11x11 - Weakest Link

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: gambling has a lot more visibility than it used to.

It's on the internet, it's on prime-time television, and it's

Almost a varsity sport on some college campuses.

But several young men learned the hard way that gambling can

Put your money at risk and, sometimes, your life.

Gambling isn't confined to casinos, church bingo, and

Back-room card games anymore.

Now it's everywhere.

There are poker tournaments on the computer, you can play

Sports wagers offshore, and you can play the daily lottery, now

Run by local governments.

-Year-old jason mcguigan saw gambling as a way to have fun

And also make a living.

He dabbled in casino gaming, but his real love was sports

Handicapping.

He was known to wager thousands of dollars on a single event.

He was not a bookie.

He had made the offer to quite a few people that "if you give me

Some money, I'll sign you up with a betting service and give

You advice."

He was essentially trying to sell his advice.

Mcguigan had spent some of his time with his associates and

Acquaintances boasting about the gambling.

He almost was starting to emerge as sort of a wannabe gangster.

Narrator: on a warm june afternoon, jason's aunt stopped

By his apartment to pick up an old computer.

She found the back door open, inside with the remnants of a

m*ssacre.

Jason mcguigan is laying on his back on the bed with his

Feet curling over the bed to the floor.

Narrator: mcguigan had been sh*t twice with a -millimeter

Handgun.

Jason's two friends, daniel swanson and

Dustin wilson, were sh*t to death in the living room.

It could have been a professional hit just because of

The way these b*ll*ts went into people.

Narrator: inside jason's apartment was a receipt for a

-Millimeter glock p*stol.

He had purchased it just a few weeks earlier.

But the g*n wasn't found in the apartment.

Also missing was the key to jason's bank safe-deposit box.

Investigators believe jason mcguigan was the intended

Target and that his two friends sleeping in the living room were

Simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was just totally unexpected.

He didn't really have any enemies that we knew of at all,

So when this happened, it was a big surprise to us.

Jason, dustin, and daniel -- they were just normal kids

Trying to make something out of their life.

They weren't bad kids.

Narrator: when local news agencies reported the murders, a

Witness came forward with some revealing information.

A few hours before the murders, the witness saw three men in a

Cadillac escalade shouting obscenities and making

Inappropriate gestures to an asian man in the car behind

Them.

She remembers it clearly.

She thought it was a road-rage incident and these three white

Kids were somehow racially attacking this asian kid.

Narrator: the witness identified the three men in the

Escalade as jason mcguigan, daniel swanson, and

Dustin wilson, the three m*rder victims.

In a case that had so many stunning revelations, this one

Ranked right up there with them.

Narrator: police in verona, wisconsin, were investigating a

Triple homicide.

An analysis of the crime scene indicated that jason mcguigan's

Two friends were k*lled first as they slept in the living room.

The k*ller took jason into the bedroom.

There was some sort of discussion before he, too, was

k*lled.

In a search for suspects, police learned that jason mcguigan and

His upstairs neighbor, todd vincent, got into a fight a

Week or two before the m*rder.

Mcguigan had slapped todd.

Todd retaliated by choking jason or throwing jason to the ground.

Jason reported it to the police.

It turns out that there wasn't enough of a conflict there that

Anybody even got charged.

Narrator: todd denied any involvement in the murders.

g*nsh*t-residue tests on his hands were negative, but he said

Something curious -- that he didn't hear any g*nshots from

Jason's apartment.

Ballistic experts say that's not necessarily unusual.

If they don't expect to hear a g*nsh*t, when they do hear

Something, they'll interpret it some other way.

Narrator: next, police started to run down the

Vehicles parked outside jason's apartment.

One was jason's cadillac escalade.

The other was a red toyota, one of two vehicles owned by jason's

Friend, -year-old mark wu.

He was from taiwan, the son of a wealthy businessman, and an

Honor student at the university of wisconsin.

When police tracked him down, mark wu was in new york city and

About to board a plane to taiwan to visit his family for the

Summer vacation.

Mark said he left one of his two cars in jason's parking lot

Because it was safer than parking in the city.

Wu had a residence downtown in madison, and parking down

There is very difficult.

And he had a number of vehicles.

And so by keeping one out at jason mcguigan's residence in

Verona, he didn't have to worry about parking tickets.

Narrator: on the night of the murders, mark wu said he was in

His apartment in madison, wisconsin, and spent the night

Alone.

But mark's cellphone records indicated he was in verona,

About miles away from his apartment, which is where

Jason mcguigan lived.

Wu makes a call at : p.m., And it hits the verona tower.

Verizon tests show that any cellphone call that hits tower

, The verona tower, is basically gonna be confined to

Someone that's within the city limits of verona.

He didn't really give a good explanation on why he had lied,

But the gist of it was that he didn't know anything about these

Murders, and he just thought that he should have, basically,

An alibi.

