13x46 - Waste Mis-Management

[bunniefuu]

Up next, a woman
mysteriously disappears.

- We called her Thursday.
We called her Friday.

No answer.

- She vanished out of nowhere.

Detectives check
her apartment but someone's

been there before them.

- Obviously, someone's
been watching CSI.

- He knew we were coming.

He knew what he was doing.

A suspect emerges,
but he isn't talking.

- He was hiding out
to sustain himself.

And if police
can find the victim,

they'll have a hard time
proving m*rder.

Sunday services
at the Golden Gate church

in Fort Worth, Texas
were an important part

of the Glenda Furch's life.

- My mother has attended the
same church since she was born.

Her grandmother
attended that church.

Her mother's mother.

It's a generation church
so it's very important.

Hey!

My name is Glenda.

So when Glenda didn't
show up for services one Sunday

morning, family
and church members

suspected something was wrong.

- Her pastor said that even
if she didn't go to church

on Sunday, she would
call him to apologize

for not going to church.

- We had been calling
her and calling her.

No answer.

So one of the Glenda's daughters

went to her apartment.

The first thing she noticed
was that her mother's car

was missing.

The apartment door was locked.

Glenda wasn't there.

But the apartment
was stifling hot.

- The AC had been turned off.

Or turned down.

So it was very,
very hot in there.

And that was not
like Mom to not have

any air on in the apartment.

Hey, Mom!

Glenda's daughter
assumed her mother had gone

somewhere for a few days so
she locked the door and left.

The next day when Glenda
didn't show up for work,

her family called police
to report her missing.

When police arrived, they
noticed the air conditioning

had now been turned
on, and they found

unmistakable signs of foul play.

- There was a very large
bleach stain on her carpet.

Next to her bed in
her master bedroom.

Glenda's daughter told police

she didn't smell
bleach the day before.

- There have been some
extensive cleaning done,

and there were
some items missing

from the apartment such
as the vacuum cleaner.

The trash cans.

Forensic testing of
the stain on the bedroom carpet

turned up nothing except bleach.

- We never found
any positive signs.

Of any signs of blood.

And someone had also
wiped down the door knobs,

light switches, and water
faucets to remove fingerprints.

But where was Glenda Furch?

- We were still holding
out hope, yeah.

You don't give up.

You don't... you
don't lose the hope.

Glenda's
employer, General Motors,

said she was at work
on Thursday night

and left the factory
around midnight.

And records showed Glenda
used her credit card

to buy gas a short
time later at 12:24 AM.

- We know that she went and
purchased gas because that was

the last transaction
of... on her credit card.

But no one saw or
heard from her after that.

And no one could
tell police anything

about Glenda's personal life.

- She kept her
personal very private.

No one in her family could give
us the name of who, if anyone,

she might be dating.

But a check of police records

showed Glenda called


earlier saying she
felt threatened.

Fort Worth Police Officer 0450.

How can I help you?

- By lighting these
candles in unity,

we are sharing hope and faith...


Glenda Furch was missing,

and Fort Worth
investigators feared

she had been the
victim of foul play.

This was a woman just
going home from work,

who had never really
done anything wrong.

She'd never been engaged
in questionable activity,

and she vanished out of nowhere.

Glenda's life
revolved around her job

at General Motors,
her two daughters,

and her grandchildren.

- She liked to do a
little traveling.

Uh, loved being with
the grandchildren.

Church and shopping
like most ladies.

And being with her family.

That was very important to her.

In a search for suspects,

investigators learned that
Glenda Furch called police

several weeks before
her disappearance

to report some
criminal activity.

- I
- just wanted to report,

last week a guy
knocked on my door.

When I asked who
was it, he just went

to rambling off to
something he had to show me.

I said, no, I'm not interested.

And he said, oh just give me a
chance, just give me a chance,

you know, and he just
stood there begging

- Mhm.

For me to open my door.

- At the time there were a number
of home invasions in the city

of Fort Worth where robbers
would knock on doors

or just kick them down.

But none of the homes
were cleaned after they were

robbed so investigators
concluded there was

no connection
between the robberies

and Glenda's disappearance.

That's when Glenda's
neighbors gave

police some key information.

- We found two young
men who were moving

into a nearby apartment
right across from hers.

That... earlier that morning,
Monday morning, at about two

in the morning, had seen a
black male coming back and forth

from the direction
of her apartment

to a car parked right
across from her apartment.

That car fit the description

of Glenda's gold-colored Mazda.

Another neighbor
described the same man

repeatedly driving a gold Mazda
in and out of the parking lot

on Sunday night.

And early Monday morning,
yet another neighbor

saw a man fitting
the same description

leaving Glenda's apartment.

- This witness told investigators
that the individual but they

seem coming in out
of the apartment

may have been going
to the dumpster.

- For him to be able to come
and go for several days

for even... for a
length of time he did,

I think that can suggest
that he was not only

familiar with the
area, he may have

possibly lived
there at sometime.

