08x32 - Over and Out

[bunniefuu]

[music playing]

NARRATOR: A homemade b*mb ripped through a rural home,

and investigators had no idea who was responsible.

The device was made with common items found in any store,

but a tiny battery number and the label inside a computer

uncovered a bizarre tale of revenge.

[theme music]

The tiny town of Fair Haven, Vermont

is about as far removed from big city

life as any place in the country.

v*olence was virtually unheard of,

but even so, locals used to joke that Sheila Rockwell

and her -year-old son, Chris Marquis

lived in the safest place in town,

about feet away from the police station.

But all of that changed one March afternoon in .

SHEILA ROCKWELL: There was a knock on the door.

It was the UPS man.

[knocking]

And he had handed me a package.

-Hi, I have a package for delivery.

-And I looked at the package, and the package

had said, um, Samantha Brown on it.

Well, it didn't ring a bell to me,

because I don't know who any Samantha Brown was.

So I brought it into Chris.

SHEILA ROCKWELL [VOICEOVER]: You got a package here.

NARRATOR: Chris was sitting at his desk in his bedroom,

and he didn't know a Samantha Brown, either.

He opened the box.

Inside was a smaller box, wrapped with string.

He cut the string, and there was an expl*si*n.

[expl*si*n]

[coughing]

SHEILA ROCKWELL: And I did realize

that I was hit, because my fingers were gone.

I tried crawling to Chris because he was moaning.

And that's when I realized that my knee wasn't there

and that I couldn't get to him.

NARRATOR: Chief Ray Viger heard the expl*si*n

and ran over to investigate.

CHIEF RAYMOND VIGER: I walked down this little corridor to,

uh, into the living room, and then

we could see some stuff coming out of the hallway there,

and young Chris was laying right there

in the hallway, half in the room and half out.

[sirens]

NARRATOR: Both Sheila and Chris were rushed to the hospital.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: A large piece of the shrapnel, in this case,

went towards Christopher Marquis' leg

and essentially blew a large hole in his thigh

and severed his femoral artery, and he bled to death.

SHEILA ROCKWELL: I kept asking, where is Chris?

Where is Chris?

How is Chris doing?

And Dr.Hartman came in, and he put his hand on mine,

and he said, "Sheila, Chris didn't make it."

And I can remember just letting out a scream,

and then they had, you know, put me under.

[expl*si*n]

NARRATOR: The shrapnel found at the b*mb scene

indicated it was a pipe b*mb, the favorite device

of amateur bombers.

Tiny brass hex nuts had been wrapped around the b*mb

to make it even more deadly.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: It's a terrible circumstance

of violent crime that somebody's just--

hooks up with the wrong person at the wrong time

and becomes the victim of this kind of outrageous activity.

NARRATOR: The return address on the package

said Samantha Brown from Bucyrus, Ohio.

When police checked the name and address,

they found both were fictitious.

Chris Marquis was a -year-old high school dropout, a loner.

Because of an eye condition, he was slowly going blind.

He spent most of his time indoors,

and he had few friends.

Yet, someone clearly wanted to k*ll him.

But who?

As police looked into his background,

they found Chris had a secret life--

something his family knew nothing about.

As police combed through the wreckage of Chris Marquis'

bedroom, they had one question-- who wanted him dead?

The package were shipped from Ohio

and was addressed to the The CB Shack in care of Chris Marquis.

It was a small business Chris ran out of his home,

selling Citizens band radios and parts through the internet.

SHEILA ROCKWELL: Well, it wasn't really a business.

It was mainly local people.

You know, friends of his that he would fix their radio,

or people would hear him on the radio,

probably bragging and telling them how he could fix radios,

you know.

And it was pretty much the locals.

NARRATOR: But investigators soon discovered that Chris Marquis

didn't always treat his customers fairly.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: I think it's fair to say that Christopher

Marquis was not completely honest in all of his business

dealings with other people prior to his m*rder.

CHIEF RAYMOND VIGER: Chris Marquis made enemies

by not living up to the agreements

that he had made with individuals on purchasing

and selling of CB sets and other various equipment.

NARRATOR: Customers told police that Chris would promise

to send one model of radio, but after he received payment would

ship another lower priced radio.

JOHN HERSH: Obviously a number of these individuals

were upset over this, and therefore it was necessary

for the investigation to locate and interview these individuals

in order to determine if that anger grows to the level

where they would do such a violet crime.

[phone ringing]

NARRATOR: With hundreds of customers,

investigators now had hundreds of suspects.

Investigators discovered that the packages was shipped

by the United Parcel Service from Mansfield, Ohio.

The name and town on the return address were both fictitious.

At the crime scene, investigators

sifted through the debris looking for evidence.

DAVID ALBRITTEN: An extensive search was required.

We were meticulously going through every room, where

any piece of evidence that we're looking for-- a wire, a tool,

a hex nut-- we were taking sweepings

and going room to room.

