11x27 - k*ller Impression

[bunniefuu]

For 16 years, a woman's death

was considered an
accident until someone

called the authorities
suggesting it was m*rder.

Before anyone could look into
it, the person who called

was m*rder*d, too.

A coincidence?


an occupational therapist,

worked here at the Rockford,
Illinois health system.

She was a strong, outgoing
woman who loved to laugh.

She was independent.

She could be tough too.

She had always taken
care of herself.

But she was very caring.

The people that she cared about,
she would do anything for.

On June 6, 2001, Barbara

was scheduled to work the


but she didn't show up.

Barbara lived alone, and
calls to her cell phone

went unanswered.

So friends called police.

One of our patrol cars

was dispatched to do what we
would call a welfare check,

to see if we could find
anybody at the home.

At first glance,
the house looked undisturbed.

The front door was locked and
no one answered the doorbell.

He checked the house

and he found the
back door was ajar,

and the window was broken in it.

He was able to
look inside and see

the victim laying on the stairs.

It was Barbara Purcell.

She was pronounced
dead at the scene,

and it didn't appear
to be an accident.

There was quite a large amount

of blood in the stairwell.

There was a very small amount
of blood in the kitchen.

From the degree of rigor mortis,

the pathologist
estimated Barbara

had been dead since
the night before.

You know, we're talking

a good span of 12 hours.

And, you know, you're entering
a murky area in forensics,

where everyone wants really
tight answers but you know,

they're not possible.

And the presence of fly eggs
indicates that she had probably

died the day before
she was found.

Many of the
rooms had been ransacked.

Barbara's jewelry
was gone, and so

was her collection
of rare coins.

And Barbara's wedding ring
was missing from her hand.

Friends said she
wore it every day

even though she was separated.

Initially it
looked like a burglary had been

committed there, and
that the victim maybe

would have surprised
the burglars,

or the burglars were waiting
for the victim to come home.

From the position
of Barbara's clothing

it appeared she had
been sexually assaulted.

It could have
been a stranger or somebody

that knew her,
that knew that they

had valuables in that home.

And wanted to take
their valuables,

specifically the
coin collection.

And somebody that maybe
was attracted to her

and wanted to
sexually as*ault her.

Outside, police
found some important clues.

There were tire
impressions in the gravel

and through a grassy field
behind Barbara's house.

- So they followed
the grass and found

that there was a remote
location adjacent to the house

area, where it
appeared a vehicle had

been hidden from view.

After
photographing the impression,

the investigator could then,
using a casting material,

make a plaster cast
of the impression.

Police sniffer dogs searched

the field but they
found nothing.

Back at the sheriff's
office, Detective Wagner

checked police records
to see if there had been

similar crimes in
the neighborhood.

I think at the
onset of the investigation you

want to consider
all possibilities.

Has somebody just
been recently released

from prison who's on
parole for a sexual as*ault

or for burglaries?

We found that
a burglary had occurred

to that house prior to
the Purcell's moving in.

In that burglary,
g*ns were taken.

But there had
been no recent burglaries

or sexual assaults,
and there were

no sexual offenders
living in the area.

It was Barbara
Purcell's autopsy that

revealed a surprise
piece of evidence.

That the crime scene
had been staged.

The first lead in the
Barbara Purcell m*rder case

came from an unlikely source...
Her home telephone records

for the afternoon of her m*rder.

Investigators learned that
someone called Barbara's home

three times in quick
succession around 5:30 PM.

Shortly before the m*rder.

We contacted the phone company.

We subpoenaed the calls
coming into the house.

We found several phone
calls coming from a Willie

Brown out of Rockford, Illinois.

Police wondered
whether Brown might have been

calling to see if
anyone was home.

- Generally speaking,
burglars try

to do their crimes
when nobody's at home.

When we interviewed
Willie Brown,

we asked him several
times, several ways,

on why he called that residence.
Who he knew at that residence.

What his business was.

He denied knowing
the people there,

he denied making
the phone calls.

But when investigators
confronted him with the phone

records, Brown
changed his story.

We're asking him, who
did he call recently

that wasn't a
normal call for him?

He then did state that
he had been calling an ad

in the classified
section of the newspaper.

We checked that ad,
that phone number

was similar to the
Purcell's phone number.

Brown had been
trying to call a number ending

in 0736, but dialed 0726,
Barbara Purcell's number,

instead.

For now, Willie Brown was
eliminated as a suspect.

At the autopsy, the
forensic pathologist

identified the cause
of Barbara's death.

Barbara Purcell died

of acute cranial
cerebral trauma resulting

from multiple blunt
trauma of the head.

She took, by my estimate,
between two and four blows

to the head.

She also had a
crushed finger on her right hand

and abrasions on her left.

She was probably
turned away from her attacker,

he was attacking
her from behind.

And with the
injuries on her hand,

chances are she was putting
up her hands to help defend

her head against the
blows that were falling.

The blood spatter
told me that the incident began

at the top of the stairs
where Mrs. Purcell was struck.

