01x04 - The Footpath Murders

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on a deserted footpath early on the

morning of November 22nd 1983 a hospital

worker witnessed a terrible sight it

would be the first case in the world

where DNA evidence helped find the

k*ller

Narborough England a quiet little

village of about 6,000 residents where a

violent crime is almost unheard of

it is something you expect to happen in

our city not in a small village

community fifteen-year-old Linderman was

a typical teenager

quiet but popular she likes school and

enjoyed being with friends

on a cold November evening Linda left

her home in our burrow to walk the mile

or so to her friend's house when Linda

didn't return home by midnight her

frantic parents called the police early

the next morning her semi nude body was

discovered along a secluded footpath

known locally as the black pad detective

David Baker was called to the scene her

clothing was in the state of disarray

her jeans removed and her under clothes

were strewn about it was a cold night

and she got a scarf around her neck and

and the scarf had been used to strangle

her she was very brutally att*cked

sexually assaulted word of Linda's

m*rder traveled quickly in the otherwise

quiet village the people were horrified

horrified I'm very worried particularly

those with the young girls in daughters

a search of the crime scene turned up

little of substance but the autopsy

provided some important clues about

Linda man's last moments alive the

absence of injury to private parts and

also generally on her body there was

very little injury to her would suggest

that he was not a violent att*ck and

that she may have d*ed very quickly the

conclusion was that she was strangled

and then r*ped a semen sample taken from

Linda's body turned out to be an

extremely important piece of evidence it

came from an individual with type-a

blood and a PGM one plus enzyme profile

but this matched 10% of the adult male

population in England since Linda man's

body was found only a few hundred yards

from a local psychiatric hospital some

speculated that the k*ller may have been

a patient others weren't so sure the

thing was very anxious to establish is

that it was unlikely to have been a

psychiatric patient from the hospital it

was much more likely to be a man leading

a normal life perhaps with a family

certainly one who had friends relatives

and contacts who thought of him as a

normal individual when the man was in

the wrong place at the wrong time

former cop turned author Joseph Wambaugh

wrote a best-selling book entitled the

blooding it chronicles the events

surrounding the m*rder of Linda man and

the history-making investigation which

would follow it's very unusual and still

is in a village like Narborough in

Britain for a complete stranger to

ambush and m*rder someone on a footpath

I mean it was so unheard of police

questioned thousands of people about

Linda man's whereabouts on the night she

was k*lled they put more into a m*rder

investigation over there which they call

an inquiry than we do here because they

have so few murders compared to us while

police investigated every lead fear held

villagers hostage

I think young ladies should be very

scared because we hadn't found him so we

don't really know what's happening at

all yes I've made an extra point of

keeping my back door lock now whenever

I'm in on my own well anytime really

Lindemann was buried in a churchyard not

far from where she was m*rder*d on the

day of her funeral police set up a

surveillance and videotaped the crowd

for anything or anyone unusual often one

finds that criminals will revisit the

scene of the crime or some other

activity associated with the crime and

it was just a precaution today police

issued a new poster to try to jog

people's memories but it was a little

help the investigation dragged on for

months then the year with no

eyewitnesses few strong leads and

several false trails the m*rder hunt in

a dead-end well really in any police

investigation after a week or two the

trail is usually cold it's quite

difficult we suffer all the time yes

please come forward all along Linda's

parents held out hope that the k*ller of

their daughter would be caught the only

thing that they could possibly get now

was justice for their daughter and that

seemed to be going away from them it's

always frustrating when you know you've

not got an answer to a problem and I

mean you're forever looking over your

shoulder hate to see what you've missed

and then trying to guess what might

happen in the future and the search for

Linderman's k*ller continued for the

next three years three years had passed

since the m*rder of Linda man and life

in a small village of Narborough was

beginning to return to normal

until the afternoon of July 31st 1986

another 15 year old schoolgirl dawn

Ashworth was walking home from her

part-time job at a newsstand instead of

taking the main road she took a shortcut

down the thickly overgrown foot pack

called 10-pound Lane when Dawn didn't

return home by 9:30 that night her

parents called the police another

teenage girl was missing dawn Ashworth

went missing last night we all like and

pray this was not a repeat the women the

men cast yes two days later police

discovered dawn Ashworth snood body

under some heavy brush and Hey

she was discovered less than a mile from

where Linda man was m*rder*d three years

earlier

like Linda man dawn Ashworth had been

strangled and sexually assaulted dawn

had quite marked injuries to Jaindl area

which would indicate was a very violent

att*ck and her injuries elsewhere the

body would also indicate that she had

suffered violent injury therefore she'd

been att*cked violently which would

indicate that she had put up fair

struggle before she d*ed

semen samples taken during Dawn's

autopsy revealed that the attacker had

the same blood type as Linda man's

m*rder*r there were other similarities

as well

there were signature elements in the

crime certainly both murders took place

on foot paths both girls were teenagers

