13x26 - Trouble Brewing

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Up next...

The secret life of a call
girl...

Often a very dangerous
profession.

They found a female facedown,
didn't appear to have any signs

of life.

She would be a natural target
because she would usually have

significant amounts of cash on
her person.

The evidence points to one man.

Looks like Rambo, acts like
Rambo, and dresses like Rambo,

it may be Rambo.

Until one tiny clue
turns the case around.

It was after midnight on a
chilly march evening when

Virginia Russell was driving
home from a party with her

boyfriend, Rodney hartman.

The couple had been dating for
three years and were talking

about getting married, but on
this night, tragedy struck.

Look out!

She was thrown from the car.

The car flipped like eight
times, and they were both

ejected from the car.

When an ambulance
arrived, they pronounced

Rodney hartman dead at the
scene.

Virginia was rushed to the
hospital.

For 48 hours, Virginia hovered
between life and death, but she

survived.

Toxicology tests showed Virginia
had a blood-alcohol level of

.16, almost twice the legal
limit.

They had charged her with a
felony d.U.I.

I mean, it struck home pretty
hard, and, like I said, it

wasn't like it was a stranger
that she had hit or anything.

It was somebody that she had
been dating that the family had

known for years.

Virginia was
convicted and sentenced to six

years in prison for vehicular
homicide.

It was hard enough that she
had lost somebody in her life,

and then to be doing time for
it and be taken away from her

family again, I mean, it was a
very difficult time for

Virginia.

When Virginia was
released from prison, she told

her family she found work
cleaning houses.

One evening, while spending time
with her family, Virginia got a

message on her pager at

Yeah, I can do that.

We asked her where she was
going, and she tells us that she

has to go clean a house for an
individual.

We said our goodbyes and hugged
her and told her we loved her.

And she told
us, as well, and that was the

last time.

Early the next
morning, a man walking his dog

found a woman's body near an
athletic field in rosewood,

south Carolina.

The victim had been shot three
times, execution style, in the

head.

Two shell casings were found
nearby.

Fingerprints identified the
victim as Virginia Russell.

Pretty shocking, absolutely.

She hadn't been out two months
when this incident happened.

She was missing her right shoe.

There was no dirt or debris on
her foot, but her stockings were

ripped, and she had scrapes on
her knees.

The missing shell casing
indicated Virginia may have been

shot once in another location
and then...

Dragged to where she was shot
two more times.

There's obviously more to
this homicide than just this one

particular location where the
body was found.

Police found two
empty beer bottles 20 feet from

Virginia's body.

No one was sure if they were
connected to the m*rder.

They also found a single hair on
Virginia's body.

As we do at all crime scenes,
we collected everything that we

could possibly collect.

There was no sign
of sexual as*ault, but two

purses were found near the body.

There weren't but $2 in
change in the purses, so

investigators believed that part
of the motive may have been

robbery.

A background check
stunned Virginia's family.

Her real profession wasn't
cleaning houses.

She was a call girl.

It was a total shock.

But, then again, I guess
Virginia had to do what she

needed to do because it was very
difficult for her to find work

because of her background.

As the family coped
with the tragedy, investigators

were forced to deal with a
problem of their own.

Virginia's profession meant a
large list of potential

suspects.

Investigators found
Virginia Russell's car in an

abandoned parking lot two miles
from the location of her body.

There was a single shell casing
inside.

Obviously, she was initially
shot in the vehicle.

You could see the blood spatter
that went throughout the car

consistent with her having been
shot in the head.

On the passenger
floorboard, spattered with

blood, was a potential clue.

We found a six-pack of
michelob beer that the carton

was still there, but it had one
bottle... full bottle... still

left in the carton.

This was the same
brand of beer as the two beer

bottles found near Virginia's
body.

Blood inside the door confirmed
Virginia had been dragged from

the car.

Her missing shoe was on the
driver's-side floorboard.

In a search for Virginia's
k*ller, investigators wanted to

know who had paged her on the
night of her death.

The call was traced to this
apartment, rented by 27-year-old

Justin bullard, who owned an
aquarium-cleaning business.

Justin bullard denied any
involvement in the m*rder and

said he never met Virginia.

He had no criminal history.

Mr. bullard's alibi was he
was at home, alone.

And the problem with that was
him being home alone and no one

else to corroborate him being
there at the time.

With a search
warrant, investigators found a

wealth of evidence inside his
apartment.

We find, in his apartment, a
.380-caliber p*stol.

The p*stol
registered to Justin bullard was

apparently the same caliber as
the g*n used in Virginia's

m*rder, and investigators found
something else.

