11x21 - Van-ished

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Narrator: there were lots of suspects in the m*rder of a

Millionaire oilman and many salivating over the man's

Estate.

And that fact alone helped cr*ck the case.

Ron and rosana shaw had just moved into their luxurious new

Home in youngsville, louisiana.

But they still had some things to do before the birth of their

New baby.

On this night, ron helped his pregnant wife by doing the

Grocery shopping.

Ronnie put two bags of groceries on my arms.

We started walking towards the house.

And all of a sudden, three men jumped from behind the garage.

[ g*nshots ] I was in shock.

I was just waiting for them to sh**t me.

They put the g*ns to my head.

Narrator: they told rosana to open the safe in the master

Bathroom.

Open the safe, lady -- now!

I tried to open the safe, and I just couldn't.

I was so nervous, I was shaking.

Then he said, "you better open it this time, or I'm gonna k*ll

You."

Narrator: rosana finally remembered the combination.

He was disappointed.

I guess he was expecting a lot of money, a lot of cash in

There, but there wasn't a lot.

Narrator: the men took $, in cash and a box of jewelry.

And I thought, "okay, now he's gonna k*ll me."

Narrator: in desperation, rosana begged for her life.

I got on my knees, and I told him, "I'm pregnant."

Narrator: the k*ller backed off but left her with a warning.

He said, "if you come out of here, I'm gonna k*ll you."

[ Siren wails ] narrator: the men left, and

Rosana called police.

-Year-old ronald shaw was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police knew right away that this was an inside job.

Whoever was responsible for the death had to know the layout

Of the home or certainly, at least, that there was a safe

Contained inside the bathroom of the home.

Narrator: rosana was unable to give a detailed description

Of the K*llers because they were wearing masks.

I could tell they were young, they were black males, and the

First one was wearing a red ski mask with some black around the

Eyes.

He's the one that was very close to me.

He had some gold teeth.

Narrator: ron shaw was a successful oilman.

He had developed the concept of placing global positioning

Satellite chips in his drill bits, which improved accuracy

When drilling for oil.

Although the shaws were a wealthy couple, police weren't

Sure the motive was robbery.

They left jewelry in the safe.

They left an additional $, in the safe, gold coins that

Were valuable.

He had $, in his pocket.

He had a rolex watch on his arm.

And none of these were taken.

Narrator: and police found the box full of jewelry several

Hundred yards behind the shaws' home.

We had considered that the motive may have been a m*rder

For hire, as opposed to a robbery.

Narrator: the question was, "who wanted ron shaw dead?"

Narrator: ron shaw's m*rder was a major news story in

Louisiana and the entire gulf coast region.

It was huge.

It was characterized as a well-organized home invasion

Of people who the police believe laid in wait for the shaw

Family.

The victim was portrayed as a very wealthy business executive.

And then to have him k*lled in front of his wife certainly hit

A nerve with society in general.

Narrator: the shaws' home was only a few months old.

Not all of the landscaping had been completed.

And this produced the first piece of evidence.

It's a new construction.

There was builders sand in the back of the house.

So, as the suspects stepped in that sand in the back of the

House and went through the house, they left real nice shoe

Impressions down the hallway.

Narrator: the outside print was preserved with a substance

Called "denstone."

It's kind of like pancake batter.

And you're able to lift those impressions and bring them back

To the crime laboratory.

Narrator: inside the home, investigators lit the hardwood

Floors from various angles and saw two more sets of shoe

Impressions.

Criminalists lifted the prints with gelatin strips.

You roll the gelatin with the black side down onto your

Questioned shoe impression.

And when you peel it off, the adhesive in the gelatin adheres

To the dust particles on the floor.

Narrator: with some research, investigators identified the

Prints outside as a pair of size- nike air jordans.

The perpetrators inside also wore nike shoes.

One wore the air metal force model, the other the

Shocks trainers.

When police interviewed the neighbors, several of them said

They saw a burgundy-colored car parked a short distance away

From the shaws' home.

The vehicle was occupied by black males.

Either they observed these black males within the vehicle or

Standing outside the vehicle.

But it was parked in front of a vacant lot in this particular

Neighborhood, so it did stand out.

Narrator: and about a mile from the crime scene, search

Dogs found a potentially crucial piece of evidence.

While they were walking around on the roadway, they

Discovered a red ski mask with blue outlines on it next to the

Roadway which was in direct line of sight to the rear of the

Victim's property.

Narrator: this ski mask -- red with dark trimming around

The eyes -- was similar to the one described by rosana shaw.