both girls were walking alone both

Manning was strangled both severely

sexually assaulted both came from the

same locality they were both found in

similar circumstances and both girls

attended the same school well after the

second m*rder fear really took over I

mean fear essentially grabbed them by

the throat and squeezed the life out of

them two young girls have been k*lled

families didn't know who was going to be

next all school girls were advised to

travel in groups and not to walk

anywhere alone Donna Schwartz father had

given his daughter the same advice I

warned her and warned her about the

dangers of going down there on her own

we've got to find

see fiend real is it did this to my

daughter to our daughter and stopped it

from happening again police launched an

extensive investigation into the m*rder

of dawn Ashworth and within a week

police got a break witnesses saw a young

man in the vicinity of ten-pound Lane on

the afternoon of dawn a Schwartz death

he was 17 year old Richard Buckland a

kitchen worker at the psychiatric

hospital located just a few hundred

yards from where both Linda man and Dawn

Ashworth had been m*rder*d police

brought him in for questioning and he

quickly became their prime suspect for

one thing he knew details of the m*rder

which weren't in the newspapers in

addition to that when we'd questioned

mr. Buckland he couldn't really account

for his movements on that particular

afternoon if I were working on the case

I probably would have become very

suspicious given the things he told the

police given his background given his

reputation around the village for liking

to scare girls there walking home from

school things like that finally after 15

grueling hours of interrogation Richard

Buckland confessed to the r*pe and

m*rder of dawn Ashworth police finally

had their man given the similarities

between the two murders police were

convinced that Buckland also r*ped and

m*rder*d Linda Mann three years earlier

Buckland denied it

wasn't telling the truth the answer lay

just a few miles away in a university

laboratory Richard Buckland confessed to

k*lling dawn Ashworth but insisted he

had nothing to do with the m*rder of

Linda Mann three years earlier police

were convinced he was lying and set out

to find the truth here at the University

of Leicester ironically less than 10

miles away from where both teenagers

were m*rder*d dr. Alec Jeffrey's a

geneticist had been researching

hereditary diseases when he accidentally

discovered an amazing technique called

DNA or genetic profiling they were the

case of Eureka you can see individual

identification you can see parentage

analysis paternity dispute sorting out

immigration cases David Baker said well

look let's cement the case against this

young man let's go to this geneticist

Leicester University this dr. Alec

Jeffrey's and take the semen samples

from both murders and cement our case

with this new thing called genetic

fingerprinting whatever it is and let's

just prove that he did both of them

because we know he must have done both

dr. Jeffries wasn't sure that he could

do what Baker wanted because this sort

of analysis had never been done before

dr. Jeffrey's breakthrough technique for

analyzing DNA is called restriction

fragment length polymorphism or RFLP it

can identify an individual based on just

a small amount of their DNA DNA that can

come from semen blood hair roots and

other cells DNA is a complex chemical

which is present in all living cells

it's a little like a computer program

containing coded instructions

how to make a human being no two

individuals have the same DNA pattern

except for identical twins dr. Jeffreys

task was to take the semen recovered

from Linda man and Dawn Ashworth and

compare it to the blood sample from

Richard Buckland to see if it was a

match first white blood cells from

Richard Buckland's blood sample were

treated with a special chemical solution

that allows the DNA a sticky white

substance to float free next the DNA is

cut into smaller pieces using special

proteins called restriction enzymes

which act like chemical scissors the DNA

fragments must then be sorted out by a

process called electrophoresis the DNA

is marked with a radioactive dye and

placed in separate lanes on an electro

phoretic gel then it's subjected to an

electric field under ultraviolet light

you can see how the electrical current

draws the negatively charged fragments

through the gel to the positive end of

the tray the separated fragments are

then visualized on x-ray film called an

autoradiogram which resembles a barcode

showing an individual's unique genetic

makeup dr. Jeffrey's first used this

technique to resolve an immigration case

and after that a paternity dispute but

this would be the first time was ever

attempted in a criminal case to reveal

the identity of a double m*rder*r let's

start with Linda man this is her DNA

profile taken from her hair next track

is a mixture of semen of vaginal fluid

from that victim showing her DNA profile

as expected plus a single man semen DNA

profile next victim dawn Ashworth this

is her blood DNA profile AB and here and

another one off to the left trace

amounts of semen recovered from that

victim both revealed to faint bands

whose position on the autoradiograph is

very similar

to the seaman profile seemed from

Linderman

so first conclusion both girls have been

r*ped and therefore presumably m*rder*d

by the same man what about the prime

suspect Richard Buckland this is his

blood DNA profile here and here

completely different from the semen

profile conclusion both girls have been

r*ped and therefore presumably m*rder*d

by the same man and that man was not the

prime suspect Richard Buckland the

result shocked the police it was in what

a blow to us they didn't basically

didn't believe a word we're saying and

that was quite right healthy skepticism

of an entirely new technology and indeed

I didn't believe the results myself so

we did retesting the testing was done

the game independently by Home Office

friends it scientists all pointing to