Evidence technicians
emptied the dumpster

and went through the
contents of dozens of bags.

Five of the bags contained items
taken from Glenda's apartment.

- If the family had of waited
till Tuesday instead of Monday

to call us, and the dumpster
was emptied Tuesday morning

early... and there goes
all of our evidence.

In one bag was the
receipt for the gas Glenda

purchased on Thursday
night after work.

This proved Glenda was home
for at least part of Thursday

evening.

- We all felt like we hit
the motherlode of evidence

when we got all the things out
of the dumpster that we did.

The bag also held
empty drink cans and cleaning

products, including an empty
gallon container of bleach.

Another bag contained
one of Glenda's blouses,

slit all the way up the back.

- When you see the
clothing cut, you

start thinking possibly
sexual as*ault.

- One of the
lieutenants on the case

initially said, Darla, we
don't know what this is,

but it's going to be very bad.

Also in the
garbage, investigators

found another clue.

- We found duct tape, used duct
tape, as well as duct tape

still on a roll.

And we found some electrical
cords that had been wrapped up.

Tied up into knots.

And other items that
looked like they

had been involved in a crime.

It looked as if
someone had used the duct tape

and cords to restrain Glenda.

- Our worst fears
were being realized.

The only fingerprints found

in Glenda's apartments
were Glenda's.

Her prints were on file
with the police department

when she filed an
application for a g*n permit.

That g*n was missing
from her apartment.

Veteran detectives were
surprised at how much effort

had gone into cleaning
Glenda's apartment.

- It appeared to have
been wiped down.

On your mirrors,
in your bathroom,

those are great places
to get fingerprints.

There was not even
a smudge mark.

- Obviously, someone's
been watching CSI.

They vacuumed thoroughly.

I assumed to try
to collect any hair

or fibers that might be present.

And apparently whoever used

the vacuum cleaner
took it with him.

- We just needs to
know what happened.

So if anybody knows
anything, we're just

pleading to the community
to... today it's me,

tomorrow it could be you.

Five days after
Glenda's disappearance,

someone called police to
report a fire at a car wash


Glenda's apartment.

It looks like
a fire's on fire right now.

A fire?

Stay on the line, sir.

I'm connecting you with
the fire department.

Fire officials arrived to find

a gold-colored Mazda
engulfed in flames.

- Accelerants had been
used, and the fire

had been deliberately set.

When the vehicle
fire was extinguished,

investigators found
no one inside inside.

The license plates
had been removed.

But the vehicle identification
number was still intact.

It was Glenda Furch's car.

- While they were doing
their investigation,

I guess we were doing
our little investigation

trying to find
out what happened.

We were putting our
fliers in neighborhoods.

We were talking to media people.

Then a citizen
reported finding a female body

wrapped in a blue,
floral comforter

tied with electrical cords
along the railroad tracks

within the Arlington
city limits.

- At that moment there
was no doubt in my mind

we had recovered Glenda's body.

But it was not to be.

A Forensic odontologist compared
to Glenda's dental records

to the unknown female
and it wasn't Glenda.

- That news was rather shocking.

How many black females tied
with electrical cord, wrapped

in blue, floral
computers can there be?

The answer to that was
obviously more than one.

So the search continued.

One month after Glenda
Furch's disappearance,

Dallas police noticed
a man getting items out

of the trunk of a car that
had been reported stolen.

As police moved in,
the suspect took off

and led them on a
high-speed chase.

- He drove the vehicle
through a couple stoplights.

Had a couple of narrow misses.

And then he got on the freeways,
and the officers told us

that he got that vehicle
traveling faster than they've

ever thought a Ford
Probe could move.

- A very lengthy pursuit ensued
and the car wrecked out.

And they took a young
man into custody

for fleeing from the police
and for driving a stolen car.

The carjacker
was 40-year-old Rodney

Owens, an unemployed
career criminal.

Rodney had a dishonorable
discharge from the m*llitary.

He had assaulted his
commanding officer,

which is not a good thing.

A background check revealed

Owens had numerous
warrants out for his arrest

for aggravated as*ault charges
involving his ex-girlfriend.

Owens' ex-girlfriend
told police Owens

had threatened to k*ll her.

- He told her he could
come up behind her

and put a plastic bag over
her head and watch her die.

She also said Owens
had recently been stalking her.

And she and her
co-workers saw him driving

a gold-colored Mazda
similar to Glenda's car

around the time of
Glenda's disappearance.

Investigators also
learned that Owens once

lived in Glenda Furch's
apartment complex

with his mother.

- The front of her apartment
looked right out directly

as Miss Furch's apartment.

Then investigators
noticed something else.

When police searched the
car Owens was driving

in the high-speed chase,
they found a bag containing

a roll of Tape-it
brand duct tape.

This isn't a common brand.

It's sold only in a handful of
stores in the Fort Worth area.

But it was the same brand duct
tape used to bind Glenda Furch.