At ron's autopsy, the medical examiner confirmed that ron shaw

Was sh*t three times with a .-Caliber w*apon.

There were two torso sh*ts.

One of those torso sh*ts, the b*llet remained.

The other torso sh*t, the b*llet went all the way through his

Body.

Narrator: in the yard, investigators found the

Projectile that passed through shaw's body.

This, along with the two b*ll*ts from inside shaw's body, were

Sent to the forensics lab.

Under a microscope, firearms expert chris henderson

Discovered that the lands and grooves on two b*ll*ts were the

Same.

The third b*llet was different.

We determined that we had two different sh**t, based on the

Class characteristics of the b*ll*ts.

Narrator: in their search for potential suspects, police had

To consider whether rosana shaw had anything to do with her

Husband's m*rder.

Ron's grown son from his first marriage certainly thought so.

He had distrust for her.

He wondered what her motivation was for marrying his father.

Had she married for money?

We got along fairly well while ron and I got married.

But right after ronnie d*ed, he just turned against me.

He just doesn't like me.

Narrator: and there were others who had a potential

Motive.

A background check revealed ron had shifted funds from one

Oil-drilling research project to another.

One was successful.

The other wasn't, which created substantial losses for

Investors.

There were a couple of them that had actually lost hundreds

Of thousands of dollars.

It didn't surprise them at all that the victim had met such a

Violent death because they felt that his business practices were

Dubious and unethical.

Narrator: with so many potential avenues to explore,

Investigators focused first on who knew that the shaws had a

Safe.

The people that knew about the safe was the safe company,

My family, ronnie's family, people at the office, the

Architect, the construction workers, friends.

There was a lot of people that could have known about the safe.

Narrator: the general contractor who built the shaws'

Home fully cooperated with authorities.

Ernest touchet revealed the names of several disgruntled

Employees that he felt might play a role and later added

That he also had two grandsons that had worked on the home and

That had also recently had several run-ins with the law.

Narrator: but investigators dismissed that idea.

The perpetrators were black, yet ernest touchet, and presumably

His grandsons, were white.

And ron shaw knew these boys personally.

Ernest touchet came to my husband and asked to hire his

Two grandchildren to keep them out of trouble.

They needed to do something.

So my husband said, "sure."

My husband really appreciated the grandfather, ernest touchet.

So he said, "of course.

Bring your two grandchildren, and I'll hire them."

Narrator: police didn't believe the touchet boys would

Repay ron shaw's kindness in this way.

Or would they?

Narrator: the owner of the construction company who had

Built the shaws' new home, ernest touchet, told police he

Feared his two grandsons might have been involved in ron's

m*rder.

Initially, police thought little of it since the perpetrators

Were black and ernest touchet was white...

Until they looked at the mug sh*ts of his grandsons.

Shannon touchet was a black male and was a product of an

Interracial marriage that his mother had had during her

Earlier years.

Narrator: -year-old shannon touchet had worked on

Ron shaw's home and would have known about the safe hidden in

The master-bathroom closet.

Investigators went to shannon's home.

He wasn't there, but his mother was.

And she was very helpful.

She reported to us that she had found some b*ll*ts in a

Black bag, a black bag that she recalled had at one time also

Contained ski masks...and dr*gs.

Narrator: police found the bag in shannon's bedroom.

The dr*gs and ski masks were gone.

But they did find unfired .-Caliber b*ll*ts.

Investigators wondered whether these b*ll*ts matched the ones

That k*lled ron shaw.

Firearms expert chris henderson examined the knurls on the fatal

b*ll*ts.

Knurls are the ridgelike protrusions that hold the

Lubrication needed to fire them.

Henderson then compared those knurls with the knurls on the

b*ll*ts in shannon touchet's bag.

We had the same number of knurls, same width.

And those knurls looked like railroad tracks going around the

Outer surface of that b*llet.

All the physical characteristics, everything

That we could physically see and measure, were indistinguishable

From one another.

We could not tell the difference between one and the other.

Narrator: police brought shannon touchet in for

Questioning.

He insisted he knew nothing about ron shaw's m*rder.

He said he was with his girlfriend that night.

She did verify his alibi and stated that shannon touchet was,

In fact, with her in lake charles.

Narrator: but looking at shannon's shoes, investigators

Noticed he was wearing nike air jordan basketball shoes --

Similar to the shoe impressions at the crime scene.

Scientists took casts of shannon's shoes and compared

Them to the casts from the impression in the sand outside

Ron shaw's home.

We concluded that the shoe impressions at the crime scene

Were basically indistinguishable from those of shannon touchet's

Shoes.

