12x26 - About Face

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Narrator: up next, a human skeleton is found in the

Marshlands of north carolina.

The longer a body's been dead, the harder it is to

Determine how long it's been dead.

We don't know who she is.

We don't know why she was k*lled.

Narrator: but it tells a story all its own...

Whatever happened to precede death, it probably was sexual.

Narrator: ...a story of anger and hatred...

At what point does a person realize that they're dying?

Narrator: ...and a violent end.

Had this person remained anonymous, we would have had

Nowhere to go.

Narrator: on a cold spring afternoon in ,

Ray lee jacobs found what looked like human bones in the backyard

Of the home he rented in wilmington, north carolina.

It was kind of gruesome.

We came across these bones.

It was horrible.

First we seen her legbones, and then we came across her skull,

You know, and ribs, and, you know, then we realized it wasn't

Fake, it was real, you know, so it was -- it was terrible.

Narrator: he called authorities, who moved quickly

To collect the remains and any possible forensic evidence.

The bones had been scattered by the animals and maybe by the

Tide coming in, 'cause it was a marshland.

It was a dumpsite, and there was a lot of garbage back there.

Narrator: anthropologist dr. Midori albert and her team

Of student volunteers recovered about bones, or % of the

Skeleton.

The victim was a caucasian female, about years old, and

From the length of her femur, about '" tall.

The amount of decomposition indicated she'd been dead for

Approximately months, and it was clear the woman d*ed

Violently.

When I see injuries that were as extensive as this particular

Case, I'm sort of perplexed by what the individual, what the

Victim, was going through while sustaining these injuries and

How long death might have occurred.

Narrator: the woman had a broken nose, broken ribs, and

Had been stabbed with a sharp object numerous times in the

Lower abdomen.

It indicated to me somebody who might have been stabbing or

Mutilating this individual -- stabbed times.

At what point do you just not feel any more s*ab wounds?

Narrator: the lack of clothing found near the remains

Was also telling.

The nudity would indicate a certain behavior pattern that

Would indicate that whatever happened to precede their death,

It probably was sexual.

Narrator: fennell believed it was a clear sign of rage and a

Possible indication the k*ller knew the victim.

He also believed the k*ller was familiar with the area.

Someone who knew that they could get back there and hide

This body there without being seen while they were hiding the

Body.

Narrator: because ray jacobs had lived in the rental home

Only a short time, he wasn't considered a suspect in the

Homicide.

Whoever put the bones there or had done this, you know, I

Was afraid that they would probably come back or, you know,

Show up unexpectedly and -- you know, so I didn't really know

What to think at the time after that.

Narrator: the first order of business was to identify the

Victim, a task that wouldn't be easy.

According to the doe network, an organization that tracks the

Number of unknown victims, there were other cases involving

Unidentified victims in north carolina alone.

Investigators hoped that forensic anthropology could

Narrow the search.

Obviously, in order to do any kind of investigation, you have

To start with figuring out who this person is.

Narrator: the victim found in the north carolina marsh had

Suffered a violent death.

She was beaten, stabbed, and her nude body left in the marsh in

The cold of winter.

But who was this person?

Her remains were laid out in the lab, and she was somebody I

Saw every day.

Every day I'd go in the lab, turn the lights on and work on

Another case, or we'd hold a class in there.

I would look over at her and often wonder how long it was

Gonna take to get any kind of confirmation.

Narrator: investigators had a theory that the k*ller was

Local.

It had to be someone who had some familiarity with that

Particular plot of land.

Narrator: and if the k*ller was local, the victim might be,

As well, so investigators searched missing-persons

Reports for caucasian females living in a -mile radius who

Disappeared in the last months.

This yielded a number of possibilities, but the closest

Match was -year-old scarlett wood.

She was unmarried and living at home so she could care for her

Mother, who was suffering from liver cancer.

On the night she disappeared, she told her mother she was

Going to a party with friends.

It was in january, and it was cold, and I woke up with the

Funniest feeling.

You know how you have a superstition?

I said, "scarlett, I got a bad feeling something's gonna

Happen."

I said, "you just stay here tonight."

She said, "no, I'll be all right."

Narrator: but scarlett never returned.

She was always good about checking in with them, saying

Where she was gonna be if she wasn't gonna be home at a

Certain time.

Narrator: investigators hoped to compare scarlett's dental

Records with the unknown victim.

But their attempt was unsuccessful.

She had dental records, but they were years old, and I

Couldn't find any dentists that kept their records that long.

Narrator: and, initially, scientists couldn't use dna

Testing, either.

They couldn't pull the dna from the remains, from the

Bones.

Apparently, the bones were too dried out.

Narrator: investigators were facing the very real possibility

That their victim would never be identified.

Then, forensic anthropologist dr. Midori albert had an idea.