There were several pages
ripped out of the phone book,

and each of those pages relate
to escort services...

And phone numbers for escort
services.

On a pair of
bullard's boots, analysts

noticed some slight
discoloration.

The boots were examined under a
microscope.

They were stained with what
appeared to be high-impact blood

spatter.

High-impact spatter might be
invisible.

If the surface that it's
deposited on is absorbent or

dark in color, it's very likely
that it would be very difficult

to simply visualize it.

DNA tests on the
bloody boots tied them to

Virginia's m*rder.

The swabs were subjected to
pcr testing, and the results

came back consistent with the
victim.

Whoever was wearing those
boots was probably in contact

with the victim at the time she
was m*rder*d.

Next, investigators
tested bullard's handgun.

The firearm that was
submitted to me was a

Russian-manufactured makarov
semi-a*t*matic p*stol chambered

to fire .380-auto-caliber
amm*nit*on.

Shell casings from
the crime scene and casings from

a test-firing of the g*n were
examined with a comparison

microscope.

Viewed side-by-side, the shell
casings left no doubt.

The m*rder w*apon was
Justin bullard's g*n.

I was able to determine that
those cartridge cases, those

.380 autos that were from the
scene, were fired by this

particular firearm.

The boots were Mr. bullard's.

The g*n was Mr. bullard's.

The last phone call from the
victim was to Mr. bullard's

apartment.

But despite the
overwhelming evidence, bullard

not only denied he was the
k*ller, he came up with the

incredible tale that someone
must have stolen all his things,

committed the crime, then
returned them.

The prime suspect
in Virginia Russell's m*rder was

Justin bullard.

Inside bullard's apartment,
investigators found all the

evidence they needed for a
conviction.

Virginia's blood was found on
bullard's boots.

His handgun was the m*rder
w*apon.

Names and phone numbers of
escort services were near his

telephone.

And Virginia Russell was paged

from bullard's phone just hours
before her m*rder.

Looks like Rambo, acts like
Rambo, and dresses like Rambo,

it may be Rambo.

Bullard claimed a
roommate might have committed

this crime with items taken from
his apartment.

Bullard said he had allowed a
friend to live with him

temporarily because the
electricity in his friend's

apartment had been turned off
due to lack of payment.

As preposterous as this seemed,
it took on more significance

when prosecutor Knox McMahon
learned of a similar crime that

happened three days before
Virginia's death.

A call girl went to an apartment

to meet a client.

She said there were no lights on
in the apartment, only candles.

Did you call for a date?

The client wouldn't
identify himself, but asked her

to undress.

Then, without warning, he pulled
a knife and demanded money.

He then tells her to run and
don't look back.

She's only partially clothed.

The apartment was
leased to a known drug addict,

Roy Beck.

But was he the perpetrator?

The victim was shown a photo
lineup.

She positively identified
Roy Beck.

The physical description she
gave fit Roy Beck.

That's the guy.

It did not fit Mr. bullard.

Coincidentally,
Roy Beck was the friend

Justin bullard said was living
with him at the time of

Virginia Russell's m*rder.

That meant two suspects were
staying in the apartment that

was the source of all the
evidence in Virginia Russell's

m*rder.

Well, you definitely have two
people.

Bullard owns the g*n, owns the
boots.

It's his apartment, and Roy Beck
is staying there and has access

to these items also.

There was no root
on the hair found on Virginia's

body, so scientists couldn't
perform genetic DNA testing.

All analysts could say was that
visually it looked more similar

to Beck's hair than bullard's.

But inside Roy Beck's apartment,
the one with no electricity that

the call girl visited, police
found a potential clue.

We found three bottles of
michelob beer.

So, now you have two
michelob light beers at the body

scene, one unopened in a carton
in Virginia Russell's car, and

three at Beck's unpowered
apartment.

Scientists swabbed
the beer bottles from the m*rder

scene, looking for a possible
connection.

Unfortunately, they didn't find
enough saliva or skin cells to

generate a DNA profile.

Testing for saliva, at that
time, on the mouth of a beer

bottle wasn't as commonly done
as it is today.

The bottles were
then subjected to superglue

fuming.

These fumes will adhere to
finger oils and often produce

quality prints.

Glass is a very smooth
surface, and the residue that

builds up on the ridges in the
fingers and in the palms of the

hands easily will transfer from
the surface of the hand onto a

glass surface, and that glass
surface will hold it.

After 15 minutes in
the fuming chamber, one partial

palm print emerged on one of the
bottles found near Virginia's

body.