Narrator: and mark wu had no history of v*olence or erratic

Behavior.

Mark wu was about as unlikely a suspect in a triple homicide

As you're gonna get.

His yearbook entries, his classmates, former teachers --

There wasn't really a sense of mark wu being a person who had

Been in trouble.

I'd say naive, helpless, really nice guy.

I was laughing out loud when the fbi suggested that he could be

In a g*ng or something.

Narrator: but police found evidence that wu and mcguigan

Were both involved in gambling.

We learned that mark wu, through his family, it appears,

Primarily, had resources.

So he had money to burn.

Narrator: five days before the murders, mark wu gave

Jason mcguigan a large sum of money to bet on a professional

Baseball game.

One game in particular was a major league baseball game --

Pittsburgh verses cleveland.

That game happened to go innings and lasted about five

Hours.

Narrator: mark wu used his cellphone to call a sports

Betting service that night to find out which team won.

The pitcher takes the sign, winds up.

The pitch...

It's in the dirt past the catcher.

The runner from third is heading home...

And there's the throw.

Safe!

The game ends in a wild pitch, and pittsburgh wins to .

I don't believe it.

For the second night in a row, pittsburgh wins in innings.

Narrator: according to friends, when mark realized that

He won, he couldn't contain his excitement.

Wu is ecstatic.

He's screaming.

He's excited.

" Grand!

I won grand!" Narrator: when mark wu asked

Jason mcguigan for the $, he had won, he learned for the

First time that jason never placed the bet.

Jason reacts to that by pulling his newly purchased

Glock p*stol out of his pants, waves it at him, and says, "shut

The [bleep] up."

There was, in fact, no bet placed.

Nothing documents that wu had any money put down.

Jason did not have any money put down.

So this bet is completely a false bet.

Narrator: why jason didn't place the bet is unclear.

Either he forgot or decided to pocket mark's money instead.

Regardless, this gave mark wu , reasons to seek revenge.

Narrator: investigators now suspected that jason mcguigan

Was m*rder*d because of his gambling activities.

In jason's personal files was evidence he placed bets through

Olympic sports, an offshore betting agency in the caribbean.

He would call in, and they would tell you the lines, the

Spreads, and what the picks were on those games, and he would

Then place bets on those.

Narrator: gambling agencies set up shop outside the country

To circumvent u.s. Law enforcement.

All of his bets throughout his entire account history with

Olympic sports were made by telephone.

Olympic sports records all incoming phone calls.

And the reason they do that is just in case somebody has an

Argument over whether or not they made a bet or did not make

A bet.

They've got some kind of proof to back up what happened.

Narrator: when police listened to the tapes, they

Heard someone else on the phone with jason.

You want $ on atlanta.

Okay.

I'll place my bet on...

Narrator: the voice sounded like jason's friend mark wu, and

It was clear that wu was also betting big on sporting events.

You have jason actually taking over, grabbing the phone

In some manner because you can hear the voice change on the

Tapes.

You can also hear him in the background telling wu what to

Do, so you could see that mcguigan is really sort of the

Mastermind behind any of this gambling that's going on.

Mastermind behind any of this gambling that's going on.

He bet on baseball, and he didn't know what he was doing.

He didn't know pitchers' names.

He didn't know team names.

He didn't understand the odds.

He really had no idea what he was doing.

Narrator: an investigation into mark wu's finances revealed

A telling piece of information.

When we began to discover that mark wu had, over a four-

Or five-month period, drawn more than $, out of his bank

Account, that mark wu was telling investigators that he,

At one occasion, had dropped $, on a single bet.

Narrator: and investigators already knew there was a

Disagreement about the baseball bet and that mark wu believed

Jason owed him $,.

So it tells us that there is definitely some money issues

Going on between the two of them and they're very severe in

Nature.

Narrator: mark gave police permission to search his

Apartment.

They found no bloody clothes or weapons.

But in the parking lot was the second vehicle mark wu owned.

This one was silver...

Like the one seen following jason mcguigan the afternoon

Before the murders.

Inside was the owner's manual for a glock -millimeter p*stol,

Like the one missing from jason's apartment, the same

Caliber w*apon used in the murders.

Ballistic expert bill newhouse compared the shell casings from

The m*rder scene to the ones provided by the manufacturer

When jason purchased the w*apon.

It was clearly printed as having been cartridge casings

Fired in, and it specified the glock p*stol, which it had been

Fired in, with the serial number -- really nice

Information that we don't see very often.

Narrator: they matched, proving that it was jason's own

w*apon that k*lled him.

That's the only time I've encountered that in -some

Years of doing these kind of cases.

Narrator: hoping to find the m*rder w*apon, police searched

The garbage dumpster behind mark wu's apartment.

Instead, they found a pair of sandals in a white plastic bag,

Along with some of mark wu's credit-card receipts.

