08x29 - Smoke in your Eyes

[bunniefuu]

Engine , structure fire.

Narrator: a suspicious fire swept through an apartment,

k*lling two young women.

The cause of the fire and the identity of the victims were

Unclear.

But a closer look at the fire scene revealed something hidden

In the ashes.

Could gas chromatography, a b*rned pair of eyeglasses, and a

Half-smoked cigarette solve the case?

Narrator: on a spring night in march of , firefighters

In iowa city rushed to an apartment building engulfed in

Flames near the university of iowa campus.

District , engine , you're responding...structure fire.

Do you need a second ambulance down there?

Got it, -.

We have another victim.

We will be removing one victim.

When they arrived, they had fire blowing out windows and

Doors of the apartment building.

Immediately had the opportunity, and the necessity, to initiate

An aggressive fire att*ck.

Narrator: just inside the entrance, firefighters found

What appeared to be a body.

Then, in the back bedroom, another gruesome discovery.

They were unable to see, and so had to use -- just feeling

Their way around the apartment, and checking on the bed, they

Found the second victim.

Narrator: a driver's license found next to one of the bodies

Belonged to -year-old laura watson-dalton, a paramedic

Who had come to iowa city to visit her cousin.

She had really loved the town.

And it was st. Patrick's day, and that was one of her favorite

Holidays.

And I think because it's a college town, sort of a great

Party atmosphere for st. Patrick's day, she decided

To go there and visit friends.

Narrator: the second victim matched the description of a

Woman who had been reported missing.

She was -year-old maria lehner, an environmental

Scientist who was in town on a business trip and was staying at

A nearby hotel.

We were hoping and praying it wasn't her, but back of our

Minds, we kind of knew it was.

They had found her blazer in a parking ramp, and it hadn't

Been...

It hadn't been driven for a while, so...

Narrator: the apartment was rented to three college students

Who claimed they were out of town on the night of the fire.

The men said they gave no one permission to stay there, and

They also denied knowing either laura watson or maria lehner.

At the morgue, the medical examiner found evidence that the

Women were dead before the fire started.

There was no soot in the lungs of either victim.

Therefore, we're able to conclude, scientifically, that

They expired prior to the fire.

It was evident they had both been, um...

k*lled by blunt force trauma to the head.

Narrator: inside the apartment, investigators found a

Barbell that contained blood and human hair, leading to

Speculation that this was the m*rder w*apon.

They also found a gasoline container.

You might find gasoline cans stored, of course, in a garage

Or utility closets, but to find a gasoline can in a hallway of

An apartment, I think that would be rather odd.

Narrator: investigators believed that the fire may have

Been intentionally set, and that clues to the k*ller's identity

Could be waiting at the crime scene, hidden in the smoldering

Ashes.

And they also wondered why these two women were in an apartment

Rented by men they'd never even met.

Narrator: the lack of soot and smoke in the victims' lungs

Revealed that the two women were k*lled before the fire started,

And when the medical examiner compared the amount of tissue

Damage between the two victims, he discovered something

Astonishing -- the two victims were k*lled on different days.

It is clear that laura d*ed in the late hours on wednesday

Or the early morning hours on thursday, and remained in that

Apartment where she d*ed, and that maria d*ed late thursday

Night or early friday morning in the same apartment.

Narrator: laura watson's friends told police that they

Last saw her in a local bar on wednesday night, two nights

Before the fire.

Laura was talking to a man sitting beside her.

When someone that you've had a conversation with that's been

Kind of interesting asks you if you'd like to, you know, go to

Another party, or go to another bar -- lots of people have done

That, and it's a situation where most of us don't think that

We're gonna place ourselves in peril.

Narrator: witnesses said laura left with the man around

Midnight.

He was described as tall, in his s, with unkempt brown hair and

Glasses.

Investigators discovered the same thing happened to

Maria lehner on the following night.

The owner of a different bar said he saw maria leaving his

Establishment with a man matching the same description.

She didn't have as good a judgment as she would have if

She wasn't drinking.

Maybe he said "hey, there's a party over at this place.

You want to come with me?" I don't think she ever did it

Before.

I think this was one time, and it wasn't -- and it was the

Wrong time.

Narrator: since the victims had been m*rder*d on two

Different nights, the k*ller apparently had free access to

The apartment, and could come and go as he pleased.

But the college students who rented it said they had no idea

Who the k*ller was.

After the last embers were out, the iowa department of criminal

Investigations examined the scene for clues.

Investigators noticed a hole in the outside wall of the

Apartment, and there was a gas container found just inside the

Front door.

To see if an accelerant had been used, investigators placed some

Of the debris in an airtight container and sent it to the lab

For analysis.