I'd been familiar with a procedure called "skull

Photo-video superimposition," where you take an actual skull

And you can take a photograph of a person and actually blend the

Two images together, and what we tend to do with that is we look

For different anatomical landmarks and points of

Similarity.

Narrator: unfortunately, the university of north carolina

Didn't have the facilities to perform this procedure.

The hardware and software can cost as much as $,.

So dr. Albert did the next best thing.

She asked one of her colleagues to improvise.

I went to shane baptista on campus, who is a computer guru

And is very familiar with open-source software, which is

Software that is available to anybody as a free download.

Narrator: baptista found a free program called gimp, or

Gnu image manipulation program.

Gimp is an unfortunate acronym -- pretty much, feature

For feature, an equivalent of adobe photoshop.

Narrator: to see if it worked, he performed a forensic

Test on himself.

I sat myself down and set up a web camera on the computer and

Took some photographs of myself at what I tried to get to be the

Same orientation.

Narrator: he superimposed his photo over a plastic skull.

He separated both images into quadrants and looked for

Consistencies in the images.

As he expected, there were none.

I was able to get a creepy image that showed that that

Wasn't my skull, which we pretty much knew.

Narrator: baptista moved on to the ultimate test.

Pictures of scarlett wood were superimposed over the skull of

The m*rder victim.

The similarities were immediately apparent.

When I started messing around with scarlett wood's, it kind of

Lined up pretty quickly, and so the ease of the fit got me

Pretty confident at the outset that we were on the right track.

It's never % conclusive, but it was fantastic because a

Lot of the anatomical landmarks were very consistent.

Narrator: it seemed possible that the victim was

Scarlett wood, although investigators still weren't

% Certain.

But at least they had somewhere to start.

Narrator: with a skeleton found on private property,

Investigators first turned to the property owner and the

Residents as potential suspects.

Investigators learned that there were two tenants living on the

Property at the time of the m*rder, both men in their mid-

To late-s.

They both had some histories with law enforcement, of

Questionable character.

Narrator: the landlord told police the men moved out a year

And a half earlier, which would have been around the time of the

m*rder.

They left in a hurry, leaving behind furniture, clothing.

There was some women's clothing left in the house -- some

Underwear, that kind of thing.

Narrator: hoping for answers, police found one of the men in

Hampstead, north carolina, miles away, and brought him

In for questioning.

The man said he knew nothing about the m*rder and never met

Scarlett wood.

He said he and his roommate weren't getting along and they

Moved out of the rental property after living there only a few

Months.

Just roommates breaking up, money issues.

Narrator: police weren't so sure and sent a forensic team to

Search the house.

All of the floors, walls, and ceilings were sprayed with

Luminol, but they showed no signs of blood.

After interviewing the tenants and the previous

Tenants, we were pretty much at a standstill.

Narrator: next, investigators interviewed all of

Scarlett wood's friends, and her best friend, lynn bollinger,

Said she knew where scarlett was headed on the night she went

Missing.

She said scarlett spent every friday night at a local motel,

Where there was usually a party.

They were at a motel, partying and drinking --

Drinking beer -- and just having a good time.

I believe it was scarlett and three or four other people.

Narrator: police interviewed several individuals who attended

That party.

They said everyone left around : a.m., Except scarlett and a

Friend of hers -- -year-old john wayne boyer.

John boyer is a truck driver.

He actually worked at a couple of different locations here in

Wilmington.

Narrator: boyer no longer lived in the area.

He had been interviewed by police after scarlett

Disappeared.

They were partying and drinking.

Scarlett wanted to leave.

And he said he didn't want her to leave, and she left.

John.

What?

I want you to take me home.

Narrator: boyer said she left around : a.m. On foot.

At the time, no one really believed boyer's story -- that

Scarlett would have walked home, miles away, in freezing-cold

Temperatures.

She was not equipped for the cold.

It was about degrees that night.

I believe she had on just a pair of jeans and a light coat.

Narrator: but john boyer had no criminal history, and he and

Scarlett were acquaintances.

She used to babysit his ex-girlfriend's children, so he

Had a personal relationship with her.

Narrator: scarlett's friends, however, despised him.

My father had his own trucking business, so we knew

About this man.

He was really big, he drank a lot...and he just -- he acted --

He acted fine, but I just -- there was something about him I

Just didn't like, I didn't trust.

Narrator: investigators were able to locate the minivan boyer

Owned at the time of scarlett's disappearance.

We ended up finding that van and doing a search on it, and we

Ended up finding nothing in it.

Narrator: they also searched the hotel room where the party

Took place.

The room was examined for blood.

We used the luminol to determine if there was blood.

Unfortunately, they had redecorated that particular

Hotel room, so some of the furniture was new, but there was

No evidence found of any kind of bodily fluids or blood or

Anything like that.

