolls of film. and when they printed those photographs. there was the Corman girl on stage in a model type pose and standing directly beyond her about 20 feet away looking at her with what I call the look of a homicidal maniac none other than Christopher Wilder like the others that young Michelle Corfman suffered at the hands of Wilder; he tied her up and gagged her with duct tape, then beat her, raped her and tortured her and you will see incisions on her body. They may only be an inch to an inch and a half long and are not deep.

They are done enough. to make him bleed, they were only meant to torture, not kill, until he finally killed the victims. He was a brutal sexual sadist. Malls and others On April 5, 4 days after Michelle Corfman disappeared, the FBI held a press conference and announced the location. Christopher Wilder's famous list of the 10 most wanted fugitives for 50 years has helped generate the publicity needed to catch violent fugitives. Special Agent Tron Brey serves as a national spokesperson for the FBI. Thank you. The criteria for the top 10 were met with Wilder. He was a threat to society, he was extremely dangerous, a violent individual who had charges pending and had fled the area where we thought he might be, so it was very important for us to get the message out to the American public and community. . media that he could be anywhere in the United States, but Wilder's addition to the list of the 10 most wanted fugitives came a day too late for Tina Marie Riko in Lita California the day before the press conference at the When the 16-year-old visited Del Amo Fashion Center to apply for a summer job, what a beautiful face he had.

The high school student wanted the job to save for a car. She met Christopher Wilder when he said she was perfect for a modeling job she had to photograph and, in reality, you're so perfect she could give you $100 right here. He gave her $100 in cash and promised her much more if you're right and I know you are. I can tell you that you have a few minutes to get out and This girl, Wilder, took Tina Marie to a nearby park at the beginning, everything progressed as if it were a legitimate job. I love this canopy. She said the scenic location had perfect lighting for the camera.

This canopy right here I think is really lovely just as the session started. An eager Tina Marie worked to please her photographer, yes, when Wilder told her to smile, she did, when he told her to tilt her head, she did, and then it all went wrong, now in a car, okay, she He pointed a .357 Magnum in his face and said. She quickly got into the car. The terrified teen had no choice but to obey. Wilder took Tina Marie to a motel in San Diego. There like everyone else, he beat his teenage victim. He tied her to the bed and raped her repeatedly.

Wilder cut her off. with his knife and electrocuted her using wires that he would attach to different parts of her body brutality perplexed Agent Handlin you tell yourself why would anyone want to do that to someone to scare them enough to brutalize them enough to torture them with an electric wire and then kill them like If it were a piece of trash and that person knew they were going to be killed. I mean, until some point, that individual realizes that I'm not going to survive. My life is over and these are. Young women, he identifies himself as a professional photographer and comments on a young woman's appearance and attempts to persuade her to accompany him from the area just as Tina's life was about to end.

A special news bulletin captured a wildly dangerous person and this approach may lead to his apprehension. Christopher Bernard Wilder has been included on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. It was the FBI press conference that Wilder watched in horror as his photo appeared on televisions. Across the country, federal agents proclaimed him the most wanted fugitive in the United States and held him accountable. the disappearances of six young women who did not know about the seventh victim in the hotel room with him they want to get the information out as quickly as possible we have to move come on Wilder panicked he grabbed Tina Marie and hit the rope come on we had to move, but now that he was at the top of the list of the 10 most wanted fugitives, Wilder appeared on the front page of every newspaper and at the top of every newscast in the country, he is the front page headline of every newspaper in the United States.

Unidos, from all the news programs, from all the radios. The program talks about Christopher Wilder and shows his photo and says his name Christopher Wilder. The FBI hoped that by plastering Wilder's face on television screens and in newspapers, someone somewhere would spot him, it was the best chance agents had of stopping Wer before he destroyed another life in the spring of 1984. , the FBI carried out the largest manhunt in history for rapist and murderer Christopher Wilder. They knew of at least six victims. They suspected there were many more. Why Lder had slipped through the FBI network in Nevada while heading back East with him. a 16-year-old hostage named Tina Marie Riko on April 10, 1984 outside a shopping center in Gary Indiana, Christopher Wilder told Rcio that he would let her go on the condition that she help him catch his next victim during 6 days.

She had been raped, beaten and terrorized, she was ready to do anything he asked of her. Wilder noticed Donnette Wilt entering several stores, assuming she was looking for work at the mall. rcio told Donette that Wilder was a store manager and wanted her to fill out a job application in his car when they got to his car, Wilder pulled out his gun and forced Donet inside, honey, why don't you come with us ? Turn around, turn around, he sped off with the two girls. Witnesses saw them drop off a young, uh, very attractive woman. All of Wilder's victims had been taken from an um.

He was seen hanging out with an individual they believed to be Chris Wilder from a mall in the Indianapolis area, so when that information reached us we felt it was okay, nowWe know he came back. To the east, the bureau ordered all agents east of the Mississippi to work the case despite his promise, Wilder refused to release Tina Marie and instead forced Rcio to watch as he tortured and raped Donette in front of him. to her. The nightmare continued for 2 days in the morning of April. 12, 1984, Marie heard a familiar energetic voice from the Morning News and simply brought Tina home safely, you know we all have your back, the word we have on National Television.

