11x06 - Dockter Visit

[bunniefuu]

To solve a m*rder, investigators

needed to find the fatal b*llet.

But where was it?

Could the laws of physics
solve the mystery?

If not, a k*ller
would walk free.

World w*r II, in the skies
over Europe American Airman

fought a deadly
and dangerous w*r.

For every 100 airmen who
flew missions over Europe,



One of the highest casualty
rates in the history

of warfare.

Walter Yokum was one
of the fortunate ones.

He was in the
Air Force in World w*r II.

He was a waist gunner
in a B-17 And survived


n*zi held territory.

Yokum risked
his life, and almost

lost it countless times.

But only his family and
fellow veterans knew it.

He never talked about it,

so I didn't know what
he did in the military.

It kind of surprised
me because he's

such a conservative
fellow, you just

can't imagine him being behind
a machine g*n in an airplane.


widower and retired accountant,

lived by himself
on the outskirts

of Boulder County, Colorado.

On a fall day in


noticed something was wrong.

She went
and knocked on the door,

got no answer, she said
it's very unusual for him

because he's a
pretty punctual guy.

Was never late, was
always there when

she was supposed to show up.

She went
around the back of the house,

and decided to knock
on the back door.

And noticed that there
was a broken window.

And she got concerned
at that point

and decided to
notify the police.

Investigators from
the Boulder Sheriff's Office

discovered Walter Yokum dead
at the bottom of the stairs.

He had been fatally
shot through the neck.

I don't think
I slept for a couple of days.

It's hard to imagine
somebody that you know

has just been
violently m*rder*d.

Outside, detectives noticed

several clear foot
impressions in the mud.

Crime scene technicians
took plaster

casts for future comparison.

There
was a particularly good set

of footprints that
cast from that.

And they were a lug
sole type of a boot.

Kind of work boot
kind of a sole.

The point of entry
was through a broken bedroom

window on the ground floor.

There were muddy footprints
leading to the foyer.

At the stairwell, detectives
found g*nsh*t residue.

You could see
the pattern of the g*n powder

on the wall left an
outline where the barrel...

The end of the barrel was.

It demonstrated, exactly,
where the sh**t was standing

at the time that he
k*lled Mr. Yokum.

There was an empty g*n holster

upstairs, on the
dining room floor.

We Called the son who...

And said, did he
have again g*ns?

And what were they?

And he says, oh yeah,
my dad had his .45

which he'd kept
from World w*r II.

He says everybody kept their
g*ns when they left the army.

This was a distinctive g*n.

It was a Colt
semi-a*t*matic used

by many World w*r
II service men.

Soldiers routinely scraped
off the g*n's serial numbers

after the w*r.

But Yokum's g*n was missing.

So to was his credit
card and some cash.

Adding to the mystery,
was the awkward position

of Walter Yokum's body.

He was lying on his
back, with his arms

extended, and his
knees in the air.

Someone had come and moved him,

after rigor mortis had set in
because he was nearly face up

with both arms
somewhat in the air,

and gravity just doesn't
allow you to do that.

This meant the k*ller was

inside the house at
least three hours.

Maybe longer.

Our working
theory, in the beginning,

was that this was a
burglary, it was interrupted.

And what was really bad about
that is that burglaries are

one of the hardest
crimes to solve.

The most bizarre clue
was found near Yokum's foot.

It was the foil wrapper of
a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

There was an empty
bag of peanut butter

cups in the refrigerator.

I would have to say
that all we knew about k*ller

was that he wore
boots, and he enjoyed

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.

That was a coldblooded k*ller,

someone that can do that.

Having just m*rder*d
somebody then

go through the refrigerator
to see what there is to eat.

And then stand there
and look at him

while you're eating
some of his candy.

Clues from the crime scene

indicated Walter Yokum most
likely heard an intruder,

grabbed his g*n,
and was heading down

the steps when the
intruder shot him.

At the
beginning of the investigation,

there was an autopsy.

And at that point, we
discover that the b*llet's

not in the victim's body.

So it's like, the next task
for those of us going back out

to the scene is, we've
got to find this b*llet.

This was a problem.

Without the b*llet,
investigators

would know nothing
about the m*rder w*apon.

And would have no
ballistic evidence

once they identified a suspect.

So everything suggested

there was one shot
fired and it went

through the victim and out.

Somebody went on the
roof, looked around,

couldn't find the b*llet.

We looked in the gutter,
couldn't find the b*llet.

How are we
going to find this b*llet?

Because if it exited the
house, you got literally acres,

and acres, and acres, of
places that b*llet could be.

And it's a b*llet that big.

To find it, investigators

turned to the science department
at the University of Colorado.

Once it enters the atmosphere,

then it's not likely to
change its configuration,

although it might be tumbling.

So the three things
you need to know

are, the initial velocity,
the initial angle with respect

to the horizontal, and the
amount of air resistance

that you could expect.

