13x37 - Hundreds of Reasons

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a
restaurant robbery goes wrong...

There was no reason for this
to happen to Stephen.

This was a vicious, vicious
attack.

And the evidence
is contradictory.

There was somebody else
bleeding at the scene of the

crime.

That blood and a
partial fingerprint were all

investigators had...

I wasn't holding my breath
for any real results.

Until the money
trail provides investigators

with a vital clue.

Jennifer Holmes remembers
super bowl Sunday 2001 for one

reason...

It was the day she first met her
husband.

They were both at the same
super bowl party.

And I saw him sitting there
with the perfect hair and his

leather jacket, perfect smile.

So we stood there, and he's
like, "hi, I'm Stephen.

I was like, "hi, I'm Jen."

A year later, the
two were married.

And 29-year-old Stephen became a
father to Jennifer's young son.

They also had plans to have
children of their own.

As far as his career, he
was... I noticed this about

him... he was always happiest
when he was working in a

restaurant.

Stephen was an
assistant manager of a

steakhouse in St. Petersburg,
Florida.

He often worked long hours, and
some nights were longer than

others.

And he called me at 10:18 and
said, "I'm just letting you know

I'm gonna be later tonight
because we had a late party and

I just closed up.

I just let everyone out and
locked the door."

Around midnight, an
exterminator entered the

restaurant with his own key.

That's when he saw the bloody
footprints, and he saw and found

Mr. Holmes' lifeless body.

Stephen Holmes had
been stabbed to death.

I've never seen a crime scene
this horrific.

It was a pretty, pretty bad
scene.

In a clear case of
overkill, Stephen was stabbed

more than 40 times.

When you think of a m*rder,
you sometimes think, "okay,

somebody is shot or maybe
they're stabbed."

This was a vicious, vicious
attack.

He was almost decapitated.

It's not something that
should happen to our son.

It's "what? No."

You can't believe...

You just can't believe that it's
happening.

Robbery appeared to
be the motive... about $8,000

was missing from the safe in the
manager's office.

This was much more than usual
because the restaurant had been

promoting $100 gift certificates
as Christmas presents that

evening.

It's at a restaurant, you're
in the month of December...

Generally speaking, a fairly
busy time of the year... so we

had all pieced together that
that's what the motive was.

The exterminator
who found the body was the first

and most obvious suspect, but
was quickly written off.

Due to his demeanor, how he
looked, and not having any signs

of v*olence or blood on his
person, they could see that he

was nowhere near involved in
this case.

Fortunately for
police, the restaurant had

several surveillance cameras.

When we saw the camera was
present in the hallway, our

initial reaction was that we may
very well have not only the

attack on video, but at least a
starting point of how the

suspect was built and his race.

But there was an
immediate setback.

All the cameras were hooked to a
single video recorder...

And it was gone.

The entire vcr was... the
cords were actually cut and

removed from the office.

There were no signs
of forced entry.

Was it possible that a customer
hid in the restaurant until

closing time in preparation for
the robbery?

There's no reason to believe
that the criminal might not have

gone back to the restroom and
hid in the bathroom until after

they closed... you know, closed
the stall, hid on top of the

toilet, that sort of thing.

If the k*ller was a
customer, that meant dozens, if

not hundreds, of potential
suspects.

Friends, family,
and co-workers had difficulty

understanding why Stephen Holmes
had been m*rder*d.

The restaurant had never been
robbed before and was located

in a low-crime area.

Robberies usually don't
result in this type of repeated

v*olence.

Very rarely, in armed robberies,
does the victim sustain this

many injuries.

Stephen's best
friend and co-worker,

Wilson saintil, was among the
first to offer his condolences.

I heard wailing.

I came inside, and it was Wilson
in the living room, crying.

My wife consoled him and grabbed
his shoulders and just said,

"think about Stephen's smile,"
and "he would forgive whoever

did this."

And I think he started wailing
more.

The day after
Stephen Holmes' m*rder, a man

working across the street from
the crime scene contacted

police.

This individual indicated
that a white pickup truck with a

horizontal stripe along the side
of it raced out of the durango's

parking lot prior to the police
arriving.

The witness said
this happened at about 11:00,

just after the time police
believe Stephen was k*lled.

The description was so detailed.

I mean, a loud muffler, stripes
on the side, a small pickup,

white... I mean, it was a very
clear description of what type

of a vehicle it was.

For two days,
police officers stopped dozens

of trucks that fit the
description, checking the

interiors for blood and the
drivers for any fresh wounds.

Then they got a devastating
setback.

The witness now said he made the
whole thing up.

He was trying to score points
with his girlfriend, is what it

basically boiled down to.

He might have been a brick
short, too.

That's a week's worth of work,
and it's down the tubes.

And it's very disappointing.

As family and
friends mourned Stephen Holmes,

police wondered who would want
him dead.

Nobody who knew him, as far
as I was concerned at that time,

could have hurt him...
Especially like that.

We'd interviewed a lot of his
friends, a lot of family

members, some co-workers.

You could not find a single
person that would say anything

bad about him.