Tina Mar's mother begged the kidnapper not to hurt her. Your daughter is your daughter and everything indicates that your daughter is still alive and while there was another panic you packed up your hostages, went to get dressed and you are getting dressed now Wilder complained that it was only a matter of time before the FBI caught up with him he stopped the car in a wooded area near Peñan Nueva York he ordered Rcio not to move Donette was drugged with sleeping pills but he forced her to march towards the forest leaving her alone Tina Marie reflected on the opportunity to escape but the horror of the last nine days they had mentally destroyed her she stayed still he yes let's go we walk through the forest donet Wilt woke up slowly when she realized that Wilder was going to kill her, sit down, he didn't want to die by stabbing her. she begged him to shoot her instead NE him NE him ignoring her please Wilder stabbed her in the chest twice and left her for dead okay here we go as she began to push away the fear that Wilt might still be alive she seized him and returned to the scene to properly dispose of Donet you stay here you stay here you here when he got there he could hardly believe what he saw she was gone incredibly Donette wil had survived stabbed twice bleeding profusely drugged and beaten she had She managed to get up and escape to a road where a passing motorist rescued her.

This is like taking a statement. Thanks to Wilt's testimony, the FBI now pinned Wilder down in the Northeast still driving the Mercury Cougar he had stolen from Terry Walden, but for how long after he returned and found out? that she was no longer there, he obviously realized that he had to do something with this vehicle, he needed a new vehicle and entered Western New York State once again, he headed to the nearest shopping center, this time in Victor New York, where he saw a gold Pontiac Firebird, told Riko he would take the wheel of the Puma and follow him wherever he went, stole the car at gunpoint from Beth Dodge, 33, Wilder forced her to sit in the backseat of her Firebird, the emotionally devastated Tina Marie did the same.

Wilder was ordered to drive for half an hour to a secluded area come on, come on, get out, come on, just get out, just get out, just get out, listen, I want you to get the white suitcase and I want you to get the camera and me. I want you to put it in this car and wait for me. You understand that he forced Beth Dodge to go into the woods moments later. Tina Marie heard two gunshots echo from the trees. There was no rape or torture. This time Wilder had simply killed Dodge for her car. but he had a different fate in mind for Tina Marie in all the hell he had put her through.

Wilder had bonded with Tina Marie, told her that he didn't want her to be around her when the end came, he took Tina Marie Russian to the airport. in Boston and gave him money for a ticket back to Los Angeles, his ordeal finally ended once he was safely home. Tina Marie would provide details to agents about Wilder's murderous rampage. Wilder was now alone and the officers did not want to wait until another victim went missing. To give you a clue as to his whereabouts during the search for Wilder, we knew he had friends in Canada and had visited Canada extensively, so we felt there was a good chance he was headed directly east and then north toward Canada Wilder . he raced to the border in Beth Dodge's Firebird for 3 weeks.

He had defeated the FBI's best efforts; even the Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list had failed to produce his capture. Agents Mcneel and Hanman desperately wanted to stop the killer before he struck again or fled his jurisdiction. April 1984 Christopher Wilder had left seven women dead Across the United States three were presumed dead plus three others had survived rapes and beatings the FBI believed he was in New England heading north federal agents concentrated their resources in the states of the northeast before he could escape across the Canadian border, I mean, the FBI had agents running around on wanted posters and that kind of thing, but the best thing they've done is the hundreds of police officers in that area, which is a lot more eyes and ears than the FBI. agents available in New England on Friday, April 13, 1984 Wilder stopped for gas in the small town of Coldbrook New Hampshire, a dozen miles from the Canadian border, while filling up the tank, he casually asked an assistant about the paperwork that might be needed to cross the border two state troopers Wayne Forier and Leo Jalis spotted Beth Dodge's car, as nearly every police department in the country had been told to be on the lookout for the firebird and a man matching the description by Wilder.

Jalis asked Wilder if he could speak, please. Wilder jumped onto the Firebird and grabbed his .357 magazine. In the struggle, the gun went off. Officer Jalis was shot in the chest. He would live, but Christopher Wilder would not. The bullet that wounded Officer Jalis passed through Wilder first, piercing his heart and killing him. Instantly, Wilder's reign of terror in CrossCountry ended with a tenth death. His own authorities eventually recovered the mutilated bodies of Cheryl Bonaventura and Michelle Corfman in the following months, but the two missing women who began the investigation, Rosario González and Beth Kenyan, were never found.

Mr. and Mrs. Kenyan. they went to their graves without knowing the fate of their daughter come here come other victims and their loved ones have fought to restore their shattered lives you are my friend Linda grober has also learned a chilling lesson I think an important point to make is that these people do not They are always demons and they don't always have tattoos They don't always have long hair They are often extremely articulate and in disguise and can easily fit into your father's living room after dinner drinking wine or brandy, the terrifying truth is that Christopher Wilder wasn't the only one, he was on the list of most wanted fugitives, but there are dozens of killers like him every year who never reach national attention, patrolling our shopping malls, our schools and our churches in search of vivid dreams of fame.

The victims' easy fortunes and fortunes can be quickly obscured only through public awareness, tireless surveillance, and the ingenuity of the FBI. Can we hope to keep these predators at bay?