- And it also contains a
handgun, a hunting Kn*fe,

some electrical cord that
had been tied in knots.

Investigators wondered
if any of the other items

in Owens bag matched items
found in the dumpster

outside Glenda's apartment.

So the sent all of the
evidence to the forensic lab.

There, scientists
noticed a similarity

in the electrical cord
found in Owens' car.

- The same type of knots and
the same type of cords that

were found in the
dumpster outside

of Glenda Furch's apartment.

- They sent us a number of
different items including swabs

that were reportedly from cans
as well as cuttings from towels

and scrapings from clothing.

The swabs from the drink cans

were found to contain saliva.

Also, on one of the cans
was a partial fingerprint.

Using Super Glue
Fuming and Ninhydrin,

they found another partial
print on the cardboard spool

of the used duct tape
found in the trash

- After the print is
developed with the Ninhydrin

and the Super Glue, then those
prints can be photographed

- The print that was photographed
off a roll of duct tape,

I had an enlargement
of an enhanced version,

and I compared it to
an enlarged photograph

of Mr. Owens' prints.

That print on the roll of duct
tape was made by Mr. Owens'.

They also found what appeared

to be biological
evidence on a bath towel

that looked like the towels
in Glenda's apartment.

The biological
evidence was semen.

The DNA profile from the bath
towel and saliva from the drink

were compared to Rodney Owens.

There was no surprise.

- The profiles from
the soda cans were

identical to the profile I
obtained from Rodney Owens.

The profile I obtained from
the sperm fraction of the towel

was identical to the profile
I obtained from Rodney Owens.

Rodney Owens
was arrested and charged

with Glenda Furch's m*rder.

But would Owens reveal what
he did with Glenda's body?

While in custody awaiting trial
for Glenda Furch's m*rder,

Rodney Owens fell
victim to boredom

and let his guard
down in a conversation

with another prisoner.

- The suspect told
another inmate in jail

that he knew that
this lady lived alone.

That she worked at GM and
worked the late shift.

That she drove a nice car,
and he was pretty certain

she would have money.

Prosecutors know
that Rodney Owens was living

in an apartment across from
Glenda Furch's, and he knew

Glenda's work
schedule and habits.

On the night of the crime, as
Glenda pulled into the parking

lot, prosecutors think
Owens used a w*apon

to force Glenda
into her apartment.

The evidence shows
he used duct tape

and electrical
cords to bind her.

And then he sexually
assaulted her and k*lled her.

He stole whatever cash and
valuables he could find.

He the wrapped Glenda's
body in bed sheets

and placed it in her car.

Where he took her
body, no one knows.

Glenda's daughter
stopped in to check

in on her mother on Sunday.

Owens' returned on Sunday
night and spent hours

cleaning the apartment,
wiping away the fingerprints

and using the vacuum cleaner
to remove hair and fibers.

He later took the
vacuum with him.

Owens threw away most of the
items he used in the crime

in the dumpster.

But he left partial prints
on a piece of duct tape

and a drink can.

He also left his
DNA on the drink can

and biological
evidence on a bath

towel later found
by investigators.

In the days after the
m*rder, Owens ex-girlfriend

said he was driving a car
identical to Glenda's and even

used it to stop
by her workplace.

By the time Owens set
fire to Glenda's car,

he'd already left plenty of
evidence of his involvement

in the dumpster outside
Glenda's apartment.

- We still don't know exactly
how Glenda Furch d*ed,

but that one fingerprint,
the few specimens of blood

and semen, put
this case together.

It was enough to know that
something bad had happened.

- Something sexual happened
in that apartment,

but I can't substantiate
a sexual as*ault.

- You've taken away our mother.

Our grandmother.
Somebody's child.

And it's not fair.

- The defense hung
its case on the fact

that there was no body,
that they still couldn't

prove that Glenda
Furch was dead.

But witness after witness

testified that Glenda Furch
would never just leave

her family, her
church, and her job.

And Owens had a
very simple motive.

He needed money

- He had a non-violent
criminal past,

but after he had nowhere to
live and nobody to support him,

he escalated into v*olence.

- And would you rise and read
that verdict, please, sir.

- We, the jury, finde
the defendant guilty.

One year after
Glenda Furch disappeared,

Rodney Owens was
convicted of her m*rder

and sentenced to life in prison.

He was offered a lighter
sentence in return

for disclosing where he
took Glenda's remains,

but he refused.

- The most difficult
part is the unknown.

Not knowing exactly.

Not knowing.

So still today we don't
know and it's the unknown.

So it's still very difficult.

- It was a web.

You had the items that
were found in the dumpster.

His DNA combined
with Furch's items.

It was a very intricate,
intricate web that would never

could have been together without
the forensics in this case.

- I wasn't familiar
with forensic science.

I knew a little bit.

You know, you
watch TV, you know.

But I wasn't real
familiar with it.

But learning, going through
this process with the D.A.,

with the detectives, and
I've learned a lot more.

That forensic science
is incredible.