This partial print didn't match
Virginia Russell,

Justin bullard, or Roy Beck.

The forensic
evidence from Virginia Russell's

m*rder pointed to
Justin bullard... the g*n, the

bloody shoes, the telephone
calls to the escort service from

his apartment.

But bullard had no criminal
record and no apparent motive.

Some of the circumstantial
evidence pointed to his friend,

Roy Beck.

The beer bottles in his
apartment were the same brand as

those found next to
Virginia Russell's body.

And a background check revealed
Beck was addicted to crack

cocaine.

He was a drug addict, and
obviously, to feed that dragon,

you got to have a lot of cash.

Prosecutor
Knox McMahon thought the beer

bottles at Beck's apartment and
those found at the crime scene

were too much of a coincidence,
so he decided to take a second

look.

If you look at those beer
bottles, there is a born-on

date, and there is a code under
the born-on date.

The date was
October 22, 1996, followed by

the letters "wf".

"W" is the geographic
location, in this case,

williamsburg, Virginia.

Within williamsburg, Virginia,
there are multiple lines within

the plant, and "f" designates
which line the bottling took

place on.

But the key piece
of information was the final

part of the label... the number
"58".

At the time, the williamsburg
brewery produced 600 cases of

beer every 15 minutes, and each
of these 15-minute periods was

given a number.


period of a 24-hour day, which

was 2:15 to 2:30.

But how many
bottles were filled in one



With over a million beers
bottled at that brewery every

day, only one percent were
bottled in any 15-minute period,

so only 14,000 bottles would
have the same code.

So what would be the chances
that Roy Beck would have three

bottles of beer in his apartment
with the same code as the bottle

found inside Virginia Russell's
car and the two next to

Virginia's body?

The probability of that
happening is incredibly small.

You would have to have all the
people involved at the same

location, at the same time,
buying the same beer.

The odds of the
beer bottles coming from

different six packs were more
than 1 in 32 million.

These six beers came from the
same six-pack.

Roy Beck was
arrested and charged with

Virginia Russell's m*rder.

Prosecutors say Beck, desperate
for money, called the escort

service to arrange for an "out
call," which means the girl

would go to the customer's home.

The first time he called the
escort service, he asked that

the girl meet him in his own
apartment.

When she arrived, Beck robbed
her of a couple of hundred

dollars at knifepoint, then let
her go.

Without power, Beck moved in
temporarily with Justin bullard,

and when he needed more money
for dr*gs, called the escort

service again, this time from
bullard's phone, and set up the

meeting with Virginia Russell.

Uh-huh.

Sure.

He took bullard's
boots and g*n and the beer from

his own apartment.

When Virginia arrived, Beck got
into her car.

Hi. You Roy?

Yeah, are you, uh, from the
agency?

Yeah. Come on in.

And they went to a
deserted location.

Each drank a beer and threw the
empty bottles out the window.

Prosecutors think Beck was
acquainted with Virginia from a

previous meeting and decided to
k*ll her so she wouldn't

identify him.

Blood spattered on the remaining
beer bottle and on the boots

Beck had stolen from bullard.

Beck dragged Virginia's body
onto the road, then shot her two

more times.

He stole all the money from her
purses, then drove Virginia's

car two miles away, where he
abandoned it.

Beck later returned bullard's
blood-spattered boots and g*n to

bullard's apartment without him
knowing it, setting him up for

the crime.

But Beck didn't know that the
three bottles of beer left in

his apartment would tie him to
the bottles at the m*rder site

and the one in Virginia's car.

It was very significant in
this investigation.

It was the one thing that could
really put Beck at all three

crime scenes.

At his trial,
Roy Beck insisted Justin bullard

was the k*ller, but the science
showed otherwise.

I, myself, did not feel it
was bullard when he was on the

stand and all.

I mean, just the look in his
eyes.

I felt like it was Beck the
whole time.

Roy Beck was
convicted of first-degree m*rder

and sentenced to life in prison.

Investigators described this as
one of their most unusual cases.

Two suspects, each connected to
the crime by the same evidence,

until something as seemingly
insignificant as the label on a

beer bottle showed who was
lying and who was telling the

truth.

That's what sank him... just
those bottles of beer.

I guess he didn't have that in
his plan.

The beer bottles themselves
ended up being one of the more

telling aspects of the case, and
it's very unusual to be able to

help solve a crime by the use of
beer bottles and the date they

were made.

It's very unusual.

That's just the type of
circumstantial evidence that...

That you just don't get every
day, that you just don't see

every day, that people can look
at it and see it, touch it, and

relate to it.