Defensive wounds
showed Stephen fought his

attacker to the end.

He had over 24 defensive
wounds, I believe, and 20 wounds

to his neck and his face.

It was obvious it was a very big
struggle.

Part of the struggle started
inside the kitchen area, and it

made its way down that small
hallway into the doorway of the

office.

And then right there in the
office is where the final

struggle took place.

It appeared Stephen
tried to make it into his office

and shut the door.

There were actually s*ab marks
on the door.

There was a large
concentration of blood on that

door.

There was a huge amount of blood
on the floor.

The victim very well may have
slipped on his own blood.

There were dozens
of footprints made by the

k*ller.

Unfortunately, there were no
clear impressions for

comparison.

It was someone that may have
had a pair of galoshes or boots,

cleanup-type boots, handy, or
actually had them on at the time

they left the m*rder scene.

But it appeared the
k*ller left evidence as he

removed the surveillance
equipment.

The suspect had to actually
step over the victim that he had

just k*lled.

The vcr was up off the counter
area of the desk.

I believe that the suspect
utilized part of that desk to

reach up to get the vcr and cut
it... cut the cord and take the

vcr.

On the floor,
underneath that shelf,

investigators saw a Manila
folder.

When they turned it over, they
found something.

We looked at it closer, and
we actually noticed a

fingerprint in blood.

Myself and Mr. Carlisle looked
at each other and said, "we got

him."

Was it possible the
k*ller accidentally knocked it

onto the floor as he was
stealing the security-system

vcr?

The folder... the fingerprint
wasn't faceup, so the person

who, as they were leaving,
probably wouldn't have known

that they had left that
essential piece of evidence.

But it was a
partial print and badly smudged.

The technician and I were
going back and forth, and I'm

like, "well, I think I can use
it, but let's see if we can make

it just a little bit better,"
and handed it back to him.

But enhancing it
would come at a price.

That would actually destroy
the DNA profile of the blood

that the fingerprint was left
in.

Investigators
decided the risk was worth it.

The print was sprayed with
amido black, a chemical dye that

reacts with the proteins in
blood.

He worked on it a little bit
more, and we decided that was as

good as the print was gonna get.

The result was the
partial print of a fingertip.

Investigators entered the print
into the nationwide fingerprint

database of known criminal
offenders, and the result was

bad news.

I did do an a.F.I.S. Search.

I was not able to come up with
a match.

That's because the
print didn't have enough points

of comparison for the computer
to process.

With no print match and now no
DNA, investigators were no

closer to solving this m*rder.

It's a situation where you
basically take a deep breath and

keep on swimming.

In an attempt to
find Stephen Holmes' k*ller,

investigators wanted to make
sure they identified every piece

of potential evidence in the
restaurant.

The m*rder took place in
Stephen's office in the back.

But investigators noticed small
circular blood drops on the

counter near the sink in the
kitchen.

It was obviously close to the
crime scene, but far enough away

that we were hoping that that
was, in fact, the suspect's

blood.

Blood tests
revealed it did not belong to

the victim, Stephen Holmes.

Somebody had to be standing
over the table, and blood

dripped off of him onto the
table.

But if the blood
was the perpetrator's, why was

it there and why didn't he clean
it up?

These almost perfectly round
blood drops, called passive

drops, were made by someone
standing still, possibly while

washing his hands at the sink.

A lot of times in a knife
fight like that, the knife may

slip out of his hand and cut his
finger or something similar to

that effect.

The blood DNA was
possible evidence, but

investigators had no one to
compare it to.

With no sign of forced entry,
the k*ller could have been an

employee.

So investigators asked
restaurant employees for DNA

samples and their fingerprints.

They also wanted to see if
anyone had cuts or bruises on

their hands.

They say, "you know what?

Let's bring all the employees in
and let's fingerprint

everybody."

At least if we do that, maybe we
can rule everybody out with the

fingerprint that we've got now.

But as police were
fingerprinting the employees,

they didn't notice any with
visible injuries.

Authorities are thinking,
"the k*ller's probably not here.

He's probably not an employee."

It was basically something
that had to be done to further

the investigation, but I wasn't
holding my breath for any real

results.

Nevertheless, each
employee was fingerprinted

carefully.

This would be the front of
the finger, but the print I had

was more off to the side.

So, in order to make sure I got
the area I needed, I had to

fully roll each and every finger
of each and every employee.

And in a shocking
development, the print on the

Manila folder matched the last
person anyone expected,

especially Stephen Holmes'
family.

It belonged to Wilson saintil,
Stephen's best friend, the

restaurant's maintenance man
and prep cook.

Stephen's family couldn't
believe it, since the two often

worked late together.

Stephen would bring in cds
specifically that he knew was

the type of music that Wilson
liked so that they could put

them in and it would go through
the whole store and they could

be listening to that music while
they were working.

Wilson saintil went to the
ceremonies to honor the

deceased.

He hugged family members, cried
when it appeared to be

appropriate.

There was no flight issues.

There was no obvious signs that
we needed to suspect him of

anything.