NARRATOR: b*mb experts say bombs are unique-- that each bomber

has a signature style, and the b*mb that k*lled

Chris Marquis had a signature all its own.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: One of the things

that we knew from the m*rder scene

was that small brass hex nuts had been included

in the b*mb that k*lled Chris Marquis.

So the FBI and A*F agents in the search

were looking for hex nuts that might be physically consistent

with the hex nuts in the b*mb.

NARRATOR: Investigators also found pieces of Styrofoam used

to pack the b*mb, a piece of the battery used to detonate it,

and they were able to identify the chemical makeup of the g*n

powder used in the expl*si*n.

But all of these items were available in any hardware store

or g*n shop.

The bombing death of Chris Marquis made the national news.

DAVID ALBRITTEN: The witness realized

that he had information that was important to law enforcement.

It was at that point that the cooperating witness contacted

law enforcement to relay his information that he had.

NARRATOR: The informant told investigators

that a long-distance truck driver in Indiana, Christopher

Dean, had purchased a CB radio from someone

through the internet and was angry about it.

JOHN HERSH: This witness informed the FBI

that he was present in a discussion with Mr. Dean

when he spoke of his problems with the sale of a CB radio

and a young man in Vermont.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: There was information

that he'd said he was going to come to Vermont and, you know,

b*at up Mr. Marquis.

NARRATOR: When questioned, Dean confirmed he had purchased a CB

radio from Chris Marquis for $

and had been sent a cheaper model instead.

JOHN HERSH: Mr. Dean was very angered.

At one time, his wife actually called Christopher Marquis

and indicated that her husband was quite upset

and may be traveling to Vermont, and that, uh, he

would not be very happy if he did.

SHEILA ROCKWELL: There was a lot of phone calls.

And a lot of times, I would answer the phone,

and he asked for my son.

And Chris would say, I'm not here.

You know, he'd give me the motion

he didn't want to answer the phone call.

NARRATOR: Sheila admitted her son didn't return Dean's money.

But Dean denied sending the b*mb.

He had no prior criminal record, and he lived in Indiana.

The package had been shipped from Ohio.

BRADLEY STETLER: He was described

as a very hard working person, reliable, honest--

had a very loving family.

He had plenty of friends and neighbors

who trusted him, who thought he was a generous, regular guy.

NARRATOR: Investigators wondered whether forensic evidence

in Dean's home would contradict his story.

SHEILA ROCKWELL: I can't really believe

that somebody would do this.

Chris was my pride and joy.

He was my youngest child.

They say that you have to forgive.

And because of my religion, I believe I do have to forgive.

But I don't think I've come to that yet.

NARRATOR: Armed with a warrant, investigators

searched Christopher Dean's home-- their prime suspect

in the bombing death of Chris Marquis.

DAVID ALBRITTEN: We are looking everywhere that any place a hex

nut could be-- a wooden clothes pin, thumb tacks, batteries,

any type of insulating materials-- as well as taking

sweepings from carpet, looking for powders-- anything that may

have held any type of expl*sive powders.

NARRATOR: In Christopher Dean's basement,

they found hex nuts similar to those used in the fatal bond.

To find out if they were the same,

analysts used a process known as plasma

atomic emission spectroscopy.

They took samples from the hex nuts found with the b*mb

and those found in Dean's house.

These samples were dissolved in a neutral chemical solution,

which was then vaporized at extremely high temperatures.

Different components, like zinc and copper,

will vaporize at different speeds, all of which

is monitored by a computer.

Investigators concluded the hex nuts

had the same chemical make-up.

JOHN HERSH: Identical hex nuts, from a metallurgical point

of view, were recovered from Mr. Dean's residence.

They were stored in a container near his workbench, where we

alleged the b*mb was constructed.

NARRATOR: In the rest of the house was even more evidence.

Investigators found the same type

of wiring used in the b*mb's detonator.

They found the same type of pipe used in the fatal b*mb

and the same type of Styrofoam packing material

was discovered in Dean's garage.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: This pipe b*mb used smokeless powder.

One of the things we were looking for

was powder like that.

Now, interestingly enough, there was

no container of powder found.

NARRATOR: But in the kitchen, investigators

found a small plastic funnel that

looked like it might contain a clue.

DAVID ALBRITTEN: That funnel-- we could visibly see that there

appeared to have been some type of power used in that.

NARRATOR: The powder was analyzed

using a scanning electron microscope that uses x-rays

to reveal its chemical components.

That sample was compared to the powder found at the b*mb scene.

Both samples were smokeless g*n powder.

And both had a % concentration of nitroglycerin,

in addition to the stabilizing component, nitrocellulose.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: The smokeless power

matched the smokeless powder from the m*rder b*mb

and from the smokeless powder we found inside his house.

NARRATOR: But there was a problem.

All of these items in Dean's home were available at stores

at every state in the country.

There was nothing unique or unusual about the g*n

powder, the pipe, or the hex nuts.

Investigators knew that sometimes the tiniest piece

of evidence is the most telling, so they

return to the b*mb scene.

Among the thousands of pieces of debris,

they found a m*nled nine volt battery.

With a magnifying glass, investigators

saw a series of numbers and letters

on the side of the battery-- GG.