We knew from the wound

it was probably a .38,
.356, 9-millimeter.

That middle sized caliber.

We knew it wasn't the .22,
it was too big for that.

And it was too small for a .45.

A b*llet from
these caliber weapons

would be traveling
at approximately



But the b*llet passed
through a human body,

went through the ceiling,
and then the roof shingles.

It's very difficult
to determine how much energy is

lost as the b*llet passes
through those three obstacles.

But in order to determine
where the b*llet falls,

you need to know
the velocity just

after it passes
through the roof.

To study how
much velocity was lost,

investigators
reassembled everything

the b*llet passed through.

A beef roast was used to
simulate the victim's neck.

Behind it, was a piece
of plaster ceiling

and, and behind that a
section from the roof.

When the b*llet was
fired, its speed

was tracked with the
chronometer, a device that

works very much
like a radar g*n.

There was a
great deal more energy lost

by the b*llet in passing through
the victim and the ceiling

and the roof, than was
originally thought.

The next step
was to determine the angle

at which the b*llet
left the house.

g*nsh*t residue told
investigators approximately

where the k*ller was standing.

They knew where the victim
was when he was struck.

And the hole in the roof told
them where the b*llet exited.

Investigators used a rod to
approximate the trajectory,

which was 68 degrees.

If the ball is
going almost straight up,

then the horizontal force due
to air resistance is small.

And so you can solve the problem
of a b*llet going straight up

because it's a
one-dimensional problem,

and get something that you
can work with analytically.

At a speed of
approximately 850 feet

per second, the b*llet exited
the house at a 68 degree angle.

With gravity and wind
resistance factored in,

scientists predicted
the b*llet would

be fairly close to the house.

We asked a
local treasure hunting

club to use their
metal detectors.

And we marked off the entire
yard and field beyond the house

with a grid.

And then we asked
people to search

this grid for that b*llet.

And they found it.

Just 90 feet from the house.

It was a .38 caliber b*llet.

We were very excited.

We had our missing link.
We had the b*llet.

We really believe
this was the b*llet

that k*lled Walter Yokum.

Unfortunately,
it was of little value.

Initially, I
was pretty excited about it.

But then I was discouraged
because the b*llet was

so mangled that it wasn't going
to give us any ballistics.

The base
was still relatively intact.

And about maybe a 1/4 of an
inch up the base was intact.

But other than that,
it was pretty mangled.

Now investigators needed

to identify some suspects.

There probably was
no prior relationship

between Walter Yokum
and the k*ller.

So investigators
checked police records

for anyone arrested for burglary
around the time of the m*rder.

There was only
one, James Dobson.

He'd been released from prison
on a burglary conviction,

just a few days
before Yokum's m*rder.

And he had a habit of
eating at his crime scenes.

He was breaking
into houses to steal food.

The fact that he's

eating food from the house, at
the scene of these burglaries,

and you have Reese's
Peanut Butter Cup wrappers

on the floor, all kind of
point toward Mr. Dobson.

It's just logical
you go look at him.

But eating
candy wouldn't be enough.

Investigators would
need much more.

Some of Walter Yokum's
neighbors told investigators

about some suspicious looking
men in the neighborhood

on the night of Yokum's m*rder.

So they asked the neighbors
to view a lineup that included

their prime suspect,
James Dobson.

Your witness look at them

and decide if any
of them are the guy.

And in this case, I
believe Mr. Dobson was

familiar to the witness but they
couldn't say, that's the guy.

Dobson denied any
involvement in Yokum's m*rder,

and there was no evidence
he owned a w*apon capable

of firing of .38 caliber b*llet.

And Dobson didn't own
boots that matched

the impressions found
at the crime scene.

So investigators wanted to
know if there were fingerprints

on the peanut
butter cup wrapper,

found next to Yokum's body.

On processing that wrapper,

I was not able to
obtain any latent

prints off of that surface.

In fact, there were
no foreign prints anywhere

in the house.

In order to identify
more potential suspects,

Colorado investigators
searched police records

to identify any unusual
criminal activity

around the time of
Walter Yokum's m*rder.

And one incident, in
particular, stood out.

Two undercover officers
noticed a pickup truck

with North Dakota
license plates,

leaving the home of a known
drug dealer on the day

after Yokum was k*lled.

The truck was registered
to Kevin Dockter.

So she called
Bismarck, North Dakota,

to ask them about who is
this Kevin Dockter guy.

They said, well you

know it's funny you should
call about him because we

just arrested him yesterday.


Dockter was a career criminal

with a history of dr*gs
and weapons offenses.

They said
he's a convicted felon,

so we arrested him for
possession of weapons

by a previous offender.

And one thing led to another,
and of course next question

is, well, what kind
of g*ns did he have.

When arrested, Dockter
had a .356 and a World w*r II

era .45 caliber Colt
p*stol, like the one

missing from Walter
Yokum's holster.

But that wasn't all.