The incident progressed
down the stairs.

I was able to determine that
there was a minimum of three

blunt force strikes to Mrs.
Purcell during the event.

Since Barbara was
found partially undressed,

investigators assumed that she
had been sexually assaulted.

But the r*pe test
kit was negative.

This raised the possibility
that the k*ller staged the crime

scene to make it look as if a
sexual as*ault had occurred.

And a closer look at
the back basement door

revealed another inconsistency.

The glass appeared to have

been broken from the inside out.

Most of the glass was
found in the threshold

between the inner door
and the storm door.

Which wouldn't
be logical if it was actually

someone who was trying
to break in the house.

No other doors
or windows were unlocked.

So how did the
k*ller get inside?

The only other person with
a key to Barbara's house

was her estranged
husband, Willard.

The couple separated just
five days before the m*rder.

- Well, I think both of them
were suspicious of each other

about having affairs.

He spent a lot of time
on his work cell phone.

And when he would
get calls, he would

go outside of the house
to talk to people.

And they would fight about that.

And then she finally
got a cell phone

and he felt that the reason she
got a cell phone, his suspicion

was because she was
having an affair.

We were never
able to establish that she was.

About a week
before Barbara was k*lled,

Willard's suspicions
turned to rage.

Barbara came home from work.

He jumped out of the
kitchen and hit her

with a stun g*n and
left marks on her neck.

Our officers arrived at the
scene, placed him into custody.

Police naturally
questioned Willard

about his whereabouts on the
afternoon of Barbara's m*rder.

Willard Purcell stated

that the day of the m*rder
he was at work all day.

He left work around


went straight to
his brother's house.

And that he stayed
there all night.

If true, this was a solid alibi,

since Willard worked
in Chicago, about a 90

minute drive from
Barbara's home.

In a bizarre twist, Barbara
Purcell called local officials

just a few days
before her m*rder.

She said that her husband may
have k*lled his first wife.

She was found dead at
the bottom of the stairs,

and it was ruled an accident.

But before anyone could
investigate Barbara's claims,

she too, had been m*rder*d.

Ironically, at the bottom
of a flight of stairs.

- When finding out
about the first wife,

my initial reaction
was, of course,

that he k*lled both of them.

Before her
m*rder, Barbara Purcell

called prosecutors
with a warning

that her husband,
Willard, might have

k*lled his first wife, Crystal.

Barbara said she had no
proof, just a suspicion.

A few days later,
Barbara was dead

at the bottom of the
stairs, eerily similar

to how her husband's
first wife died.

- I
- think at that point

we felt his first wife may have
been the victim of a homicide.

Then the state's attorney

decided there was
enough probable cause

to exhume his first wife
and to have her reexamined.

Although 16 years had passed,

the pathologist
found a 6 centimeter

long laceration on
the back of Crystal

Purcell's head and
a skull fracture.

And their findings

were that it was
consistent with her

having fallen down the stairs.

There was no evidence to
show that she'd been pushed.

But you wouldn't
necessarily see that.

But investigators continued

to focus on Willard Purcell for
the m*rder of his second wife,

Barbara, and
confiscated his truck.

They sent Willard Purcell's
tires to the forensics lab

to compare them to
the tire impressions

in Barbara's backyard.

They found
that the wear pattern was

consistent, the pattern
design was consistent.

And then I began to look for
accidental characteristics.

Unfortunately, that's
where the similarities ended.

Although Willard's tires
were the same make and model,

the cast of the impressions
in Barbara's backyard

weren't clear enough to show the
fine details of wear and tear.

- I was not able to make a
positive identification because

of the lack of accidental
characteristics.

So investigators looked next

at the defensive wounds
on Barbara's hands,

and noticed something strange.

These wounds were on
the back of her hand

and not the palms,
the most common

side of defensive type wounds.

On a hunch, they
sent the evidence

to a forensic odontologist.

Doctor Lowell
Levine explains what

the original
odontologist discovered.

There are multiple wounds that

have class characteristics
that are consistent with teeth.

They are a little bit unusual
in that the wounds on the hands,

are on the outer surface,
or the dorsum of the hand.

But whose
teeth made these marks?

Investigators got a subpoena
to have plaster casts made

of Willard Purcell's
upper and lower teeth.

From these casts, dental experts
made life-sized transparencies

which were placed
over life-sized images

of Barbara's hand.

The suspect's
known teeth are very unusual.

He's got very crowded lower
teeth with some teeth pushed

out, and he's got
one of his incisors...

The big teeth in the
front... that is down.

It's because of all
these things he's

got some unusual wear patterns.

He would have been an
orthodontist's dream.

From these transparencies,

the original
forensic odontologist

identified five separate and
distinct sets of teeth marks

on Barbara's hand.

- The injuries that
are most obvious

were caused by the
upper incisors,

particularly the
two middle ones.

It had to be created by
almost a defensive flailing

against the teeth
of the suspect.