the same conclusion namely that Buckland

was not the guilty party in this case

after four months in custody Richard

Buckland was released and became the

first person in the world to be

exonerated of m*rder through the use of

DNA profiling I no doubt whatsoever they

able to be found guilty had it not been

for DNA evidence he would be jailed for

life I mean that was that was a

remarkable occurrence but why did

Richard Buckland confess to a crime I

didn't commit

then the pressure started getting really

hard you still have a chance he had to

have discovered the body himself because

in the terms of his confession he was

able to give a very detailed description

of her clothing where the body was in

what position it lay the ligature and so

on details that nobody could possibly

know unless they'd actually seen the

body with Buckland now out of the

picture

a double m*rder*r was still loose and of

course the next stage was for David

Baker then to make what I think was an

incredibly courageous decision a DNA

manhunt police sent letters to all men

between the ages of 13 and 33 living in

the villages of Narborough and Enderby

the letter asked each man to volunteer

for a blood and saliva test some have

called it a genetic dragnet it is

voluntary and we are you know appealing

to the people to come forward I'm sure

they expected that the real k*ller if he

was indeed a resident of the villages

would probably try to escape

responsibility of giving a blood sample

DNA testing would only be performed on

those who have the same blood type as

the k*ller which was about 10% it was

really an attempt to try and flush out

the guilty party which is what it did

but not the way police have hoped the

trap was now set a DNA manhunt to flush

out the k*ller of Linda man and Dawn

Ashworth it was a bold plan more than

5000 men voluntarily gave blood and

saliva samples

but one worker at this local bakery

didn't his name was Colin pitchfork and

was already known to police for earlier

convictions for indecent exposure he

didn't want any further involvement with

the police so he persuaded coworker Ian

Kelly to take the blood test for him

Kelly lived outside the area and wasn't

asked to take the test himself Kelly was

the perfect foil pitchfork spun him a

young that he'd already given blood on

behalf of somebody else who couldn't go

because he was wanted by the police etc

etc and Kelly sensibly swallow that hook

line and sinker since police required

identification before taking a blood

sample

Kelly needed some photographic proof he

was Colin pitchfork they both went down

to a photo booth and took a passport

size photo of Ian Kelly

pitchfork took his own passport slipped

the plastic casing with the razor blade

and neatly inserted Kelly's photo in its

place

the police failed to observe that a

photograph had been substituted for the

original one and therefore they believed

that this was Colin pitchfork and there

was his picture to prove it perfect Ian

Kelly then took the blood test for Colin

pitchfork of the more than 5,000 men who

voluntarily gave blood and saliva

samples none matched the profile of the

m*rder*r but no one could anticipate

what would happen next on a summer's

evening one year after dawn Ashworth was

found brutally r*ped and m*rder*d

Ian Kelly joined fellow bakery workers

at this local pub and the conversation

turned to the DNA manhunt

a young woman in the group overheard

Kelly bragging that he had taken the

blood test for Colin pitchfork

she sat there and listened to that and

thought to herself there's something not

right about this this isn't something

that someone normally does no matter how

frayed he is of the police and so she

put in a call to the Leicestershire

m*rder inquiry team and that's what made

them focus on Colin pitchfork police

quickly located pitchfork to question

him about the blood test and what he

might know about the two murders within

a very short time he confessed to

k*lling both Linda man and Dawn Ashworth

pitchfork believed in DNA fingerprinting

right away not that he knew any more

about it than the rest of the world but

he'd been following it in the newspapers

and he believed in it and he knew that

it was as good as an inked fingerprint

and he knew he was finished when they

arrested him so he confessed quite

readily without this breakthrough the

chances are the police net would have

never caught pitchbook and I think it's

fairly clear that had he not been caught

then he would have k*lled and k*lled and

k*lled again Colin pitchfork was 27

years old married with two children his

wife had no idea she was married to a

serial k*ller I think he was able to

deceive a perfectly well so that's

nobody in the whole world knew he was

the guilty person the same story the

wife the brother the mother the friends

of serial K*llers never suspect that

they could be serial K*llers Colin

pitchfork was the last man to take a

blood test in the investigation of the

man Ashworth murders the DNA typing

showed to no one's surprise pitchfork

was a perfect match then they took the

patent on film from pitchfork

compared it with semen recovered from

the victims and showed that the these

complex patterns matched up On January

22nd 1988 Colin pitchfork became the

first person ever to be convicted in a

m*rder case solved by

DNA profiling and was sentenced to life

in prison

for his part in the deception Ian Kelley

was convicted of conspiracy to pervert

justice and sentenced to an 18-month

prison sentence which was suspended

he served no time which tribe did I was

wrong for doing what I did

I think we've learned a lot from the

deaths of both of these two girls

certain scientific advances that have

been made with DNA has spread itself now

throughout the world it was this case of

all cases where on which DNA really cut

its teeth in the forensic sense the door

has been opened to a whole new aspect of

medical investigation people will be

talking about this case 100 years from

now not because of my book but because

of Alec Jeffrey's discovery

you