But investigators
naturally went further,

comparing saintil's DNA to the
blood droplets on the kitchen

counter and faucet.

Those six foreign male DNA
profiles found at the scene did

match the suspect in the case.

The 51-year-old
Haitian national was arrested on

suspicion of m*rder.

Do you have anything to say
at all?

They got the wrong guy.

They got the wrong guy?

Yes.

You didn't k*ll Stephen Holmes?

I don't.

You don't know anything about
it?

Stephen was my good friend.

Although saintil's
blood and fingerprint were both

at the scene, police had a
problem.

There was a plausible
explanation for his blood to be

at the sink in the kitchen.

The defense is pretty
clear... he's a maintenance

worker, he's a prep cook.

People cut themselves all the
time.

And there was no
proof saintil's fingerprint was

in Stephen's blood.

It could have been there
previously.

"So you find a fingerprint of
my client here, Wilson saintil,

inside the restaurant.

- What's the big deal?"
- Needing more,

investigators looked into a
possible motive.

Why would Wilson saintil want to
k*ll a man he called his friend?

People thought that Wilson
was a hardworking guy, good

family man, good father.

Until a background
check revealed a secret past.

Why was your bloody
fingerprint at the scene?

It's not mine.

I don't have no blood.

He was your friend?

Yes, he was my best friend.

Wilson saintil
insisted he had nothing to do

with Stephen Holmes' m*rder.

The father of three was active
in his church and well liked by

his co-workers.

He even considered the victim
his best friend.

But a background check revealed
saintil had a violent past.


four years in prison for

aggravated as*ault and
concealing a w*apon.

And despite working three jobs,
he had money problems.

He was paying child support,
from what I understand, for two

different children, and the
amount, when I add it up now, it

probably amounts to like $700 or
$800 a month.

It was quite a large sum of
money.

The forensic
evidence clearly pointed to

Wilson saintil as the man who
k*lled Stephen Holmes inside

the steak restaurant.

But investigators wanted to know
what happened to the $8,000

missing from the restaurant's
safe.

That's when they learned that
saintil visited a local

furniture store the day after
the m*rder.

The furniture store had a
security camera in the office

which showed saintil paying off
a $1,200 debt in cash with $100

bills.

Much of the money stolen from
the restaurant was in $100

bills from the gift certificates
they'd been selling on the night

of the m*rder.

We know that there are $100
bills that are stolen.

The fact that he pays off this
debt at this furniture-rental

company so quickly after the
m*rder is...

It's just bizarre.

And forensic
testing found a connection

between saintil's fingerprint in
Stephen's office and his blood

drops near the sink.

You had feet print leading to
the manager's office, and you

had shoe prints leading from the
office to the kitchen.

Now the case is coming full
circle.

Prosecutors believe
Wilson saintil was desperate for

money and believed his only
recourse was to rob the

restaurant where he worked.

As the maintenance man, he
stopped by after hours, knowing

the cash receipts would be in
the safe.

Saintil probably made some noise
in the kitchen.

Stephen walked out of his office
to see who was there.

Hello?

Hello?

Hello?

That's when Stephen
saw the knife.

Stephen ran to his office and
tried to close the door, but

saintil was still able to get
inside.

Stephen was stabbed more than 40
times and died in his office.

As saintil washed his hands and
the knife, his blood, possibly

from a bloody nose from the
fight, dropped onto the kitchen

counter and faucet.

Saintil took the $8,000 from the
safe.

Since he knew the surveillance
cameras had captured the fight,

he cut the cables and removed
the video recorder.

But as he did, he left his
partial fingerprint on the

Manila folder, which fell to the
floor upside down.

Saintil left the restaurant
with the m*rder w*apon, video

recorder, and his bloody
clothes.

Prosecutors believe he returned
later to clean up the blood.

But his plan fell apart when he
saw the exterminator was

there on an unscheduled visit.

Nobody knew he was coming by
that night, except for Stephen.

I feel that was a godsend.

Stephen's the only person
that knows that this guy is

showing up.

And again, thank god that he
shows up on that night, because

that narrows the timeline, that
preserves the crime scene at

that point, and that prevents
Wilson saintil from coming back

and cleaning up the crime scene.

When Stephen's
family learned that

Wilson saintil m*rder*d their
son, they were shocked and angry

because it was saintil who came
to their home hours after

Stephen's m*rder to offer his
condolences.

You know, to listen to all
the lies and then to know that

he came here, it's just, you
know, complete disbelief.

When we found out later it
was him, it's a weird feeling

that he had the nerve to come
here to our home to see...

It's still hard to comprehend
that.

Wilson saintil was
tried and convicted of

first-degree m*rder.

He was sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility

of parole.

Saintil left evidence behind.

Some he might have explained,
having worked there as an

employee, but not all of it.

I think forensic science is
amazing.

That's what solved the case.

It just puts that much more of
my faith in the system, and I'm

just glad that's it's progressed
to where it has, and I hope it

continues to do so.

Forensic science, in this
particular case, is 110%.

It's the reason Wilson saintil
is in prison.

And without it, he would be a
free man today.