A call to the manufacturer revealed

this was a lot number that identified the day

and the assembly line on which the battery was assembled.

Inside Christopher Dean's home, investigators

found an open pack of the same brand of nine volt batteries

with one missing.

The lot numbers on the unused batteries

were the same as the one used to detonate the pipe b*mb.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: And that lot number

meant that those batteries were manufactured

at the same day on the same line.

NARRATOR: Just when prosecutors thought their case against Dean

would primarily be circumstantial,

a computer forensic expert found even more evidence

inside Chris Dean's computer.

It was a file Dean thought he had deleted but hadn't.

NARRATOR: Prosecutors found evidence that Christopher Dean

ordered a CB radio from Chris Marquis

and sent a check for $.

But Marquis sent a less expensive CB

radio than the one Dean ordered.

JOHN HERSH: The motive for Mr. Dean's actions in this m*rder

of Christopher Marquis appears to be, unfortunately,

his extreme anger over the fact that Christopher Marquis

swindled him out of a $ CB radio.

NARRATOR: There was one last item in Chris Dean's home

investigators needed to evaluate-- his computer.

A computer forensic analysis uncovered evidence

that Dean had recently downloaded information

on how to build a pipe b*mb.

JASON STANFORD: If an investigator were looking

for evidence of searches for pipe b*mb

material on the internet, it is not

difficult to locate, especially if the computer user himself is

not savvy in how to cover his tracks.

NARRATOR: And on the hard drive of his computer,

there was a copy-- or template-- of the label used

on the box that held the pipe b*mb,

with the same fictitious return address that

was found on the pipe b*mb package.

Mr. Dean attempted to delete the file, but remnants of the file

were still on the computer's hard drive.

JASON STANFORD: He probably thought he covered his tracks

and deleted all the files.

However, because he printed it, the computer

generated a second file on the system for the printer.

And that is what was found.

DAVID ALBRITTEN: It would be remarkable for anybody else

to have made up the exact name and exact address that

was contained on Christopher Dean's computer.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: And I characterized this computer

label as a computer fingerprint.

It was conclusive, in my mind, that somebody had--

that this b*mb was associated with that house,

that somebody had created the address label used

in this b*mb at the Dean residence.

NARRATOR: Christopher Dean was arrested

and charged with first-degree m*rder.

Prosecutors had plenty of evidence

to prove Dean chose v*olence as a way

to resolve his dispute with Chris Marquis.

In making the b*mb, Dean unwittingly

used a nine volt battery which identified

the date and the factory in which it was manufactured--

a battery which matched the ones found in his home.

Logs from Mr. Dean's trucking company

indicated he was in Mansfield, Ohio

on the day the fatal package was sent.

JOHN HERSH: We even went a step further than that.

The witness at the UPS facility in Ohio

identified Christopher Dean as the person

who shipped that box.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: We were able to compare the handwriting

on the UPS receipt with Mr. Dean's handwriting.

And handwriting experts would say

that it was the same person.

NARRATOR: And Dean had no idea he was dealing with a teenager.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: They communicated over the internet

and a little bit over the telephone,

so they'd never met each other.

Mr. Dean didn't know what Mr. Marquis looked like,

didn't know he was a -year-old boy.

NARRATOR: In February of , Christopher Dean pleaded guilty

to first degree m*rder and was sentenced to life in prison

without the possibility of parole.

For Sheila Rockwell, there was little satisfaction

in the sentence.

She still bears the scars of the b*mb that k*lled her son.

She limps from the shrapnel that tore through her leg,

and her hands will never recover from the blast.

But mostly, she mourns the loss of her -year-old son.

SHEILA ROCKWELL: Why?

Why would anybody ever do this over a CB radio?

You know, if only I had known-- I would try to, you know,

reason with Dean.

You know-- pay him for the radio.

Send him back the radio.

Whatever the case may be.

But it was just unbelievable that somebody that crazy

would do something like that.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: Sitting here today,

I still can't fathom how one person would be of a mindset

that just because they got ripped off for a couple hundred

bucks, that they would want to k*ll somebody

that they've never seen before.

NARRATOR: For investigators, the case proved something

that Christopher Dean never thought possible.

He was convinced that since he'd never been to Vermont,

and he had never met Chris Marquis,

that no one could tie him to the fatal b*mb.

But he never realized forensic science would identify him.

The materials he used to build the b*mb, the lot numbers

on the batteries, and the fictitious name and address

that was recovered from his computer

left no doubt that he was the one who k*lled Chris Marquis.

PAUL VAN DE GRAFF: We had a lot of evidence in this case,

but the forensic evidence, to me,

was the linchpin of the prosecution,

and we not only had one piece of forensic evidence,

but we had many, many different kinds of forensic evidence.

SHEILA ROCKWELL: It was just amazing, the way that they had

pin pointed the paper wrapper, the Styrofoam, the b*mb,

everything that he had, you know,

had put in the b*mb-- the hex nuts-- were

all right back to the manufacture.

It was unbelievable that science was that good.

[theme music]