Narrator: unsolicited, a psychic called, suggesting

Scarlett's body was dumped in an industrial area about a block

Away from the hotel.

Myself and my partner at the time went out to the scene, went

Out and looked around, kicked the bushes, that kind of thing.

Didn't locate anything.

Narrator: again, investigators were at a

Standstill.

They had no dna proof that the skeleton was scarlett wood.

They had no blood evidence to prove that there had been

v*olence in the hotel room or in john boyer's van.

In fact...

They had no evidence at all.

Narrator: using a technique called facial photo

Superimposition, a forensic anthropologist made a

Preliminary finding that the unidentified skeleton was

-Year-old scarlett wood.

But this wasn't an identification that would hold

Up in court.

Investigators had sent the remains to an outside forensic

Laboratory, hoping to get a dna profile.

But for reasons no one can quite understand, the lab was

Unsuccessful.

We would never know for sure who our victim was without the

Dna.

We're not sure why that is, but they just couldn't pull the dna

From the bones, so they just advised us, almost a year and a

Half later, that they just couldn't do it, just couldn't

Find dna.

Nothing seemed to be coming of the analysis.

And after the first year passed, we were quite disturbed and very

Upset about it.

Narrator: undeterred, investigators sent the skeleton

For a forensic second opinion to a private laboratory, this one

In pennsylvania.

There scientists tried drilling into a tooth and found just

Enough tooth pulp to generate a dna profile.

Within three weeks, they came back with a positive

Identification.

Narrator: and with more digging, sergeant john leonard

Discovered that scarlett wood had surgery performed on her

Finger just before she disappeared and that a biopsy

Was performed.

By law, I guess, medically, they have to keep these things

For seven years, I was told.

I had spoke to the doctor who did the operation on her, and he

Advised me that I could go to the place that stored this

Biopsy, and I was able to get it.

Narrator: incredibly, dna testing of that biopsy sample

Matched the dna profile from the victim's tooth.

It was the best news I had heard in a long time.

It's a long-awaited conclusion to a mystery and a very tragic

Death.

When the dna came back and it confirmed that my victim was

Scarlett wood and that john boyer was the last person

To be seen with her, we ended up going to augusta, georgia, and

Interviewing john boyer.

Narrator: at first, boyer repeated what he'd told

Investigators several years earlier -- that scarlett grew

Impatient waiting for him to give her a ride.

She decided to walk home instead and left the motel room around

: A.m.

Sergeant leonard didn't believe it.

And with that, his story changed.

That's when he told me he wanted to have sex.

She said okay, but he couldn't perform.

She was belittling him about him not being able to perform, and

He ended up pushing her.

Yeah, it's cool.

I'm just gonna get going.

Narrator: boyer said scarlett hit her head accidentally

Against the nightstand, but dr. Midori albert believes it's

More likely her head was pushed into the table forcibly.

Prosecutors also believe boyer broke her ribs.

Since it was late, boyer was able to carry scarlett's body

Outside to his truck without attracting notice.

He then took her to the marshy field near the trucking company

Where he worked.

The evidence shows he used some sort of sharp object and

Repeatedly stabbed her, going so far as to mutilate her.

And then he left her there.

I learned a lot from her skeleton, and I believe in death

She made significant contributions.

Narrator: some of the information boyer gave police in

His so-called confession was corroborated by the evidence.

His so-called confession was corroborated by the evidence.

But not everything he said was true.

In april of , john boyer plead guilty to a charge of

Second-degree m*rder and was sentenced to years in prison.

Scarlett's family still have problems accepting the enormity

Of the crime.

He never gave a true story as to what really happened.

So I don't guess we'll ever really know.

I still don't think ms. Wood has got it in her mind

Her daughter's not coming home.

Narrator: investigators also suspect boyer was involved in

The m*rder of -year-old rose marie mallette, which took

Place about a year before scarlett wood was m*rder*d.

When he was the photo, he stopped everything and said, "I

Know her.

She's a prost*tute.

I've had sex with her.

I want an attorney."

So, based on that, on that utterance, he is a suspect in

This homicide, also.

Narrator: but john boyer is now behind bars because simple

Technology available to anyone identified the victim of his

Crime.

Without the initial understanding that we were

Dealing with a female of european descent, of an adult

Age, the investigators wouldn't have known how to target that

Group of missing people.

And, certainly, without the trauma being evidenced on the

Bone such that it was, I'm not sure that there would have been

A conviction.

We'd have never known that was her if it wasn't for the

Forensic evidence.

We'd have never known.

I'm glad we got this guy.

I was really -- still am -- honored to have been a part of

The process and pleased with how the system can stay with it to

Help this unidentified person gain some justice, to give the

Family some peace, and to take this bad guy off the street so

That he's not able to do it again.