And the medical examiner

knew when these
injuries were inflicted.

The pathologist
testified that they happened

contemporaneous to the attack,
based upon the bruising.

And so the identity of
whoever placed their teeth

marks in her hand was critical.

All this forensic
evidence pointed to Willard's

guilt and his alibi
started to fall apart.

He initially told police that
he was at work in Chicago

on the day of Barbara's m*rder.

But a little more digging
revealed that was not the case.

We quickly
determined none of this

was true.

We checked with his boss.

And he had left work
at around 11:00 AM.

And investigators found evidence

that Willard was driving
near Barbara's house

around the time of the m*rder.

- We later did a phone
study of his cell phone.

And he was making calls that
were bouncing off the Rockford

tower and not a
Chicago area tower.

Rockford is the
location of Barbara's home.

And the owner of a
family restaurant

nearby identified Willard
Purcell as having lunch

there on the afternoon
of Barbara's m*rder.

He just seemed
to be acting kind of bizarre.

She said that he had ordered a
hot dog, he took a bite of it

and then threw it away.

She had a conversation with
him about if it was all right.

He said it was, but
he had thrown it away.

Finally, a search
of Willard's possessions

revealed a garbage bag filled
with items from Barbara's home.

Willard claimed that Barbara
packed the bag for him when he

moved out, but inside
the garbage bag

was Barbara's wedding ring.

No one believed
Barbara gave him that.

She was found
without her wedding ring on.

Coworkers told us that she
typically wore her wedding ring

even though they were having
these marital problems.

So Willard Purcell
was arrested and charged

with k*lling his
second wife, Barbara.

At his trial he would claim
it was all just an accident.

That goes by that I
don't think about her,

and want to talk to her.

Every time I read a good book,
I want to tell her about it.

And I want to tell her that
she has two grandchildren now.

And um, I miss her a lot.

Barbara Purcell's
estranged husband Willard

was in prison awaiting
trial for her m*rder.

Investigators found
evidence that their marriage

had been deteriorating
for years.

They were not
sleeping in the same rooms.

They were growing more
distant from each other.

And I believe he
sensed that she was

going to be getting a divorce.

- I think, probably the biggest
motive for Willard k*lling

his wife was not wanting
to go through a divorce

and have to take anything
that he had earned

throughout his life
and divide it with her.

The couple separated.

And Willard physically assaulted
Barbara in her home just a day

or two after their separation.

When Barbara reported
the incident to police,

Willard got angry.

Several days later,
prosecutors say

Willard left work around


and drove 90 miles
to Barbara's home.

His cell phone records were
a virtual travel log showing

he was near Barbara's home on
the afternoon of her m*rder.

He hid his truck in the
field behind Barbara's house,

creating the tire
impressions in the mud.

He used his keys
to gain entrance

and waited for Barbara
to come home from work.

He surprised her at
the top of the stairs,

striking her in the head.

Barbara fought back, hitting
him in the face, which

left his teeth
marks on her hand.

He arranged her clothes to make
it look like a sexual as*ault.

He stole some items,
including her wedding ring

to stage the robbery.

His attempts backfired
when the broken glass

fell outside... one of
many mistakes that day.

At his trial, Willard
admitted the two had a fight,

but he claimed that
Barbara accidentally

fell down the stairs.

And that she was alive
and talking when he left.

Forensic experts say
that this was impossible,

given the severity
of her head injuries.

Barbara Purcell
would have been unable to talk

after receiving
blows to the head.

In fact, she would have been
immediately unconscious.

And the blood spatter expert

says, the size and
shape of the spatter

clearly indicate what happened.

And if we look
at the elliptical stains

there will be a tail on them,
indicative of a cast off stain

where blood is being
flung off of a person,

or off of a w*apon.

The types of stains
that were present just

simply don't occur in falls.

They're stains that occur only
as a result of violent force

upon the human body.

Prosecutors say the
teeth mark evidence proves

that Barbara was
in front of Willard

and defending
herself while she was

hit repeatedly with
a blunt object.

That was compelling evidence

that he was the person
that k*lled her.

I would say, possibly, that
was the most compelling.

Prosecutors believe
that Purcell may have had

something to do with
his first wife's death,

but there was no
evidence to prove it.

But they had more than enough
to convict Willard Purcell

for the first-degree m*rder
of his second wife, Barbara.

And he was sentenced to 20
years to life in prison.

The forensics pretty much

speak for themselves when the
blood spatter expert can tell

us that there were three
strikes in the stairway,

or at least three
strikes in the stairway.

I think it's hard
for a jury to say,

well how could that
be an accident?

I was surprised at how much they

could tell from
the blood spatter.

And how they could
tell that it was

not a fall, that
she had not fallen.

I was glad that they could tell
because otherwise I... of course

he would have never
been caught, never

been sent to jail for this.

The bite marks
were remarkable on this case

of... bring it back to
his teeth impression.

Even the tire tracks, the
blood, the blood spatter work.

It's amazing.