10x34 - Bump in the Night

[bunniefuu]

NARRATOR: A man
sleeping in his bed

was brutally m*rder*d
by an intruder.

The victim lived alone,
but with three ex-wives,

there was no
shortage of suspects.

A muddy footprint, an
electrically charged blood

sample, and a blood
spatter recreation

were all that was needed
to solve the case.

[theme music]


rarely missed work.

His employer considered
Bill to be one of their most

reliable and conscientious
truck drivers.

So when Bill didn't show up
for work for two straight days,

the supervisor called his
family to find out why.

-I told my wife that, well,
I'll run by where he lived

because my place of
employment is just

down the street from
where Bill-- Bill lives.

So I went to-- to his house.

NARRATOR: Bill's car was outside
and his front door was open.

Inside, Joe found his brother.

He said he'd never
seen anything like it.

-In there where he was
laying in bed, and blood all

over the floor, blood
all over the walls.

It was just like I
went through hell.

-The officers told
me they had never

seen quite so much blood
on a ceiling before.

NARRATOR: Bill's body
was under the bed sheets.

His body was cold, indicating
he'd been dead for some time.

-You wouldn't think
it would happen

to you, or to your family.

NARRATOR: In a small town
like Cape Girardeau, Missouri,

police and sheriff officers
all knew Bill Lowes.

They said he was an easygoing
man who never finished

high school, but
was a hard worker.

He spent his free time
playing pool at a local bar.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: He had
a history of some drinking,

but that was it.

There was no indication that
William Lowes was involved

in any kind of dr*gs or
gangs or any kind of activity

or illegal activity like that.

NARRATOR: Police found
no signs of forced entry,

but Lowes had a habit of
leaving his doors unlocked.

A habit his friends and
family would have known.

-Whoever committed this crime
either knew that there was

a certain door would
be left unlocked,

or they had a set of keys.

So it was someone close to him.
LT.

TRACY LEMONDS: The fact that we
found his wallet in his pants

pocket undisturbed
indicates to me that robbery

was not a motive in this case.

-It has long been a rule
of thumb in homicide

investigations that 75%
of the time, the victim

knew his k*ller or was
related to his k*ller.

That it's either a friend
or a family member.

NARRATOR: Forensic
pathologist Dr. Mary Case

performed the
autopsy and quickly

concluded this was a homicide.

-He had four very large
wounds above and slightly

behind the ear, then going
towards the back of the head.

NARRATOR: And Dr. Case found
proof that Bill Lowes was

asleep when he was att*cked
and never heard the k*ller.

-There were no
defensive wounds, which

are wounds that we sometimes see
when people are trying to ward

off an injury, hold up their
hand, hold up their arm.

And then you would see
injuries to those surfaces.

There were no other
wounds to his body.

MORLEY SWINGLE: Bill Lowes
was virtually totally deaf

in one ear, and partially
deaf in another, which also

explained why he could
be sleeping in bed

and not hear the k*ller
come into the house.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: It
was a very vicious attack.

You have a man who
is asleep in bed,

and from the blood
spatter evidence,

you cant tell that he
never moved at all.

NARRATOR: Police didn't find
the m*rder w*apon at the crime

scene, but Dr. Case suspected
it was a long linear object.

-You could think of things like
crowbars, or a baseball bat.

NARRATOR: Investigators
found no foreign fingerprints

inside Bill's home.

Outside, however, they
found their first piece

of forensic evidence.

A shoe impression in the mud.

-It had rained in
Cape Girardeau,

and so if that shoe print
had been left over from days

or weeks before, it
would've-- it would've not

still been there
from the weather.

NARRATOR: Crime
technicians poured plaster

into the shoe impression,
a forensic technique that's

been done the same way
for more than 200 years.

When the plaster
hardened, investigators

had a clear shoe impression.

-And if we could find the person
that was wearing that tennis

shoes, we could at least
put them at the crime scene

within the period
of time that we

felt that the
m*rder had occurred.

NARRATOR: And to find a
suspect, investigators

had to figure out who
wanted Bill Lowes dead.