Police also checked other dumpsters in a four-block

Radius.

They find out specifically where that particular garbage

Would be dumped...

And they dig.

And they do that dirty work that so often is the key to solving

Crime, and they find his g*n case.

We found two halves of a glock g*n case.

They're more of a plastic nature.

They were snapped in half.

One was tied off in one baggie, and one was found independently.

Narrator: to see if the case contained any fingerprints,

Forensic analyst mike riddle used superglue fuming, a process

Where the chemicals from heated superglue adhere to finger oils.

You hang it in there with superglue over a heat source,

Add a little bit of humidity to it, and the fatty acids of the

Fingerprints absorb the superglue and harden and set the

Print.

Narrator: riddle saw what he thought might be some partial

Prints and used yellow dye to enhance the image.

These partial prints were in an unusual location.

They were in one of the corners in a curved portion of

The g*n case, partially covered by the foam rubber that was in

There.

Had I never moved the foam rubber, I probably would not

Have been able to develop these prints using superglue.

Narrator: the prints belonged to mark wu.

And on the sandals from the garbage dumpster, scientists

Found tiny mist-like droplets of blood.

I knew that that size was indicative of the application of

What I would term "high-energy" application of force to the

Blood source.

That's consistent with a b*llet impact, of course.

Narrator: dna testing revealed the blood on the

Sandals came from the youngest m*rder victim, -year-old

Dustin wilson.

Ironically, the dumpster should have been emptied the day after

The murders, but the garbage-truck driver didn't pick

Up that day.

We spoke to the garbage collector, and he admitted that

He often fibs on the document indicating that he did pick it

Up when, in fact, he does not pick it up.

Narrator: mark wu was arrested and charged with three

Counts of first-degree m*rder, but he would never be convicted.

Narrator: mark wu's parents flew to the united states from

Taiwan because they sensed trouble.

Mark had withdrawn over $, from his bank account and

Wouldn't give his parents an explanation.

Wu had been involved in some sort of money losses -- in their

Words, "hadn't been a very good boy" -- and they were taking him

Back to taiwan to make him sort of a good boy again.

Narrator: prosecutors say mark wu tried to collect the

$, Jason mcguigan owed him for the baseball bet.

He wanted to deposit this money into his bank account to placate

His parents.

But jason didn't place the bet, so he refused to pay.

Around : p.m. On the day of the murders, a witness saw

Jason mcguigan's friends thr*aten mark wu, angry,

Apparently, because wu had been following them.

Later that night, around : p.m., Mark broke into

Jason's apartment, but jason wasn't there, so he stole

Jason's -millimeter glock p*stol...

Then called jason, asking him what time he was coming home.

Mark wu returned to jason's apartment around midnight, and

Jason still wasn't there.

Instead, jason's two friends were in the living room,

Asleep -- the ones who harassed him a few hours earlier.

Mark wu k*lled them to eliminate potential witnesses.

In doing so, he got dustin wilson's blood on his

Sandals.

Jason didn't come home until close to : a.m., And mark was

Waiting for him.

Again, mark demanded his $,, but jason didn't have

That kind of money in his apartment.

In desperation, he handed mark the key to his safe-deposit box.

[ g*nsh*t ]

Then mark sh*t jason with his own g*n.

No one knows what mark did with his bloody clothes and jason's

g*n.

He threw the g*n case containing his fingerprints in a garbage

Can a few blocks from his home.

He put his bloody sandals in a garbage bag and tossed them into

The dumpster behind his apartment with the

Identification provided by his credit-card receipts.

The next morning, mark flew to new york city with his parents.

They were about to leave for taiwan when police intervened.

He was holding a plane ticket to taiwan, a country that does

Not have an extradition treaty with the united states.

If mark wu gets to taiwan, mark wu never becomes the

Criminal defendant in this triple homicide.

Narrator: but the day before the trial, there was a stunning

Development.

Mark wu hanged himself in his jail cell.

He was about to be, essentially, humiliated in the

Public.

His parents are gonna find out what he did.

He's years old.

He's going to prison for the rest of his life.

He k*lled these three boys to try to cover up what he had done

With all his parents' money.

Then he had to k*ll himself -- again at the last minute -- to

Cover up what he had done and not face the truth.

Narrator: as a courtesy to the victims' families,

Prosecutors laid out their entire case just as they would

Have presented it to the jury.

And the science left no doubt there would have been a

Conviction.

We gave what would have been an opening statement or a

Closing statement to these family members and went through

The evidence we had so that they knew we took care of their

Family members', their friends' k*ller, that this was the right

Person.

There's not somebody else out there.

To me, they showed that wu was guilty, and it was one of

The better things that they ever could have done for us, short of

Us having the actual trial.

The dna spatter, the shell

Casings, and the fingerprints

Are all what really wrap up this

Case and take it from a

Circumstantial case to a case

That's proven by forensic

Evidence.