Criminalists placed an activated charcoal strip into the can

Overnight, then washed it with a carbon disulfide.

The vials were placed in a gas chromatograph mass spectrometer

For analysis.

It'll separate it out based on the physical properties and

Chemical properties of the components of what ignitable

Liquid may be in that sample.

And everything flows to the instrument at a different rate,

And it'll actually separate out those, and you'll see the

Individual components of each component of the ignitable

Liquid.

Narrator: the results were clear -- gasoline had been used

To start the fire.

[ expl*si*n ] apparently the gasoline vapors

Ignited, causing the expl*si*n that blew through the outside

Wall.

Investigators also discovered a matchbook in the debris.

The gasoline had to be ignited by something, and so

When the fire marshal collected a matchbook in or around that

Fire scene, that was really a fresh matchbook with only one

Match missing.

Narrator: the fire had destroyed any prints that might

Have been on the matchbook.

Steve duffy looked through all of the photos taken at the fire

Scene, searching for items that may have been overlooked.

In one of the photographs, he noticed something that looked

Like a pair of eyeglasses.

When he returned to the apartment, they were still

There.

They were very obviously prescription eyeglasses, and I

Hoped that I could go back through those prescriptions to

Find the owners.

Narrator: none of the tenants or victims owned the glasses.

Duffy also found a cigarette butt, still very much intact.

This cigarette had been smoked, had not been put out,

Had not been stomped out on the floor.

Narrator: in other words, it was still burning when it hit

The carpet.

Investigators suspected that the perpetrator lit a cigarette,

Then started to pour the gasoline throughout the

Apartment.

At some point, his cigarette probably ignited the gases.

[ expl*si*n ] he received a burn on his

Nose.

He either swatted at his face and knocked his glasses off, or

The glasses fell off his face and the cigarette flew out of

His mouth.

Narrator: now, investigators were looking for a tall, unkempt

Man who smoked cigarettes and possibly had a b*rned face.

He may also have been missing his eyeglasses.

Narrator: one week after a fire gutted their apartment, the

Three college students who rented it were allowed to

Return.

There were items stolen from the apartment that included a

Vcr or two and some other electronic equipment.

Narrator: investigators checked local pawn shops to see

If someone had sold the stolen goods, and they got their first

Break.

A pawn shop owner recalled buying these items from a young

Man just a few days earlier.

In iowa, anyone selling to a pawn shop must show some form of

Identification with an address.

The man who sold the items was jon memmer, a -year-old

Drifter, known around town as a partyer.

Jon memmer was very adept at inviting himself to those

After-hours parties.

Because of that, he was a person who could con his way into

Staying over at any number of apartments, and sleeping on

Their couch or what have you.

Narrator: one of the apartment tenants said he knew

Memmer, and had let him sleep overnight a few weeks earlier.

He didn't have a lot of friends.

He didn't have a job.

He wasn't enrolled as a student.

He was sleeping where he could, and he was very transient.

And yes, that made it more difficult to find him.

Mr. Memmer basically made his living by being a thief.

Narrator: police finally caught up with memmer, who was

On probation at the time for a forgery conviction.

When he was questioned, investigators noticed he had a

Burn injury on his nose.

Memmer admitted he had been in the apartment while the tenants

Were away, and also confessed to stealing their stereo and

Television set, but he denied k*lling the women or setting the

Fire.

He said there was another drifter sleeping in the

Apartment that week, too.

Police wanted to see if they could tie memmer to the

Evidence.

Immediately after the fire and expl*si*n, he did not have

Eyeglasses, and during the following week he acquired

Another pair of glasses.

Narrator: using a machine called a lensometer, an

Optometrist determined the degree of curvature, or

Diopters, of the lenses.

The strength of the lenses matched the prescription memmer

Had been given by his eye doctor.

In jon memmer's situation, he needed his eyeglasses to see.

He would not leave his eyeglasses laying around, so to

Find his eyeglasses at the scene of a double homicide and arson

Was significant.

Narrator: police needed more proof.

They looked, once again, at the cigarette butt, the one

Investigators suspected had inadvertently ignited the fire.

Was it possible this cigarette butt contained the k*ller's dna?

Scientists removed the wrapper from the lip end of the

Cigarette, then separated any cells present in the paper.

The biological sample was then reproduced to create a larger

Sample for analysis, then compared to a dna sample taken

From memmer while in custody.

It was a match.

Statistically, the chances of the dna on the cigarette butt

Coming from anyone but mr. Memmer are too small to

Consider.

Narrator: but memmer admitted being in the apartment, which

Could account for him leaving his glasses and the cigarette

Butt.

Police needed more proof.