JOE LOWES: After the

I don't know how many
different people came to me

and said that Bill
had helped him out

or gave me a room to
stay, or gave me food,

I didn't have anything.

Bill was that--
Bill was that way.

I mean, that-- that was Bill.

For him to die like this, you
know, it's just not right.

NARRATOR: In the search
for Bill Lowes' k*ller,

investigators began by
looking at the usual suspects.

-You look at his
coworkers and see

is there a coworker that
might be mad at him.

Was he having an affair
with another female coworker

that-- that might have triggered
animosity from a spouse.

NARRATOR: Although Bill
Lowes wasn't married

at the time of his m*rder,
he had three ex-wives.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN:


that occur are considered
love-hate killings.

You had to love
the person enough

to k*ll them, or hate
him enough to k*ll him.

And to do that, you have
to be close to that person.

JOE LOWES: Him
and his first wife

were still on good
speaking terms

because they had
a child together.

His second marriage, I think
they were still on good terms,

but it just didn't work out.

NARRATOR: Ex-wife number
one and ex-wife number

two both had alibis for
the night of the m*rder.

JOE LOWES: And then, of
course, the third marriage,

that's a different story.

NARRATOR: 39-year-old
Wanda Kay Knupp

was married to Bill Lowes
for about two years.

-I thought Bill when I first met
him was a gentle kind person.

Bill's family wouldn't accept
me because there's an old saying

in southern Illinois, you
don't come from the right side

of the railroad tracks,
you're the wrong type.

And I came from the poor side.

NARRATOR: Bill was
Wanda's sixth husband,

and she was convinced he would
be a wonderful stepfather

to her 17-year-old son, Bryan.

-He was a great man, you know.

I enjoyed going out and
doing things with him.

The job he had, I used to go
with him all the way to St.

Louis and back
helping him and stuff.

NARRATOR: Wanda and Bill both
drank heavily, ran up debts,

and their fights were
occasionally physical.

-When he started drinking,
it went to [beep].

I loved him at one time,
he was a great stepfather.

But when he was drinking,
he was a piece of [beep].

WANDA KNUPPS: What caused
us to decide to separate

is when I took one
severe beating from him.

-Bill was not an
abusive individual

as certain people try
to portray him as.

No, he was not.

NARRATOR: Wanda
and Bill divorced

a year before he was k*lled.

But investigators were surprised
to learn that Wanda was still

the beneficiary of Bill's
$20,000 life insurance policy.

MORLEY SWINGLE: Here
she has 20,000 motives

to have him k*lled when she's
no longer married to him

and she's having
financial trouble.

So it was a red flag
that the officers

felt like they definitely
needed to look into.

NARRATOR: Wanda
vehemently denied

any involvement
in Bill's m*rder.

WANDA KNUPPS: The police asked
me about the life insurance,

and I told the police I
didn't know nothing about it.

NARRATOR: And
Wanda had an alibi.

On the night of
the m*rder, she was

in a bar with her new
boyfriend, and there

were plenty of witnesses.

-And so they were able
to rule out that the fact

that she had had
anything to do with it.

NARRATOR: Her son, Bryan,
also had a solid alibi.

He was camping with
his friend Mike Hale.

-I got the receipts.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: Michael
Hale backed up the alibi.

They went fishing.

He could produce receipts of
where they went and bought

the camping supplies and the
food for the camping outing.

NARRATOR: No one seemed
to have a motive,

and the investigation
quickly turned cold.

Bryan Crews had an
alibi for the night

of his stepfather's m*rder.

He said he was camping with
his best friend, Mike Hale,

and Hale corroborated his story.

The police interview with
Bryan Crews was routine.

Crews had no financial
motive in the m*rder

and claimed his relationship
with Bill Lowes was a good one.

-He was the dad I always
wanted and never had.

We had great times as a family,
something that I'd never

had for real as-- all
through my childhood.

NARRATOR: While
they were talking,

the sheriff noticed Crews was
wearing athletic shoes that

looked similar to the
shoe impression found

at the crime scene.

-Could I see the bottom
of your sneakers?

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: I asked
to see the soles of his shoes.