They had the same wear, the same physical characteristics.

They were nike air jordans, same size.

Narrator: shannon's own mother disputed his alibi.

She told investigators that shannon was out with two friends

On the night of the m*rder -- reggie basil and ronald benson.

And they were driving a burgundy car...

Similar to the one witnesses saw near the m*rder scene.

When questioned, both reggie basil and ronald benson

Denied any involvement in the robbery and m*rder.

Police obtained a search warrant and confiscated all of the shoes

Belonging to the two men.

But none matched the shoe impressions found inside shaw's

Home.

It's frustrating to believe that your investigation is

Focused and it's going in the right direction but there's no

Certainty that you're, in fact, looking at the right folks.

And for these type of charges, you don't want to make a mistake

Either.

Narrator: so investigators decided to look for genetic

Material inside the red ski mask that had been discarded after

The m*rder.

The forensic scientist turned the mask inside out and swabbed

Around the mouth area, hoping to pick up cells from saliva.

We're using the entire surface area of the swab to

Collect as much of the potential cellular material that's there.

And then, basically, we just let the swab air-dry, and hopefully

We'll have some dna on those swabs.

Narrator: using a dna test called "s.t.r.," Or

"Short tandem repeats," scientists found dna from three

Different individuals inside the mask.

But investigators needed to know who was wearing the mask before

It was discarded.

To find out, they analyzed the swab from the ski mask to

Determine who left most of the saliva behind.

And the results of this test were clear.

In this case, the major-contributor dna matched

That of ronald benson.

The red ski mask was very important because it

Corroborated the story that we were able to receive from

Mrs. Shaw.

Mrs. Shaw indicated that the person with the red mask was the

Most aggressive in the robbery.

Narrator: the identity of the other two dna profiles in the

Mask was inconclusive.

The ski mask implicated ronald benson.

The shoe impression outside the shaws' home implicated

Shannon touchet.

But there was no forensic evidence linking reggie basil to

The crime.

As an investigator, that's a little hard to swallow.

That's a little hard to leave in the end of the day with, knowing

That there's nothing else you can do and you feel fairly

Certain of who's responsible for doing it.

Narrator: investigators hoped that would change.

Narrator: shannon touchet, reggie basil, and ronald benson

Were all arrested for the m*rder of ron shaw.

It was decided that the only way was to arrest all three

Suspects simultaneously and interview them in the same

Building at the same time, going from room to room until we got

The confessions from all of them.

Shannon touchet, the individual that was the

Ringleader, the one who had the information about the location

Of the safe, he ultimately turned on his two associates.

Narrator: shannon admitted that benson and basil both

Participated in the m*rder.

Shannon said that the motive was robbery.

This was how shannon repaid ron shaw for giving him a job at

His grandfather's request.

Prosecutors say the three men drove to ron shaw's neighborhood

And waited for the shaws to come home.

Witnesses saw the three men loitering in the area.

When the shaws arrived, they were ambushed.

Ronald benson fired twice.

[ g*nshots ] reggie basil fired the third

sh*t.

Shannon touchet stayed outside, leaving the shoe impressions in

The sand.

Benson and basil took rosana inside and forced her to open

The safe.

For reasons that are unclear, they didn't take all of the

Valuables inside the safe.

But they spared rosana's life.

I think my daughter saved my

Life that night.

When I told that man that I was pregnant, it just did something

To his mind and decided not to k*ll me.

And, yes, my daughter saved my life.

Narrator: while running to the getaway car, they dropped

The box full of jewelry.

As they drove away, benson threw his ski mask out of the car,

Unaware that it contained his dna.

Shannon touchet left amm*nit*on matching the fatal b*ll*ts in

His gym bag.

The m*rder weapons have never been found, nor the shoes that

Left the impressions inside the shaws' home.

Shannon touchet and reggie basil both pled guilty to first-degree

m*rder and aggravated robbery and were sentenced to life in

Prison.

Ronald benson chose to go to trial.

The jury found him guilty.

He got the same sentence -- life in prison.

Investigators point to the case as a classic example of basic

Police techniques and forensic science coming together to get a

Conviction.

The forensic efforts on the part of our crime lab were

Invaluable to a final conclusion in this case.

Without them, there would have been no conviction for any of

The three defendants.

It was amazing to me, about the dna, the shoe prints, all

The evidence they can gather from the crime place, you know,

That can help find out who did it.

There's a lot of technology.

If things are done right,

Everything falls into place.

And sometimes a little bit of

Luck helps.