When Kevin
was arrested, in addition to all

the other paraphernalia
and things

like that, that were
found in the car,

there was coincidentally,
or not coincidentally,

a bag of Reese's Peanut
Butter Cup miniatures.

The same type that were found
at Mr. Yokum's residence.

It's not a scientific thing,

but to me, if I was in a jury
I would put a lot of stock

in this just because
it makes sense.

The .45 caliber p*stol
had the serial number scraped

off of it, just like
Walter Yokum's g*n.

And it had some
amm*nit*on in the clip.

Highly distinctive amm*nit*on.

The base of the
b*llet was stamped

with the letters R-E-M-U-M-C.

It's a Remington
manufactured amm*nit*on,

and UMC stands for Union
Metallic cartridge.

I called up Remington.

And the guy who answers the
phone says, oh yeah I've

worked here for 43 years.

That amm*nit*on was
made from 1912 to 1961.

The same type of amm*nit*on

was found in Walter
Yokum's house.

He'd kept the g*n and the
b*ll*ts for almost 50 years.

It's kind of winning

three numbers on
a lottery ticket.

You can't go down to the
hardware store or the g*n store

and buy that amm*nit*on.

There were .38 caliber
b*ll*ts in Dockter's .357,

which were subjected
to inductively

coupled plasma
emission spectroscopy.

A b*llet from the crime scene

was compared to the
b*llet from a cartridge

in Mr. Dockter's g*n.

And three b*ll*ts
from cartridges

that we recovered
from his truck.

And they were found
to be analytically

indistinguishable,
that is they all

had the same
composition of lead.

Having two batches of lead that

are similar, the FBI rated
that at about 1 in 2,500.

So as far circumstantial
evidence, that's pretty good.

Scientists
went one step further.

Kevin Dockter was wearing work
boots when he was arrested.

Impressions were
made and compared

to plaster casts of bootprints
found outside of Yokum's house.

The cast from the crime scene
didn't have enough detail

to show any accidental
characteristics, which

are marks that result from
everyday wear and tear.

The class characteristics...
The size, the tread patterns,

and the manufacturing
impressions...

Were there for comparison.

The overall characteristics

on the different casts
were consistent with what

was present on the boots
that were submitted.

So the evidence
against Kevin Dockter

was mounting.

He owned boots like the
impressions at the crime scene.

He had the same taste
in candy as the k*ller,

and had no explanation for
why he was in possession

of Walter Yokum's
g*n and amm*nit*on.

Kevin Dockter was
the prime suspect

in the m*rder of Walter Yokum.

And apparently, he
was a big talker.

Investigators spoke
to Dockter's friends,

who said Dockter
bragged about committing

a robbery in Colorado.

And said his friend,


acted as a look out.

We went to Jason Fowler

and said, look we've,
got another person

ready to give you guys up.

And you're going to go
down do some hard time

in a mainline joint.

And he says, well OK, I
think I'm ready to talk.

Jason Fowler told
us that he and Kevin Dockter

had a drug habit.

That they supported their drug
habit by breaking into homes

and stealing items.

Fowler told investigators

that he and Dockter
cased Yokum's house.

Since no lights were on,
they assumed no one was home.

Dockter left his boot
impressions in the mud

as he broke the
downstairs bedroom window.

The noise apparently
woke Walter Yokum,

as he grabbed his
World w*r II 45 p*stol

and went to see what was going.

Dockter saw him first,
and fired one shot

k*lling Yokum instantly.

Fowler says they left the
scene and went to a local bar.

After several
drinks, they decided

to return to Yokum's
house two rob it.

Dockter ate the
peanut butter cups

as he searched for
items to steal.

He moved Yokum's body to
look through his pockets

after rigor mortis set in.

All they took was $20
in cash, a credit card,

and Yokum's highly distinctive
.45 caliber handgun.

He pulled
out a green .45...

This truly
was a senseless k*lling.

Not that there's any
k*lling that make sense,

but this one was
particularly senseless.

The day after the
m*rder, undercover officers

saw Kevin Dockter's
truck leaving

the home of a known drug dealer.

It was the break
investigators needed.

Had they not
gotten that license plate doing

that drug deal, we probably
never would have had that name.

Certainly not as
directly as we did.

Kevin Dockter plead
guilty to second-degree m*rder,

and was sentenced to


Jason Fowler plead
guilty to burglary,

and was sentenced to


One final note.

It's easy to see why the
neighbors first chose James

Dobson as the man they thought
they saw near the crime scene.

Dobson bore a striking
resemblance to Jason Fowler.

Everybody
that worked on this case,

are probably, in my
opinion, the best there is.

And so it really
didn't surprise me

when it went into
the solved column,

because of the caliber of
people that worked on it.

It was just one of those cases

of excellent police
work, and some luck,

and they'd all fallen
together in a case that

easily could have gone unsolved.

And so, yeah, when I got done
with it, and I look back on it,

I was kind of like wow!

I can't believe we actually
were able to do that.