And when he showed me, from
just seeing the shoe prints

at the scene, I
knew the shoe was

very close to what
they had found.

NARRATOR: Investigators
sent Bryan's shoes

to analyst Dave Warren.

-When we get the
shoe out, we compare

it directly with the plaster
cast because the plaster cast

is a positive impression
of the outsole.

So we're able to compare
those with each other.

NARRATOR: The shoe
impression was

not the best in
terms of quality.

Occasionally, a shoe slips
when someone walks through mud.

The plaster cast
showed the size,

make, and model of the shoe.

And just enough of the tread
pattern to permit a comparison.

-The wear patterns that were
present in the 3-dimensional

plaster casts were consistent
with the wear patterns

that were on the
suspect's shoes.

-It was a got you type piece
of information, like, you know,

we found these shoe
prints and they-- they

look like they match your shoes.

And so, you know, a part of
you is sitting there thinking,

kind of like a chess game,
what's his next move?

And you know he's
sitting across the table

and he's sitting there
thinking, oh my gosh,

you know, they've got my
shoe prints at the scene now.

Oh crap, you know, what
am I going to say next?

NARRATOR: But Bryan Crews
had a simple explanation.

He said he went to Bill's home
a few days before the m*rder

to get some of his mother's
personal belongings.

He said he left the shoe
impression at that time.

So police needed to
make sure Bryan's alibi

for the night of the
m*rder was air-tight.

And the alibi started to
crumble when police discovered

that Bryan's friend,


had a prior conviction
for robbery.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: Michael
Hale had been to prison

already, so he knew that
the stakes were high.

NARRATOR: Initially, Mike Hale
corroborated Bryan's alibi.

But under pressure, Hale
started to change his story.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: When
it got to a certain point,

it was just like, I'm going
to tell you what I know.

And so then, Bryan Crews' alibi
then began to be torn down.

NARRATOR: Mike Hale admitted
he was with Bryan Crews

on the night of
the m*rder and said

they stopped by
Bill Lowes' home.

Hale said he waited
outside while Bryan went

in to speak with his stepfather.

He said Bryan came out a few
minutes later, covered in blood

and carrying an axe handle.

SHERIFF JOHN JORDAN: And,
of course, at that time,

Hale was like, whoa,
you know, what happened?

And Crews then told
him, he said, well,

Bill Lowes will never
bother my mother again.

NARRATOR: Hale said they
walked to a nearby office park

where Bryan threw the
axe handle onto the roof

of a vacant office building.

Police found a wooden
axe handle just

where Mike said it would be.

Investigators found
no fingerprints,

but there were several human
hairs and some dried blood.

The hair was microscopically
similar to that of Bill Lowes.

-The expert was able to say
that the hair that he found,

only about 1 in 4,500
people would be expected

to have those same
characteristics.

NARRATOR: The
blood on the handle

was type A, consistent with
Bill Lowes' blood type.

Since this was
before DNA testing,

investigators used
a process called

electrophoresis to
analyze the blood.

They exposed a sample to
electricity, which enabled them

to separate then
chart the enzymes.

The results were clear.

This was the victim's blood.

-Only 3 in 100 people would
have this same combination

of enzymes.

And-- and Bill Lowes
was one of them.

-So we had a m*rder w*apon
that we could relate positively

back to William Lowes as
it being the m*rder w*apon.

NARRATOR: But investigators
still needed proof

that Bryan Crews was the k*ller.

Or was the real
k*ller Mike Hale?

Forensic testing proved that
Bill Lowes was beaten to death

with the wooden axe handle
found several blocks

from the crime scene.

But there were no fingerprints
found on the handle,

so investigators weren't
sure who had used the w*apon.

Mike Hale said Bryan
Crews was the k*ller.

But when told of Hale's
statement, Crews denied it.

-I can look you in the
eye, you can hook me up

to a lie detector test, and
I can tell you point blank,

I did not k*ll Bill Lowes.

I did not conspire
to k*ll Bill Lowes

and I'll take any test you want.