Investigators then examined laura dalton's leather jacket

Found in the apartment.

Somebody came up and said "while we have this jacket, why

Don't you go ahead and look at the jacket?

Maybe there's a print on a button, a snap, or something.

Narrator: criminalist bessman checked the jacket under a

High-intensity light.

No prints were found.

Then he placed the jacket in a special cabinet with a small

Container of cyanoacrylate, a compound found in super glue.

The compound was heated, and the fumes circulated around the

Jacket for about minutes.

The cyanoacrylate has made a little fibrous network over

Those fumes, and we can look at it.

It makes the ridges stand out white, instead of the black

Like you'd see on an ink fingerprint card.

Narrator: to his surprise, bessman found a partial image of

A foot impression.

The print was dyed to fluoresce under forensic lighting.

Bessman compared that print to the soles on the shoes

Confiscated from jon memmer when he was taken into custody.

Both prints were the same size and make.

There had to have been a contaminant on the shoe, or

Something on the coat that the shoe removed when it made

Contact with it, so it was rather unusual to develop a

Footwear impression this way.

Narrator: and there was something else on the shoe -- a

Tiny piece of evidence that would tell investigators exactly

What happened to laura dalton and maria lehner.

Narrator: investigators found one last piece of evidence

Linking jon memmer to the murders of laura watson-dalton

And maria lehner.

It was a tiny piece of material on memmer's shoes.

On the side of the sole, about the size of a penny, had

Kind of a reddish-brown stain that I believed might have been

Blood.

Narrator: the stain was lifted using sterile water, then

Tested using dna analysis.

The dna from the blood on the shoe matched the dna sample from

Maria lehner.

It just made it -- just more sad, because you kind of knew

What he had to do to get blood on his shoes.

That was critical.

It showed that jon memmer had been in contact with

Maria lehner, even though he denied it, and that at some

Point he was with maria lehner when she was bleeding.

Narrator: jon memmer was charged with first degree

m*rder.

We had other forensic evidence -- the jacket, the

Footwear analysis, the eyeglasses -- but it was the dna

Analysis that found maria's blood on memmer's shoe that was

The final straw that let us go forward.

Narrator: prosecutors believed jon memmer broke into

The apartment when he knew the tenants were out of town.

How he lured laura dalton to the apartment on wednesday evening

Isn't clear, but prosecutors believe memmer may have made a

Sexual advance, which was rejected.

In a rage, memmer k*lled laura with a blow to the head.

On thursday night, memmer probably lured maria lehner to

The apartment the same way, and when she, too, rejected him, he

k*lled her as well.

On friday, after stealing the television and stereo, memmer

Decided to destroy all possible evidence that he had been there.

He lit a single match for a cigarette, then set about the

Process of pouring gasoline throughout the apartment, but he

Made a mistake.

The gasoline caused fumes to build in the small apartment,

And his cigarette caused the expl*si*n.

[ expl*si*n ] it knocked his glasses off,

b*rned his nose, and the cigarette butt and matches went

Flying.

That was probably jon memmer's downfall, was his

Smoking the cigarette, because he left behind valuable

Evidence and nearly k*lled himself.

A waste.

He's a waste of a human being -- soulless.

I don't think probably ever contributed anything, and

Probably has spent all of his life using people and taking.

Narrator: at the trial, it wasn't just the forensic

Evidence that made an impression on the jury.

Memmer was sporting a new tattoo as he sat at the defense table.

In the g*ng world, a tattoo of a teardrop signifies you've

m*rder*d someone.

In this case, that was significant because jon memmer

Did not want one teardrop at the corner of his eye, but he

Wanted two.

Talk about not very smart, going to the trial with those on

His eyes, and the jury can see it easily.

When I questioned him about that at trial, he claimed they

Were for two friends of his that had d*ed in an automobile

Accident, but I think that was pretty powerful damning

Evidence.

In truth, in the aggregate, it was a small piece of

Circumstantial evidence, but it was an interesting addition to

The totality of the case.

Narrator: jon memmer was convicted of two counts of first

Degree m*rder, and was sentenced to life in prison.

Maria lehner's family says it's ironic that science helped find

Her k*ller.

She was a biology major.

She loved science, so knowing that the blood on the shoe and

All the other forensic evidence was what put him away, I'm sure

She would have thought that was pretty cool.

There is no such thing as a perfect crime.

There's always evidence left.

It's there for the people who look.

This was where the evidence led, and it pointed to mr. Memmer.

He received two life sentences.

Jon memmer will obviously serve one of his life sentences here,

On this earth.

If I was jon memmer, I would be worrying about where I'm gonna

Spend that second life sentence.

It may be a lot hotter there than the fire that he started.