NARRATOR: Crews claimed
that his accuser, Mike Hale,

was the real k*ller, so
investigators confiscated

the clothing each
man was wearing

on the night of the m*rder.

After a careful evaluation,
investigators found no blood

spatter on Mike Hale's clothing.

If Hale had been
involved in the m*rder,

he would have had at least
some blood on his clothing.

But on Bryan Crews' black
sweat shirt and his jeans,

investigators found tiny
specks of blood spatter,

consistent with the type
created in a beating.

the blood was Bill Lowes.

-The blood on the
sweatshirt by itself

shows that our victim and
suspect were at one time

together when the
victim was bleeding.

That's-- that's
pretty powerful stuff.

NARRATOR: Crews then admitted he
was at Bill's home on the night

of the m*rder, but
claimed self-defense.

BRYAN CREWS: What happened
with me that night?

Basically, there was some of
my stuff still in the house

and I went over there to get it.

He swung at me
with the axe handle

and I took it away and hit
him in the head with it.

I know I hit him, but I
know I didn't k*ll him.

I know that.

He was breathing when
I put him in his bed.

I know he was alive
when I left that house.

NARRATOR: Crews said that Mike
Hale returned to the house

later and k*lled Lowes.

But the forensic evidence
contradicted that.

There was no evidence that
there was any kind of attack

in the kitchen,
as Crews claimed.

-Had he been struck any of
these blows in the kitchen,

he would have shed blood.

And there was no blood there.

NARRATOR: And there were
other discrepancies.

-From his voice, I could
tell he'd been drinking.

NARRATOR: A toxicology
test revealed

Lowes' blood alcohol
level was zero.

-So those are points
of dishonesty there,

they're not true.

And when you have somebody that
is telling an untrue story,

you have to say, why would you
tell a story that's not true

unless they have
something to hide.

And something that
is so obviously

untrue as he was drunk.

Well, he's obviously not drunk.

Just that one point
alone would make

you think this person truly
has something to hide.

NARRATOR: Bryan Crews
was arrested and charged

with his stepfather's m*rder.

Prosecutors believe
the motive was money,

that Bryan Crews wanted to k*ll
his stepfather before he had

a chance to remove his
mother as beneficiary

of his life insurance policy.

According to the
forensic evidence,

Bryan snuck up to Bill's home
and looked into his bedroom

window to make
sure he was asleep.

That's where he left
his shoe impression.

Crews then entered
Bill's home, picked up

the axe handle Bill had put
there to defend himself,

and beat him to death.

The blood spatter
on Bryan's clothes,

on the bedroom
walls and ceiling,

proved he k*lled Bill Lowes.

And he did it in the bedroom.

He later disposed
of the m*rder w*apon

by throwing it onto the
roof of a vacant building.

But, he did so in
front of a witness.

-The police made a
bargain with Mike Hale.

Mike Hale turned snitch, rat,
whatever you want to call it.

NARRATOR: The jury
deliberated for just one hour

before finding Bryan Crews
guilty of first degree m*rder.

He was sentenced to life
in prison without parole.

For his part in the
crime, Mike Hale

was convicted of
hindering the prosecution,

served one month in
jail, and was released.

Prosecutors have no
proof that Bryan's mother

had anything to
do with the crime.

-My mom had nothing
to do with it.

NARRATOR: During our interview,
Bryan threatened Mike Hale's

life if he ever
got out of prison.

-If there's justice,
Mike Hale will get his.

All I know is one day, I
should get out of here one day.

If there's any justice in this
world, I'll get out one day.

May come right back
to prison, but it

would be justified this time.

NARRATOR: Prosecutors say
it's that kind of thinking

that landed Bryan Crews
in jail, and they're

grateful for the science
that put him there.

MORLEY SWINGLE: You started out
with a body lying in a bedroom,

and it's a complete
mystery as to who did it.

And you end up that it was the
stepson who had nursed a grudge

against this man for some
time and now saw dollar signs

of a chance to k*ll
him so his mother

could get some extra money.

-While Bryan's story lied, and
we could tell it was lying,

the evidence at
the crime scene was

telling us a different story.

And it doesn't lie.